Enemy in the Fort

American Girl History Mysteries #13

by Sarah Masters Buckey

In 1754, with her own parents taken captive, twelve-year-old Rebecca must confront her fear and hatred of the Abenaki when a boy raised by members of that tribe is brought to the fort at Charleston, New Hampshire, just before a series of thefts occurs.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Historical, Juvenile

163 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Sarah Masters Buckey was raised in New Jersey and lived in Texas for 15 years. Sarah was nominated for the Agatha Award in 2008 for A Thief in the Theater and in 2005 for The Curse of Ravenscourt. She was nominated for an Edgar Award in 2007 for The Stolen Sapphire.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, I'm reading a lot of YA these days. My bar exam-addled brain can't handle anything too high-brow.

This is a favourite in the series. A nice, inventive plot and evocative historical setting. Plus it has an excellent character arc that somehow manages to form in about 150 pages.

[Meghan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rebecca did not show much logic and was so blinded by prejudice that she couldn’t see some obvious red flags. The story’s tone does not display much in the way of cultural sensitivity and you have to wait til the Looking Back section for that. Would have liked to have seen more about the French ane Indian War.

[Lydia Therese]

I am from this area and I actually purchased this book years ago at the gift shop in Fort No. 4, so I enjoyed the history in this book. I also appreciated the cameo from the Johnson family and Miriam Willard, who were real captives taken from the Fort (the exceptional children's book, Calico Captive, offers a fictional account of this family's journey).
I saw some people complaining about how the MC did not completely overcome her blatant racism against the Native Americans; I appreciated the more realistic view she held of the Indian captive that they had to house. The author clearly does not endorse this attitude, but also does not shy away from showing what many white settlers thought of the Indians, which keeps the book from being too fluffy.
The mystery was average, although there aren't many clues to follow in order to be able to figure it out; I thought I had solved it by halfway through the book, but there was a fun twist at the end I wasn't expecting.

Overall, this was a good installment in the History Mysteries. I enjoyed it.

Book 7/264 (2.65% of the way done)
I am currently in the process of reading all 260-ish American Girl fiction books in chronological order according to the years in which they take place. It's a project I decided to start just for fun, since I have many of the books already in my own personal collection. It will probably take me several years, but I'm hoping to leave a review for each book. Follow along if you're interested! :)

[Little Seal]

This story is still relevant in a lot of ways today!

The mystery wasn't that hard to find/determine but it was still interesting, and to see growth that happened with Rebecca was great. I can understand her anger but I am glad she eventually came to realize that things are more complicated than meets the eye. I also found that things didn't wrap up as neatly as other mysteries do within the American Girl universe (though it is still a "good ending").

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, dear. I remember liking this one as a kid, but now I wonder why it was written in the first place. It's not very interesting. A girl loses her family to a proportional response carried out by Abekanis, winds up with a widow at a fort, and tries to save her sister from moving to a city with the family to whom she's indentured. The "mystery" is light, but it's a middle-grade book, so I didn't mind that too much. Some lip service is paid to equality and accepting people for who they are and understanding other ways of life, but beyond that, this is not a great look at racial prejudice. The protagonist never really changes her opinion about "savages," a word used with historically accurate frequency. Instead of this volume, I'd much rather have seen AG choose an own voices author to tell the other side of the story, perhaps of a young Abenaki girl whose life is upended by an influx of white captives.

Content warning: the main character induces an allergic reaction in her sister to prevent the sister from being taken away by the family to whom she was indentured.

[Kristi Clemow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have really enjoyed this series- they are cute mysteries but with historical fiction and social/age-appropriate issues as well. I appreciate how the books portray American History - neutral in tone - while showing how events affected lives of families and children - leaving room for analysis and questions from the reader. Can't recommend these books enough.

[Tessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

go rebecca!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I loved this book. The only thing that would’ve made it better was it being written for an older audience and even more facts to learn about the setting and the historical significance of the time and place.

