Johnny Appleseed's Midnight Run
| Category: | American Tall Tales |
|---|---|
| Notes: | Audience parts, teach these before you start: RUN (slap your knees fast like running feet: Pat-pat-pat-pat!) KNOCK (knock on your knee: Bang, bang, bang!) Based on a true event of the War of 1812, in north-central Ohio. In August 1812, the settlers around Mansfield feared an attack, and the story told for generations afterward is that John Chapman ran through the night, barefoot, nearly thirty miles to Mount Vernon to bring soldiers, warning every cabin on the way. W. D. Haley wrote it down in 1871. Older tellings describe the attack in harsh terms of their time. This telling keeps to Johnny's run. The third of three Johnny Appleseed stories. |
| Source: | Based on W. D. Haley, Johnny Appleseed: A Pioneer Hero, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1871), and Ohio local histories of the War of 1812 |
Most people remember Johnny Appleseed as the gentle man who planted apple trees, and wouldn't hurt a mosquito. But there's one night, in the summer of 1812, when Johnny Appleseed was a hero of a different kind.
In 1812, America went to war with Britain again. And out on the Ohio frontier, it was a frightening time. The settlers lived far apart, in little log cabins in the woods, with miles between them. And there were no soldiers nearby. And news came that an attack was coming.
The settlers around the little town of Mansfield gathered in the blockhouse, a little log fort in the middle of town. But there weren't many of them, and they knew they couldn't hold out alone. They needed soldiers. And the nearest soldiers were in Mount Vernon. Almost thirty miles away. Through the woods. In the dark.
Somebody had to go.
And Johnny Appleseed said, 'I'll go.'
And he took off running. Barefoot, the way he always went. Out of the fort, and into the dark woods. RUN!
He knew every path and every creek in that country, because he'd walked them all, planting his trees. So he ran. Through the woods. Across the creeks. Over the hills. RUN! RUN!
And every time he came to a cabin, out there in the wilderness, he stopped and pounded on the door. KNOCK! And he shouted his warning, in that big voice he used for reading to the settlers. 'Get up! Get to safety! Danger is coming!'
And the families woke up, and grabbed their children, and ran for the nearest fort.
And Johnny ran on. RUN! To the next cabin. KNOCK! And the next. KNOCK! All night long. With his feet cut and bleeding on the rocks and the brambles. RUN!
And just as the sun was coming up, Johnny Appleseed came running into Mount Vernon. Thirty miles, in one night. Barefoot.
And the soldiers marched. And by the next day, they were in Mansfield.
And the people who lived along that road never forgot it. For the rest of their lives, they told their children and their grandchildren about the night they woke up to Johnny Appleseed banging on the door.
And when people talk about Johnny Appleseed being gentle, they're right. He was the gentlest man on the frontier. But gentle doesn't mean afraid.
Character Cues
| Character | Action |
|---|---|
| RUN | slap your knees fast like running feet: Pat-pat-pat-pat! |
| KNOCK | knock on your knee: Bang, bang, bang! |