CHARACTERS
Johnny- Johnny is the fourteen-year-old prize apprentice of the Boston silver-smith Ephraim Lapham. Johnny is a talented craftsman, but he is also arrogant, rash, and slightly cruel; Johnny finds a new life among the leaders of the Boston Whig party and finds himself transformed from a selfish youth into a patriotic young man.
Gage-The British general placed in charge of the Boston troops
Hutchison - The governor of Massachusetts. Governor Hutchinson refuses to send the tea ships back to London, which incites the Boston Tea Party.
Pumpkin- A British soldier stationed in Boston. Pumpkin wants to abandon his duties and buy a farm. Johnny helps him desert from the army, but Pumpkin is captured and executed.
Uncle Lorne- Rab’s uncle and master. Mr. Lorne owns the print shop that publishes the Boston Observer, a rebellious Whig newspaper.
Mr. Lapham-A Boston silversmith. Mr. Lapham is a pious and kind man who acts as Johnny’s master before the accident that disfigures his hand. He is older and isn’t as well of a silversmith as he used to be. Also a deacon.
Dorcas -Mrs. Lapham’s second daughter. Although Dorcas longs to be elegant and sophisticated, she ends up falling in love with the poverty-stricken Frizel, Jr., and elopes to avoid having to marry Mr. Tweedie.
Grandsire Silsbee- Rab’s grandfather.
Lieutenant Stranger - A kind and friendly British officer stationed in Boston. He develops a strained friendship with Johnny. He helps Johnny ride Goblin.
Mr. Tweedie - A silversmith who becomes Mr. Lapham’s business partner after Johnny’s accident. When none of her daughters will marry him, Mrs. Lapham marries Tweedie to ensure that the silver shop stays in the Lapham family.
Rab Silsbee-He does not pity Johnny for his crippled hand and lost job. Instead, he offers Johnny the opportunity to overcome his handicaps. He is trusted by all of the most important Revolutionary War leaders, who rely on him to print the Whig paper called the Boston Observer. Rab joins the Minute Men. He is fatally shot at Lexington, during the opening battle of the Revolutionary War.
Dove - An apprentice at the Lapham house. Dove is lazy, dishonest, and stupid. He is responsible for Johnny’s hand injury. But in the end Johnny and him become friends again because Johnny doesn’t like seeing Dove get bullied as a stable boy.
Mrs. Lapham - Mr. Lapham’s daughter-in-law. Mrs. Lapham is a dedicated, hardworking mother and a no-nonsense taskmaster to the apprentices. She works as the housekeeper in Mr. Lapham’s housing. Also, she wants Johnny to work on the Sabbath to get Mr. Hancock’s order finished. She has 4 kids. Cilla- Cilla works at the Lyte home as a lower-class servant, while Lavinia parades Isannah around Boston high society. She refuses to leave for London with the rest of the Lyte household, including Isannah, on the eve of the Revolution. At the book’s end, Cilla loses her sister but gains the boy she has always loved. The third oldest daughter of Mrs. Lapham. She is 14
Madge