Fourteenth Colony

Reviews / Votes

At last we have an easy-to-read book that corrects the long-embraced notion of thirteen American colonies rising in revolution against Britain. Bunn's impressively researched and well-written volume reveals that there were actually fourteen colonies and that one, though largely forgotten to history, remained loyal. Fourteenth Colony will open many eyes to a startling historical omission just as it will force reconsideration of how we teach, and interpret, the American Revolution. -- Samuel C. Hyde Jr., Leon Ford Endowed Chair, Professor of History, Southeastern Louisiana University An illuminating exploration of a chapter of American history most readers haven't previously encountered. * Kirkus Reviews * A readable and well-researched history of British West Florida has long been overdue. Now, finally, we have one thanks to Mike Bunn. In briskly paced prose, Bunn explores Britain's under-appreciated 'fourteenth colony' from its straggling Mississippi River outposts to its Gulfside Pensacola capital. Along the way he introduces us to a host of colorful personalities including tattooed Indian warriors, Indigo cultivators, runaway slaves, harrumphing administrators, determined ship captains, and underfed soldiers before ending the saga, too soon, amidst Spanish smoke and cannon balls. Nicely done! -- John S. Sledge * author of The Mobile River and The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History * Mike Bunn's accomplishment with Fourteenth Colony is an impressive one. Accessible and captivating colonial history and wartime exploits are presented with a striking human dimension. Bunn illuminates obscure history in a palatable and compulsively readable way. * Alabama Writers' Forum * Mike Bunn has written the first thorough history of West Florida, a British colony in America during the era of the American Revolution. He chronicles the lives and labors of settlers, slaves, and soldiers in the sickly, even deadly, subtropical region of present day southern Alabama and Mississippi. His story includes a compelling account of the three-year war that culminated in Spain's capture of the colony at near the same moment that the British surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. Fourteenth Colony is good history and a good read, which significantly adds to our knowledge of colonial America and the Revolutionary War. -- John Ferling * bestselling author of several books on early America, including Apostles of Revolution * Mike Bunn's groundbreaking new book Fourteenth Colony takes readers where few have gone before, to an all-but-forgotten English outpost in the land of live oaks and Spanish moss on the Gulf coast. When thirteen other British colonies revolted in 1775, West Florida discovered that it had its own role in the drama of revolution, not as player, but as a target. Bunn's description of those events is unsurpassed. Combining groundbreaking research with mature judgments and crisp narrative, Fourteenth Colony will surely be the definitive work on one colony that somehow escaped becoming another stripe on Old Glory. -- William C. Davis * author of The Rogue Republic: How Would-Be Patriots Waged the Shortest Revolution in American History * Historian Mike Bunn spotlights British West Florida during the American Revolution in this accessible and well-researched account. Bunn combines deep scholarship with vivid storytelling in this comprehensive record of the period. * Publishers Weekly * An excellent, well-researched introduction to a long-forgotten British colony of America's Revolutionary era. * Library Journal * Engaging and well written. A smart, well-researched book. * Journal of the American Revolution *