Free King George by Steve Sheinkin Page A

put in the wagon. Mother coolly took out whatever did not seem to her necessary. ”

    Femmetia
    The family rode off to stay with relatives farther from the fighting. They came back to their village a few days later to inspect the damage. “Two of our neighbors’ houses, as well as our own, were burned to the ground,” Femmetia said.
    A Midnight Escape
    T his battle was a disaster for the Continental army too. In a week of fighting on Long Island, more than a thousand Americans were killed, wounded, or captured. And Washington’s army was driven back, and back, and back … until it was right up against the edge of the one-mile-wide East River. Washington faced an ugly truth: his entire army was about to be captured right there, right then. Not exactly the way he was hoping the American Revolution would end. But could he slip out of the trap before it shut?
    On August 29, Joseph Plumb Martin found out the army was moving when he saw the other soldiers of his company lining up and preparing to march. No one could tell him where they were going. First of all, they didn’t know. Second of all, they weren’t allowed to talk. “We were strictly enjoined [ordered] not to speak, or even cough,” Martin said. “All orders were given from officer to officer, and communicated to the men in whispers.”
    As soon as it was dark, the men started crowding onto small boats. A group of Massachusetts fishermen under the command of John Glover rowed the boats back and forth across the river. (Glover’s regiment, by the way, was one of the first to include black and white soldiers working side by side.)
    To make the British believe that nothing special was happening, some American troops had to stay behind until the last second. They kept lots of campfires burning, which made it look like a normal night
in the American camp. An officer named Benjamin Tallmadge remembered waiting all night for orders to march down to the river. “It was one of the most anxious, busy nights that I ever recollect,” he said, “and being the third in which hardly any of us closed our eyes to sleep.”
    Glover and his men were still rowing back and forth across the river when the sun came up. Amazingly, fog saved them. A thick, wet fog settled over the river, and the entire army (including horses) escaped to Manhattan before the British knew what was going on. “In the history of warfare I do not recollect a more fortunate retreat,” said Tallmadge.
    Too bad you can’t win wars by retreating.
    The Story of Nathan Hale
    T he American army had escaped to Manhattan, but George Washington hardly felt safe. He knew the British would continue their attack very soon. But where? When? With how many men? Washington was desperate for any information about British plans. He needed a spy. Nathan Hale volunteered.
    Nathan Hale was a twenty-two-year-old teacher who had no idea how to be a spy. One of Hale’s friends from college, William Hull, tried to talk Hale out of accepting this dangerous mission. But Hale couldn’t be budged. He said he had been in the army for a whole year and hadn’t done anything yet. “I wish to be useful,” he told his friend.
    So Hale put on a plain brown suit, stuck his college diploma in his pocket, and entered British-controlled territory pretending to be a teacher in search of a job.
    No one knows exactly what Hale did or where he went for the next nine days. But on the night of September 21, some British soldiers became suspicious of Hale. They grabbed him and searched him and found more than just a college diploma. They found a map he had drawn and notes on the strength and location of the British army (a more experienced spy would have at least used invisible ink or secret codes).

    Nathan Hale
    Hale didn’t even try denying that he was a spy. And the British didn’t even bother giving him a trial. They hanged him the next morning.
    When they