"I love nothing better, than giving pleasure to [my grand] children. [After many requests] I consented to give them a connected recital of the adventures of my youth, during a time when every thing was interesting to those who love excitement and action."
From the Preface: "I was able to recollect much more than I expected I should; for the events which occur in our youth, especially such as it has been my lot to participate in, make a much more lasting impression on our minds, than those of a later period. One circumstance after another revived in my memory, and was detailed on paper, - until I found that my manuscript had increased to a much larger size, than I, or those for whose pleasure it was written, had anticipated. At last, to their great delight, it was completed; and was received with so much approbation by the young auditors, that it was thought it might be interesting to maturer minds; and it was lent to several friends, who expressed so favorable an opinion of it, and were so desirous that I should give the public an account of my revolutionary adventures, that I have consented to prepare for the press the manuscript originally intended for my own family, with the hope that it may prove as interesting to the rising generation, as it has to my own grandchildren." 238 pages
