General Howe's Dog
George Washington, the Battle of Germantown, and the Dog Who Crossed Enemy Lines
by Caroline Tiger
Overview
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Five Paws: History classes were never this interesting. In General Howe's Dog, Caroline Tiger presents a slice of America's past, taking the reader back in time to the Revolutionary War. She chronicles the lives of George Washington and Willam Howe and how each rose through military ranks. One became an American General and the other a British General, fighting on opposite sides but each gentleman - and they were certainly gentlemen - had a deep and abiding love of dogs. Their paths cross during the war and in one little known episode, General Howe's dog gets separated from Howe and is found by Washington. The stray is wearing an inscribed collar identifying him as belonging to the British General. Washington returns the dog to Howe, along with a polite letter to his enemy. They may be at war but they maintain their civility and humanity. What might have been just an obscure footnote in history becomes a vibrant story, alive with detail of the times and the people. A must read." - Darlene Arden, Animal Radio 7/28/05
My thoughts
Um ... OK. This book is a lot less about General Howe's dog than it is about George Washington and a gentleman's code of conduct. I'm not a dog lover so this probably wasn't the right book for me, but it was a fun read for as short of a book as it is. If it had been a longer book, I don't know if I'd have made it to the end.
Favorite Passage
The rules of war stated that soldiers could be taken prisoner but that a man's personal property should be returned. A year earlier, Washington's men had found the personal letters of a British officer left behind at an encampment. After scanning them for military secrets, Washington had returned these letters to Howe with a note requesting that they be given to the officer whose name they bore. There must have been some indiscretion revealed in the letters, because Washington asked Howe not to read the contents. According to a return note Howe wrote to Washington, he did as his adversary asked and delivered the letters without peeking.