The Percy family lives on a farm outside Fort Number 4 on the NH frontier. It’s the 1750s and the relationship between the French, the Indians and the English is extremely hostile. (Aka French and Indian War period) English settlers are being picked off one by one from their homes by Indian raids and being kept captive in their camps and in French territory as a way to get ransom from the English. Hundreds of families are torn apart and it’s not safe to be outside the fort walls. When the Percy family farm is attacked by The Abenaki’s one night, only Rebecca and her younger sister Selinda escape. They go on living with a widow inside the walls of the fort, waiting for the day their family will be returned to them. Selinda becomes an indentured servant to a rich family inside the fort, and when the family decides to head south to CT where it’s safer, they demand that Selinda must come with them, or have her contract price paid back. The only problem is, they have no money. Only a few belongings left from their family, including silver spoons that they decide they may have to sell. At the same time, a former captive from the Indians has been returned to the English and living with the widow and the Percy sisters in their home. No one trusts him, and things are going missing, including the only hope the girls had to raise money to keep them together. This is where the mystery comes into play.

My one other complaint is the way we found out the answer to the mystery. It was going great how they weren’t just giving up answers and then we found out PART of the answer. Quickly after since it’s a children’s book we found out the rest, but it doesn’t result in the ending we need and then you’re left wondering what the heck are they gonna do now? The solution was pulled from tying together some little bits of info we garnered from different parts of the book. But in my opinion the resolution came way too quickly and simply in the end after everything that led up to it.

[Bulk Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had my nostalgia goggles on for this one, as I read it many times throughout my childhood and considered it to be one of my favorite books back then. In fact, I think whenever I filled out one of those child questionnaires about your favorite things, I would always put “Enemy in the Fort” as my favorite book. It’s the only History Mystery I read multiple times, and it’s probably the reason I’m even reading this series right now.

From an adult standpoint I don’t find it to be exceptional, but I still think it’s an interesting examination of the relationship between Native Americans/settlers. Isaac, the white former captive, was well-written and both a sympathetic and admirable character. The protagonist has a difficult time accepting him, as do most of the other characters, which saddened me as it’s most likely accurate. Other reviewers seem to find Rebecca too harsh for the book to be enjoyable, and yeah, she is. But we’re also living in a time when racism is a lot less acceptable. It’s interesting to see how and why a child from this time period might view things differently, and how deeply prejudice was embedded in their everyday lives. Again, it’s saddening, but I’d rather read that than a sanitized version of history.

The mystery itself was kind of meh; didn’t even start until halfway through the book and was pretty predictable. I think it was more the setting and time period that appealed to me as a child, and that’s still true now.

Only gonna read 1-2 more of these before I plan to get back to Nancy Drew. 👍

[Harlyn Rengel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good but it just makes me sad that Rebeca’s parents and baby brother got taken away it also makes me sad how Johnny yoke the spoons. One more thing that makes me sad is how Rebeca’s sister almost got taken away. A good thing about this book is that the boy named Issac comes and just is hogging a lot of the food. One thing that surprises me about Issac is how good he can cut wood, I mean he seemed to be scraggly and poor but how he’s so strong is a real miracle! And I watched the movie wild robot and it was so sad it was all about like bright bill flying away for the winter and how sad fox gets but this book reminds me of the that movie because how the girls get taken away from there parents it a really emotional book but super good.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was no real mystery. A good intro to another time and place in history, but a mystery is not good for a fort. A FORT. Only so many people live there. But good writing aside from plot and was interesting.

[Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how it has so many ups and downs, also how she comes to the realization that Issac isn't really an enemy and how the indians might not be that bad.

[Autumn Maisy Raquet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looks good might read it

[August · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of hard to read, mostly because the main character hates Native Americans so much. I can't imagine what it must be like to be Native American and have to grow up with this narrative often being the only one you ever hear about your own people and history. While the main character in this book eventually changes her attitude, it isn't until 3/4 of the way through the book. If I hadn't strongly suspected it would happen eventually, this might have been a DNF for me, it was that difficult to read. If I wanted to use fiction to teach a child about Indian captives or the French and Indian War-era, I can think of several other books that would be much better than this one.

