"Always be bold in front of greater numbers. Always attack first, take the offensive..."

The big man's gruff voice boomed out that fall day in 1774, and young Tom Botsford listened carefully, for the man who spoke was Ethan Allen—leader of the Green Mountain Boys and defender of New Hampshire.

Allen, with a £150 reward on his head, was a dangerous man to know, let alone fight with. But fourteen-year-old Tom gladly rode at his side as one of the Green Mountain Boys, against the "Yorkers," who swept over the border from New York to claim New Hampshire land. Even Tom's spunky younger sister Lucy and their parents joined in the fight when Colonel Allen and Tom were caught in a near-disastrous Yorker trap.

One thing was certain though—fighting Yorkers was good training. By spring of 1775, Massachusetts Minute Men were fighting British redcoats at Lexington and Concord. New Hampshire men gathered in Bennington, and Allen made his decision—to take the British stronghold of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. For Lucy the spy, and Tom who stormed the fort walls, it was not only an exciting victory but a moment of unforgettable pride to be a part of one of the first strikes for freedom.

From the dust jacket