Historical fiction has captured my imagination since childhood--especially if based in early American history. As we dive into Women's History Month, I'm delighted to introduce guest writer, Tracy Lawson, author of Answering Liberty's Call: Anna Stone's Daring Ride to Valley Forge.
From Tracy Lawson:
The American Revolution changed these women’s lives irrevocably. With their men off to battle, many shouldered the responsibility of running family farms and businesses. They managed their homes, raised children, and mobilized on the home front.
Eschewing manufactured cloth from England, women brought their spinning wheels out of storage, and spinning bees became so popular that they drew spectators. The Boston Evening Post reported on one such event, saying, “the ladies…may vie with the men in contributing to the preservation and prosperity of their country and equally share in the honor of it.”
If honor and glory drove men to the battlefield, the fight for independence must also have ignited women’s pride, tempered thought it was by the pain of loneliness and loss.
Anna Stone, the protagonist of Answering Liberty’s Call, dislikes the long separation from her soldier husband, Benjamin, even as she shares his desire for independence. It is her faith in him, in the cause of liberty, and in the military’s leadership that bolster her sense of duty and patriotism:
I didn’t protest when Benjamin joined the Culpeper Minutemen in the fall of 1775, for it was every able-bodied man’s duty to serve in the militia. He was delighted—far more than I, to be honest—when the Virginia Assembly called the Minutemen to defend the arsenal at Williamsburg just before Christmastide. When he returned three months later, he was restless. Even though Governor Dunmore’s expulsion from the colony restored peace to Virginia, Benjamin would not be content until the unrest in all the colonies was resolved.
Though he spent long days in the fields or the orchards, he often rode off after supper to spend a few hours at Edwards’ Ordinary in nearby Fauquier Court House. There, he and his fellows followed the news of the continuing rebellion in the north and rejoiced in the daring exploits of the Sons of Liberty.
Unsure how to make him understand my worry, I settled for pointing out it did not look well when a preacher spent more time in the ordinary than in church.
Between Benjamin’s return from the Culpeper Minutemen’s triumph at the Battle of Great Bridge in December 1775 and his departure with the Third Virginia in October 1776, the focus of the conflict shifted. Once the Continental Congress declared the colonies’ independence from Great Britain, a return to the status quo was no longer an option. The prospect of fighting to establish an independent new nation must have been both exhilarating and terrifying. Anna recalls her range of emotions on the Sunday Benjamin read the Declaration of Independence aloud to his congregation:
“Brothers and sisters, surely there is more that binds us as Americans than drives us apart. I ask you, what would you be willing to sacrifice to secure a future free from Crown rule for yourselves and your children?
“It is written, in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, ‘For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.’
“In Thomas Paine’s Epistle to the Quakers, he asserts that all men dislike violence and want peace, but there comes a time when violence is inevitable.”
He unrolled the parchment. “This is a copy of our Continental Congress’s Declaration of Independence. The original is on its way to England and King George. I am privileged to be the one to share this message with you.
“‘In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America: When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another …’”
As he read, I scanned the faces of the people in the congregation and saw the dawning excitement I experienced a few months before. But now, fear overshadowed my excitement. What would independence from England and Crown rule mean? What would it cost to gain it?
As I watched my husband stand before his congregation, I could almost see the fresh flames burst forth from the smoldering coals of his ideals.
Now, as then, a military spouse clings to a sense of patriotism to make a loved one’s service and sacrifice more tolerable. As Anna journeys from her home in Virginia to Valley Forge, she sees firsthand disorganization and corruption within Congress and the army, forcing her to confront complex issues that threaten her sense of patriotism and her support for the cause.
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If you wish to purchase Tracy's book Answering Liberty’s Call: Anna Stone’s Daring Ride to Valley Forge, here are a few links:
Unison Books online: https://www.unisonbooks.com/
Barnes & Noble online store: https://www.barnesandnoble.
Books A Million! online store: https://www.booksamillion.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/
For more information about Tracy’s research: https://tracylawsonbooks.com/
Also a bonus! Tracy has created a series of six short videos about colonial cooking, music,
and fashion. Four of them are demonstrations you'll love of Tracy creating Anna's 1767
wedding ensemble. Here's the link to the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/
