When fourteen-year-old Thomas Roberts steps into McCann’s general store in Queenston on that day in July 1813, little does he know that he about to be swept into the adventure of a lifetime. Tom and his younger brother John have been struggling to work the family farm just north of the town since their father and uncle joined the militia to fight the American invasion of Upper Canada. With the Americans now occupying nearby Fort George, the militia has withdrawn behind the British lines, and Tom and his family haven’t heard from Pa in months.
Sent into Queenston to purchase a few necessities, Tom is waiting for old Mr. McCann to find what he needs when two American soldiers enter the store intent upon ransacking the store and stealing anything they can find. The sudden arrival of a grey-coated stranger who subdues one soldier before being threatened by the second shocks Tom into immobility. Then he grabs an axe handle and rescues the stranger by knocking out the attacking soldier.
The stranger identifies himself as Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, a name Tom immediately recognizes. Fitzgibbon is the leader of the Green Tigers, also known as the “Bully Boys,” a group of British army regulars whose daring exploits have captured the imaginations of every loyal British subject in Upper Canada. The Bully Boys, who move secretly through the countryside gathering information about the American invaders and staging lightning strikes against them, are the only British soldiers that remain behind the American lines.
Fitzgibbon tells Tom that, since the American soldiers can recognize him, it is not safe for him to return home. Instead, Tom rides with the Lieutenant to the Bully Boys’ current hideout, the out-of-the-way farm of John DeCew. Fitzgibbon intends for the boy to live and work on the DeCew farm until the danger is past, but Tom Roberts possesses something that the lieutenant finds he cannot do without. He knows every field and outcropping and forest trail in the area, and on both sides of the river which divides Upper Canada from the United States.
When Fitzgibbon decides to cross the Niagara river to liberate some much-needed items from the storage depot that supplies the American soldiers at Fort George, Tom offers to lead him there. Under cover of darkness, the Bully Boys cross the river in small boats, then follow a trail up the cliff on the American side. They stumble right into an encampment of soldiers.
Tom is frightened and ready to turn tail and run, but Fitzgibbon calmly deploys his small band of men along the edge of the trees and then strides forward to meet the American commander under a flag of truce. To Tom’s shock and astonished admiration, the lieutenant announces that he leads two regiments of militia and demands that the Americans surrender, which they do. So begins Tom’s adventures with the Lieutenant Fitzgibbon and the Bully Boys, adventures which will often find them badly outnumbered and with bullets flying, and yet time and again Fitzgibbon and his allies manage to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.
Written by Eric Walters, and based on the true-life exploits of James Fitzgibbon, hero of the War of 1812, The Bully Boys is the story of a young boy who finds himself swept into the danger and excitement of the fight for Upper Canada following an American invasion. A terrific adventure that will appeal to readers from Grade 6!
FernFolio Editor
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The Bully Boys by Eric Walters
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