The Tory's Daughter - Hearts at War book 3!

Hello, all! I was glancing over past posts and one year ago to the week was my cover reveal for book 2 of my Hearts at War series. I am very excited to now introduce you to book 3 which will release this winter!

Burying his wife is the hardest thing Joseph Garnet has ever done. Then he is called to leave his young son and baby daughter to fight Iroquois raiders. When Joseph tackles one of the marauders trying to steal his horse, the last thing he expects is to end up tussling with a female. The girl is wounded, leaving Joseph little choice but to haul her home to heal—an act that seems all too familiar.

Though Joseph doesn’t appear to remember her, Hannah Cunningham could never forget him. He rode with the mob that forced her two brothers into the Continental Army and drove her family from their home—all because of her father’s loyalties to The Crown. After five years with her mother’s tribe, starvation and the rebels have left her nothing but the driving need to find her brothers.

Compelled by a secret he’s held for too long, Joseph agrees to help Hannah find what remains of her family. Though she begins to steal into his aching heart, he knows the truth will forever stand between them. Some things cannot be forgiven.

The Tory's Daughter is set in 1781 and takes us back to the Mohawk Valley where our story started with The Scarlet Coat. If you haven't began this series, I hope you pop over to your favorite book distributor and take a look. :) 

Barnes & Noble           Indigo/Chapters         Amazon 

Where it all begins: The Battle of Oriskany

At our last tea party I had the pleasure of unveiling the cover of my Revolutionary War novel. The Scarlet Coat will be the first book of my Hearts at War series that Pelican Book Group/White Rose Publishing will release. Today, I want to take you to where it all begins, a horrific battle that plays a role in each book in the series.

In August of 1777, one year and one month after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the British decided to use the Mohawk Valley as a spike into the heart of New England. Barry St. Leger was promoted to Brigadier General for the campaign and took with him eight hundred British, German, Loyalist, and Canadian troops, and almost one thousand allied Iroquois.

One of their first stops was Fort Stanwix (for a time renamed Fort Schuyler by the Continental forces, and near present day Rome, New York).

Areal view of Fort Stanwix

The British laid siege, but the Fort's commander, Colonel Peter Gansevoort, with his almost eight hundred men, refused to surrender.

Reenactment at Fort Stanwix

Thankfully, help was on the way.

General Nicholas Herkimer with his own troops and the local militia, tallying to about 800 men, were hurrying up along the Mohawk River to bring relief. Unfortunately, Molly Brant, sister of Joseph Brant, a Mohawk military and political leader, and one of the most feared Tories in the area, sent runners to inform the British of the American force.

St. Leger sent an intercept force totaling at least four hundred and fifty men. They ambushed the Continental troops in a ravine near the settlement of Oriskany, a battle that became known as one of the bloodiest battles in the American Revolutionary War.

Caught off guard and in a death trap, the Patriots lost over half of their men. Over four hundred men, including Herkimer himself who was wounded and died a few days later. On the British side, the Iroquois war party lost around sixty-five, while the British tallied only seven dead and twenty-one wounded, missing or captured.

But it wasn't a victory for the British.

While they succeeded in turning back the American relief column, the Continental force held the battlefield after the ambushers had withdrawn back toward Fort Stanwix. The Americans also succeeded in crumbling the moral of the Iroquois warriors which led to internal conflict and contributed the eventual failure of St. Leger's strike.

Back at Fort Stanwix the British siege only lasted a couple more weeks before news arrived that Benedict Arnold (yes, that one, but when he was still on the side of the Americans) was approaching with a large force (though his actual force was much smaller than rumor suggested). The unhappy Iroquois insisted the British withdraw...and so they did.

Major General Benedict Arnold

 
When Arnold and his column passed by Oriskany two weeks after the battle, many of the dead Americans still remained where they had fallen. By then the stench was horrific, as was the grisly scene.

A Woman Compelled by Christian Charity
Surrounded by the musket fire of the American Revolution, Rachel Garnet prays for her family to be safe.  When the British invade the Mohawk Valley, and her father and brother don't return from the battle, she goes in pursuit of them. She finds her brother alive but her father has been killed at the hand of the enemy. Amidst the death, how can she ignore a cry for help...? Rachel reluctantly takes in a badly wounded British officer. But how long can her sense of Christian duty repress her hatred for his scarlet coat?

