Trumbull, an eyewitness, done in 1785, gives Peter Salem, with other black patriots, a conspicuous place. Indeed, the historical painting of that scene, by Col.
Everett has described Peter Salem, a black man, and once a slave, as having been among the most prominent and meritorious characters at the battle of Bunker’s Hill.
Several speeches in the collection African American Perspectives: Materials Selected from the Rare Book Collection, contain references to Peter Salem, the former slave and hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill: When George Washington assumed command of colonial forces two weeks later, he garnered ammunition for Boston troops and secured Dorchester Heights and Bunker Hill. The last rebels left on the hill evaded capture by the British thanks to the heroic efforts of Peter Salem, an African-American soldier who mortally wounded the British commanding officer who led the last charge. After suffering more than 1,000 casualties during their attacks on Breed’s Hill, the British halted their assaults on rebel strongholds in Boston. In their fourth charge up the hillside, the British took the hill from the rebels, who had run out of ammunition. Geography & Map DivisionĪpproximately 2,100 British troops under the command of General Thomas Gage stormed Breed’s Hill, where colonial soldiers were encamped. American Revolution and Its Era: Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies, 1750 to 1789.
of June, 1775… Sir Thomas Hyde-Page, 1775.
Prints & Photographs Division A plan of the action at Bunkers-Hill, on the 17th. Percy Moran, artist Photomechanical print, c1909. On June 17, 1775, American troops displayed their mettle in the Battle of Bunker Hill during the siege of Boston, inflicting casualties on nearly half of the British troops dispatched to secure Breed’s Hill (where most of the fighting occurred).
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