Bunker Hill

Our discussion on Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill began around Dr. Joseph Warren, a central figure in Boston's evolution as the hot spot of colonial drive toward independence. Warren's critical role in so many actions in the years leading up to the Battle of Bunker Hill place him squarely alongside Adams (Samuel), Hamilton and George Washington in those early days. Although he never attended a Continental Congress, his influence on Boston's Committee of Safety along with other characters such as Hancock and Revere, was impressive. We pondered, what if he hadn't been killed at Bunker Hill? Clearly we'd have learned about him as children, but his early death erased him from history.

Philbrick's attention to detail was, as with Mayflower, remarkable. The precise descriptions of the citizens killed at Lexington and Concord was impressive, as was the description of the close quarters bayonet fighting in the house-to-house battles in Menotomy (Arlington).

Most of us have lived in or are very familiar with many of the places where these battles were fought: Charlestown, Lexington, Arlington, the North End, Beacon Hill, and Concord. The first chapter is appropriately named, The City on the Hill. Though the hills are smaller today, many having been dug apart to fill the Back Bay, which was of course, a navigable bay, we all have walked the streets of Monument Square (on Breeds Hill) and Beacon Hill. Mal tossed out the slice of trivia that Tremont Street derives its name from 'tres-mont', three mounts.

How about being a soldier marching out to Concord to relieve the militia of its arms, with no rucksack indicating an overnight sortie? Concord to Boston would have been a drag, but really, Concord to Boston? Taking fire from your countrymen, many of whom had fought for the King in the French and Indian wars? This discussion led us to the Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe and Patrick O'Brien's Captain Aubrey series of novels, highly recommended for on-the-ground descriptions of conflicts during the Napoleonic Wars.

One of the little historical jewels in the book that somehow escaped the historical narrative from our grade school text books was the taking of the Diana in the battle of Chelsea Creek. This battle, occurring only a month after Lexington and Concord, began as a British attempt to round up colonial rebels, and resulted in an embarrassing defeat and taking of Admiral Graves's nephew's ship, the Diana. This skirmish made it clear to all that armed rebellion was underway.

Another topic we covered was the delay in communication, both on a tactical basis such as the call for reinforcements from Charlestown where the biggest problem was that nobody had a horse, and on a strategic basis especially for the English where royal or parliamentary guidance took months. Gage and Howe were restricted by orders made irrelevant given the speed of change on the ground. And yet news of the battles of Lexington and Concord reached New York and Philadelphia within days.

Our member who proposed Bunker Hill was away, so we discussed the book without a formal agenda, and several of us finished it two months ago. In spite of these handicaps, we never ran out of sections to discuss, characters to marvel at or to commiserate with, and scenes to recall. Philbrick is a master.

We had a few good options for our next book, but ultimately decided on something way out of out normal comfort zone. Our next book was named as the top novel for 2014 by the WSJ reviewers: Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish. .