Julia Ward grew up in a house fit for a princess. Her father was one of the richest men in the country in 1823, when this story begins, and his mansion in little old New York City was filled with servants. To less fortunate children she must indeed have seemed a princess when she went riding by in a beautiful blue and gold coach.

But in some ways Julia was a poor little rich girl. She was not allowed to go to school or run and play outdoors like other youngsters. Nurse Jane told her that nice girls mustn't get freckles, so she must always wear a veil when she went out, and that it was enough for nice girls to sew and play the piano. Julia couldn't see it. She didn't have red hair for nothing. She decidedly didn't want to be that kind of nice girl.

She just couldn't sew. She used the sewing scissors to snip off her bright curls. She joined in pranks with her brothers and took her punishment along with them the day when they played Indian with the sword that had belonged to their uncle, General Francis Marion, the Revolutionary hero. She shocked her mother's friends by practicing funny faces that the boys had taught her.

Her parents realized that Julia was just naughty, not bad, that she had too much time on her hands. But instead of sending her to school and letting her romp with the children of the neighborhood, they decided to fill her days by engaging the finest tutors to give her lessons. She could sing well; so they took her to the opera and had her voice cultivated. Because they counted her an "unusual child," who would always make people talk, they did not scold her for wearing one black and one white stocking!

This book tells how the lovely little rampageous princess in her ivory tower grew up to be a true democrat, who loved all people rich and poor, free and enslaved, who started movements that have proved a blessing to mankind, and through her long life worked for world-wide peace. It tells about her own wonderful romance. And especially it tells how she came to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the dark days of the Civil War, the greatest of our war songs, which thrills our hearts whenever it is sung.

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Jean Brown Wagoner is the author of two of the most popular books in the Childhood of Famous Americans Series, Louisa Alcott: Girl of Old Boston and Jane Addams: Little Lame Girl. She is a gifted storyteller, with a sure instinct for what will interest youngsters.

From the dust jacket