Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World
Randall Library, UNCW
August 22 - october 3, 2008
"The Family War" by Suzanne Adair New Hanover County Public Library Free and open to the public. |
 Photograph of Adair and family in period clothing. |
The American War of Independence, like any war fought on home soil, pitted neighbor against neighbor. Squabbling families, especially in the Southern colonies, sometimes used the excuse of war to continue feuds begun on the other side of the ocean. Territories changed hands often, leaving civilians loyal to both sides vulnerable to opposing military forces. As a result, wives left home and marched to the drum with their soldier husbands, bringing with them children and other household members.
Suzanne Adair, award-winning author of the Revolutionary War suspense novels Paper Woman and The Blacksmith's Daughter, does a great deal of research for her writing by taking part in Revolutionary War reenactments with her husband and their two sons. She portrays a camp follower of His Majesty's 33rd Light Company of Foot. Camp follower was the term for any non-combatant attending a military group: a soldier's wife, sibling, child, parent, servant, slave, artisan (blacksmith, wheelwright), merchant (stationer, green grocer), trader, or peddler, and it's also the title of her third novel, due out this fall.
Suzanne Adair and her family will visit New Hanover County Public Library's Main Library at 2 PM on Saturday, September 6 to make a presentation about family life in the army during the American Revolution. In period clothing, they'll discuss the place of non-combatant family members in the army and how family units coped in the military environment. Books will be available for sale following the free presentation.
