The book is at its most riveting, however, in the narrative of the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and then Bunker Hill in July. The battles of Lexington and Concord were not as noteworthy for the action on the battlefield-casualties were far smaller than in many other battles-as for the fact that the events made it clear that the Colonials were not going to give in, so this would be a war indeed. Crucially, the Colonial militia consisted of farmers, tradesmen, laborers, and countless others traveling to the battles on foot, carrying and using their own guns. Such a citizen militia has rarely, if ever, been so important in a military action, and occupies an important place in the American tapestry. The image is part of the lore that washes into the debate over the right to bear arms that is enumerated in the 2nd amendment to the United States Constitution. The weekly column on US politics in the Economist magazine is titled “Lexington” in this spirit.
The title of the book reflects the importance of the first truly large battle of the revolution, that of Bunker Hill, at Charlestown, near Boston, on July 17, 1775. The Colonials, under Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire, fortified and manned a ridge on the downward slope in front of the hill. When the British, under William Howe, stormed it, the actual conflict took place further down, nearer to Breed’s Hill, but the name Bunker Hill has stuck. The British won the hill, at enormous cost. From this point on, the British occupied Boston and the Colonials laid siege around the city. The tenacity of the New Englanders at the Battle of Bunker Hill convinced the appointee to command the Continental Army, George Washington of Virginia, to move to Boston and take command.
The final act covered in detail is the sequence of events that caused the British to evacuate Boston in March 1776. A stalemate existed in the siege of Boston by the Colonials against the British occupiers. The Colonials were not strong enough to defeat the British, and Bunker Hill had shown that the British could only move out of Boston at great cost. A member of Washington’s staff, General Henry Knox, conceived the transporting of the large artillery guns at Fort Ticonderoga, New York to Boston. Philbrick ably describes the torturous effort required to drag these big guns more than 300 miles during the winter. I must say, however, that David McCullogh’s description of this episode in his book 1776 was ground breaking and masterful, and I don’t think Philbrick added much. Nonetheless, the sight of the mounting of the guns in Dorchester, overlooking Boston, motivated the British to evacuate. It is a great story and a fitting end to the volume.
