Fearless Martha
A Daughter of the American Revolution
Sheila Ingle

Hub City Press
978-1-891885-83-9
$11.95 paperback
5 x 7 
157 pages
20 b&w illustrations
Grades 2-8
October 2011
Children/Young Adult, Historical, Fiction

Most history books describe the American Revolution as a war between men, but in South Carolina, heroic women like Martha Bratton played a part in defeating the British and ensuring independence for the 13 colonies. Fearless Martha: A Daughter of the American Revolution is a fictionalized and illustrated young readers’ biography of a plucky female patriot.

Each captivating chapter describes this resilient and fearless young mother’s commitment to preserving and protecting her family and home in the South Carolina backcountry. When Martha’s husband rides off to join a militia and fight for independence, she and her children—four daughters and a rambunctious six-year-old boy—try to hold their lives together. Between blowing up a secret cache of gunpowder before Tories can confiscate it to blowing off a rattlesnake’s head, Martha Bratton stands tall as battles wage around her during the summer of 1780. In a riveting scene on the front porch of her home, Martha meets the enemy face to face as a British soldier holds a blade to her neck and her children cower behind her. Re-created through imagination, public records, and backcountry traditions, Fearless Martha is a powerful story of bravery in a tumultuous time.