Backcountry Fury
A Sixteen-Year-Old Patriot in the Revolutionary War
Tony Zeiss

Parkway Publishers
978-1-59712-409-6
$19.95 paperback
6 x 9
175 pages
June 2010
Children/Young Adult

Vowing revenge after his brother is killed by Bloody Bill Cunningham and his marauding Tories, 16-year-old Thomas Young joins the Little River Regiment of Mounted Militia in 1780. This book chronicles 18 months in Thomas’s life as he fights in the South Carolina back country during the Revolutionary War. It follows Thomas as his friend is severely wounded during the battle at Stallion’s Plantation and as he finds himself in the thick of the fighting at Musgrove’s Mill and Blackstock’s Plantation. Five months into his military service, Thomas participates in the pivotal battle of Kings Mountain, where he fights barefoot because his shoes are worn out. On his 17th birthday, Thomas leads his company of militia cavalry into battle at the Cowpens, where 2,000 men fight for an hour before Daniel Morgan’s troops prevail over the British forces under Banastre Tarleton. Just after the battle, Thomas is attacked by four British dragoons and suffers six sword wounds. Nearly dead, he is taken prisoner and interrogated by Tarleton. He escapes and is nursed back to health by Lettie Hughes, a beautiful red-headed girl. After the British are defeated at Yorktown, Thomas resolves to leave his vengeful ways and live a life of goodwill toward all.