Introduction

Four sturdy young members of the Continental Army are the chief characters in this story. Ben Cooper and Nat Brewster were from Pennsylvania. Ezra Prentiss and his twin brother George were from Massachusetts. “The Young Continentals at Lexington,” the first book of the series, was chiefly concerned with the adventures of Nat Brewster, although all of the four had a part in the stirring events in and around Boston at the beginning of the struggle for the independence of the American Colonies. They were all employed as couriers attached to headquarters, and carried messages for Warren and Putnam, and later for the great general-in-chief, Washington. The second story, “The Young Continentals at Bunker Hill,” told of the part played by Ezra Prentiss, assisted by his friends, and the third story, “The Young Continentals at Trenton,” described some of the good services rendered by George Prentiss. This book tells the story of Ben Cooper at Princeton and in the dark period of Brandywine and Valley Forge, and ends with the victory at Monmouth, when Washington overcame not only his open enemies, but “they of his own household.”

All four books are true pictures of the days when even boys showed that they could be good patriots, and set an example of loyal, modest, faithful service that thousands of American boys are still glad to follow.

Contents

I. Tells How Mr. Tobias Hawkins Made the Acquaintance of Mr. Samuel Livingstone[ 9]
II. In Which Mr. Hawkins Utters a Threat[ 22]
III. Shows How Ben Cooper Started Upon a Mission in the Early Dawn[ 46]
IV. How Good News Came to Trenton[ 65]
V. In Which an Army Crept Away in the Night and Fought the Battle of Princeton[ 78]
VI. Tells How Ben Cooper Encountered the Man With the Yellow Smile[ 95]
VII. In Which the Hostler Sees Two Shadows in the Road[ 110]
VIII. Shows How Ben Cooper Went Forth Into the Night and What Discovery He Made by the Wayside [ 124]
IX. Deals With the Arrival of Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette[ 140]
X. Shows How the Fight at Brandywine Was Lost, and How Ben Bore the Tidings to Philadelphia[ 159]
XI. Tells How Ben Cooper Listened to Some Astonishing Revelations[ 177]
XII. How Storm-Stayed Guests Came to the Inn at Rising Sun[ 191]
XIII. Shows the Bargain That Was Struck by Tobias Hawkins and His Friend[ 209]
XIV. How Ben and Paddy Burk Made Away From the House of Danger[ 223]
XV. Tells of Much Fighting, and Also How Johnson Quinsey Made His Appearance[ 231]
XVI. In Which Ben Meets a Stranger and Hears of the Inn With the Green Light[ 251]
XVII. How Ben and His Friend Paused at “The Crossed Keys”[ 267]
XVIII. Shows How Molly Hayes and a Kettle of Scalding Water Play Their Parts[ 278]
XIX. In Which Ben Receives a Letter and Rides Toward York[ 293]
XX. Tells How Lafayette Astonished General Gates[ 308]
XXI. In Which the Battle of Monmouth is Lost and Won[ 321]

Illustrations

PAGE
“Will You Have Supper?”[ Frontispiece]
“This Is Your Friend Robert Morris”[ 54]
“You Saw Something, Then?”[ 119]
Lafayette was Face to Face with Washington[ 156]
The Men Shrank a Little[ 213]
“I Am Wanted at Headquarters”[ 252]
“Bravo, Molly Pitcher”[ 326]

The Young Continentals
at Monmouth

CHAPTER I
TELLS HOW MR. TOBIAS HAWKINS MADE THE
ACQUAINTANCE OF MR. SAMUEL LIVINGSTONE

“Do you know what to-morrow will be, Ben Cooper?”