0 Who WasAbigail Adams

Who Was Abigail Adams? By True Kelly Illustrated by John O'Brien

Who Was Abigail Adams? On June 17, 1775, at 3:00 a.m., Abigail Adams woke up with a start. Her bed was shaking. The dull boom of cannons ten miles away in Boston shook the whole house. The British and the American colonists were at war. Abigail had almost gotten used to hearing the boom from cannons every day as the armies fought. But this time was different. The cannon fire went on and on and on.

Abigail's first thoughts were for the safety of her four children. She had managed the Adamses' small farm and big family by herself for months because her husband, John, was away. He had been nervous about leaving his family in a danger zone. However, he and Abigail both felt that he had to be at an important meeting in Philadelphia. John was

among a growing number of people who wanted the colonies to break free from British rule. The meeting would decide the future of the thirteen American colonies. At daybreak, Abigail and her seven-year-old son, John Quincy, climbed the hill behind their house to see what was happening. They could hear the guns roaring even louder. They stood on a pile of rocks at the top to get a better view. What they saw was horrifying. Beyond the British warships in Boston Harbor, flames and black smoke rose above the city. Abigail and her son held hands and walked down the hill in tears.

The battle was one of the most important of the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Bunker

Hill. Soon Abigail wrote about it to her husband. John showed her letters to General George Washington, the new head of the American army. Abigail was living in amazing times, and she described them and her life in amazing letters: She wrote over three thousand letters in her lifetime!