Home > Work > Forge (Seeds of America, #2)
1 " This camp is a forge for the army; it's testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of? "
― Laurie Halse Anderson , Forge (Seeds of America, #2)
2 " I embarked on a campaign of honey and kindness, which, if you've never tried it, is very hard to do with someone who thinks you are chickenhearted and has in the past called you a poxy sluggard. It is especially hard if every day you are plagued with fear about what might happen next. "
3 " Broken leaves flew into the air from the violence of his thrashing, and the gore and blood kept pouring from the black hole in his belly and from his mouth - surely enough blood for ten men, a sight horrid enough to make God Himself weep - and suddenly, his boots stopped running and his form stilled and then......Death caught him. "
4 " The fat, pumpkin-colored moon rose, turning bloodstains into shadows. All of the colors of shirts and jackets and uniforms paled to the same shade of gray. "
5 " What if a king made bad laws; laws so unnatural that a country broke them by declaring its freedom?” He threw his arms in the air. “Now you are spouting nonsense. Two slaves running away from their rightful master is not the same as America wanting to be free of England. Not the same at all.” “How is it then that the British offer freedom to escaped slaves, but the Patriots don’t? "
6 " Let me ask you something. We’re fighting for freedom, right?” I picked my words carefully. “So why is that man allowed to own Baumfree and Bett?” “Well,” he said slowly, “we’re fighting for our freedom. Not theirs. "
7 " LIBERTY IS EQUALLY AS PRECIOUS TO A BLACK MAN, AS IT IS TO A WHITE ONE, AND BONDAGE EQUALLY AS INTOLERABLE TO THE ONE AS IT IS TO THE OTHER . . . . AN AFRICAN, OR A NEGRO MAY JUSTLY CHALLENGE, AND HAS AN UNDENIABLE RIGHT TO HIS LIBERTY: CONSEQUENTLY, THE PRACTISE OF SLAVE-KEEPING, WHICH SO MUCH ABOUNDS IN THIS LAND IS ILLICT. —ESSAY WRITTEN BY AFRICAN AMERICAN LEMUEL HAYNES, VETERAN OF THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON E "
8 " This camp is a forge for the army; it’s testing our mettle. Instead of heat and hammer, our trials are cold and hunger. Question is, what are we made of?” The "
9 " AS THE GENERAL IS INFORMED, THAT NUMBERS OF FREE NEGROES ARE DESIROUS OF INLISTING, HE GIVES LEAVE TO THE RECRUITING OFFICERS TO ENTERTAIN THEM, AND PROMISES TO LAY THE MATTER BEFORE THE CONGRESS, WHO HE DOUBTS NOT WILL APPROVE OF IT. —GENERAL ORDERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON T "
10 " IT WOULD BE USELESS FOR US TO DENOUNCE THE SERVITUDE TO WHICH THE PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN WISHES TO REDUCE US, WHILE WE CONTINUE TO KEEP OUR FELLOW CREATURES IN SLAVERY JUST BECAUSE THEIR COLOR IS DIFFERENT FROM OURS. —SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE DR. BENJAMIN RUSH, WHO PURCHASED WILLIAM GRUBBER IN 1776 AND DID NOT FREE HIM UNTIL 1794 O "
11 " I HEARD BULLETS WHISTLE AND BELIEVE ME, THERE IS SOMETHING CHARMING IN THE SOUND. —LETTER FROM THE TWENTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD GEORGE WASHINGTON DESCRIBING HIS FIRST TASTE OF BATTLE T "
12 " The officer kicked the stool away. This time the rope did not break. "
13 " There was a loud shuffling above. A line of redcoats took their position at the edge of the ravine and aimed down at the rebels. "Present!" the British officer screamed to his men. "Present!" yelled the American officer. His men brought the butts of their muskets up to their shoulders and sighted down the long barrels, ready to shoot and kill. I pressed my face into the earth, unable to plan a course of escape. My mind would not be mastered and thought only of the wretched, lying, foul, silly girl who was the cause of everything. I thought of Isabel and I missed her. "FIRE! "
14 " His Excellency today appealed to the Officers of this Army to consider themselves as a band of brothers cemented by the justice of a common cause.-General Orders of George Washington, Valley Forge "
15 " We'd itch the vermin feasting on our flesh and share the day's many rumors:The King had declared peace.No, the King was sending German and Russian mercenaries to destroy us.A ball of fire as big as a man's head fell from heaven to Hatboro - a good omen. But there'd been an earthquake near York just as a cat gave birth to puppies, which meant the worst. "
16 " THE MAN THAT SAYS SLAVES BE QUITE HAPPY IN SLAVERY—THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO BE FREE—THAT MAN IS EITHER IGNORANT OR A LYING PERSON. —MARY PRINCE, BORN 1778, THE FIRST WOMAN TO WRITE ABOUT HER LIFE IN SLAVERY "
17 " I HAD THOUGHT ONLY SLAVERY DREADFUL, BUT THE STATE OF A FREE NEGRO APPEARED TO ME NOW EQUALLY SO AT LEAST, AND IN SOME RESPECTS EVEN WORSE, FOR THEY LIVE IN CONSTANT ALARM FOR THEIR LIBERTY. —OLAUDAH EQUIANO, MARINER AND FORMER SLAVE "
18 " Now I knew. I would fight the eagle and the chains and that mountain as long as I had breath. "
19 " One night the cook served us beans and more beans for dinner. Instead of sleeping, we farted all night long, which caused "
20 " snores and farts, "