Revolutionary War on Wednesday Read online

  “How will we find the tree house?” cried Annie.

  “I don’t know!” said Jack. “But don’t worry! We’ll find it!”

  He felt very confident now, after meeting George Washington. After being thanked by George Washington!

  He and Annie ran on through the rain and the snow and the sleet.

  They ran along the riverbank—until a bright flash of lightning lit up the sky. Then Jack saw it!

  The tree house was directly to their left, high in a tall tree covered with snow.

  “Over there!” he shouted.

  Jack and Annie ran toward the edge of the woods.

  In the dark, Jack looked up, searching for the tree house.

  Lightning lit the woods again. Jack saw the rope ladder flapping wildly in the wind.

  He grabbed it.

  “Annie!” he called.

  “Here!” she said.

  “Let’s go!” he said.

  They climbed up the swaying ladder and scrambled into the tree house. They were soaking wet and covered with slush and snow.

  Annie grabbed the Pennsylvania book.

  “I wish we could go there!” she shouted.

  The wind blew even harder.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Gray early light spilled into the tree house.

  Birds sounded in the woods.

  The summer wind felt warm and gentle. Jack and Annie were wearing their nice, dry clothes again.

  “Oh, man,” said Jack. “It’s good to be home.”

  “Yeah,” said Annie, sighing, “back in this peaceful place.”

  Jack pulled the captain’s letter out of his pack. He turned it over. It was addressed to:

  Molly and Ben Sanders

  Apple Tree Farm

  Frog Creek, Pennsylvania

  “Molly and Ben lived on a farm near these woods over two hundred years ago,” said Jack.

  Annie gently touched the letter.

  “Your dad is going to make it home, kids. He misses you,” Annie whispered, as if she could send comforting words back through time.

  Jack carefully placed the special writing from the Revolutionary War next to the writing from the Civil War.

  “Look,” said Annie. She picked up a note lying in the corner. It said simply: Come back on Tuesday.

  “Another message from Morgan,” said Annie.

  Jack smiled.

  He pulled on his pack.

  “See you on Tuesday, tree house,” he said.

  He started down the rope ladder. Annie followed.

  In the early daylight, they ran through the Frog Creek woods. Then they ran down their street.

  They climbed onto their porch and rested against the railing. They looked out at the dawn sky.

  Jack remembered the whoosh of the cold wind on the Delaware. He remembered the hiss of the wet snow and the slosh of the icy waves.

  He remembered George Washington reading to his men.

  “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” Jack whispered.

  “Those words are true,” said Annie. “It was a hard conflict, and I feel kind of glorious right now. Don’t you?”

  Jack laughed.

  “Yeah, definitely,” he said.

  Then he and Annie slipped into their quiet, peaceful house.

  THE THIRTEEN COLONIES

  Long ago, the United States was made up of thirteen small colonies. Many of the early settlers, or colonists, thought of England as their “mother country.” They were proud to have come from England, and they felt great loyalty to the British king.

  Over time, though, many colonists wanted to be independent. They did not want a faraway country to rule over them. These colonists were called patriots.

  THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND GEORGE WASHINGTON

  In the spring of 1775, fighting broke out between the patriots and the British in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

  That summer, a group of American patriots met in Philadelphia and began to organize an army to fight the British. They made George Washington their commander-in-chief.

  After the patriots won independence over eight years later, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief. He returned to the life of a gentleman farmer on his plantation in Mount Vernon, Virginia.

  Six years later, in 1789, George Washington was elected the first president of the United States.

  THOMAS PAINE

  At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, some colonists did not want to break away from England. These people were called Tories.

  In January 1776, a British writer named Thomas Paine wrote a powerful essay that attacked the idea of obeying a king. Paine called his essay Common Sense. It inspired many Tories to join the patriots’ cause.

  Almost a year later, in December 1776, George Washington’s army was losing the war. Many soldiers wanted to give up. This time Thomas Paine wrote a series of essays called The Crisis.

