The We Were There books are a series of historical novels written for children. The series consists of 36 titles, first released between 1955 and 1963 by Grosset & Dunlap. Each book in the series is a fictional retelling of an historical event, featuring one or more children as primary characters. The books were written by a number of different authors, each writing from one to seven of the books; the authors included Benjamin Appel, Jim Kjelgaard, Earl Schenck Miers, William O. Steele, and others. Each book's byline also lists a separate "historical consultant", who was a specialist in the historic topic covered by that particular book. The historical consultants were typically college professors or, in the case of war-related stories, retired military officers; among the more noteworthy consultants for the series were the historians Bruce Catton, Walter Prescott Webb and A. B. Guthrie, Jr. The books are illustrated with black-and-white line art, with color drawings on the dust jacket.
The dust jackets of the original printings of the books describe the series as follows:
We Were There books are easy to read and provide exciting, entertaining stories, based upon true historic events. Each story is checked for factual accuracy by an outstanding authority on this particular phase of our history. Though written simply enough for young readers, they make interesting reading for boys and girls well into their teens.
The original hardbound editions (with dust jackets) of the books were followed by several other printings, including editions for book clubs and libraries. The books were later reissued with hardbound pictorial covers (using the original dust jacket artwork), and softcover editions of some books became available in the 1970s. Three of the books are available from Lamppost Publishers and American Home School Publishers.American Home-School Publishing, ahsp.com. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
List of We Were There titles
Title Author Year 1 We Were There on the Oregon Trail William O. Steele 1955 2 We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg Alida Sims Malkus 1955 3 We Were There at the Boston Tea Party Robert N. Webb 1956 4 We Were There with Byrd at the South Pole Charles S. Strong 1956 5 We Were There at the Normandy Invasion Clayton Knight 1956 6 We Were There in the Klondike Gold Rush Benjamin Appel 1956 7 We Were There with the Mayflower Pilgrims Robert N. Webb 1955 8 We Were There with the Pony Express William O. Steele 1956 9 We Were There with the California Forty-Niners Stephen Holt 1960 10 We Were There with Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys Robert N. Webb 1956 11 We Were There with Jean Lafitte at New Orleans Iris Vinton 1957 12 We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run Jim Kjelgaard 1957 13 We Were There at the Battle for Bataan Benjamin Appel 1957 14 We Were There on the Chisholm Trail Ross McLaury Taylor 1957 15 We Were There at Pearl Harbor Felix Sutton 1957 16 We Were There with Richard the Lionhearted in the Crusades Robert N. Webb 1957 17 We Were There when Washington Won at Yorktown Earl Schenck Miers 1958 18 We Were There at the Battle of the Alamo Margaret Cousins 1958 19 We Were There at the Opening of the Erie Canal Enid Lamonte Meadowcroft 1958 20 We Were There at the Battle of Lexington and Concord Felix Sutton 1958 21 We Were There with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea Robert N. Webb 1958 22 We Were There with Lewis and Clark James Munves 1959 23 We Were There when Grant Met Lee at Appomattox Earl Schenck Miers 1960 24 We Were There at the Battle of Britain Clayton Knight and Katherine Sturges Knight 1959 25 We Were There with Cortes and Montezuma Benjamin Appel 1959 26 We Were There with the California Rancheros Stephen Holt 1960 27 We Were There with Caesar's Legions Robert N. Webb 1960 28 We Were There at the First Airplane Flight Felix Sutton 1960 29 We Were There on the Santa Fe Trail Ross McLaury Taylor 1960 30 We Were There with Charles Darwin on H.M.S. Beagle Philip Eisenberg 1960 31 We Were There at the Driving of the Golden Spike David Shepherd 1960 32 We Were There at the Opening of the Atomic Era James Munves 1959 32a We Were There at the Manhattan Project James Munves 1959 33 We Were There with the Lafayette Escadrille Clayton Knight and Katherine Sturges Knight 1961 34 We Were There at the Battle of the Bulge David Shepherd 1961 35 We Were There on the Nautilus Robert N. Webb 1961 36 We Were There with Lincoln in the White House Earl Schenck Miers 1963
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