We Were There, Part 1

 

The We Were There books was series a of 36 novels for kids written between 1955 and 1963. There was one (We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord) in my school library when I was in elementary school. I loved it and, when I rediscovered it as an adult, I was impressed with how good it was. As we have discussed before, I had remarkably good taste in books as a child. 

Aside from Lexington and Concord, I have run across The Battle of the Bulge and The Oregon Trail in used book stores over the last few years. I continued to be impressed with the good prose, solid historical accuracy (each book had an historian working with the writer) and the willingness to occasionally present difficult and morally uncertain situations. So, when I saw nine of them on the shelf in a Goodwill bookstore, I snatched them all up.

It gave me an idea. I have been a guest speaker at both Daughters of the American Revolution and Sons of the American Revolution meetings. My wife Angela is a leader in the local DAR chapter (which was my connection for becoming a speaker). I told her that if they ever had an open slot, I could do a talk on children's and young adult novels dealing with the American Revolution. This would include Esther Forbes' Johnny Tremain, Howard Fast's April Morning and the four We Were There novels dealing with the Revolution or the events leading up to it.

Angela thinks its a good idea, but there's no certainty that I'll eventually give this talk. So, as I read each of these novels, I'm going to write about them here. That way, if the talk does come up in the future, I'll have these posts as notes to use. 

Normally, I'd write about them in chronological order according to when the historical events being depicted happened. But I had to get two of the We Were There books via inter-library loan. I'll need to return these soon, so I'll be reviewing them first, beginning with We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, by Robert N. Webb (1956).

Each of the WWT books feature a boy and a girl, usually in their early teens, as the protagonists, giving the young reader point-of-view characters they could identify with. In this case, the story is told through the eyes of 15-year-old Tom Botsford and his 13-year-old sister Lucy. They live with their parents on a farm across a lake from Fort Ticondaroga.

Tom meets Ethan Allen when the big, bosterious leader of the Green Mountain Boys saves him from a mountain lion. The year is 1774, so the Revolution is still a year away. But Allen and his Boys have work to do. 

There was a land dispute between New Hampshire and New York, caused by contradictory land grants issued by various English kings over the years. The Botsfords and other settlers are in conflict with "Yorkers," militia and surveyors from New York who are trying to run them off their land. Tom ends up working with Allen's men, at one point helping to save his own farm from being burned.

All of this helps establish the personalities of the Botsfords and of Allen, but I'm also impressed that the author succinctly explains a complicated political situation (which was eventually resolved years later by the formation of Vermont) and use that to drive the plot. The story even briefly delves into the moral complexities of the situation, as Allen and his men eventually ride off to burn down a few Yorker farms and drive those families off the land. 

The book also does a great job of capturing Ethan Allen's larger-than-life personality. Though it does clean up his language. In fact, when Angela and I were discussing the book just before I read it, we were wondering if the plot would be driven by Tom being taught by Allen to cuss and drink. 

Eventually, the war begins and the focus of the Green Mountain Boys turns to capturing Fort Ticanderoga. Young Lucy Botsford has been to the fort to sell them cakes and bread made by her mom. So now she goes back one more time (the British troops haven't yet heard about Lexington and Concord) to sell some more cakes, but also to count how many troops are stationed there. Tom in the meantime, is on guard duty when he encounters an arrogant colonel named Benedict Arnold, who has been sent to take command. 

Arnold clashes with Allen over who is in command (an event that did happen in real life), with Allen eventually threatening to hog tie Arnold unless he leaves the issue alone until after the fort is taken.

Arnold's betrayal of his country is still a couple of years in the future. Here, we get a realistic snapshot of who he was at the time--an arrogant but incredibly brave and capable soldier. The book doesn't cover his later activities, but Arnold will be responsible for saving the Revolution at least twice before his ego led him down a treacherous path.

The Green Mountain Boys cross the lake at night in rough weather, attacking the fort and taking it without the loss of a single man. 

Later events are summarized at the end of the novel--Allen gets captured by the British while leading an attack into Canada, spending three years as a prisoner before being exchanged. Henry Knox, one of Washington's aides, arrives and hauls the cannon to the Continental Army besieging Boston (an incredible feat that could have been the plot of a We Were There book in of itself). And Tom Botsford rides off to join the army and fight for his country. That final scene is genuinely touching. Tom's mom is worried sick about him. His father is worried also, but proud of his son as well. It's a legitimately touching ending. Tom is doing the right thing, but he's riding into an incredibly dangerous situation and there's no guarentee he'll survive.

So We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys is a kids' book written with intelligence, telling an exciting story in clear prose without dumbing down either the characterizations or the events. 

In a few weeks, we'll examing the WWT book dealing with Yorktown. Darn Inter-library loans!--forcing me to read these books out of proper historical order! Civilization may collapse, but there's nothing to be done about it.