Harper's Round Table, July 9, 1895

A transport back to 1895, when American boys dreamed in military cadence and every vacant lot was a theater of empire. This issue of Harper's Round Table opens with the Raleigh Reds, a company of boys drilled to perfection by the ambitious Tommy, whose vision of discipline and honor would impress any recruiting sergeant. When word arrives that older boys plan to steal a historic cannon from the town square, Tommy marshals his troops for a scheme daring enough to rival any frontier adventure. What follows is gloriously, perfectly chaotic: misplaced signals, mistaken identities, and boys who bite off considerably more military adventure than they can chew. Beyond the farcical plot lies something more interesting - a window into how late Victorian America taught its children to imagine themselves as soldiers, explorers, and builders of empire. The writing fizzes with the particular energy of boys who believe absolutely in the grandeur of their own plans. For readers curious about how American childhood sounded and felt before cinema, before radio, when reading was the great adventure and a stolen cannon was the stuff of legend.