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[Published by Rand McNally & Company, 1965.]

Not quite a young/adult book, this one was probably aimed at kids aged 8-12 or thereabouts. It's the story of a twelve-year-old Philadelphia boy who comes to stay with his aunt and her family in Williamsburg during 1781, and ends up thoroughly entangled in the war as it passes through the area. Andy Small wants to join the Continental army as a drummer. Through the course of the plot he gets his wish briefly, with both Lafayette's army and Washington's -- and, ironically, also with Cornwallis's. Along with that, he acts as a messenger and a spy, and generally keeps himself amazingly busy.

It reminds me strongly of the various Disney kids' adventures that were coming out around the same time or a bit earlier, such as Johnny Tremaine. In the finest tradition of kids' adventures, Andy gets to play a crucial role in events, even though he can't begin to truly understand them.

The mentions of Ban Tarleton (who never actually appears) are overtly inspired by that tale that claimed his name was used after the war to frighten children. The phrase "Tarleton is coming" gets used about every ten pages in a tone that translates into "Boo" and that's about it.

The book's most intrusive flaw is an extremely common one. Everybody in it seems to be looking back at their lives from somewhere in the future. They all know the significance of events with the advantage of decades or centuries of hindsight rather than simply being people trying to live their lives in the midst of a messy change of government. Washington even gets called "the father of his country."

It's such a breezy little book that I don't have the heart to bash on it more than that. It does, of course, display most of the other standard faults, but it's not particularly offensive about it. (And, surprisingly, there are actually a couple of nice Britons rubbing shoulders with the Usual Cast of nasties.) I expect I would have liked it if I'd read it when I was eight or nine.