[Sophie Spruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really loved this as a kid. Rereading now, the plot tends to drag and the mystery doesn’t feel fully formed. Delivers on the history but not the mystery. Gets a few points for creativity but not enough for three stars. Doesn’t have a satisfying conclusion either.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

All ten-year-old Rebecca Percy and her younger sister Selinda could do was watch in horror from their hiding place as Abenaki Indians captured their parents and baby brother and burned their New Hampshire frontier home to the ground one dark night in 1752. Two years later, the sisters live with the kind Widow Tyler at a nearby fort. Rebecca helps with chores, and Selinda has hired herself out as a maid to the cruel Cutter family. At the same time that the sisters learn that the Cutters plan to return to civilization before Selinda's contract is up, and plan to take Selinda with them, the soldiers bring a boy rescued from captivity among the Abenaki to the fort. Widow Tyler takes the boy, Isaac, in. But after spending most of his childhood in captivity, Isaac is more Indian than English, and seems to want to return to the Abenaki family that adopted him after he was captured. Rebecca doesn't understand how Isaac, torn from his home to live among the people who killed his family, would chose to remain with his captors rather than return to the society he was born into. After a series of thefts in the fort, Rebecca is quick to suspect Isaac, especially after the one thing that she may be able to sell to buy back Selinda's contract is stolen. To find out what happens next, and to discover who the real thief is.

This was one of my favorite books from the History Mysteries series. I loved the historical setting. I recommend this book to readers who enjoyed other books in the series, or who like middle grade historical fiction.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place in 1754 in the area of New Hampshire. The main female character is Rebecca who has a younger sister named Selinda.

They live relatively near a fort but it doesn't do them any good as raiding Indians attack their house and take their mother, father and brother captives, not noticing the two girls hiding in a root cellar. The girls end up being taken in by a widow, with Selinda going to work for one of the families in the fort.

Matters get complicated when it turns out that Selinda is actually indentured to the other family and, since they plan to move out of the territory back to a more "civilized" area, she will be required to go with them unless Rebecca can somehow raise enough money to buy back her sister's contract.

Another complication comes from a white boy that had been taken captive by the Indians who is brought to the fort after being "liberated." The boy is more Indian than white, as far as culture goes, though, and is disliked and distrusted by almost everyone. He has a fight with one of the fort's bullies, and Rebecca suspects him of stealing some silver spoons she had been hoping to sell to raise money for her sister's contract.

There's a lot that goes on in this story, especially in relation to trying to look at the white/Indian warfare that went on at the time, trying to look at it from both sides in a more balanced view. The historical section, of course, helps with this task.

It's not a happy story; it's a very gritty, that's-the-way-things-really-were type of story and definitely worth reading.

[Jadalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is historical fiction and I would say it’s for intermediate readers. It’s about two sisters who take refuge in fort when their patents and baby brother are taken captive by Indians. I think it’s a good book, not an excellent one, but a good one. It has some good factual bits in it, how Indians would raid the settlers homes and kidnap some people, sometimes adopting the young white children as one of their own. Children who read this book will also get the other side of the story, how the settlers would also destroy entire Indian villages. The writing style is very simple so it shouldn’t lose young readers interest. It has enough intrigue that I’m sure younger readers would enjoy it as they’re still learning. I don’t think it’s the best book to bring into a class room, but I would be pleased with this choice for a book report.

[Steve Hemmeke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent historical fiction of French Indian war, depicting life in a frontier fort.
Does well showing Indian-English tensions, without being politically correct.
Explores themes of trust, kindness, and taking initiative.
Back cover says 10 and up, and that's about right. The story begins with a family's parents and baby brother kidnapped while the two sisters are hidden in the cellar. Rather mature content, but manageable, not graphic, and the rest is much tamer.

[Chelsea]

I was a really, really great book. I wish they made a second one!

P.S. I've given my little sister a shelf on my account, that's what this is.

[Elevetha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was decent enough. 9+.

[Beka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both more gripping and more frustrating than many of these stories.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps my favorite in the American Girl History Mystery Series, this book was one that I found thrilling and very interesting. Another very, very good read by Sarah Masters Buckey!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

it is The Fort at Number Four! this is a real place and a cool place to visit