A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers, and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier

Originally published in 1830 and most recently republished as
Yankee Doodle Boy in 1995
Excerpted from Witnessing America, 1996

"My grandsire told [my grandma] that he supposed I was resolved to go into the service in some way or other and he had rather I would engage in the land service if I must engage in any."

Joseph Plumb Martin

Ayoung Connecticut farm boy, Joseph Plumb Martin (1760–1850), had been aware since 1774 that war with Great Britain was a strong possibility. At first, he vowed to himself to have nothing to do with it. But army recruiters came to his town in the spring...