Bunker Hill Map by Ensign DeBerniere

 

  In honour of the 250th anniversary of the battle....

 

  Ensign Henry DeBerniere was an officer in the 10th Regiment of Foot in 1775.  An enterprising indivual, with a talent for map making DeBerniere had undertaken "spy missions" in 1774 mapping routes out of Boston.  He took part on the 19 April mission to Concord to destroy the supplies gathered there. He also made a series of maps of Boston and the surrounding areas.  These included distances marked between tiwns, good tactical positions and possible places for encampments.  One of his best maps is of the Charlestown Peninsula and British troop movements during the Battle of Bunker Hill.  This adds greatly to our understanding of the battle.

  There are a couple editions of this map on the internet.  Most are of later printed editions of his map.  These were professional engraved editions. Unfortunately these often changed the ground scale and often many details.  Here is an 1818 edition done in Philadelphia.

In the Geography and Map Division Library of Congress ( G3764.B6S3 1775 .B3 Vault) and is an excellent copy of his actual drawing.  The details of the map are outstanding and super useful to students of the battle or miniature wargamers wishing to refight the battle historically.  The topography is detailed, to include marshy ground and elevations.  

  This enlarged section showed the area where the Howe landed his main force at Moulton's point; sent his light Infantry companies along the beach to turn the American flank and the Grenadier attack against the rail fence.  The numerous fences slowed the British advance, and exposed them to small arms and cannon fire while trying to cross them.  The Royal Artillery could not cross the fields due to these fences so went a round them and got stuck in the wet marshy ground at the base of Breeds hill. The routes of the 5th and 52nd regiments during the third attack are clearly marked.

A close up of the Light Infantry companies on the beach trying toout flank the American position along the rail fence.  This area today is near the present Charlestown High school  and still has a sharp drop which obscure it from the ground.  The order of march for the light Infantry are (from left to right) 23rd, 4th, 19th, 52nd, 43rd, 65th, 59th, 47th, 35th, 38th and 5th.

The final assault on the redoubt and breast work on Breeds hill. This is one of the very few maps which show how close Charlestown was to the hill and how snipers there effected earlier attacks.   It also points out the barn which had to be taken before the final attack on the redoubt.  Again fascinating details here like the extra flank companies position with the Marines and 47th regiments.

Breed's Hill 1775

In honour of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill June 17, 1775.

"Bunker Hill After the Battle"  by Thomas Davies in 1775.  Original in the New York Public libray.  A fascinating watercolor done by Thomas Davies of the Bunker Hill battlefield done shortly after the battle.   The view is from the base of Breeds hill looking up towards the redoubt and breastwork built and defended by Colonel William Prescott and his Massachusetts soldiers.  This was the area through which the 5th and 52nd Regiments marched to attack in the final assault.  

Note the remains of the fences throughout the field which numerous British officers spoke about.  Also the three soldiers in the fore ground wearing cut down coats and cut down cocked hats.

My R/C Sail boat Sol One Meter

 There are many sail boats, but this is mine. Took the plunge and bought a used boat to get started with.    As you can see its kinda big!  Working on a rig to carry it on my golf cart.   Right now it takes up a lot of space in the trunk of the car.

 Here I am on my first day sailing her.  Great fun and very relaxing.  Sitting on shore, in the shade watching her gliding by.  

Goodby NPS

The Trump administration’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request, which was published on May 2, 2025, contains countless cuts to numerous government departments, agencies, services, and programs. This includes the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the National Park Service (NPS).

Specifically, the document calls for a massive $900 million cut to the budget for the “Operation of the National Park System,” along with a number of other cuts affecting the National Park Service.

If approved by Congress, it would be the largest budget cut in the 109-year history of the Park Service.

  The following post is from the facebook site Haze Gray.  For those of us who love history and love the NPS it’s a wake up call.  The heading picture is the USS Cassin Young, a WW2 Fletcher class destroyer which is at the Charlestown Bavy Yard part of Boston National Historical Park   One of my early assignments was helping restore and setting up programs for this ship.  In addition to researching and setting up tours I helped with chipping paint and more on my off days.  

“The Trump Administration's FY2026 Discretionary Budget Request includes a $1.2B cut - that's Billion, with a B - to the National Park Service's budget. Of that $1.2B, a whopping $900M will come from park operations - mainly by getting rid of parks. according to the National Parks Conservation Association, cuts of that magnitude will require NPS to get rid of between 350-370 parks out of a total of 433.  Per the Trump budget, only the 63 parks with "National Park" explicitly in their names would be left untouched….

