In Pursuit of Liberty: Coming of Age in the American Revolution (review)

In Pursuit of Liberty is a narrative of the American Revolution interspersed with many eyewitness accounts from children, and, especially, teenagers. As such, it provides a useful collection of primary source evidence of the perspective of youth on this conflict. But it also provides something more. Although the author's approach is not very analytical, she ends up offering a new view of the war itself, simply by reminding us at the outset that half the population as late as 1790 was comprised of young people under the age of 16. Since many of her eyewitnesses were boy soldiers and sailors, the book is a reminder that this war, like most, was fought primarily by young men, and thus the experience of fighting it is best apprehended from their viewpoint

Werner begins with the skirmish between boys and British soldiers in Boston that resulted in the "Boston Massacre" of 1770. As described in the introduction, succeeding chapters take us through the major phases of the war. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the lead up to and outbreak of war in Massachusetts. Chapter 3 discusses the fighting in New York and New Jersey. Chapters 4 and 5 cover the occupation of Philadelphia and the winter at Valley Forge. Chapter 6 moves South with the fighting in 1779 and 1780. Chapter 7 describes the showdown in Virginia, culminating in the surrender at Yorktown. Chapter 8 is devoted to boys at sea, especially on privateering vessels. Chapters 9 and 10 explore two specific accounts, the Baroness Von Riedesel's story of accompanying her husband with her three daughters through various theaters of the war, and John Quincy Adams' experience accompanying his father on diplomatic missions to Europe. Chapter 11 reveals children's responses to news of the peace, and Chapter 12 explores some of the forces shaping the postwar lives of the young revolutionaries and some neutral and Tory counterparts.

As this outline indicates, the book provides a useful overview of the military conflict. Given the stories and voices of youth sprinkled throughout, it might be an appealing choice for an undergraduate or high school course. The clear writing, ample anecdotal material and narrative framework will also appeal to a general audience. The book is amply illustrated, although most appear to be nineteenth-century images. Because there is little interpretation or discussion of the historiographic context of the various issues raised by the evidence, however, the book will be of limited use to historians beyond the primary source material gathered and excerpted here. Some of the eyewitness accounts are very interesting. Perhaps the greatest of the author's contributions to scholarship are the accounts of young Hessian soldiers, including a number of "Black Hessians," (slaves who joined their units, mostly as drummer boys) culled from German archives. Some of the previously published sources, such as the accounts of Joseph Plumb Martin or Sally Wister, are already very familiar to historians.

Werner's material raises a number of possibilities for analysis. It could support a systematic comparison between adolescent and adult views of such events as the Boston Tea Party or experiences such as the encampment at Valley Forge or in the prison ships. This would contribute to the work other historians have done on the status of youth in the late eighteenth century and the impact of the war on intergenerational relations. Some interesting artifacts of age—like scenes of compatriots tutoring boys in POW camps—could be examined further. Comparison between various groups within her pool of eyewitnesses--boys v. girls, combatants v. non-combatants, blacks v. whites, Patriots v. Tories v. Hessians (she does not offer accounts of youth among the Redcoats)—might yield further insights to add to the scholarship on these different groups. More attention to the difference in nature of her accounts, which include both on-the-spot journals and later memoirs or pension applications, might yield ideas about how the views of this...