When twelve-year-old Tommy Reed is asked to serve as a drummer for the local militia, he thinks his job will be simple: keep time, follow orders, and go home again.
But in the winter of 1776, nothing in North Carolina is simple.
As Loyalist forces march toward the coast to join the British army, Tommy and the Patriot militia hurry through swamps and back roads to reach Moore's Creek Bridge; the only crossing for miles. Hidden in fog and silence, the men prepare to stop the march before it can begin.
From his place beside a quiet drum, Tommy witnesses a moment that lasts only minutes but changes everything. The brief battle at Moore's Creek Bridge will push North Carolina toward independence and show that even ordinary people; and ordinary places; can shape history.
Based on true events, The Drum at Moore's Creek is a powerful middle-grade historical novel about courage, loyalty, and a boy who learns that sometimes the most important moments are the ones you never forget.
