“Escape from Bunker Hill” is a
story about the Underground Railroad. The storyline tells of the escape of
slaves from a plantation named Bunker Hill in Jacksonville, FL, all the way to central
Maine. This is arranged by the plantation owners Dr. Joseph & Myra Mitchell. They are western Maine natives, born in Newfield, who resided in
Manchester, NH, Calais, ME and then Jacksonville before returning to Maine at
the outbreak of the Civil War. The Mitchells were actual people, but the
storyline sprung from the author’s imagination as she researched the couple’s
home in Readfield, ME. The appendix provides information about the real
Mitchells and other actual people, events, places, publications and
organizations in the novel, that really did exist during that era. See the book
summary below to learn more.
340 pages, illustrated with 35 pg appendix. $16.95 + tax, S& H. Order NOW via PayPal – see the top button in the right
column. FMI, or to arrange for payment by cash or check email crossings4u@gmail.com or call (207)
441-9184.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Joseph Mitchell is a native of Newfield, ME who becomes involved in the Underground Railroad while a student at nearby Parsonsfield Seminary. After medical school he marries Myra Chase from his hometown and they become Underground Railroad operatives, leading them from Manchester, NH to Calais, ME, New Brunswick, Canada and South to Bunker Hill Plantation in Jacksonville, FL before returning to Maine.
In Jacksonville the Mitchells befriend a young slave girl named Sally and they orchestrate her escape to freedom, along with three of her friends. The four young black people ensue on a perilous journey of 1,500 miles by sea, railroad and on rivers, lakes and land to reach their destination in central Maine. When Fort Sumter is attacked The Mitchells flee from Jacksonville with hopes they will connect with Sally and her friends somewhere up North. While en-route the Mitchells and the four runaways meet some famous abolitionists of the day.
“Escape
from Bunker Hill” tells a story like the hazardous escapes undertaken by
thousands of slaves before Emancipation.
The appendix offers information about the people, events, places
publications and organizations that are included in the storyline and actually
did exist during those troublesome times.
BOOK REVIEW:
Dale Potter-Clark has an easy style of writing that flows easily and made it hard to put down. It certainly will appeal to a wide range of people. It’s got the regional interest that they like, but it will also appeal to American History buffs too. The appendix is equally as interesting as the story itself. For a work of fiction, I am very impressed with it.
Stu Tinker
Betts Book Store, retired
Bangor, Maine