“Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes” remains one of the enduring, and most stirring, quotations of the Revolutionary War, and it was very likely uttered at the Battle of Bunker Hill by General Israel Putnam.
Putnam’s renown as a battlefield commander and his colorful military service far and wide are explored in The Whites of Their Eyes: The Life of Revolutionary Hero Israel Putnam from Rogers Rangers to Bunker Hill (Stackpole Books, 2023) by Michael E. Shay. [Read more…] about The Whites of Their Eyes: The Life of Israel Putnam