Durrant, Lynda. Betsy Zane; the rose of Fort Henry.Random House, DellYearling. 198p. bibliog, c2000. 0-440-41834-8. $4.99. J To quote from the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, September 2000: The best thing about this historical novel is how rooted it is in a remarkable true story. The setting is 1781, on the Western frontier (in those times, the Ohio River Ohio River Major river, eastern central U.S. Formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, it flows northwest out of Pennsylvania, and west and southwest to form the state boundaries of Ohio–West Virginia, Ohio-Kentucky, Indiana-Kentucky, and ) at Fort Henry, which is now Wheeling, WV. Philadelphia, where Betsy lives with her great-aunt, is described in some detail, as is Betsy's journey west to Pittsburgh and on to join her brothers at Fort Henry when she is 13 years old. The frontier at that time was a diplomatic mess, as Indian tribes INDIAN TRIBE. A separate and distinct community or body of the aboriginal Indian race of men found in the United States. 2. Such a tribe, situated within the boundaries of a state, and exercising the powers of government and, sovereignty, under the national , the British, and the American settlers made pacts, betrayed one another, and fought brutally as new boundaries were drawn. Betsy's own brothers had spent much of their childhood in Indian tribes, taken as hostages and adopted; therefore, they were in a quandary when the Indians joined up with the British fighting against the Americans--thereby making them enemies of the Zane family For other uses of the name, see Zane. The Zane family is an important family in the history of the U.S. state of Ohio. Ohio's connection to the Zanes began with the brothers Isaac and Ebenezer Zane (1747–1811), who laid out much of the Ohio Territory, including the . Betsy saves the fort by endangering her life darting across an exposed 40 yards to get more gunpowder gunpowder, explosive mixture; its most common formula, called "black powder," is a combination of saltpeter, sulfur, and carbon in the form of charcoal. Historically, the relative amounts of the components have varied. in a blockhouse blockhouse, small fortification, usually temporary, serving as a post for a small garrison. Blockhouses seem to have come into use in the 15th cent. to prevent access to a strategically important objective such as a bridge, a ford, or a pass. , hiding it in her apron, and then returning with the gunpowder to the fort as the British and Indians fire all around her. Much of the drama of the story lies not only in Betsy's courage and strength, but also in how she stands up to the constant criticism of her brothers, and then her fiance, for not behaving as a woman should. They are always trying to protect her, and she defies them by doing whatever she wants to do, what feels right to her. Numerous notes at the end help the reader understand what part of the story is historical fact. Middle school students who live in the vicinity of the Ohio River, who may know Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Muskingum CountyGR6. by name, and who know something about the settlement of the region, will be the most obvious readers. |
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