Boston was, indeed, the immediate objective point of active operations,
and the issue, at arms, had been boldly made at Lexington and Concord.
Bunker Hill had practically emancipated the American yeomanry from the
dread of British arms, and foreshadowed the finality of National
Independence. However the American Congress might temporize, there was
not alternative with Washington, but a steady purpose to achieve
complete freedom. From his arrival at Cambridge, until his departure for
New York, he worked with a clear and serene confidence in the final
result of the struggle. A mass of earnest men had come together, with
the stern resolve to drive the British out of Boston; but the patriotism
and zeal of those who first begirt the city were not directed to a
protracted and universal colonial resistance. To the people of
Massachusetts there came an instant demand, imperative as the question
of life or death, to fight out the issue, even if alone and
single-handed, against the oppressor. Without waiting for reports from
distant colonies as to the effect of the skirmish at Lexington and the
more instructive and stimulating experience at Breed's Hill, the penned
the British in Boston and determined to drive them from the land. Dr.
Dwight said of Lexington: "The expedition became the preface to the
history of a nation, the beginning of an empire, and a theme of
disquisition and astonishment to the civilized world."

The battle of Bunker Hill equalized the opposing forces. The issue
changed from that of a struggle of legitimate authority to suppress
rebellion, and became a context, between Englishmen, for the
suppression, or the perpetuation, of the rights of Magna Charta.

The siege of Boston assumed a new character as soon as it became a part
of the national undertaking to emancipate the Colonies, on and all, and
thereby establish one great Republic.