The Battle
On the night of June 16, 1775, Colonel William Prescott led approximately 1,200 men to fortify Breed’s Hill on the Charlestown peninsula overlooking Boston Harbor. By dawn they had constructed a substantial redoubt. The British, under Major General William Howe, launched three frontal assaults up the hill.
The famous order — “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” — reflected the desperate shortage of ammunition. The Americans repulsed the first two assaults with devastating volleys. The British took the hill on the third assault only after the defenders ran out of powder.
The British suffered over 1,000 casualties — nearly half their attacking force. The battle proved that the colonial militia could stand against professional British regulars, and it galvanized the revolutionary cause.
Lt. William Green
Lieutenant William Green served as Adjutant in Colonel Prescott’s Regiment. He was wounded in actionduring the battle — one of the earliest American officer casualties of the war. His service is confirmed in the Massachusetts list of officers eligible for the Society of the Cincinnati.
Cincinnati Status
Lt. William Green holds a vacant Massachusetts seat in the Society of the Cincinnati — never represented since the Society’s founding. The Green surname connects to the ongoing research into descent from James Green (1640, FamilySearch PID LTVK-5Z4).