Bunker Hill
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
"Written with skill and suspense, it is an inspiring story that Americans can read with pride." - Chicago Tribune
Here, from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the story of the June day in 1775 that made the American Revolution inevitable.
Bunker Hill brings to life the stories of the men on both sides who fought on steep, Boston slopes in the blazing heat of June and dispels the myths and distortions that have long clouded the battle. It shows how closely and tragically intertwined were the lives of men and women who from this day would call themselves either British or American.
The brother of General William Howe, the British commander, had died in Colonel Israel Putnamís arms near Fort Ticonderoga. Colonel William Prescott had fought beside General William Howe at the siege of Louisburg and had been offered a commission in the Royal Army for his valor. Now, only fifteen years after their joint victories as comrades in arms, Prescott and Putnam steadied their raw American troops with harsh advice to withhold their fire on the advancing British ranks until "you can see their buttons," or "the whites of their eyes."
After the British forces came ashore, the battle opened with a deftly launched flanking movement by the British right. John Stark arrived with his New Hampshire men in time to predict the point at which Howe would first attack and to seal that gap with British dead - "I never saw sheep lie as thick in the fold." Howe did not pause to maneuver but assaulted the American fortifications along the whole front. The young farmers did not give way, and the British reeled back. "There was a moment," Howe, a veteran and victor of many battles against the French in Europe and North America, recalled later, "that I never felt before." But the British doggedly advanced again up the murderous hill in the ninety-degree heat.
The forces that impelled these men to that terrible moment of battle and the courage of both sides are the powerful substance of Bunker Hill.
Customer Reviews
Bunker Hill
The stirring story of the formation of America’s will to nationhood at Bunker Hill. Well researched and unclouded by historical “what ifs,” Fleming gives balanced testimony for both sides of the battle which demytholigizes the white-hat, black-hat approach of so many, in order to humanize both British and patriot forces. This is readable historical narrative at its best. Thank you, Mr. Fleming
A Great Book about the Battle of Bunker Hill
This was an amazingly good book. The author is masterful in weaving the story together culminating in an exciting climax. I am anxious to read more from this author! It's hard for us in the 21st century to understand the methodology of warfare in 1775 but after reading this book I feel like I have a much better perspective.