The continuation of the stirring story of Jed Pearson and Hannah Stansbury and the Chesapeake campaign of The War of 1812.


While canons roar and rockets ignite the American skies, disease ravages the upper Connecticut Valley. Few notice the sufferings of the families . . . of a single child . . . a remarkable lad named Joseph, because attentions are focused elsewhere, on a critical waterway called the Chesapeake that guards the entrance to the infant nation’s threatened capital.

It is 1813, the height of the War of 1812. President Madison is re-elected and, as the beleaguered American forces begin to rally, Britain anticipates Napoleon’s fall, when all her forces can be diverted to the American campaign. Until then she needs a tactical diversion.

Attack the Chesapeake Bay!

Plundering along the mighty Chesapeake throws towns and families into chaos and rattles the vulnerable federal city. Lieutenant Jed Pearson heads to war, leaving his beloved Willows estate in the care of powerless freed slaves. But soon circumstances will blur the line between adversary and friend, family and foe, British and American.

In this second volume of the epic historical series Free Men and Dreamers, witness the saga of five families caught in the tumult of the oft-forgotten war that cemented American liberty and set the stage for the great work of the Restoration.