Book Guide

This book pictures a series of dramatic scenes in the Revolution, which follow in chronological order from events immediately after Lexington to adventures which preceded the fall of Yorktown and the surrender of Cornwallis. While these scenes are depicted in the form of fiction, they are based upon historical incidents, and the authors have endeavored to realize truthfully the actual character of the actors and the times. Since these stories deal in many cases with the more personal phases of Revolutionary life, which cannot be dwelt upon in the regular histories, it is believed that this book of historical adventure will be found to have a peculiarly intimate and illuminating interest. In other words: while the book offers the best of reading for him who reads for the sake of an exciting story, it also conveys a realizing sense of the actual life which Americans lived in our great struggle for liberty.

In the opening chapter one may find the true story of Paul Revere’s ride, introducing Dawes, the almost forgotten hero who shared in that exploit, and this is followed by a picture of a boy’s adventures when the news of Lexington roused the country-side, and by a dramatic tale of another event which followed Lexington, O’Brien’s daring capture of the British ship Margaretta in the harbor of Machias. These were among the first conflicts of the long struggle—events which presently brought a British fleet and troops to New York, an invasion which has suggested the setting for the picturesque tale of “The Little Minute Man.”

From New England and New York another year takes us to a girl’s gallant patriotism at the time when the battle of Brandywine was fought, and there follow stirring chapters of strange adventures in the dark days of Valley Forge.

From Pennsylvania the course of events takes us southward, where Tarleton was raiding the Carolinas and Marion’s men, hard pressed but indomitable, were riding and fighting for liberty. Then follow the closing scenes when Washington’s superb strategy, aided by the French fleet and the gallant Lafayette, was drawing the net about Cornwallis, and when the archtraitor, Benedict Arnold, after pillaging Richmond, and resting at Portsmouth, finally sailed away from Virginia, eluding all attempts at capture.

All this appears in the guise of fiction, but it is fiction which will help American boys and girls to a quicker consciousness of the meaning of the heroic deeds which won our independence.

From the introduction of the first edition

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Howard Pyle

Howard Pyle

1853 - 1911
American
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Winthrop Packard

Winthrop Packard

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Henry Gallup Paine

Henry Gallup Paine

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Molly Elliot Seawell

Molly Elliot Seawell

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George J. Varney

George J. Varney

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G. T.  Ferris

G. T. Ferris

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Percival Ridsdale

Percival Ridsdale

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Henry Milford Steele

Henry Milford Steele

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