America First: 100 Stories from Our Own History

Leif the Lucky, the swamp march to Vincennes, the Pony Express — a hundred true adventure stories from American history, told the way children begged to hear them in 1920.

Table of Contents

Leif, the Lucky

1 page

How the Spaniards Conquered Mexico

5 pages

The Conquest of Peru

5 pages

The Fountain of Youth

1 page

De Soto Discovers the Mississippi

2 pages

Sir Walter Raleigh

2 pages

The Lost Colony of Roanoke

1 page

Some Adventures of John Smith

5 pages

Persecutions of the Pilgrims and Puritans

3 pages

The Adventures of Miles Standish

4 pages

Building a Canoe

1 page

The Flight of Roger Williams

6 pages

Old Silver Leg

3 pages

William Penn and the Quakers

2 pages

The Charter Oak

3 pages

Bloody Marsh

1 page

The Saving of Hadley

3 pages

Sir William Phips and the Treasure Ship

2 pages

Hannah Dustin

1 page

Israel Putnam Captures the Wolf

1 page

A Young Surveyor

3 pages

The Adventures of Young Washington

3 pages

How the Indians Treated Major Putnam

2 pages

How Detroit Was Saved

1 page

The Story of Acadia

3 pages

Blackbeard, the Pirate

1 page

The Adventures of Daniel Boone

1 page

Sunday in the Colonies

1 page

The Salem Witches

1 page

Traveling by Stage-Coach

2 pages

King George and the Colonies

3 pages

Patrick Henry and the Parson's Cause

2 pages

Paul Revere's Ride

4 pages

The Green Mountain Boys

1 page

The Father of His Country

1 page

Nathan Hale

1 page

The Bravery of Elizabeth Zane

2 pages

Capturing the Hessians

1 page

How Lafayette Came to America

2 pages

The Patriotism of Lydia Darrah

1 page

Captain Molly Pitcher

2 pages

Outwitting a Tory

1 page

Supporting the Colors

4 pages

Nancy Hart, the War Woman of Georgia

1 page

Mad Anthony Captures Stony Point

3 pages

How General Schuyler Was Saved

1 page

An Indian Trick That Failed

1 page

How the Northwest Was Won

5 pages

Benjamin Franklin

2 pages

Nolichucky Jack

2 pages

Eli Whitney Invents the Cotton-Gin

1 page

Thomas Jefferson

2 pages

The Burning of the Philadelphia

1 page

The Expedition of Lewis and Clark

2 pages

Colter's Race for Life

1 page

Pike Explores the Arkansas Valley

4 pages

How the Pumpkins Saved the Family

2 pages

Old Ironsides

4 pages

Tecumseh

1 page

The Star-Spangled Banner

1 page

Traveling by the Canal

1 page

Lafayette's Return to America

2 pages

Osceola, the Seminole Chief

2 pages

An Early Journey by Railroad

1 page

Old Hickory

2 pages

Daniel Webster

3 pages

Henry Clay

2 pages

Christmas on the Plantation

1 page

John C. Calhoun

1 page

The Heroes of the Alamo

1 page

Sam Houston Wins Freedom for Texas

1 page

The Invention of the Electric Telegraph

3 pages

The Discovery of Gold in California

4 pages

Crossing the Continent

1 page

The Pony Express

1 page

The Boy Who Saved a Village

2 pages

The Rescue of Jerry

3 pages

Abraham Lincoln

1 page

Robert E. Lee

4 pages

Stonewall Jackson

2 pages

Stealing a Locomotive

3 pages

Sam Davis

1 page

An Escape from Prison

1 page

Running the Blockade

3 pages

Through the Heart of the South

1 page

The Surrender of General Lee

3 pages

Laying the Atlantic Cable

4 pages

The Story of the Telephone

1 page

Thomas a. Edison, the Great Inventor

1 page

Clara Barton and the Red Cross

2 pages

Hobson and the Merrimac

1 page

Dewey at Manila Bay

3 pages

Conquering the Yellow Fever

4 pages

The Last Race of Private Trepton

1 page

Frank Luke, Jr., Aviator

1 page

The Exploits of Sergeant York

3 pages

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of America First (1916) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.