Wilderness Boy

Wilderness Boy is an historical, young adult novel by American writer Margery Evernden.

Set in 1794 in Washington County, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh, it tells the story of sixteen-year-old Jonathon Garrett, who while on an errand for his frontier doctor uncle, is accosted by local farmers and enlisted to join them in raising a Liberty Pole. The events of the Whiskey Rebellion soon unfold.

"Jonathan, who lives with his Uncle Daniel, a doctor and a conservative, is disturbed at the signs of an uprising- a new struggle for liberties the landsmen had already thought were theirs. Jonathan's other uncle, Lachlan, is on the side of the farmers and in spite of his respect for Uncle Daniel- his loyalties are mixed. Unable to resist the call to freedom, he joins Lachlan. The result is defeat and Lachlan's imprisonment for treason, but by then the principles of just taxation are clearly defined and both Jonathan and Uncle Daniel are able to speak for Lachlan's release. Mature narration raises this above the ordinary". - Kirkus Reviews