Decisive Day: The Battle for Bunker Hill

This is one of the best retellings of the bloody series of assaults on Boston that was the first pitched battle of the Revolution. Ketchum, an experienced historian, author, and editor, has skillfully woven a tale that is rich in color, yet is accurate. The author's sources are impeccable, and his research goes deep. The only account of this battle that I believe is superior is that done by John Elting, The Battle of Bunker Hill. Both sides are given their due, and you can actually picture yourself in the redoubt or along the rail fence, wiping sweaty palms and counting the rounds remaining in your cartridge box. From the initial horror of young Asa Pollard's head being crushed by a bouncing cannon ball to the unbelievable three volleys fired by John Stark's militiamen to smash and slaughter the British light infantry companies along the beach the reader is given all but a ringside seat to the carnage. The leaders of both sides from the calm, fearless Howe to the indefatigable Prescott in the redoubt are given life with Ketchum's pen bringing the noise, smoke, and horror to life. One can almost feel the balls ripping into flesh as Captain Harris falls with a seemingly mortal wound to the head and admired Major Pitcairn being fatally wounded in sight of his officer-son. The bottom line is: if it is written by Ketchum, you should not only read it, but have it in your collection. All of his work is excellent, being both informative and colorful, as well as accurate.

This is an excellent, fast-moving account of the first great set-piece battle of the American Revolution. Ketchum is a very good writer, and his narrative succeeds in placing the reader in the event by providing many fine details of weather, sounds, ground conditions, and the like. The whole volume covers the events of only two or three days.One of the main themes that Ketchum brings home -- a theme common to all good histories that practice "thick description" -- is how contingent the outcome of the battle was. If the British had not sent over the wrong size ammunition for their artillery at first, or if the tide had allowed the British to land earlier, the Americans probably would have been cleared off the hill in short order. If the Americans had had just one resupply of powder from the rear, they might have held the hill and driven the British back.Along with Fischer's Paul Revere's Ride and Galvin's The Minute Men, this is one of the best works I have read on the opening of the American Revolution.

This is a beautifully written book, the first of three written so far by Richard Ketchum, on famous Revolutionary War battles. It tells the story of the first major military engagement of the American Revolution as does no other book I've ever read on the same subject. The author brings to life the main characters and events of the story. He briefly introduces the major figures - British Generals Thomas Gage and William Howe, and American leaders Joseph Warren, General Israel Putnam, Colonel William Prescott, and Henry Knox - and traces the story of the conflict in the Boston area in the spring of 1775. Ketchum then sets the scene of the battle by describing how the Americans, chronically short of munitions, supplies and manpower, successfully avoided British detection and entrenched themselves on Breed's Hill (mistaking it for the higher Bunker Hill), and how the British reacted once they discovered the fortifications. Drawing on letters and other first-person accounts of the battle's participants and observers, both the American and British, Ketchum vividly describes the military action of June 17, 1775; I found myself almost able to hear the firing of guns, and smell the smoke of battle, as I read the final chapters of the book.As an avid reader of American History, I thought I knew everything about battle of Bunker Hill; however, Ketchum's powerfully written narrative introduced me to many new facts about the people and events of this, the first major battle in America's war for independence. It is a book of outstanding scholarship, and "must read" for anyone interested in American history.

Richard Ketchum has written a fantastic narrative history of this important early battle of the American Revolution. For years, early American history has been one of my biggest interests and I can honestly say I've never read a book from this period that was as gripping as Ketchum's. It rivals David McCullough's "Truman" with its ability to pull the reader in, making him feel as if he's in the midst of the battle. Furthermore, he displays an intimate knowledge of both the particulars of Bunker Hill as well as 18th century warfare in general. Highly recommended.

when you can read well written, dramatic history that will keep you reading until your eyes give out. This is it right here. Well told, wonderfully worded, and vibrant in it's imagery, this book is top notch. I wish I had read this years ago. If only text books were written like this, we'd have a world full of historians.Mr. Ketchum tells a great story, and backs it up with solid scholarship and documentation. Even the notes in the back of the book are interesting. You first meet the people, Clinton, Howe, etc., then get to the story, and what a glorius story it is. It feels real, alive, and you are a part of it. I could almost smell the air it was described so well. Mr. Ketchum also treats the battle as the Decisive Day, events lead to it and then from it, and the magnatude of the Bunker/Breed's Hill Battle is truely felt, all the way to March 17, 1776 when the Brits finally leave Boston.Check this out: "...two parallel lines of 14 boats in single file, loaded to the gunwales with scarlet-coated British soldiers. Here was all the pageantry and color and drama of war in the 18th century manner, the face of battle that caught at men's hearts and made them see it as beautiful and majestic and terrible all at once." When you get to this in the book, it will jump out at you. You'll then understand the greatness of this book.Don't wait, get it now. 4 nights and you'll be finished, and moved by it.