The Matchlock Gun

Whenever I read (or in this case, listen to via audio book) a brilliant children's book that I didn't experience as a kid, I have two simultanious reactions. First, I'm thrilled to simply experience a great story I hadn't heard before. Second, I feel as if I've forever missed something by not experiencing it as a child.

In this case, it was Walter D. Edmonds 1941 book The Matchlock Gun. Set on the American frontier in 1756, the tale revolves around a Dutch family who live in a cabin that has an old-fashioned but still magnificent gun mounted on the wall. It's a huge matchlock, brought over from the Netherlands by the great-grandfather of ten-year-old Edward. It's an antique, difficult to carry, load and fire. So when Edward's dad (named Teunis) leaves to serve with the militia during the French and Indian War, he takes a more modern flintlock musket.

...Teunis bent down to show the boy how the gun worked. "See, Edward (he pronounced the name Ateoord in the Dutch manner), it's a matchlock. It doesn't fire itself like the musket, with a flint. You have got to touch the priming with fire, like a cannon. It's a nonsensical, old-fashioned kind of gun, isn't it?

But while Teunis is away, raiding Indians enter the area and burn several nearby homes. Suddenly, Edward, his mom Gertrude and his little sister Trudy realize the old matchlock might be their only hope to survive. They mount it on a table pointed out a window. They search and find only a couple of bullets, but supplement this by adding nails, brass buttons and pebbles to the load. 

Then Gertrude keeps watch outside while young Edward mans the gun. When the Indians do attack, the gun really does quickly become their only hope.

The copy I found at my local public library after listening to the audio book includes the original illustrations by Paul Lantz, which really add to the story. The book in its entirety is short, running just 50 pages including several double-page illustrations. But within those pages, Edmonds and Lantz capture a real sense of a specific time and place in history and populate it with people who seem real. Edmonds writes that it is indeed a true story, handed down by the family's decendents. Whether that is literally true, this is a book that sincerely teaches you what it was like to live on the 18th Century American frontier. And you get to learn about a really cool gun as well.