The American strategy at the Battle of Bunker Hill was one of trying to use the advantage of being on top of the hill to control the British advance up the hill. The colonists knew they were in a good position militarily. They had control of the hill. If the British were going to take the hill, they would have to run straight into the American attack. There would be no sneaking up on the Americans in this battle. The Americans waited until the British were very close before they fired upon the British soldiers. The British failed in their first two attempts to capture the hill. They succeeded on their third attempt only because the colonists ran out of ammunition.

This was a bittersweet victory for the British for a few reasons. One reason was it was much harder to take the hill than the British thought it would be. This gave the Americans confidence they could hang in there when they fought the British. It also suggested to the British that the fight for the colonies wouldn’t be an easy one, contrary to what some British believed. The British also suffered significant casualties in this battle. As a result, this victory was bittersweet for the British.