Exercise:  Paul Revere and the American Revolution


Instructions: Navigate to the Massachusetts Historical Society's “The Decisive Day Has Come: The Battle of Bunker Hill,” at the respecive URL below. Peruse the different sections of the site, and then answer the respective questions below.

Visit URL: “The Decisive Day Has Come: The Battle of Bunker Hill”

Question 1:  From reading the different accounts of the battle itself, what differences do you observe in the recounting of events from the perspectives of both officers and common soldiers? What differences are there in the accounts of Americans and British? Participants and non-combatants? How do we, as historians, explain these differences, and in what ways can we use these sources in reconstructing the events of the battle and its aftermath?

Question 2:  What reasons do you see for Joseph Warren becoming such an icon of heroism in the eyes of those associated with the patriot movement? What does the apotheosis of Dr. Warren tell us about the Americans' perspectives and identity in these times of uncertainty and difficulty?

Question 3:  What evidence do the maps and images of the battle give about the perceptions and memories of Bunker Hill for both the Americans and the British? In what ways can we use these types of visual sources when we interpret historical events?

Question 4:  How does historian Bernard Bailyn's essay characterize the conduct of and events during the Battle of Bunker Hill? In what ways do the primary source materials in this online exhibition support or challenge the premises of Bailyn's argument?