Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002

Reference > The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy > 11. American History to 1865

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.

Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes


A famous command attributed to William Prescott, an American officer, at the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolutionary War. Prescott may have said “color” rather than “whites.”	1
‡ Prescott’s command has become a proverb, meaning “Don’t act before you have some chance of success.”	2

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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