The Maid of Esopus

This is Beadle and Adams Dime Novel No. 529, The Maid of Esopus; or, The Trials and Triumphs of the Revolution, by N.C. Iron, published in 1861. The narrative begins in August 1777 with three British officers—Sir Henry Clinton, Commodore Hotham, and Major Campbell—dining near Broadway and the Battery in New York. They discuss General Burgoyne's campaign along Lake Champlain and consider mounting a Hudson River diversion to meet him at Albany. Clinton remains hesitant despite his officers' advocacy for immediate action. The next morning, Clinton observes his garrison drilled on the parade ground. The novel then introduces Lieutenant Marcus Goodheart, a respected English officer, who while making rounds one evening hears melancholy guitar music emanating from near the sentries' lines. He discovers a youth of about fifteen, dressed in a brown Holland tunic with blue cord trim, playing beneath a linden tree by a stream.