Blood, Smoke, and Freedom

Nonfiction

Join Lauren for a very special virtual field trip to the Museum of the American Revolution! Details online. Blood, Smoke, and : A FTrue rStorye of edomthe American Revolution Joseph Plumb Martin was still a boy when he became an American soldier. Could he survive his first battle? By Lauren Tarshis | Art by Gary Hanna

Boom! Boom! Boom! Cannon explosions shook the ground. Smoke filled the air. And 15-year-old Joseph Plumb Martin was lying in the dirt, trying to stay alive. It was August 27, 1776. America and England were fighting the first big battle of the Revolutionary War, in Brooklyn, New York. Just three months before, Joseph had begged his family to let him join the American army. Being a soldier would be a thrilling adventure, he was sure. Of course America would win! UP But now Joseph could see that the Americans were doomed. Hundreds CLOSE Building Knowledge As you read, look of soldiers were dead. The cries and moans of wounded men rose up into for information about why Americans fought in LOOK FOR WORD NERD’S 8 WORDS IN BOLD the summer sky. It seemed Joseph had two choices: surrender—or die. the Revolutionary War and what it was like.

4 STORYWORKS STORYWORKS.SCHOLASTIC.COM MARCH/APRIL 2018 5 A New World Life was different back in Joseph’s day. Joseph was born in 1760, when Here are just a few reasons why. the United States wasn’t yet a If you lived in 1776 country. Much of America was wilderness. Lined up along the East Kids loved eel pie. Schools were New shoes were There was no These slimy, snake-like fish, baked just one room. really painful. toilet paper. Coast was a strip of land owned by in a pie, were an American favorite. A single teacher Shoes were People used corn cobs England. This land was divided into 13 taught kids of all expensive and hard to clean themselves. separate areas known as colonies. ages—together. to get. There were no Joseph lived with his grandparents left or right shoes, in the colony of Connecticut. His and it took months to great-great-grandfather had settled there break in a new pair. in the mid-1600s. He’d journeyed to America on a creaking wooden ship— 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. Those early sea journeys lasted for several miserable after being forced from their homelands. African He begged his grandparents to let him join the packed with soldiers and weapons had been months. Passengers suffered through ferocious people were dragged to America in chains and new American army. And in June of 1776, they streaming toward the city. British “redcoat” storms. Rotting food. Biting rats. Killer diseases. forced to become slaves for the settlers. agreed. His grandmother packed his knapsack soldiers were the most feared in the world. Many died before ever reaching America. But for people like Joseph’s family—white with clothing, cake, and cheese. His grandfather By August, more than 32,000 redcoats were But that didn’t stop thousands of people and free—life was better than almost anywhere gave him a musket and a Bible. And Joseph camped on Staten Island, just five miles south from heading to the New World, as America was else in the world. Joseph had been sent to live sailed to New York City, which had been turned of New York City. More than 400 British ships called. They went because America promised with his grandparents when he was 7. They were into a massive American army camp. were anchored nearby. Seventy-three were a different kind of life. In England and wealthy and showered him with love. “I was now what I had long wished to be,” he warships, packed with cannons that could blast across Europe, strict laws and old Even as a kid, though, Joseph sensed that wrote. “A soldier.” apart a city block in minutes. ideas controlled almost everything trouble was brewing. More and more Americans Except Joseph wasn’t really a soldier—at Joseph could plainly see those warships a person did—what prayers they were angry with “Mother England.” They wanted least, not yet. And neither were most of the lurking like caged beasts, hungry for blood could say, who they could marry, more say over how laws were made in the nearly 20,000 men and teenage boys who had and ready to strike. But he had no doubt that whether they were rich or poor, even colonies. They fumed at England’s king, George joined the American army. Few had ever fought America would win any battle. who they could be friends with. These rules were III. Why should he rule over America when he in a war before. Back home they were farmers, He was wrong. At the end of August, the like prison walls, trapping people into unhappy had never even been there? Some said the 13 butchers, tailors, shop owners. Some barely knew British attack began. Even before any shots lives. No matter how hard a person worked, they colonies should tear away from England and how to fire a gun. Their leader, General George were fired, the Americans were doomed. couldn’t break out. But these rules and ideas become a new country. Washington, had never led an army before. All The British attack was brilliantly planned. didn’t reach all the way to America. A person Like a storm that spins into a hurricane, summer, he struggled to turn his ragtag group In the predawn darkness, more than 15,000 could be freer there. No wonder people risked anger between America and England turned into a trained fighting force. soldiers began to creep toward Brooklyn, barely everything—even death—to get there. to rage. And then, on April 19, 1775, that a mile across the river from New York City. By the time Joseph was born, hundreds of rage exploded into war. Fighting broke out Major Attack Only a few thousand American troops were thousands of people of European descent lived in between Americans and British troops in and Joseph didn’t complain about the endless stationed there. America. around the towns of Lexington and Concord, in marching and shooting practice. He choked Most were hunkered down in six American Massachusetts. down the army meals of corn mush, wormy forts—roughly made buildings protected by high Trouble Brewing The American Revolution had begun. biscuits, and tasteless meat. He coped with walls and cannons. Others were on patrol across Not everyone thrived in the colonies. As the sweltering summer heat and the stench of Brooklyn. All would be caught by surprise. more and more settlers arrived, hundreds of Seeds of Courage human waste that hung over camp. Over the next few days, Washington thousands of Native American people were At first, the thought of fighting terrified Meanwhile, the British were scrambled to send more men to Brooklyn. killed. They died of diseases brought by European Joseph. But soon, as he would later write in his plotting a major attack on New Joseph was one of them. He was rowed SHUTTERSTOCK.COM (EEL, PARCHMENT)

