The British stood victorious at Bunker Hill.

It was, however, a costly victory.

More than a thousand men, nearly half of the attacking force, had fallen, with an undue proportion of officers.
Philadelphia, far away, did not know what was happening when, two days before the battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress settled the question of a leader for a national army.

On the 15th of June John Adams of Massachusetts rose and moved that the Congress should adopt as its own the army before Boston and that it should name Washington as Commander-in-Chief.

Adams had deeply pondered the problem.