The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on 17 June 1775. The British believed that they won this first major battle of the American Revolutionary War because the rebelling American Patriots retreated from the field. But the Americans believed that they had won because they had inflicted so many more deaths and injuries on their enemy.
In the end, the American Patriots had accomplished their goal of lifting the British siege of the city of Boston.
A brief history of the Siege of Boston can be accessed by clicking on this link: 
and the Battle of Bunker Hill can be accessed by clicking on this link:
The anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill was celebrated as early as the next year. People throughout the American Colonies celebrated this holiday equally with the people of Massachusetts because men from throughout the Colonies had participated in the Battle. The idea that the Mother Country would blockade and hold as hostage any city in the Colonies was so outrageous that nearly every colony sent troops to force the British to lift the siege.
By the mid-1800s the holiday was being celebrated primarily in the city of Boston and in the surrounding counties. It continues to be a legal holiday in Massachusetts to the present day, and is celebrated with a parade.
