Acknowledgments

Almost all the names in this story are fictional. However, the Reverend Andrew Eliot actually existed, as did General Gold Selleck Silliman and General David Wooster. And the famous General Benedict Arnold really did fight in the raid on Danbury in April 1777.

My thanks to the many experts who shared their knowledge of colonial America and the Revolution with me, especially Barbara Austen, Librarian of the Fairfield Historical Society in Connecticut. I am also indebted to the Society for permission to adapt the recipe for Bird’s Nest Pudding from their cookbook, Cooking with Fire. For help with the craft of spinning, I am grateful to Virginia M. Carnes of Muscoot Farm, and Althea Corey of Van Cortlandt Manor. And for their valuable advice on sheep, I thank Joe H. Plummer of Muscoot Farm, and Dana Meadows.

—J.V.L.