AN AMERICAN PATRIOT

A Revolutionary War novel based on a curious genealogical discovery.

Based on the author’s distant ancestor, the novel’s young Thomas Elwell is itching for adventure and fortune and sees his chance in volunteering for Lord Dunmore’s War, an incursion into Native American lands in the Ohio Valley. He’s disenchanted by this experience but nevertheless is encouraged by the Sons of Liberty to fight in the coming revolution. He’s also learned some rudimentary fighting tactics and discipline that will be well honed by the time he signs up with the Continental Army along with his large and hearty childhood friend, Levi Hall. Together they engage the king’s forces from Charleston to Monmouth, Brandywine, Germantown, and—ironically—Charleston again, where Thomas is injured so badly that he’s retired from the front lines. But the crux—as in crucible—of the book is the bitter winter at Valley Forge, where Thomas meets young Elizabeth (Betty) Bryan, a volunteer nurse who will eventually become his wife and the mother of their eight children. As Smith explains in a prologue, the genesis of the book was his father’s interest in family genealogy. After his father’s death, Smith took up the search and eventually discovered their distant ancestor, Thomas Elwell, who fought with distinction in the Revolutionary War. This discovery inspired a clever and poignant framing device for the book where Smith, equipped with camp chair and water bottle, visits his father’s grave in Indiana and spends a long summer day reading the manuscript he’s just finished to his old man, with breaks throughout to remind readers of this setting. The novel is well researched, and sometimes Smith steps out of the story to add details and specifics that Thomas wouldn’t know: For instance, that winter at Valley Forge had a higher death toll (21%, proportionately) than any one battle in the war. This well-executed debut novel would be a fine complement to Ken Burns’ recent (and excellent) documentary about the Revolutionary War.

A well-researched, briskly paced historical novel that makes the most of the author’s unique family history.