settlers, in fights over territory, of starvation memoir, “the seeds of courage began to sprout.” MARK SUMMERFIELD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (SCHOOL HOUSE); THE COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION (SHOES); IGOR KOVALCHUK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (CORN COBS) York. All summer long, British ships across the river—a trip of about an

6 STORYWORKS STORYWORKS.SCHOLASTIC.COM MARCH/APRIL 2018 7 hour. His pockets were stuffed with hard biscuits, Eight Long Years and his heart was filled with fear. The of An aide to General Washington managed to Battle Brooklyn sneak out of Brooklyn and back to New York City. Secret Escape He sent out an urgent message: The Americans The moment Joseph stepped ashore, he saw a need boats in Brooklyn . . . now! scene of horror: wounded men lying in the grass, Within hours, dozens of boats, big and small, r “some with broken arms, some with broken legs, e were on the shores of Brooklyn. Under the cover v some with broken heads.” He and his regiment i of darkness and fog, thousands of American R New York were commanded to go to a creek. All the t soldiers—including Joseph—were quietly ferried s American troops had the same orders: Stop the City a safely back to New York City.

E British from reaching the forts. After dawn, the British launched their attack Joseph fought bravely, but the British forces American on the six Brooklyn forts. They were astonished to were too big and too strong. Blast by fiery cannon army camp discover that the forts were empty. Somehow, the blast, shot by crackling musket shot, the British entire American army had slipped away and was mowed down the American soldiers. Hundreds safe in New York City. were killed, injured, or taken prisoner. Those The Americans had lost the Battle of captured were doomed to almost certain death Brooklyn. But the army had survived. They would on the British prison ships docked around New keep fighting. York City. Thousands of men died of starvation And fight they did. The American Revolution and disease on these rat-filled, filthy floating jails lasted for eight long and grueling years. Towns throughout the war. New York were burned. Families were torn apart. Thousands Many Americans threw down their weapons Harbor of soldiers were killed in battle or died of fevers and tried to flee. Joseph watched in horror as Brooklyn and diseases that spread easily in the crowded and dozens of American soldiers drowned trying to dirty army camps. Soldiers’ illnesses spread to their escape across a deep pond. He helped drag some families too, killing many more. Fear and suffering of their bodies out of the water. For the next three gripped America. days, he and his regiment fought to drive away British army In 1783, after hundreds of battles across the British troops—and to camp colonies, the war finally ended. The British had stay alive. surrendered after the Battle of Yorktown, in On the third Virginia. America had won. day of fighting, the MAINE Staten Island Joseph fought during the entire war. He (part of Massachusetts)

British closed in on NEW moved to Maine, married, and raised five children. NEW HAMPSHIRE the American forts. YORK He died at age 89. Throughout his life, he never MASSACHUSETTS Inside the forts were CONNECTICUT forgot the “dangers and sufferings” of being a RHODE ISLAND thousands of terrified PENNSYLVANIA soldier. But he never lost his pride in helping NEW JERSEY

American soldiers— MARYLAND America win its fight for freedom. n DELAWARE n a and General George e VIRGINIA c O

Washington himself. c i t n NORTH a If the British captured l on the blood-soaked fields of Brooklyn. WRITE TO WIN CAROLINA t A the soldiers in these SOUTH But even in the midst of the blood CAROLINA Write a letter to Joseph, telling him what you learned about the Revolutionary forts, the war would GEORGIA and smoke and terror, Washington did War from his story. Send it to “Freedom Contest” by May 1, 2018. Ten almost certainly be not give up hope. He came up with a bold winners will each receive a copy of I Survived the American Revolution, FIND AN lost. America’s fight plan: to sneak the entire American army 1776 by Lauren Tarshis. See page 2 for details. ACTIVITY ONLINE!

for freedom would end out of Brooklyn. MAP ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE STANKIEWICZ

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