9781422287491

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The bell that would become one of the great American symbols of freedom and democracy was nearly destroyed by the British during the American Revolution. A group of farmers moved the bell from Philadelphia to a town in the country, where it was hidden. Had the British found the bell, it might have been melt- ed down into musket balls that would be fired at the Continental Army.

I n September 1777, at the height of America’s War for Independence, farmers Frederick Leaser and John Jacob Mickley drove their wagons some 50 miles from their Lehigh Valley farms to Philadelphia, the capital city of the new nation. They had been summoned to help remove 11 bells from the city that military and civilian leaders feared would be captured by the British and melted down to make ammunition . By the time Leaser, Mickley, and 200 other farmers arrived in Philadelphia, the Revolutionary War was not going well for the colonists. After early British defeats at Concord and Bunker Hill, the two sides had battled hard, each scoring victories. But by August 1777, a force of British soldiers under General William Howe was advancing on Philadelphia. Howe planned to capture A Narrow Escape

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