Liberty's Kids

Sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington makes her own ‚midnight ride‚ in Westchester County, New York (4/26/77). Benedict Arnold fights for respect‚Äù from Congress. James learns that all kinds of people can be heroes.

The 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette arrives after an eventful journey from France and offers his services to Congress (7/27/77). He is sent to George Washington, who virtually adopts him as his son.

General Horatio Gates defeats Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga (10/17/77). Benedict Arnold is the true hero of the battle but is angered when he fails to receive proper recognition. James witnesses the victory at Saratoga.

James, Sarah and Henri are there as George Washington and his Continental Army endure a horrible winter at Valley Forge. Baron von Stueben drafts a training program for the army and helps Washington's troops.

News of the American victory at Saratoga helps pave the way for Ben Franklin to negotiate a treaty with France. The treaty obligates the French to help fight the Revolutionary War (2/6/78).

The States struggle to unite politically before the arrival of the French Ambassador (5/9/78-7/8/78). Charles Henry Lee nearly costs the Americans dearly at he Battle of Monmouth when, in direct violation of his orders.

In the Ohio territory, Shawnee Chief Cornstalk and his people are caught between the Americans and the British, with tragic results (11/77). In Philadelphia, inflation makes life difficult for working people.

In a long, desperate battle, John Paul Jones and his wildly outgunned Bonhomme Richard defeat the British Serapis off the coast of England (9/23/79).Sailing to England, Sarah is shipwrecked and saved by Jones.

Spanish Governor Bernardo de Galvez aides the American cause by capturing Baton Rouge (9/21/79), Natchez (10/5/79) and Mobile (3/13/80) from the British. James and Henri sail down the Mississippi, seeking Galvez.

Sarah returns to Philadelphia and is reunited with Moses, James and Henri. Henri gets into a scrape with a Tory boy when the Tory makes disparaging comments about Ben Franklin.

Sarah and Henri join the Adams family in Massachusetts just as John and his son John Quincy return from France and are reunited with Abigail (8/2/79). John is asked to write the Massachusetts Constitution.

James, Sarah and Henri are there when Arnold tries to hand West Point over to British (9/21/80). Arnold's plot is uncovered when his accomplice Major Andre is captured (9/23/80). Sarah, especially, is upset by her former friend's treason.

Deborah Samson masquerades as a man so she can enlist in the Continental army (5/20/1782-10/23/83). Washington and French general Rochambeau disagree on whether to try to retake New York.

Virginia slave James Armistead joins Lafayette and spies on Benedict Arnold (3/81). Then, working as a double agent, Armistead provides false information to British General Cornwallis.

Encamped with Lafayette's army in Virginia, Henri enlists as a drummer boy and Sarah meets slave and double agent James Armistead. Meanwhile, General Washington prepares for a major offensive against the British.

The climatic battle of the war. Moses' brother Cato, a soldier on the British side, is sent into harm's way by Cornwallis and is aided by a sympathetic Hessian soldier. After a long siege, Cornwallis surrenders.

Ben Franklin and John Adams sign the peace treaty with England, ending the Revolutionary War (11/30/83). At Newburgh, New York, some members of Washington's officer corps want him to become King.

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, loyalists are forced to leave their homes. Many slaves move to Canada to avoid being returned to slavery. American soldiers return home, many of them to abject poverty.

Massachusetts slave Mum Bett‚ sues for her freedom (5/28/1781). When she wins, she renames herself Elizabeth Freeman (8/81). With this decision and that in the case of another slave Quok Walker, Massachusetts has abolished slavery (1783).

America's leaders meet at a convention in Philadelphia and decide to write a radical new Constitution. Ben Franklin, in his final moment on the world stage helps forge the Great Compromise‚ on legislative representation.