Bunker Hill Bunny

Plot

The cartoon begins with a title card placing the action in 1776, then cuts to footage of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Yorktown. It moves to the "Battle of Bagle Heights," where Bugs Bunny, dressed as an American Minuteman, holds a wooden fort against Sam von Schamm (or Schmamm), a Hessian soldier in a red coat who attacks from a large stone fortress bristling with artillery. Bugs’ defenses are meager, consisting of just one cannon, while Sam’s fortress is heavily armored.

Despite this, Sam is the only one manning his fort, which makes capturing Bugs difficult because the rabbit can retaliate by capturing Sam’s fort at the same time. Sam tries to keep bombarding, but Bugs defends himself by catching the cannonballs with his own cannon and firing them back. When Bugs gets bored with this, he shoots a large cork into Sam’s main mortar, plugging it. Sam is then hit in the face by his own cannon while trying to remove the cork.

Frustrated, Sam digs a tunnel from under his base into Bugs’ base using a pickaxe. When he surfaces and lights a match, he finds himself in a room full of TNT. An explosion rocks the shack housing the room, and Sam stumbles out dazed. As a final attempt, Sam brings a keg of gunpowder to blow up Bugs’ base.

Unbeknownst to him, a hole in the keg lets gunpowder spill into his back pocket, creating a trail. After Sam lights the fuse, Bugs sits on the keg, calmly eats a carrot, snuffs out the fuse, and nonchalantly lights the gunpowder trail Sam left behind. Sam flees from the inevitable trail, running away from the base and up an apple tree, which then explodes on him. Thoroughly defeated, Sam declares himself a "Hessian without no aggression" and decides to join the rebels, saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

The cartoon ends with Bugs and Sam marching side by side in a fife-and-drum procession reminiscent of the Archibald Willard painting The Spirit of '76, playing the song The Girl I Left Behind Me.

In popular culture

On December 19, 2004, a possible numbers station began transmitting from the desert on the Laguna Indian Pueblo near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, using one of the quotes from the episode: Yosemite Sam threatening Bugs Bunny, "Varmint, I'm a-gonna b-b-b-bloooow ya ta'smithereenies!" Prior to the quote, the station would use the sound of a buzzer (an 8-second data burst similar to the Russian numbers station UVB-76) later followed by the quote. This was later nicknamed the "Yosemite Sam Transmission."

On December 23, 2004, the station ceased transmission for two months, before returning in February 2005 with additional frequencies on FM Radio (WWV and WWVH); but, after the broadcast location was tracked, the station ceased transmission for the second time, and this time for good. The station transmitted on the frequencies: 3,700 kHz, 4,300 kHz, 6,500 kHz and 10,500 kHz. The station was later revealed to be run by Mobility Assessment Test and Integration Center, sometimes shortened as MATIC.

The location also suggested that it was a reference to a Bugs Bunny quote: "I knew I should have taken that left turn, at Albuquerque!"

Did You Know?

• Yosemite Sam's character in this short is named Sam von Schamm (or Schmamm), a Hessian mercenary.
• On December 19, 2004, a numbers station transmitted from the Laguna Indian Pueblo near Albuquerque using Yosemite Sam's threat: "Varmint, I'm a-gonna b-b-b-bloooow ya ta'smithereenies!"
• The station was later revealed to be run by the Mobility Assessment Test and Integration Center (MATIC), and its location referenced Bugs Bunny's line: "I knew I should have taken that left turn, at Albuquerque!"