A REBEL REDCOATS Among A Revolutionary War Novel by Jessica Gunderson
CHAPTER 1 THE COLOR OF THE ENEMY OCTOBER 1779 BELLE OAK PLANTATION COOPER RIVER SOUTH CAROLINA The deep sweet smell of the Cooper River flooded my nostrils Home At last I was home The wagon trembled beneath me and I clutched my seat as we turned onto a small dirt path Before me wide watery rice fields stretched far as I could see Look Maggie my father said This is your future
A grander future I could never imagine I told him It’s good to be home That morning I’d begged to come along with him on his daily rounds of the fields He’d been reluctant which surprised me I’d just returned to Belle Oak after a long summer in Charles Town and Father knew I was longing to see the gardens and the fields Ever since I could remember my father took me with him on his rounds of the fields I was his only child and my father promised I’d inherit the plantation someday even though I was a girl I wasn’t exactly a normal girl though I hated my daily lessons in handwriting music and dance And I hated being shut up in the house surrounded by thick walls I’d much rather be traipsing about the plantation with my father Worse I hated the summers we spent in Charles Town Like many other planters we escaped the low country summer heat and mosquitoes by moving to our city home in Charles Town But in truth I felt more suffocated in Charles Town than I ever would in the country humidity
