Abigail Adams started writing this letter to her husband on 18 June 1775—the day after the Battle of Bunker Hill, and finished it two days later. Abigail writes from Braintree, Massachusetts, to John Adams who was in Philadelphia representing Massachusetts at the Continental Congress.

The letter, one of more than 1,000 that Abigail and John Adams exchanged during long years of separation, combines political and family news with Abigail's forthright views on the events of the day.

The Adamses felt the cost of the battle on a personal level: Abigail's letter opens with the news that they've lost their close friend Dr. Joseph Warren, who had been a spokesman for the Revolutionary cause.