Rebellion 1776

Rebellion 1776 (2025) is a young adult historical novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. The story is set in March 1776 during the final, chaotic months of the British siege of Boston. Thirteen-year-old kitchen maid Elsbeth Culpepper is forced to navigate the dangerous, war-torn city after her father disappears on the night the British evacuate. Relying on her wits to survive, Elsbeth must contend with a raging smallpox epidemic, forge new alliances, and confront a cast of characters with shifting loyalties. The novel explores The Interplay of Personal and Political Rebellion, The Necessity of Deception as a Tool for Survival, and The Formation of Found Families in Times of Crisis.

Laurie Halse Anderson is an acclaimed author known for her meticulously researched historical fiction that often gives voice to young people, particularly girls, during pivotal moments in American history. Her other notable works include Fever 1793 (2000), which explores the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, and the award-winning Seeds of America trilogy, which follows an enslaved girl during the American Revolution. Anderson has received numerous literary honors, including the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Rebellion 1776 continues her exploration of the Revolutionary era, examining the impact of war, disease, and political upheaval on the lives of ordinary citizens.

This guide refers to the 2025 Atheneum Books for Young Readers First Edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide contain depictions or discussions of illness, death, child death, physical and emotional abuse, bullying, substance use, racism, enslavement, gender discrimination, and violence.

Plot Summary

During the Patriot bombardment of Boston on March 4, 1776, 13-year-old kitchen maid Elsbeth Culpepper is ordered by her employer, Judge Abraham Bellingham, to fetch a doctor. Venturing into the chaotic city, she meets Nyott Doubt, an apprentice doctor whom she persuades to help the judge. The next morning, Elsbeth’s friend, Shubel “Shube” Kent, shows her that the Patriot army has placed cannons on Dorchester Heights overnight, a strategic move that traps the British. Elated, Elsbeth rushes to tell her father, Tobias “Pappa” Culpepper, who is a sailmaker. Her news angers her father’s Loyalist coworkers, and Pappa later scolds her for her recklessness, forbidding her from visiting him for her own safety. As the British army prepares to evacuate, Pappa sends Elsbeth a note informing her that he has decided to take her with him to Scotland. Horrified, Elsbeth hides in the hayloft of the barn to avoid him.

On Evacuation Day, March 17, Elsbeth emerges to find her father gone. Believing she has successfully thwarted his plan, she waits for him, but he never arrives. Worried, she goes to his boardinghouse, where she discovers two men sick with smallpox. One is dead, and the other, Billy Rawdon, is barely alive. Elsbeth helps Rawdon before reporting him to a Patriot doctor. Returning to the judge’s house, she finds Shube, who helps her secure a new position as a maid for Mister Pike, a Patriot spy recovering from imprisonment. To explain her father’s absence, Elsbeth lies, claiming he has left on a long whaling voyage. As she settles into her new role, Mister Pike’s family—his wife, six children, and the stern housekeeper Widow Nash—chaotically arrives from the countryside, creating a difficult new living situation. With them is Hannah Sparhawk, a wealthy young lady and the ward of Mister Pike’s missing business associate, Captain Hunter. Hannah demands to be sent to her grandmother in Providence, but the Pikes refuse. Widow Nash banishes Elsbeth to sleep in the cold attic.

Hannah sneaks out of the house and offers to teach Elsbeth how to milk the cow, Ruggles, in exchange for help sneaking back in. Life under the constantly critical Widow Nash is difficult, but Elsbeth manages to resolve a dispute among the Pike children over a broken chamber pot, which impresses Hannah. Shube visits, revealing he has joined the army and will be leaving soon to build fortifications. Soon after, the Pikes’ financial situation collapses, leaving them broke. The coarse and intimidating Captain Hunter makes a surprise appearance. He claims that Hannah’s grandmother is too ill for a visit. He then reveals that the Pikes’ business is ruined and offers to pay their debts in exchange for a three-quarters partnership. Thomas Pike, the eldest son, argues with his father and runs away to sea with Hunter on his privateer ship, the Defiance. Hannah, recognizing Hunter’s treachery, arranges for Elsbeth to be elevated to her personal maid, which enrages Widow Nash.

When the town authorizes mass smallpox inoculations, Mister Pike announces his family will participate, then leaves for Watertown to avoid their subsequent illness. During the city-wide celebration of the Declaration of Independence on July 18, Hannah, longing for a brief adventure, arranges a secret meeting with Nyott Doubt. Elsbeth uses her hour of freedom to meet Billy Rawdon at the Sign of the Wolf tavern. He gives her Pappa’s sailmaker’s palm and demands she steal two shirts in exchange for more of her father’s belongings and information. Later at the celebration, Hannah encounters two women from her hometown who reveal that her grandmother died the previous December. Devastated, Hannah realizes Captain Hunter has been lying to her for months. She confronts Missus Pike, who confesses she knew about the death but was forbidden by Hunter to tell her. Missus Pike warns Hannah that Hunter has absolute power over her and any rebellion could lead to her being sent to an asylum. As the Pike family falls ill from their inoculations, Billy Rawdon appears at the barn. Elsbeth gives him two old shirts from the attic, and in return, he gives her Pappa’s needle case, which contains her mother’s embroidery needle. He then demands a watch or a silver spoon for one last item. He later charms Widow Nash with a gift of stolen onions. Growing doubtful of Elsbeth’s story about her father, a suspicious Nash intercepts a letter addressed to her from Pappa and reports her to the Committee of Safety as a traitor. Elsbeth is interrogated but successfully defends herself. The committee reads the letter, realizes it is a personal note from her father in Nova Scotia, and releases her, giving her the letter. That night, seeking leverage against Hunter, Elsbeth breaks into his house and steals two of his account books from the years of Hannah’s guardianship.

Pappa’s letter reveals he was kidnapped by the Royal Navy on the eve of the evacuation and is being held captive in Halifax, but he is planning to escape. The next morning, Elsbeth confronts Widow Nash in front of Missus Pike, exposing the housekeeper’s treachery. After reading the letter and hearing Elsbeth’s full story, Missus Pike is initially angry at her deceit but, swayed by her children’s defense of Elsbeth, allows her to stay. Soon after, Hannah develops a fever and spots. Doctor Crookshank confirms she has contracted smallpox in the “common way,” a much more dangerous form of the disease. Elsbeth becomes her dedicated nurse, and Nyott reads to her from outside her window each evening. Despite their care, Hannah’s condition worsens, and she dies with Elsbeth and Nyott at her side. On November 30, 1776, Elsbeth learns that the Patriot schoolmaster James Lovell has been returned to Boston from Halifax in a prisoner exchange. She rushes to inquire and is miraculously reunited with her father in a snowstorm.

An Epilogue set five years later reveals that Tobias Culpepper becomes a sail loft boss. Elsbeth completes a sewing apprenticeship in Hadley with Missus Fletcher, then, in 1779, she returns to Boston and begins working for a kind seamstress, Widow Johnson, whom her father marries. Captain Hunter dies at sea, and his ship, the Defiance, sinks. Thomas Pike, who had hoped to marry Hannah, returns to the navy after learning of her death. Shubel Kent, having learned to read and write in the army, returns to Boston in 1780. He and Elsbeth marry before he reenlists. The story concludes after the American victory at Yorktown, with Elsbeth awaiting her husband’s final return from the war.