Journeyman: The Bridge: A Novel of the American Revolution (The Journeyman Chronicles Book 1)
by Frank A. MasonPublish: Apr 19, 2022Series: Journeyman ChroniclesHistorical FictionBook Overview
Journeyman: The Bridge is Book One of the award-winning Journeyman Chronicles Series on the American Revolution.The book has recently been re-edited to eliminate minor grammatical and punctuation errors. Maps were added to aid the reader.
Will Yelverton is a master gunsmith caught in the vortex of the American Revolution. Nineteen-year-old Will’s plan to migrate to the burgeoning Tennessee frontier and set up a gunshop is thrown into turmoil as he is inexorably pulled into the war.
Will grows to adulthood in pre-revolutionary North Carolina. As he progresses from apprentice to master gunsmith, he is pulled into events in North Carolina leading up to the war. Will is hired as armorer to the North Carolina Militia as they go to the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge, a little known but significant fight between loyalists and American patriots, months before the Declaration of Independence. Not technically a member of the militia, Will must fight alongside his friends. Now a master gunsmith, Will goes on a journey to Pennsylvania in search of sufficient gun parts to set up his shop. Arriving in Pennsylvania, Will gets caught up in the Battle of Brandywine Creek, one of the bloodiest battles of the American Revolution. Will’s journey continues as he struggles with being trapped in occupied Philadelphia before taking flight from British forces.
Will meets many key figures of the revolutionary era – Governor Richard Caswell of North Carolina, Eliza Powel and Peggy Chew, Philadelphia socialites, British Major Banastre Tarleton, and General George Washington, among others. Each of these famous figures has an impact on Will’s life and journey.
Will’s faithful horse, Molly, is his companion and often his only friend. She carries Will on every adventure as he searches for a future in a war-torn world. Other friends and helpers include Jack, a former slave who is Will’s life-long friend; Richard “Dickie” Caswell, Jr., another friend from childhood who rises to be a general in the North Carolina Militia; Martha Black and Abigail Kennedy, two young women who occupy Will’s thoughts as he makes his way in the turbulent and uncertain 1770’s.
The Journeyman Chronicles take Will Yelverton throughout the Southern Theater of the Revolutionary War. Some battles are well known major fights, others obscure and small, but each is consequential to the American triumph of liberty and freedom.