A Man Lost to the Devastation of War
Passages of Scripture and fleeting images of society are all Andrew Wyndham recalls after he awakens to the log walls of his gentle prison. Even his name eludes him. Rachel Garnet insists he is a captain in the British army. He mourns the loss of his memory, but how can he hope to remember war when his “enemy” is capturing his heart?

A Scarlet Uniform Holds the Power to Unite or Divide
Andrew’s injuries are severe, his memory slow to return, and the secret of his existence too perilous to ignore. As Rachel nurses him back to health, his hidden scarlet coat threatens to expose the deeds of her merciful heart, and Andrew is forced to face a harrowing decision—Stay hidden and risk losing the woman he loves or turn himself in and risk losing his life.

Angela K Couch is an award-winning author for her short stories, and a semi-finalist in ACFW’s 2015 Genesis Contest for her Revolutionary War novel that will be published by Pelican Book Group. As a passionate believer in Christ, her faith permeates the stories she tells. Her martial arts training, experience with horses, and appreciation for good romance sneak in there, as well. Angela lives in Alberta, Canada with her “hero” and three munchkins.

www.angelakcouch.com

Drums Along the Mohawk, Reviewed by Pat Iacuzzi

Drums Along the Mohawk DVD Cover

Drums Along the Mohawk

            Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck—20^th Century Fox 1939
            Director: John Ford
            Stars: Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert

For the next few months, I’d like to review movies based on historical eighteenth century colonial settings. One of the reasons I’ve chosen these films is that many of us (including myself!) have used them as a quick alternative for researching information on the period. I’ve found this could be a major mistake—and while we may find these stories entertaining, I strongly advise you to investigate the facts of certain historical events and characters through well-researched non-fictional works. Another reason I’ve chosen to review this film genre is because there are so few American historicals made in Hollywood today.
            Drums Along the Mohawk is a favorite of mine because I read the book, a work of fiction, by Walter D. Edmonds in middle school. Based on a major event in the valley (where I grew up) I was well-acquainted with locations and descendents of people mentioned in the book, like Schuyler, Petrie, Bellinger, and Helmer, to name a few. So I felt an instant connection with the story.
            Newly-weds Gil (Fonda) and Lana (Colbert) Martin move out to the rich and fertile land of  Mohawk Valley frontier, a “breadbasket” of the colonies, to build a home and begin their new life.
            Most of this story revolves around the couple as they try to establish a family and home while confronted by danger and unrest caused by Tories (British sympathizers) and their Iroquois Indian allies. Under the threat of constant attack, Gil and Lana and other settlers must survive by escaping to Fort Herkimer in German Flatts.
            A crisis arises when the men of the settlement are forced to  defend their homes against St. Leger’s army coming from the west. The colonists meet the British forces and Indians at Oriskany Creek, on August 6, 1777. Though the patriots, led by General Nicholas Herkimer, lose nearly eight hundred men, the largest loss in the American Revolution, they do win the battle, driving St. Leger back toward Canada. Herkimer, correctly portrayed in the film, is wounded and soon dies.
Another incident occurs when Gil Martin makes a run to save his wife and other settlers trapped in Fort Herkimer and low on ammunition. He is chased by a fleet-footed Mohawk scouting party, but manages to out-run them, arriving at Fort Dayton in time to get help and save the settlers.
This is another true incident, but the actual run was made by Adam Helmer, in September of 1778. He ran thirty miles ahead of an Iroquois and Tory raiding party led by Chief Joseph Brant, to warn the people of the valley to take shelter at Fort Dayton. Though Edmonds stayed true to the actual event, the character was changed for the movie version.      

My rating for this movie: 4 out of 5 stars. Enjoyable, “clean”, and for the most part well done as far as story line goes. Acting is good; strongly “patriotic” considering problems with Germany and looming World War.

GIVEAWAY: Carrie will be giving away a gently used copy of the DVD to a person who responds to this post PLUS attends the CQ Tea Party on Friday.

Have you ever seen this movie?  What did you think?
 

