True to the Old Flag

꫞True to the Old Flag

The Project Gutenberg EBook of True to the Old Flag, by G. A. Henty #22 in our series by G. A. Henty
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Title: True to the Old Flag A Tale of the American War of Independence
Author: G. A. Henty
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8859] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 15, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG ***

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TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG
A TALE OF THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

By G. A. HENTY
Author Of "With Clive In India," "The Dragon And The Raven," "With Lee In Virginia," "By England's Aid," "In The Reign Of Terror," "With Wolfe In Canada," "Captain Bayley's Heir," Etc.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. A FRONTIER FARM
II. AN INDIAN RAID
III. THE REDSKIN ATTACK
IV. THE FIGHT AT LEXINGTON
V. BUNKER'S HILL
VI. SCOUTING
VII. IN THE FOREST
VIII. QUEBEC
IX. THE SURPRISE OF TRENTON
X. A TREACHEROUS PLANTER
XI. THE CAPTURE OF PHILADELPHIA
XII. THE SETTLER'S HUT
XIII. SARATOGA
XIV. RESCUED!
XV. THE ISLAND REFUGE
XVI. THE GREAT STORM
XVII. THE SCOUT'S STORY
XVIII. THE SIEGE OF SAVANNAH
XIX. IN AN AMERICAN PRISON
XX. THE WAR IN SOUTH CAROLINA
XXI. THE END OF THE STRUGGLE

PREFACE.
MY DEAR LADS:
You have probably been accustomed to regard the war between England and her colonies in America as one in which we were not only beaten but, to some extent, humiliated. Owing to the war having been an unsuccessful one for our arms, British writers have avoided the subject, and it has been left for American historians to describe. These, writing for their own countrymen, and drawing for their facts upon gazettes, letters, and other documents emanating from one side only, have, naturally, and no doubt insensibly, given a very strong color to their own views of the events, and English writers have been too much inclined to accept their account implicitly. There is, however, another and very different side to the story, and this I have endeavored to show you. The whole of the facts and details connected with the war can be relied upon as accurate. They are drawn from the valuable account of the struggle written by Major Steadman, who served under Howe, Clinton, and Cornwallis, and from other authentic contemporary sources. You will see that, although unsuccessful,--and success was, under the circumstances, a sheer impossibility,--the British troops fought with a bravery which was never exceeded, and that their victories in actual conflict vastly outnumbered their defeats. Indeed, it may be doubted whether in any war in which this country has been engaged have our soldiers exhibited the qualities of endurance and courage to a higher degree.
Yours very sincerely,
G. A. HENTY.

TRUE TO THE OLD FLAG.

CHAPTER I.
A FRONTIER FARM.
"Concord, March 1, 1774.
"MY DEAR COUSIN: I am leaving next week with my husband for England, where we intend to pass some time visiting his friends. John and I have determined to accept the invitation you gave us last summer for Harold to come and spend a few months with you. His father thinks that a great future will, ere many years, open in the West, and that it is therefore well the boy should learn something of frontier life. For myself, I would rather that he stayed quietly at home, for he is at present over-fond of adventure; but as my husband is meditating selling his estate here and moving West, it is perhaps better for him.
"Massachusetts is in a ferment, as indeed are all the Eastern States, and the people talk openly of armed resistance against the Government. My husband, being of English birth and having served in the king's army, cannot brook what he calls the rebellious talk which is common among his neighbors, and is already on bad terms with many around us. I myself am, as it were, a neutral. As an American woman, it seems to me that the colonists have been dealt with somewhat hardly by the English Parliament, and that the measures of the latter have been high-handed and arbitrary. Upon the