  George Washington had The Crisis read aloud to his troops on the banks of the Delaware River.

  Paine’s words inspired the troops to continue the fight. They crossed the Delaware River, defeated the enemy, and gave new hope to the whole patriot army.

  Here’s a special preview of

  Magic Tree House #23

  Twister on Tuesday

  Available now!

  Excerpt copyright © 2001 by Mary Pope Osborne.

  Published by Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Jack opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed through his window.

  “Tuesday!” he whispered. Morgan’s note had told him and Annie to come back to the magic tree house on Tuesday. He could hardly wait to find out where she was sending them today!

  Jack scrambled out of bed. He threw on his clothes. He packed his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he headed into the hall.

  Jack bumped into Annie. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

  “Tuesday!” they both whispered.

  Together, they hurried down the stairs.

  “Mom, Dad, we’re going out for a few minutes!” Jack shouted.

  “Don’t you want breakfast first?” his dad called from the kitchen.

  “When we get back!” said Annie.

  They rushed out the front door. They ran down their street in the bright summer sunlight.

  A warm wind gently shook the trees as Jack and Annie headed into the Frog Creek woods. Soon they came to the tallest tree in the woods. The magic tree house waited for them in the high branches. Jack and Annie grabbed the rope ladder and climbed up.

  Inside the shady tree house, the note from Morgan was still on the floor:

  Dear Jack and Annie,

  Camelot is in trouble. To save the kingdom, please find these four special kinds of writing for my library:

  Something to follow

  Something to send

  Something to learn

  Something to lend

  Thank you,

  Morgan

  “Okay,” said Jack. “We have the first writing: something to follow.” He picked up a list from the Civil War.

  “And we have the second,” said Annie, “something to send.” She picked up a letter from the Revolutionary War.

  “Now we need the third,” said Jack, “something to learn.”

  “No problem,” said Annie. She grabbed a book lying in the corner. “I hope we’re not going to another war.”

  Jack and Annie looked at the cover. It showed a field of tall green grass.

  The title was Life on the Prairie.

  “The prairie?” said Annie. “We already went to the prairie the time we met Black Hawk.”

  “Yeah,” said Jack, remembering their adventure with the Native American boy.

  He opened the book and turned to a picture of an old-fashioned train crossing the prairi
e.

  “Oh,” he said. “I get it. Trains crossed the prairie after the pioneers came. When we went to the prairie before, Native Americans were the only people who lived there.”

  “So we must be going to pioneer time,” said Annie.

  “I think so,” said Jack.

  He pointed at the picture that showed the train crossing the prairie.

  “I wish we could go there,” he said.

  The breeze picked up.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

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  Magic Tree House® Books

  #1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK

  #2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN

  #3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING

  #4: PIRATES PAST NOON

  #5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS

  #6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON

  #7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH

  #8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON

  #9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK

  #10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN

  #11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME

  #12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME

  #13: VACATION UNDER THE VOLCANO

  #14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING

  #15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE

  #16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS

  #17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC

  #18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST

  #19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT

  #20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME

  #21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY

  #22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY

  #23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY

  #24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING

  #25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT

  #26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS

  #27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY

  #28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII

  Merlin Missions

  #29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT

  #30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE

  #31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT

  #32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD

  #33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT

  #34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS

  #35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS

  #36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON

  #37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN

  #38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS

  #39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA

  #40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN

  #41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE

  #42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS

  #43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER

  #44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME

  Magic Tree House® Research Guides

  DINOSAURS

  KNIGHTS AND CASTLES

  MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS

  PIRATES

  RAIN FORESTS

  SPACE

  TITANIC

  TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS

  DOLPHINS AND SHARKS

  ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS

  AMERICAN REVOLUTION

  SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE

  PILGRIMS

  ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII

  TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS

  POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC

  SEA MONSTERS

  PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA

  LEONARDO DA VINCI

  GHOSTS

  LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE

  RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS

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  GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE