What is now the State of New York was first settled by people from Holland who spoke the Dutch language. New York afterward became an English colony, but the Dutch settlers and their descendants still spoke the language of Holland, at the time of the American Revolution.
In Flatbush, which is now a part of Brooklyn, was a family that spoke the Dutch language, while they were true Americans in feeling. When the British landed on Long Island, the Dutch family got ready to leave the town. The horses were hitched to the wagon, and such things as were thought most valuable were put in. The first thing they put into the wagon was the great Dutch Bible with heavy brass clasps. A tall clock was also carefully lifted into the wagon. Then clothing and other things followed.
The father of the family told their two slaves, Caesar and his son Mink, how to take care of things. Femmetia, the most active of the daughters, had the whip in her hand, and, as the sound of firing was coming nearer and nearer, she tapped the horses on their ears, and the family dashed away to the house of a cousin who lived beyond the region where the fight was to be.
That evening, Femmetia helped her father, who was an invalid, to climb to the top of a little hill from which they could see a fire raging in the village of Flatbush. The direction of the fire showed the father and daughter that it was their own house which was burning.
When the fight was over, General Washington's troops had been driven from Long Island. The good Dutch family went back and found their house burned. They moved into another house, whose owner was still away, and then began to build a new house. The mother bought some boards with what money she had saved, but she could not get any nails. In that day nails were not made by machinery, as they are now. Each nail had to be hammered out separately by a blacksmith. Nails made in this way cost a great deal of money.
There was but one way to do. Femmetia and her sister had to find nails by raking over the ashes of the old house. Some of these nails were crooked, and they had to be hammered to make them straight enough to use.
Some American officers had been made prisoners at the battle of Long Island. They were allowed to go about the village after having given their word not to go farther. They liked to help the girls find nails in the ashes, and hammer them straight on the stones. Other young girls came to help them, so that there was a party of young people talking, joking, laughing, and digging in the ashes, every day. It was fun for all of them. There were not boards enough to finish the house. The room in which the two sisters slept was upstairs. It had but half a floor. Where the rest of the floor should have been were only bare beams.
One night the slave woman, whose name was Dian, came into the room below, and called Femmetia. She told her that the British soldiers had come into the barn, and that they would soon take away what were left of the chickens.
"You jes' come down." said Dian to Femmetia. So the old slave and the young girl went out together. They carried a gun and a broomstick. The moon was shining. They took great pains not to let the soldiers see them. First they dodged behind a great walnut tree. Then, when they were sure the soldiers did not see them, they ran behind the corncrib. Their next march brought them behind the wagon house, and then they slipped into the dark shadow of the barn.
Dian thrust the rifle through a hole in the side door of the barn. At the same moment the bold Femmetia threw a stone which made the soldiers look round. There was moonlight enough for them to see the muzzle of the gun coming through the door as though it were ready to fire at them. They ran away in great haste, and left the chickens behind.
The silver plate and other valuable things were buried under the hearth in the house. A lady in a neighboring house hid her gold coins in the middle of a great round ball of a pincushion. Such ball pincushions were worn by some of the Dutch women at that time. They hung them at their sides, tied by a bit of ribbon. A party of English soldiers came into this lady's house. They were much amused to see this ball at the lady's side. One of them rudely cut the ribbon with his sword, and then the soldiers played ball with the cushion. It was sent here and there about the room. Twice it fell into the ashes.
The woman who owned it expected that it would be torn, and all her gold would spill out, but she went on with her work. If she had shown any anxiety about the ball, the soldiers might have thought to look for her money in the cushion. At last they gave it back to her, much-soiled, but holding its treasures safe.
One Dutch-American family fled from their house in New York during the American Revolutionary War between the British and the Americans. The fighting was headed their way. The family packed up their valuables and escaped to their cousin's home, outside of where the fighting would occur. While the family was gone, their house was burned to the ground. After the British defeated the American soldiers and the fighting stopped, the family began to rebuild their home. They had a little money to buy wood, but not enough money to buy nails. Nails were very expensive, because each nail was individually hammered into being by a blacksmith. To procure nails, the family's daughters sifted through the ashes of their old home for old, crooked nails. The British allowed their American soldier captives to wander the town, and the American soldiers helped the daughters find and straighten nails. When British soldiers tried to steal the Dutch family's chickens, one daughter and one slave scared the soldiers off with a gun to save their chickens. The Americans hid their valuables from the British soldiers in places such as under fireplace hearths and in a pincushion.
Vocabulary
Invalid: A person made weak or disabled by illness or injury. Troops: Soldiers or armed forces. Nail: A small metal spike with a broadened flat head, driven typically into wood with a hammer to join things together or to serve as a peg or hook. Blacksmith: A person who makes and repairs things in iron by hand. Slave: A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. Muzzle (Gun): The open end of the barrel of a firearm.
Enrichment
Activity 1: Narrate the Lesson
After you read the lesson, narrate it aloud using your own words.
Activity 2: Map the Lesson
The family in the story was originally from Holland. Find the European country of Holland (Netherlands) on the map.
Activity 3: Discuss the Story - Give Your Word
In the lesson, the British allowed the American soldiers they had taken prisoner to wander through the town.
The captured American soldiers gave the British soldiers their word that they would not leave the town and would remain prisoners.
What does it mean to 'give your word?'
Do you think relying on the word of prisoners would work in a war today? Why or why not?
If you were a prisoner who gave their word, would you stay in the town or would you try to escape?
Activity 4: Discuss the Story - Hiding Valuables
Do you have any valuables in your house? What are they?
If need be, where would your family hide your valuables?
Activity 5: Discuss the Story - Nails
Study the nails created by a blacksmith.
If you have a box of nails at your house, fetch it.
Study the head and the pointed end of the nails, and examine the picture of a modern nail.
Most nails today are created by machines, not Blacksmiths. Nails today are very inexpensive.
Compare and contrast the manufactured nails of today with the nails hammered by a blacksmith.
Activity 6: Complete Coloring Pages, Copywork, and Writing
Click the crayon above. Complete pages 27-28 of 'Second Grade American History Coloring Pages, Copywork, and Writing.'
Review
Question 1
From which countries were the soldiers who fought in the lesson?
1 / 6
Answer 1
The soldiers who fought in the lesson were American and British.
1 / 6
Question 2
Which war were Americans and the British fighting?
2 / 6
Answer 2
The Americans and the British were fighting the American Revolutionary War.
2 / 6
Question 3
Which soldiers won the battle in the lesson?
3 / 6
Answer 3
The British won the battle, although the Americans went on to eventually win the overall war.
3 / 6
Question 4
What happened to the Dutch family's house?
4 / 6
Answer 4
The Dutch family's house burned down in the fighting.
4 / 6
Question 5
Who helped the Dutch family rebuild their house?
5 / 6
Answer 5
Captured American soldiers helped rebuild the Dutch family's house.
5 / 6
Question 6
Why did American families hide their valuables in the American Revolutionary War?
6 / 6
Answer 6
American families hid their valuables to keep soldiers from taking them.
From which countries were the soldiers who fought in the lesson?
The soldiers who fought in the lesson were American and British.
Which war were Americans and the British fighting?
The Americans and the British were fighting the American Revolutionary War.
Which soldiers won the battle in the lesson?
The British won the battle, although the Americans went on to eventually win the overall war.
What happened to the Dutch family's house?
The Dutch family's house burned down in the fighting.
Who helped the Dutch family rebuild their house?
Captured American soldiers helped rebuild the Dutch family's house.
Why did American families hide their valuables in the American Revolutionary War?
American families hid their valuables to keep soldiers from taking them.
Stories of American Adventure
Stories of American Adventure
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