. …a vocal 1/3 of the country has outright betrayed history by propping up this abominable, detestable, corrut administration - period. Shame on all of y'all that supported this. Let's dive in.

What kinds of National Parks will get the axe? Let's see what's not considered part of the 63 "crown jewels" - Pearl Harbor. Cassin Young. Gettysburg. Yorktown. Antietam. Fort Sumter. Name any battlefield - none of them are on the crown jewel list. Appomattox. SF Maritime Park (Hercules, one of the tugs that lost USS Oklahoma, most notably). Fort Point. Fort Monroe. Wright Brothers National Monument. Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Jamestown. Rosie the Riveter. Ford's Theatre. FDR Memorial. MLK Memorial. Castillo de San Marcos. Andersonville. Chickamauga & Chattanooga. Fort Pulaski. Kennesaw Mountain. The Appalachian Trail. C&O Canal. Fort McHenry. Monocacy. Boston. Vicksburg. Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville/Spotsylvania. Richmond Battlefields (Cold Harbor, Gaines Mill, Fort Harrison/Chaffin's Bluff, Totopotomoy Creek, Drewry's Bluff), Little Bighorn, Manhattan Project, Grant Memorial, Fort Raleigh, Moore's Creek, Guilford Courthouse, Lewis & Clark, Flight 93. Philadelphia's Independence NHP. Valley Forge. Cowpens. Mount Rushmore. Fort Donelson. Shiloh. Arlington House in Arlington Cemetery. Cedar Creek. George Washington Birthplace Monument. Petersburg. Manassas. Harpers Ferry.”

Here is the Budget page referenced to the National Park Service.  

RMS Olympic Sinks a U Boat

 

  RMS Olympic holds the unofficial award of being the only passenger liner to ram - and sink - a German U-Boat during the First World War.  On 12 May 1918, while enroute for France in the English Channel transporting U.S. troops  Olympic sighted a surfaced U-boat 1,600 ft ahead.  Olympic's gunners opened fire, and the ship turned to ram the submarine.  U-103 immediately crash dived to 98 ft and turned to a parallel course readying its stern torpedoes. Olympic struck the submarine just aft of her conning tower with her port propeller slicing through the pressure hull. The crew of U-103 blew her ballast tanks, and abandoned the submarine. Olympic did not stop to pick up survivors, but continued on to Cherbourg. An escort, USS Davis had sighted a distress flare and picked up 31 survivors from U-103. Olympic returned to Southampton with at least two hull plates dented and her prow twisted to one side, but not breached.

For his service, Ollympic's Captain Hayes was awarded the DSO. Some American soldiers on board paid for a plaque to be placed in one of Olympic's lounges to commemorate the event, it read:

"This tablet presented by the 59th Regiment United States Infantry commemorates the sinking of the German submarine U103 by Olympic on May 12th 1918 in latitude 49 degrees 16 minutes north longitude 4 degrees 51 minutes west on the voyage from New York to Southampton with American troops."

During the war, Olympic  carried  201,000 troops and other personnel, burning 347,000 tons of coal and travelling about 184,000 miles.  Olympic's war service earned her the nickname Old Reliable.  Her captain was knighted in 1919 for "valuable services in connection with the transport of troops".

Dazzle is a type of ship camouflage that was used extensively in World War I.  The unusual paint job on Ollympic is refereed to as Dazzle.  Unlike other forms of camouflage, the intention of dazzle was not to conceal but to make it difficult to estimate a target's range, speed, and heading. Norman Wilkinson, the marine artist who invented it, explained in 1919 that he had intended dazzle primarily to mislead the enemy about a ship's course and so cause them to take up a poor firing position.  If you think painting kilts is difficult try this!

Scan of wreak of U-103

The remains of U-103 lie at a depth of  300 ft in the English Channel,  about midway between England and France. Its deep location makes it inaccessible to divers but the wreck was surveyed and identified by a remotely operated underwater vehicle in 2012.

A Little Humor

USS Truman loses its  third F18 on this deployment.

 New imagery shows the cause of the most recent loss.

Private Yankee Doodle

 

 

Joseph Plumb Martin, who served in the Continental Army and later wrote about his experiences, died on this day in 1850.

  In June 1776, 15-year-old Martin left his home in Connecticut and joined the Continental Army. He served in the army until the end of the war. In 1830, he published a memoir of his military service. Rather than battle stories, Martin shared the experiences of enlisted soldiers, portraying them, not officers, as heroes of the Revolution. 

  Martin suggested that in honor of their service, pensions be given to surviving veterans, many of whom were poor and unable to work by 1830. In 1835, the Federal government began offering pensions to enlisted soldiers or their surviving families.