William Prescott

William Prescott (February 20, 1726 – October 13, 1795) was an American colonel in the Revolutionary War who commanded the patriot forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Prescott is known for his order to his soldiers, "Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes", such that the rebel troops may shoot at the enemy at shorter ranges, and therefore more accurately and lethally, and so conserve their limited stocks of ammunition. It is debated whether Prescott or someone earlier coined this memorable saying. Life Prescott was born in Groton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Prescott (1696–1738) and Abigail Oliver Prescott (1697–1765). He married Abigail Hale (1733–1821) on April 13, 1758, and they had one child, who is named William Prescott Jr. William Prescott owned a house in Pepperell, Massachusetts, on Prescott Street. Prescott was then a frontier town bordering upon Hollis N.H. In fact, the Indians long continued to be his neighbors, so that there when it was considered unsafe to go into the field to their daily labor without their rifles. Col. Prescott held his lands as his son, Hon. Wm. Prescott, late of Prescott, and his grandson Wm. H. Prescott, the historian, continued to hold them, under the original Indian title. Prescott served in the provincial militia in King George's War where he served in the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg under William Pepperrell, and was a lieutenant in the Provincial troops which were sent to remove the neutral French from Nova Scotia in 1755. After his return he married Miss Hale, as above, and was promoted to the office of captain. In 1755, when the French and Indian War widened, he saw action at the Battle of Fort Beausejour. He turned down an offer to join the British Army for his service in that war. The now-disincorporated town of Prescott, Massachusetts was named after him. He was the father of William Prescott Jr., who fought with him at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was the grandfather of eminent historian William H. Prescott, after whom Prescott, Arizona is named.