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"Are you excited about your field trip?"
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Grandpa asked Laurie as they waited for the school bus.
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Laurie shrugged. "I guess so. We're just visiting George Washington's headquarters in New Jersey during the American Revolution.
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Then we're riding horses through some woods where Washington's soldiers camped."
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"That sounds great!" Grandpa said. "The American Revolution is my favorite part of American history.
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It was an exciting time when colonists were figuring out who they were and what they wanted from their government.
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When it was all over, they had founded a new country."
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Laurie couldn't help smiling. As usual Grandpa was enthusiastic about something in history!
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"I know the Revolution had something to do with tea and taxes," she said to him.
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"But what were the colonists really fighting about?"
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"Independence and the right to decide how they were governed.
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Remember, what we know now as American states were British colonies back then.
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The founders and original colonists had come from England.
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So everyone, even people born in America, were British citizens governed by the British king—King George III.
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But he lived in England. Many colonists started grumbling that he couldn't possibly know what was best for the colonies when he was so far away.
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The really loud grumbling started when King George created the Stamp Act in 1765.
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This act said that any paper good sold in the colonies had to have a stamp on it, and the stamp had to be purchased from a British official.
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It was basically a tax paid to England.
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So the colonists protested this. 'No taxation without representation,' they said.
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That meant: you can't tax us unless we agree on the law together.
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Then England expanded the tax to include glass, tea, and other things.
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So the colonists decided to boycott British goods.
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England didn't like this, and sent soldiers to the colonies to keep things in order.
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The war for independence officially broke out in 1775.
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The next year the founding fathers of the United States wrote the Declaration of Independence.
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This document explained everything that the Americans were fighting for: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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They wanted to be completely free from British rule."
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The school bus rumbled up the street.
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"I'm sure you'll learn everything that happened after that on your field trip! Have fun!"
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At four o'clock, Grandpa heard feet pounding on the steps.
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"How was it?" Grandpa asked as his granddaughter bounced into the room.
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"So much fun!" Laurie answered. "I got you something." She held out a brown paper bag.
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"Thanks!"
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"It's a quill pen and some ink." Laurie showed him how to use it.
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"First, cut the tip of the quill with a knife to make a slanted edge.
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Then, dip that end in the ink bottle. That's how the colonists wrote.
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Cool, huh? The park ranger who gave us our tour taught me that."
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"I bet you learned a lot today.
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Now you probably know more than I do about George Washington and the American Revolution," Grandpa said, grinning.
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"No!" Laurie protested. "But I did learn that George Washington was a plantation owner from Virginia.
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When the colonists gathered to fight the British, they started an army called the Continental Army.
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George Washington became the commander.
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He led the soldiers through almost ten years of fighting, moving from colony to colony, until all the important areas were won.
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When the war ended, the colonists, who were now Americans, asked him to be their first president."
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"I couldn't have said it better," Grandpa said proudly.
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"Now tell me something else you learned today," he said. "Something that really interested you."
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Laurie thought a moment. "The story of Tempe Wick."
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"Tempe Wick? That sounds like a story I don't know."
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"Tempe Wick was a colonial girl who lived on her family's farm, called Wick Farm, in New Jersey.
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Tempe loved horses and wasn't afraid of anything.
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She was also a proud patriot who believed in the Revolution.
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During the war, Washington sent thirteen thousand soldiers to the woods around Wick Farm.
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They cleared the land and built log cabins to live in.
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But winter in New Jersey was cold and snowy.
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The soldiers were freezing, hungry, and tired.
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The war seemed like it would never end. Sometimes the soldiers were bad.
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They stole food from nearby farms, and demanded that people give their best horses to them.
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One day Tempe was out riding her favorite horse, Colonel, when some Continental soldiers stopped her.
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They had just rebelled against their general and were abandoning their camp.
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They told her that Colonel was a beautiful horse.
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Then they grabbed his reins and said they wanted him!
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But Tempe didn't give in to their bullying.
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She didn't even get off her horse.
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As soon as they let go of the reins, she galloped away!
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Tempe knew the soldiers were following her.
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She was sure they'd come to the farm and take Colonel away.
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So she made a plan to fool the soldiers.
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Instead of putting Colonel in the stable, she led him into her bedroom!
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When the soldiers came to search the farm, they never thought to look in the house.
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The soldiers left empty-handed, and Tempe Wick got to keep her dear Colonel."
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Laurie smiled. "And I got to see her beautiful red cape!
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The very same cape she wore that winter.
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I can just imagine her riding through the woods like Little Red Riding Hood."
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Grandpa laughed loudly and clapped. "That's a great story!" he said.
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"I like it because it's about a young girl like you.
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She was proud to support the Continental soldiers, but she was also brave enough to stand up to them when they did something wrong."
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"Kind of like how the colonists stood up to the British," Laurie said.
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"They were courageous, proud of their colonies, and fought to protect their rights."
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"Exactly," Grandpa agreed. "You told that story very well, Laurie."
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"Thanks, Grandpa."
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"No, thank you—my little historian."