The Military Genius Behind “Don’t Fire Until You See The Whites Of Their Eyes”
Not originally from the American Revolution
When people hear the phrase “don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes,” they immediately think of the Battle of Bunker Hill. This phrase has become an enduring part of the myth surrounding this Revolutionary War battle. The legend goes that the Americans dug in atop Breed’s Hill (Bunker Hill was the adjacent hill, and there is an argument that could be made for renaming this battle the Battle of Breed’s Hill), held their fire until the British army directly on top of them. After the British got in close, the Americans unleashed a furious volley of gunfire, which decimated the Red Coat’s ranks.
The results speak for themselves. While the Battle of Bunker Hill was technically a loss for the Patriot forces, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the British. American sharpshooters managed to kill or wound dozens of British officers present at the battle. The Battle of Bunker Hill gave the Americans hope that they could win a war against Great Britain in the end. The British suffered over 1,000 casualties at the scene, which was one of the largest casualty figures of the war. Much of the carnage is attributed to that fateful phrase: don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
