The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought mainly on Breed’s Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts.
The battle took place on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston, early in the American Revolutionary War. Colonial forces built their principal redoubt on Breed’s Hill, which was closer to Boston than Bunker Hill.
The engagement retained the name Battle of Bunker Hill because Bunker Hill was the colonial troops’ original objective and a major geographic feature of the Charlestown Peninsula. Much of the fighting, however, centered on the fortifications at Breed’s Hill.
British forces captured the colonial position after a third assault, making the battle a British victory. The British suffered significantly heavier casualties than the colonial defenders, including more than 1,000 killed or wounded. The battle’s name and battlefield location are consequently one of the Revolution’s most famous historical mix-ups.