pThe war was raging all around him. Johnny was only twelve years old, so he wasn't allowed to pick up a gun or to be a soldier. However, he still had a very important job on the battlefield he was the messenger for American Major General Gates. While he waited for the scouts to come back with their reports of British troop movements, Johnny could hear the musket balls whizzing above him, breaking branches in the trees. His father was out there in the battle lines, and through the smoke on the field, Johnny could just barely see him finish loading his musket, step to the right, take aim, and fire the weapon. The gun rocked as it fired and let out a cloud of smoke as the black powder exploded in the barrel, pushing the musket out at high speed. Johnny's father stepped back behind a tree to reload his musket- something that took even the best trained soldier about twenty seconds to do- before coming out to fire again. br br And so begins the fascinating history of the American Revolutio