Up with ye, me brave buccaneer, " said Barney, giving him a poke in the ribs with an oar he had in his hand. "If you want to make your escape from that Dutchman, ye'd better be stirring yer stumps. It's sunup and me gallant ship sails in a few minutes."

Thus begins the adventure of young Jonathan Ogden as he is forced to flee the rough treatment to which he is subjected on a Pennsylvania farm where he was "bound out" following the untimely death of his parents. To make matters worse, he must leave behind his dear twin sister, Phoebe, who has been taken in by a Quaker family.

His mind filled with stories of George Washington and the Revolution, told to him by his grandfather on winter evenings in the kitchen of his old home, Jonathan sets sail with his new friend and unlikely benefactor, Patrick Ambrose Barney. He soon finds himself in the path of the seemingly invincible sea-power of Great Britain, somehow ending up in a heroic battle on "Old Ironsides." However, the greatest battle will be fought in the lessons Jonathan learns about loyalty, patriotism and friendship in early America.

Join Jonathan and Phoebe on a nautical adventure in The American Twins of 1812, by Lucy Fitch Perkins and experience history through the eyes of a brother and sister in one of the most tumultuous periods in American history.