Lexington and Concord: The Beginning of the War of the American Revolution

The title of this review gives you an idea why this book is such an enjoyable reading experience. Although the book gives a detailed analysis of the fighting at Lexington and Concord, and the British retreat back to Boston, it is not just another military history. Mr. Tourtellot provides such intimate detail, and he quotes from sufficient primary sources, that you feel you've come to know the famous, such as Sam Adams and John Hancock, and the everyday people that lived in Lexington and Concord and got swept up in the events of April 19th, 1775. Considering that the book is about such a serious subject, it is also surprisingly funny.....up until the shooting starts. This is certainly a case of farce turning into tragedy. If you'll pardon the pun, General Gage was such an engaging fellow that he made it clear that he wanted the Colonials handled with kid gloves. Again, up until the shooting started, the British were quite accomodating. They were very polite towards the populace, even when searching for weapons and powder. They went to one house and there was a room the owner wouldn't let them go into. She said that there was a woman in that room who didn't feel well, so the British didn't press the issue and didn't search the room. Of course, that was the one room in the house where gunpowder was being stored! The British excursion from Boston was a comedy of errors. It was supposed to be a surprise, but the Colonials knew all about it. There were endless delays in leaving Boston, which gave riders such as Paul Revere plenty of time to get to Lexington and Concord to warn people to hide weapons and gunpowder. Gage had given detailed orders on what he wanted done. For example, he wanted the soldiers to take confiscated musket balls, put them in their pockets, and drop them in dribs and drabs in ponds and streams. The soldiers actually found very little, since the inhabitants had plenty of time to hide things, but instead of dropping things in small quantities the soldiers pretty much dumped whatever they found in just a few areas.....making it easy for the Colonials to retrieve most of what was confiscated! You could say there was a lack of brainpower on the "hometeam" side as well.....such as tearing up the planks of a bridge leading out from Boston so that the British could not cross it, but then leaving the planks stacked up in plain sight.....so the soldiers just had to nail them back down and they were back in business! A running gag throughout much of the book is the relationship between Sam Adams and John Hancock. The author portrays Adams as a shrewd propagandist, a man who spent 10 years trying to stir up a rebellion and finally knew the big chance when he saw it. Hancock is portrayed as none-too-bright, vain, wealthy and easily manipulated by the psychologically astute Adams. Adams and Hancock were so sure the British were after them that they acted like two crooks on-the-run. Mr. Tourtellot's thesis, from going through the primary sources on the British side, is that the British couldn't have cared less about capturing the "dynamic duo." They just wanted to confiscate some cannon and gunpowder...period! To support his appraisal of Hancock as dunderhead, Mr. Tourtellot gives many examples. However, the funniest is probably when Adams and Hancock are in hiding in Lexington on the morning of April 19th, and suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire. This is what Adams was waiting for! He knew this could be used to unite the Colonies, finally, in a drive towards independence. Adams said, "Oh, what a glorious morning is this." Hancock's reaction was that he thought it was a strange time to comment on the weather! Adams (you have to wonder whether he smacked his head in exasperation) clarified the situation: "I mean what a glorious morning for America." Adams and Hancock, convinced that the British were coming (for them!) moved on to their next "safe house." Hancock had a messenger take a note to his aunt and fiancee, asking them to come and join him. Lest you think that Hancock by now might have had an inkling as to the importance of the day's events, he made sure he included in the note the following: He directed them "to bring the fine salmon that they had had sent to them for dinner." Of course, once the fighting starts, Mr. Tourtellot does not make light of matters. The British retreat towards Boston is recorded in harrowing detail...they were surrounded by superior numbers and were fighting for their survival. They sent out flanking parties to deal with snipers and the flanking parties did what they needed to do...such as burning down homes that they suspected were being used by snipers and killing able-bodied, though unarmed men, on the assumption that they were rebels. Not a bad assumption, really, when you understand that even men in their sixties and seventies were lurking in the woods, taking potshots at the British. One remarkable part of the book is where the soldiers came upon 78 year old Samuel Whittemore, who had just killed a couple of Redcoats. They shot Whittemore and beat him severely. They were satisfied that they had "killed the old rebel." Amazingly, Mr. Whittemore lived another 18 years....not dying until the ripe, old age of 96! Mr. Tourtellot also deals with the aftermath of the battle....showing how Sam Adams and others got maximum propaganda value from the day's events, exaggerating British atrocities (which were in actuality extremely rare) in order to set the Colonies on the road to independence and to influence opinion back in England. I consider this book a welcome and necessary addition to my collection of books dealing with the American Revolution.

