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Not so much these days, but back in the 1950s and 1960s there were many historical novels written for young people set in the exciting days of the American Revolution. This was such a large conflict, fought over a wide geographical area by people from different colonies who were often quite distinct from each other culturally and even linguistically. Therefore, there are many opportunities for good historical novels set in these times, from Maine to Georgia. Kensil Bell has written an outstanding three-book series about a New Jersey boy, Jeff Lundy, who lived east of Philadelphia. The first two books, to be reviewed below, are Jersey Rebel and Secret Mission for Valley Forge. I only found out that there was a third book, called Danger on the Jersey Shore, when preparing to write this review. I found one copy on abebooks.com, for $125, so this review is restricted to the first two parts! Fortunately, these three books form a series not a trilogy, in that though they do follow each other chronologically, the three stores are independent of each other. The reader does not have to fear a cliffhanger at the end of the second book.
I do not think I have read any American Revolution historical novels written from the point of view of someone from New Jersey, although the key battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth Court House took place in New Jersey along with other action. Approximately 18,000 New Jersey men fought in the Revolution, both main-line troops and militia guarding local areas from British, Hessian, and New Jersey loyalist raids. We forget sometimes that the Revolutionary War was as much of a civil war, between American patriots and American loyalists, as it was against the ruling British.
Jersey Rebel opens with 15-year-old Jeff Lundy taking care of the family farm with his mother and enslaved servant, Julius, in the year 1777. Jeff’s father, Thomas, is away fighting with the American army. There was slavery even in the northern colonies before independence, though most of the northern colonies outlawed slavery when America became a country. Thomas Lundy, after reading the Declaration of Independence and fighting for his country for two years, comes to the realization that no man should be enslaved and so offers Julius his freedom when peace arrives. The main narrative is about how Jeff becomes involved with the underground war between the New Jersey patriots and loyalists, the British march on Philadelphia, a stolen inheritance, and the eventual retreat to the winter quarters of the Continental Army at Valley Forge. Here Jeff joins the army and his father, who is promoted by General Washington to major. I would say that this book and its sequel is written at an upper middle school to high school level. Author Kensil Bell does a wonderful job in recreating the feel of the revolutionary times and the action and characterization are excellent.
Secret Mission for Valley Forge picks up where Jersey Rebel ends, with Jeff Lundy in the army at Valley Forge, commissioned as an Ensign, the lowest officer just below lieutenant and just above sergeant. The army’s stay at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777 to 1778 was a time of testing, training, and burning away differences between the men from different colonies to produce a new, more effective army. However, it was also a time of shortages – of clothes, of ammunition, and especially of food. General (Mad) Anthony Wayne, an original thinker and effective general, conceived of a daring raid into New Jersey’s Salem County to bring back hundreds if not thousands of beef cattle desperately needed by the army. Valley Forge was just west of Philadelphia, which was occupied by the British, and Salem County was south of Philadelphia in the Pine Barrens area of New Jersey, dense pine forest rooted in sandy soil. Therefore, General Wayne had to get around Philadelphia and back with the cattle while outwitting and out-fighting the British cavalry. He needed a guide and asked Jeff Lundy, the New Jersey boy, to so serve him on this mission. The entire book is a fictionalized account of this incredible but true secret mission, with the author getting correct every important historical and geographical detail. Although the object of the mission was to get food, not win battles, it is as daring and as exciting as any to be found in the annals of the American Revolution.