1777 - Danbury on Fire!
by M. H. B. Hughes
Thirteen-year-old Joe Hamilton's father has many fears as the Revolutionary War draws closer to his Connecticut town. But has Joe's father also become deranged? Joe wonders....
Arguments about the war split the town and splintered Joe's family. Joe's uncles and grandfather call Joe's father a traitor. He says the same about them.
Joe's mother grinds her teeth as she contemplates just who's at fault for her family's fracture. Joe, however, perceives that something else is eating his mother alive....
Sharp-witted Joe listens intently to every word that adults say, while vowing that he will never be like his manipulative Patriot grandfather, Captain Silas Hamilton.
No, no ... of course, not...
Left on his own amid British generals and red-coated troopers, Joe watches the parade as King George's army pays Danbury a visit. Are the British army a genuine danger? Or is the town's schoolboy bully worse?
The British are all nice to Joe ... maybe too nice...
especially one...
Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni (State Archeologist Emeritus for Connecticut says: (12/31/2020)
"What a joyous way to incorporate genealogy, history, and fiction!
I particularly enjoyed the interplay between Tories and Patriots!
A part of the history I think folks know little about."
Millicent Haight Bell Hughes grew up knowing she had relatives in the Colonial Wars, but all stories had disappeared from family lore. Deep desire for connection produced 1777 - Danbury on Fire!
Member of: French and Indian War Foundation Danbury Historical Society Wilton Historical Society Redding Historical Society Ridgefield Historical Society Society of Children's Book Writers and illustrators (SCBWI) |
Millicent Haight Bell
DAR# 1002283
Ketoctin Chapter, Virginia
DAR Patriots featured in the book:
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