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Dorothea Graham Jensen
a book bubble about
A Buss from Lafayette
Teens
Author Insight
Bone for America????
I based this "Bone for America" story on that related by Captain John Polhemus in his 1818 application for a military pension: "Our Colonel had his horse killed, and General Marquis de Lafayette received a wound in his leg from the same ball, whereupon, while stroking the smarting wound, he exclaimed, 'Bone, bone for America!' I asked him what the bone had to do with it, to which he replied 'Good, good for American liberty!' and we both enjoyed the joke," As far as I know, there is no other verification of this, and Pohlemus might have been embellishing his war experience. However, I figured that the men at Towne's store might also embellish what they knew of the Revolution. : )
Book Excerpt
A Buss from Lafayette
Mr. Towne jumped back into the conversation, telling us how, after Lafayette had been wounded in the leg, he had shouted “Bone for America!” This had puzzled everyone, as the musket ball had not hit Lafayette’s bone, but had passed clean through his leg. “Lafayette then explained that the word he had used was bon, which means good in French,” said Mr. Towne. “He had been saying ‘Good for America!’ Lafayette thought this misunderstanding so funny, he laughed aloud even while his leg was bleeding away, even though it must have pained him considerably! Now, I do not know if this story be true, but it is still a good yarn.”
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