This letter is dated August 25, 1775 and was written by Colonel William Prescott in camp at Cambridge to John Adams in Philadelphia. Prescott, a native of Groton, Massachusetts, and veteran of the French and Indian Wars, gives John Adams, then serving in the Continental Congress, a brief "state of the facts" of the "Action at Charlestown"—the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Prescott commanded the Patriot forces that fortified the heights in Charlestown overlooking Boston. Although the British onslaught ultimately forced his men to retreat, Prescott exhibited throughout the "prudence and courage" that he praised in his subordinates.

See Peter Brown's letter to his mother, 25 June 1775, for an enlisted man's account of the same events.