The Day the American Revolution Began: 19 April 1775 [Hardcover]

William H. Hallahan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2000

At four in the morning on April 19, 1975, a line of British soldiers stared across the village green of Lexington, Massachusetts, at a crowd of seventy-seven Amercican militiamen. A shot rang out, and the Redcoats replied with a devastating volley.

But the day that started so well for the king's troops would end in catastrophe: seventy-three British soldiers dead, two hundred wounded, and the survivors chased back into Boston by the angry colonists. Drawing on diaries, letters, official documents, and memoirs, William H. Hallahan vividly captures the drama of those tense twenty-four hours and shows how they decided the fate of two nations.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The shot heard 'round the world traveled at slightly less than the speed of sound, as the news of its firing took four days to travel from Lexington Green to New York, five days to Philadelphia, and more than five weeks to distant London. William H. Hallahan follows the news--and the reactions it provoked--in The Day the American Revolution Began.

Reminiscent of the best historical fiction, Hallahan's narrative examines the events leading up to the fateful day and profiles many players on both sides of the conflict. Some are little known, such as Mrs. Moulton, an elderly resident of Concord who insisted that Colonel Smith put out a fire his Redcoats had set; or Samuel Jarvis, who, with his wife and four children, was stripped naked, then tarred and feathered by a rebel mob because he was a Loyalist. Hallahan also treats us to behind-the-scenes glimpses of the more famous: John Hancock, having fled Lexington, sends back for a salmon he had inadvertently left behind ("Excitement always made him ravenous"); General Gage, looking across the masses of wounded men in his army camp at his American-born wife, suspects she was the spy who had revealed his military plans against Concord to the rebels.

Throughout the book, Hallahan remains remarkably balanced. The British were not all bullheaded tyrants (indeed, many were reluctant to go to war against their colonists), nor were the Americans all noble patriots. The excesses of Samuel Adams's mob--and his questionable political tactics--are discussed at length. Hallahan's extensive use of diaries, letters, broadsheets, and memoirs, as well as official accounts, lends his prose an immediacy lacking in many studies. Readers looking for an in-depth study of the battles of the American Revolution may be disappointed; only the actions at Lexington and Concord receive Hallahan's attention. But careful attention it is, and The Day the American Revolution Began is an engaging, entertaining, informative read. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney

From Publishers Weekly

Aiming to do more than just describe Paul Revere's famous ride and the "shot heard round the world," military historian Hallahan argues that the Battle of Lexington and Concord wasn't merely the mythic event that has become part of our American heritage; it was a politically important occurrence, a catalyst for radicalizing the colonies behind the emerging idea of national independence. Before the battle, he contends, most Americans were unhappy with British rule, but they shared little consensus about how to react. The shocking news of battle, however, emboldened radical elements in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Williamsburg, effectively undermining advocates of a negotiated political settlement with Britain. Although there's nothing particularly groundbreaking about Hallahan's treatment of the battle, of such well-known revolutionary personalities as Washington and Hamilton or of the early days of the revolution (Bernard Bailyn, Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris do a far better job in their classic works), he does remind us of the peculiar genius of Samuel Adams, whose behind-the-scenes tactical brilliance provoked from the British a response of unthinking rage. Depicting him as a visionary propagandist and the leading force behind Boston's urban guerrilla war against British forces, Hallahan shows how Adams incited the British by leading mob actions such as the Boston Tea Party and the rushing of Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson's Boston home. Indeed, as the ill-fated British Army marched toward Lexington and Concord, it was searching for the elusive Adams. Hallahan rescues the reality of events long buried beneath layers of myth and folklore. B&w photos. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (April 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380976161
• ISBN-13: 978-0380976164
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,003,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Day the American Revolustion Began, May 9, 2000

By 

T. Johnson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Day the American Revolution Began: 19 April 1775 (Hardcover)

This book was written to be easily read. Almost entertaining to the point it read like a story.

Not your typical history book but more of a history novel.

If you're looking for good stories on all the key player of the American Revolution about their where abouts, thoughts, and action during the start of the revolution then this book is for you.

It tracks the sequence of communication from the first days of the Revolution to the time it became official in England.

Also it has an excellent outline of all the historical events that lead up to the start of the revolution listed in the back of the book.

I highly recoment this book to all History buffs and non-history buffs looking for a good factual historical information.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvelous Book, June 17, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day the American Revolution Began: 19 April 1775 (Hardcover)

I could not put this book down once I started to read it - it reads more like a story rather than hard-core non-fiction. I think it is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

The day that the american revolution began was literally a different day in each colony, because each colony heard about the events in Massachussetts as the post road riders arrived with the information. The book starts with the battles of Concord, and then follows the post road riders down the coast of the colonies. The author then takes us to London where we find out the British reaction to the revolution.

What sets this book apart from all the others on this time period that I've read is that the author focuses not only on the battles and key events of the time but also on individuals. For example, in Boston we learn of a man who has just learned that his children have a fatal pox and who must choose between standing with his fellow countrymen on Lexington Green or staying with his family. And after the battle in Concord, two ships leave the Boston harbor bound for London, one carrying the British version of the battle and one carrying the patriots' version. The ship that gets to London first will have its version taken to King George, and the patriots' ship leaves last. I couldn't wait to get to the final chapters to find out which ship got there first.

I thought that this book more than any other I have read really brought the times of the revolution and the people participating in to life: the personal fears and hopes and dreams of both the British and the patriots. This book was exhaustively researched, and in reviewing his extensive bibliography, I see that the author draws from many primary sources such as diaries and journals to document his work.

Truly an exceptional book.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lively and opinionated, July 31, 2000

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Day the American Revolution Began: 19 April 1775 (Hardcover)

Using the events of April 19, 1775 to illuminate the issues and personalities of the American Revolution,Hallahan delves into the philosophical, political and personal ambitions of the rather small cadre of men who spearheaded the drive for independence.

"The day the American Revolution began was not the same day for everyone," begins Hallahan in his prologue. The news rippled through the country day by day and did not reach London until the colonial version arrived on May 28, beating General Gage's account by two weeks.

Hallahan opens with the events in Massachusetts as British troops gather to march on Lexington to confiscate illicit arms and quiet rebellion with a show of strength - playing right into the grasping hands of Sam Adams who had been fomenting rebellion for more than a decade. As the day proceeds, the author introduces us to the post riders, militia leaders and strategists, the brave, the lucky and the hapless.

He sketches personalities, histories and circumstances, revealing the rebels as a mixed lot of thinkers, smugglers, dandies, farmers and shopkeepers. Culling his information from diaries, letters, documents and memoirs, Hallahan clearly and vividly recreates a tumultuous time when, but for a vocal, ambitious minority, and a recalcitrant, shortsighted Royal policy, America might have remained British.

Had the compromisers prevailed, suggests Hallahan, "There might have been no American Revolution and no French Revolution, the United States might still be part of the British Commonwealth, and consequently both World War I and World War II might have been averted because Germany would not have so brazenly gone on the offensive."

A breathtaking statement, to be sure. But, while the book illuminates many thwarted opportunities for peace, it also lays bare the total corruption of British government at the time - the rule of the many by the aristocratic few, the buying and selling of important offices and its selfish and ruinous economic policies toward the colonies. Reading Hallahan's account, few will conclude that compromise with Britain was ever sustainable or desirable in the long run.

Lively, fascinating, informative and opinionated, Hallahan's well-organized, readable narrative should spur new interest in Revolutionary history among a general readership.