Waiting is the worst curse one has to endure. . . .

Young Eliza Bouton was sure those words were true. It was she who had to stay home when her father and brother marched off to battle in the Revolutionary War. 

Spirited and imaginative, Eliza longs to be part of the Colonial fight for freedom, and being left behind seems to her being left out. But she is soon to learn that what seems to be waiting can be full of action. The Tories overrun her home town of Ridgefield. A young wounded Patriot, carrying a desperately-needed message for General Washington, collapses on her home doorstep. British soldiers come to search—and to loot. 

"I can't be afraid," she thinks, and waves her red petticoat from the window in a make-believe sign of Tory sympathy. Later, with the precious message sewn into the hem of that same red petticoat, Eliza and her friend, Jeremiah, make their dangerous way to Dobbs Ferry where the message is successfully sent on its way. 

Historically authentic in background, filled with a wealth of colorful details, this book presents vividly a personal segment of Revolutionary courage. And Eliza learns an everlasting truth—the real things you are never die. . . you give them to others . . . your courage, your kindness.

From the dust jacket