With the Swamp Fox: A Story of General Marion's Young Spies
1899
With the Swamp Fox: A Story of General Marion's Young Spies
1899
The year is 1780. The Carolina backcountry smolders under British occupation, and twins Percy and Robert Sumter are too young to join the Continental Army but not too young to fight for their country's freedom. When they find themselves in the legendary Swamp Fox's territory, the brothers discover that youth itself can be a weapon: invisible to enemy eyes, underestimated by Tory foes, quick where grown men would be captured or killed. Under Francis Marion's cunning leadership, the boys become scouts and messengers, slipping through swamps and across enemy lines to gather intelligence that could turn the tide of the war. Each mission brings danger closer, the clatter of British patrols, the threat of betrayal from neighbors who support the Crown. This is not the noble warfare of generals and grand battles, but the dirty, desperate work of partisans hiding in the mud, where a single mistake means capture or death. Originally published in 1899 as part of The Young Patriots series, this adventure story captures something true about how ordinary children, driven by loyalty and courage, found ways to matter in extraordinary times.
