Young Patriots: Inspiring Stories of the American Revolution
To my husband Glenn for showing patience during the times I lived in Revolutionary War America for searching out the most knowledgeable person at historic sites and for sharing in the enthusiasm this book is lovingly dedicated M F A aS To my husband Peter for his support and encouragement as I spent countless hours at the computer and for his willingness to traipse around numerous historic sites with me this book is dedicated with love E W
FOREWORD Historians now know a great deal about the American Revolutionary era They know about the protests that learned colonists wrote to object to British taxation and other measures They know about the street demonstrations of common people designed not only to object to British policies but also to vent their frustrations at their colonial betters They know about the boycotts of British goods how they were enforced and who obeyed or disobeyed them They know about the politically active patriots those men who met in colonial legislatures and in intercolonial meetings such as the Stamp Act Congress and the Continental Congress and almost everything they said or wrote Historians also know almost everything about fighting the war what the engagements were who fought on each side their fighting techniques their weapons even the casualties they suffered They know how the common soldiers and their officers in each army and the militia dressed ate marched camped how they felt about each other and how orders were transmitted They know these things about the British French and American
In recent years historians have come to know more about the home front during the war They know what women experienced when their fathers husbands or brothers went off to fight and what happened to them if their men did not return They know what the marching armies or marauding naval forces did to the countryside the occupied cities and the raided seacoast towns They know how the tumult caused by the war affected farming and trading how it affected religion and education how it affected local politics how it affected the settlement of the frontier and the Indians who lived there and who generally had to choose to fight either for the British or the Americans They know how the war changed slavery setting it on the road to extinction in the North but not in the South They even know the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention that then secret meeting that transformed the national government setting many of the precedents by which it operates today Yet one area historians know little about is what young boys and girls did during the Revolutionary era For all these other events and groups there survives written evidence to tell us what happened and how people participated But for young people there is very little They themselves did not provide it Some could not read or write Most had not the time the resources nor the inclination to keep a diary or write letters Their parents and other adults preoccupied
