The Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 took place on nearby Breed’s Hill, just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War.
The Americans were running out of ammunition when Colonel William Prescott ordered, “You men are all marksmen, now don’t shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes.”
The strategy worked well in driving back the British soldiers’ first two charges.
However, on the third charge, the Americans decided that discretion was the better part of valor, etc. They ran.
Sometimes, retreating is better than dying senselessly in battle.
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