By: Pat Iacuzzi

www.patiacuzzi.com

Nicholas Herkimer - Hero of the American Revolution

by Elaine Marie Cooper

The gorgeous Mohawk Valley in upstate New York hosts the home of Nicholas Herkimer, a war hero during the American Revolution. He was a Brigadier General of the Tryon County (New York) militia—a man virtually unknown to me until I saw the John Ford film classic, “Drums Along the Mohawk” a few years ago.

Herkimer was the third generation in New York of a group known as German Palatines. They descended from the 13,000 Germans who fled the attacks by the French in their homeland in the early 1700’s. England sent 3,000 of these refugees to the colonies as slaves who needed to work off their passage to the New World.

An opportunity arose for the Palatines to own land when the colony of New York offered acreage along the Mohawk River Valley. This was hardly altruistic on the part of the colony. This was unprotected territory on the fringe of New York where the Palatines were used as buffers for any attacks by the French or unfriendly Native Americans.

Herkimer’s grandfather settled on a tract near Little Falls where he set up a trading business that thrived. Although the family started out as indentured servants in America, the family home near Little Falls speaks to the prosperity that succeeding generations procured through trading, land speculation and farming.

The Herkimer family home was fortified during the French and Indian War. Nicholas, only in his 20’s, had his first military command at Fort Herkimer in 1757.

The oldest of 13 children, Herkimer was given a tract of land from his father in 1760. That is where he built a brick home for his own family.

When the Revolution broke out, Herkimer took up the Patriot cause and was named Colonel of a militia battalion for the Continentals. In 1776, he was promoted to Brigadier General. Besides the threat of British troops, the residents of the Mohawk Valley were under constant threat from unfriendly Indians who declared their loyalty to the King of England.

The situation became explosive when an Oneida blacksmith informed Herkimer of a British force under Brigadier General Barry St. Leger coming from the north. This massive army consisted of the British regulars, American Loyalists, and Indians. They intended to attack at Fort Stanwix, then occupied by Continental troops from New York and Massachusetts.

Herkimer mustered 800 men (including a group of Oneida Indians) to join the American militia to try to stop St. Leger. They arrived at the Oneida Village of Oriska on August 5, 1777. Communication with the fort was delayed and discontent among Herkimer’s officers, who accused the Brigadier General of being a Loyalist like his brother, infuriated Herkimer. He ordered his troops forward.

St. Leger learned of the approaching militia and sent a large force to attack. They waited in ambush.

The battle that followed on Oriskany (or-iss’-cunny) Creek became one of the bloodiest of the American Revolution with musket fire erupting from three sides and militiamen falling one on top of the other.

Herkimer himself was wounded when bullets felled his horse and one musket ball passed through his leg. Herkimer’s men dragged him under a tree, where the general (propped on his saddle) continued to direct his men. The battle continued but the militia suffered the loss of an estimated 500 soldiers. The losses might have been greater except for a sudden and severe thunderstorm that interrupted the fighting. The storm gave Herkimer time to tighten the resistance.

Although both sides claimed victory, the Battle of Oriskany is traditionally viewed as an American defeat. However, the battle marked a turning point in St. Leger’s command. As word of approaching reinforcements under Major General Benedict Arnold reached his ears, St. Leger began retreating to Lake Ontario. This retreat prevented his army from reinforcing British General John Burgoyne in Saratoga—the battle that was the turning point in favor of the American Continentals in October, 1777.

As for Brigadier General Nicholas Herkimer, he was carried by his surviving men to his home in Little Falls. When his wound became infected, it was decided that his leg needed amputation. Uncontrolled bleeding after the amputation signaled the end was near. It is reported that Herkimer called for his pipe and Bible, and read out loud until he passed into eternity.

Although most accounts state his date of death as August 16, 1777, his tombstone in the cemetery next to his home is engraved with the date he died: August 17, 1777.

Nicholas Herkimer’s legacy is memorialized in his lovely Colonial home in Little Falls, New York. It inspires a visitor to remember his remarkable achievement in the steps leading to the resolution of the Revolution. Huzzah, General Herkimer.

Elaine Marie Cooper is the author of Fields of the Fatherless, Winner of the 2014 Selah Award for YA Fiction and Best Religious Fiction for the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She has also penned the award-winning Deer Run Saga. You can visit her website here.