The Battle of Bunker Hill: Now We Are at War (Teaching with Historic Places)

Today visitors stroll around a peaceful hilltop overlooking shade trees and row houses. A soaring granite obelisk rises where once stood an earthen fortification. A five acre park with stone markers is all that remains of the ground that became a raging battlefield and the site of the first full-scale battle of the American Revolution. It was in June 1775 that the pent-up anger and hatred between the British and many American colonists exploded into brutal fury at the top of this hill, while the nearby town of Charlestown, Massachusetts, burned from red-hot cannon balls fired by British warships into its wooden buildings.

Objective

1. To determine how the events in Massachusetts in 1775 united colonial forces in opposition to imperial rule;
2. To relate the events of the Battle of Bunker Hill and explain their importance;
3. To compare Boston and Charlestown land masses as they changed from 1775 to the present day;
4. To investigate their own community history to find out if there was a significant event in the past that united or divided the citizens.

Background

Time Period: Late 18th century
Topics: The lesson could be used in units on the Revolutionary War or in courses on conflict resolution.

Full Lesson Plan