The Independence Series
courage
noun. Strength to persevere, to face dangers, to overcome fears.
“They have courage and are fearless in the face of danger.”
These Books Are Available From:
We Americans in our time must face the reality that the freedoms our forefathers passed down to us are in danger. They in their time fought – and so many died – that we might inherit the God-given liberties they had received from their Anglo-Saxon forebears as well as the Puritan culture of the Northern Colonies.
But Parliament stripped away their liberties in 1774 by claiming that the Parliament alone had full right and power to rule over the Colonies “in all matters whatsoever.” This nullified their freedoms. No unjust act of those in power could be reversed. They were economic slaves to Parliament and British merchants. That included their Protestant Religion! This is not well known today, but the Bishops in Britain’s Parliament were eager to abolish the Protestant churches in the Colonies and replace them with the Episcopal Church of England as the official religion. John Adams spoke for all Protestants when he said that the Revolution was as much concerned with religious liberty as with political liberty.
So, brave men fought Great Britain for the political and religious freedoms into which they were born. Their society certainly was not perfect – no nation was or is. But the freedoms for which they fought made this country the marvel and hope of the world. Peoples from all over began streaming to our shores.
Using the form of “historical fiction,” I want to tell of this gallant struggle for independence through the (fictional) lives of teenage boys and girls who live in Williamsburg, Virginia. The boys become messengers for the Virginia governors. I want to tell of the great courage and suffering of those who fought for the freedoms we inherited. I want to tell of the glorious inheritance we have received, for which succeeding generations also fought and died, in the hope and prayer that boys and girls and their parents will also work and pray for the freedoms we have received at God’s hand in this great country.
1. The Drums of War
The sleeping citizens of Williamsburg, Virginia, are shocked awake by the shouts of the night watchman and the firing of his pistol. Soon the whole town learns that Lord Dunmore, Governmor of Virginia, has sent British marines to steal gunpowder from the town’s public magazine, gunpowder stored there for the defence of the Virginia Colony!
Determined Patriots send messengers galloping from Williamsburg to alert the neighboring farms and counties. The drama builds to a climax as Patrick Henry leads Patriot militiamen toward a dramatic showdown with the British Governor.
Thus begins an exciting series of books set in the turbulent days of the American Colonies’ war for independence. Fourteen-year-old Andrew Hendricks, and his friend Nathan, grow to manhood during the desperate struggle to preserve the thirteen colonies’ social, political, and religious liberties. The boys and their sisters meet great leaders of the American cause, and learn the principles for which our forefathers took up arms and pledged their “lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor”!
2. The Battle of Bunker Hill
In April of 1775, the British Government ordered its armies to disarm the citizen military forces in the North American Colonies. British troops invaded the Massachusetts countryside, fired on the Lexington militiamen, and began to burn patriot supplies. But militia companies from surrounding counties and colonies rushed to repel the invaders. They swarmed upon the British troops, drove them back to Boston, and bottled them in. As Britain amassed armies and ships from around its empire, and hired thirty thousand German soldiers to subdue the Colonies, General Howe in June ordered a surprise attack on the American militia besieging British troops in Boston.
Andrew Hendricks and Nathan Edwards found themselves caught up in the American move to fortify Bunker Hill and forestall the British offensive. Under the ferocious bombardment of British warships in Boston Harbor, seventeen hundred American citizen-soldiers await the assault of General Gage’s twenty-five hundred professional soldiers and marines. The war for American independence had begun.
3. A Captive in Williamsburg
The Continental Congress has chosen George Washington of Virginia as Commander of the American militia regiments to confront the British army which occupies Boston, Massachusetts. Virginia has sent her finest militia rifle regiments and many supplies to help free the city from British military rule.
But now Virginia herself is threatened with invasion! Her former British governor, Lord Dunmore, has formed a fleet to attack Virginia’s coastal towns and blockade her shipping. He has sent agents to incite the Indian tribes against her western border. He is also fortifying Norfolk as a base for invading and subduing Virginia to the King’s rule, thus extinguishing her historic civil and religious liberties.
Andrew Hendricks rides in haste with messages from Williamsburg to Virginia’s second regiment which is facing British forces at Stone Bridge, near Suffolk. The battle here could well determine whether Virginia shall gain her freedom or bcome totally enslaved to British rule.
4. Charleston
Honed by his recent experience at Bunker Hill and Great Bridge, Drums of War hero Andrew Hendricks returns in the fourth installment of Peter Doyle’s popular young adult series—this time in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Battle of Sullivan’s Island.
Soon after Andrew uncovers an insidious Tory plot in their hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia, duty calls the young patriot to set sail for South Carolina to deliver an important message: By sea and by land, the English are planning to take the capital city of Charleston, one of the most important ports in America, and begin a full-scale invasion of the South.
The clock is ticking for Andrew Hendricks and his woodsman mentor, Matthew Anderson, to get word to Governor Rutledge and his forces before Admiral Peter Parker and General Henry Clinton of the English military overwhelm the Patriots’ small, incomplete fort on Sullivan’s Island in Charleston Harbor.
5. The Battle of Valcour Island
The British were planning to invade the rebelling colonies by attacking the American forces on Lake Champlain. They were building vessels to carry their troops by water. General Benedict Arnold led the Colonial forces at the southern part of the lake, and he and his men were desperately building small warships with which they hoped to stop the invasion fleet from Canada. But Arnold faced serious problems among his own troops.
A Virginia officer on his staff offered to seek help from Virginia’s Governor, Patrick Henry. And Patrick Henry called again for the woodsmen Matthew Anderson, and his proteges, Nathan Edwards and Andrew Hendricks, to go to General Arnold’s army to find the troublemakers in his command. A thrilling story of a famous battle in which the Virginians join the other colonists in a desperate fight against the skilled sailors and the mighty ships of the British Royal Navy.
The Battle of Valcour Island is the fifth book in the Independence series, set in the turbulent years of the American Revolution. The series introduces young readers to both the renowned leaders and everyday people who fought to preserve the social, political, and religious freedoms of the American Colonies.
Peter Reese Doyle is the author of the popular Daring Adventure and Independence series for young adults. He and his wife live in Opelika, Alabama.
6. Washington Strikes Back
After many a defeat, the courageous Washington and his small, battered army strike back in a sensational surprise victory over the cruel Hessian soldiers who had done such damage to the Colonial army and helpless civilians.
After a nighttime crossing of the raging ice-chocked river, in the midst of a fierce storm which poured down upon them hail and rain and snow, the battered troops struggled though the night and threw themselves at their vicious foe.
Andrew Hendricks and Nathan Edwards had come from Virginia with messages to Washington from Virginia’s Governor, Patrick Henry. They were not supposed to get involved in the fighting, but seeing fellow Virginians in General Washington’s army, they realized they had to do their part, too.
Washington Strikes Back is the sixth book in the Independence series, set in the turbulent years of the American Revolution. The series introduces young readers to both the renowned leaders and everyday people who fought to preserve the social, political, and religious freedoms of the American Colonies.
integrity
noun. Adherence to high ethical moral code, sturdy.
“They were reliable men and women of integrity.”