MR Howard Denson

McGregor and the Patriots MR Howard Denson

McGREGOR AND THE PATRIOTS (1st POV, 86,000 words) is a historical novel set at the beginning of the American Revolution. It is a sequel to McGREGOR AND THE LOST TRIBE (set from 1770-1830s). As a villainous British officer, Colonel Haskins, breaks down an unauthorized fort in the Alabama Territory, he seizes Sunset Maiden, a princess of the People of the Ravine, intending to torture her into saying the Spanish or French had been conspiring with the Creeks, Cherokees, etc. to attack British fortifications. The roguish protagonist, Levi Philip McGregor, begins an odyssey with ten-year-old Young Dove to rescue his wife. In the Gulf, Haskins gets passage on a ship sailing around Florida and up the Atlantic coast to New York and Philadelphia. Calling himself Daniel Toombs and Young Dove as Queen Charlotte Toombs, he gets passage on another ship. It stops at Charleston, where he learns that his wife, though beaten, is still alive. He renews his friendship with a Captain Brooks, who was carrying a report to headquarters about Haskins' criminal behavior, but Haskins steals the report while Brooks is fatally ill from a fever. McGregor's friends nurse Brooks back to health long enough for him to rewrite his report, in shortened form. On the next leg of the voyage, he learns that Haskins, no longer worrying about defending his actions, has no further use for Sunset Maiden. He claims "his slave" attacked him and has her thrown overboard miles from shore. His quest to locate and kill Haskins takes him into the British and then the American ranks. He encounters the youthful Ethan Allen (whom he despises), Aaron Burr (whom he dislikes), George Washington (whom he respects but doesn't particularly like), and Benedict Arnold (whom he admires as a valiant and courageous soldier). The yarn-spinner tells how he participated in the capture of Fort Ticondaroga, saw that Haskins was brought to justice, and how he fought duels with Burr and Arnold. Young Dove illogically insists that Sunset Maiden is still alive. On the way home, they disembark off the Carolinas to begin a search for a dark Indian who has abilities to heal. McGregor has to get her out of slavery.