Josiah Book 1 & Josiah’s Mettle Book 2
Shades of Liiberty is a new action and adventure historical fiction series that chronicles African Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War. Josiah is a blacksmith and runaway slave from Newport, Rhode Island. He, along with other escaped slaves, Scipio and Jeb, forged their marks to enlist and fight in Washington’s army. The date is September 15, 1776. Early that morning, the three bondsmen find themselves huddled behind makeshift barricades on a gravely beach before a small hamlet lining the East River, just north of the city of New York. They and a regiment of militia farm boys from Connecticut look out over the water, encased in a hazy dawn. They are about to experience one of the worst bombardments of the entire war. Five British Frigates and Bomb Ketches, over a hundred cannon and mortars, are anchored but a hundred yards offshore. For one hour the ships rained terror down upon a tiny stretch of beach, tearing through bodies and ripping apart the flimsy defense. Those who survived later reported that they thought the sound alone would kill them.
So begins the Battle of Kip’s Bay and a day that will see the world turned on its head for Washington’s army. The commander-in-chief will ride like a demon to try and rally his fleeing troops in the face of the British invasion of Manhattan. Hardened Hessians, Grenadiers and Light Infantrymen, including the dreaded ‘Black Watch’, Scottish Highlanders of grim fame, swarmed over the beach and pressed the retreating Americans. Washington stood firm and pleaded for his men to turn and fight. He drew his sword and lashed out with the flat of his blade, cursing their souls to hell for showing their backs to their enemies. It was all for naught as the rout was complete.
Josiah and his friends were among the last to fly from the horde of Hessian and British steel. In doing so, they tried to save a wounded soldier, only to witness his brutal and grisly murder at the hands of a relentless and bloodthirsty captain of Jaeger, German marksmen and hunters who carry grove bored rifles. In non-stop, action-packed pursuit, the three patriots face their worst nightmare as they desperately fight for their lives to rejoin the American line dug in on Harlem Heights.
Washington, perched behind his stronghold on Harlem Heights is faced with the annhialation of a third of his army. The British invasion is poised to cut across Manhattan, trapping over 3,000 men and most of his artillery, ammunition, and much needed supplies. General Putnam’s Division had been abandoning the city when British General Howe launched his invasion, catching the old ‘ranger and Indian fighter’ off guard. To escape the British trap, Putnam’s men must drag and haul supplies sixteen miles, in temperatures approaching 100 degrees, trudging through the backcountry of upper Manhattan while embroiled in the race of their lives. To save Putnam’s division, Washington launches a bold plan to hold back the British just long enough for Putnam’s men to escape.
Washington will hurl the best of his best against Howe’s crack troops. General Mifflin will lead the regiments from Delaware and Maryland in a last ditch attempt to block General Howe’s push north. Meanwhile, Colonel Knowlton with his band of elite backwoods rangers are sent in a suicidal attempt to delay the mass of British and Hessian steel from cutting west across the island and sealing Putnam’s destruction.
The climax is set for Josiah and his friends. In their daring drive towards their lines, they fall in with Knowlton’s men. A garrulous ranger and frontiersman, Captain Isaiah Walker, will draft them to join in a foolhardy and heroic stand before hardened Grenadier and grim Scotsmen.
And so too the stage is set for the final battle. Josiah will confront the Hessian captain in a maddened act of revenge and furious fight to the death.
African Americans participated in ever battle and near every skirmish throughout the Revolutionary War. Over five thousand black soldiers fought alongside their white comrades. And though these black patriot numbers did not nearly reach the over 100,000 white patriots who fought for the American cause, unlike the ‘summer soldier’ and militiamen with short term enlistments, most of the black soldiers remained in the ranks for the entire war. Therefore their numbers and the overall percentage of black to white soldiers present for duty at any one time would have been higher than the total number would assume; at times as many as six to one. American General John Thomas said: “We have some Negroes but I look on them in general equally serviceable with other men for fatigue, and in action many of them had proved themselves brave.” Captain Alexander Graydon wrote when he saw Colonel Glover’s regiment at Marblehead, Massachusetts: “But even in this regiment (a fine one) there were a number of Negroes.” At the battle of Monmouth, British historian Bancroft stated: “Nor may history omit to record that, of the ‘revolutionary patriots’ who on that day periled life for their country, more than 700 black men fought side by side with the white.” Bancroft went on to write from early on in the war that “the roll of the army at Cambridge had from its first formation borne the names of men of color.”
Doctor Harris, who was present at the Battle of Rhode Island, said of the Rhode Island 1st regiment, a regiment formed mostly of African American slaves: “Had they been unfaithful or even given away before the enemy all would have been lost. Three times in succession they were attacked with more desperate valor and fury by well disciplined and veteran troops, and three times did they successfully repel the assault and thus preserved our army from capture.” The American army was retreating . The Rhode Island 1st was part of the rear guard. The regiment of mostly African American soldiers were crucial to the American escape by holding their ground and beating back several Hessian assaults.