This book is very hard to put down. Tons of facts and details without reading like a textbook. The narrative keeps you wanting to read more. It is both entertaining and educational. Love this book.

Overall, I found this book to be enjoyable and easy to read. The author explains in some detail the history of the main characters as well as their culture, and he attempts to show through the history of the local residents how their ideals ultimately resulted in their armed rebellion against the British.I especially liked the maps because they greatly facilitated my ability to follow the action in the battles. Just inside the front cover is a map titled "The Midnight Rides" which gives the reader the routes taken by Revere, Dawes and Prescott, and it also shows where they encountered the British. This map covers two pages and is large enough to show Boston and Concord. The next map, also covering two pages, depicts Percy's retreat back to Boston. At the back of the book, the author includes one page maps titled "Smith's Expedition", "The British At Lexington Common", "The British At Concord" and "Percy's Rescue Brigade" (at Lexington). These maps really helped to make the events come to life for me.The reason I didn't rate this book higher than 3 stars is because the author apparently had a very strong dislike for Protestant Calvinism. His derrogatory comments detracted from the narrative and made me question the accuracy of his presentation of the battle. For instance, on page 31 he states that the people of Lexington "shook off the more styptic elements of the old faith while such of its last defenders as Cotton Mather were wallowing in their own absurdities". (Note that Calvinism is not absurd). He portrays the rejection of Calvinism as "a liberal and cheerful theology" and "rational" while the Calvinists "strained at theological gnats" and were mired in the "melancholy hopelessness of predestination". Among the twenty or so pages of bashing Calvinism, he erroneously states that "[t]he reactionary efforts of Jonathan Edwards had failed signally...".And, he stated that "[s]ince the halfway covenant permitted the baptizing of the children of half members, infant baptism had already become an empty formalism; and with the failure of the short-lived revival movement, the "Great Awakening", the churches as a whole had serious likelihood of going the same way." Note that any serious student of Christianity (either Protestant or Roman Catholic) would not say that infant baptism is an empty formalism, and there is a reason the "Great Awakening" is called "Great" rather than "The Shrot-Lived Awakening". Also, Jonathan Edwards is almost universally considered America's greatest Protestant theologian.I thought the greatest example of the author's bias was in the following contrasts. He described Calvinism as "cold", "craggy dogma", "absurdities", "melancholy hopelessness", and "old..psalm singing [with its] attrocious versifications". He also showed his ignorance of the bible by stating "Old Hancock had loved to be called "Bishop" and felt that he was fully entitled to it, because he had participated in so many ordinations, at one of which he made the startling suggestion that 'He that desires the office of a bishop desires a good work'". Well, Old Bishop Hancock's suggestion was not so startling when you read I Timothy 3:1 "This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work".In comparison, the author reports that Dr. Benjamin Church (member of the Provisional Congress and the Committee of Safety) "reported regularly to Gage" (the British General), and he "sold the information [about the amount and distribution of Colonial militia arms and powder]to finance an expensive mistress in Boston". But, there are no perjorative names for Dr. Church such as "traitor" [to the American cause], "Judas" or "adulterer", but I guess these concepts are just Puritan "absurdities".These obviously biased statements,at least for me, detracted from the overally quality of the book.

As a history buff I have to admit to being ashamed of myself that it has taken me so long to get around to reading any histories about the battle at Lexington & Concord. All the more so because Tourtellot's book is such an excellent example of the breed. Arthur Tourtellot sets forth a compelling story based heavily on original source material. Originally copyrighted in 1959, this telling of events predates the current trends in revisionist history and inspires one's confidence in the objectivity of the narrative. Tourtellot does not omit his own sarcasm and wit to weave a thoroughly enjoyable as well as eye opening window onto the events of 1775 preceding and during April 18th, 19th, 20th in Massachusetts and during the immediate weeks beyond, in Philadelphia.In my humble opinion, this book is an inspirational, must read for all Americans and all those who aspire to become Americans.

The detail in this volume is incredible. All aspects are covered with the participants coming alive and makinga truly fine story. Surprised to see it was first published as long ago as 1959.

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