The Rebels (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Rebels is a historical novel
written by John Jakes
, originally published in 1975, the second in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles
or the American Bicentennial Series. The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to narrate the story of the nascent United States of America during the time of the American Revolution
. While the novel continues the story of Philip Kent, started in The Bastard
, a large portion focuses on Judson Fletcher, a newly introduced character, as a different rebel.
, in which Philip Kent participates. One major event, the marriage of Philip and Anne Ware, took place in the interim. In September of that year Anne gave birth to her first child, whom they named Abraham after her father. Philip then participated in Henry Knox
’ mission to transport cannons from Fort Ticonderoga
.
Meanwhile, Judson Fletcher, a drunkard and a womanizer still pursued Peggy Ashford McLean, the wife of his friend Seth McLean, whom he had courted before her marriage. Judson lived with his father on Sermon Hill, a large tobacco plantation on the Rappahannock River
in northern Virginia
.
During a great rebellion of slaves Peggy was raped, Seth killed; his father opposed to Judson's defense of black slaves (and his accusation of white violence that caused it) and his way of life, and put his son out of house.
Judson’s brother, Donald, was a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress
, but he suffered from gout and was unable to fulfill his duty, so designated Judson to act in his stead. While attending Congress in Philadelphia Judson began an affair with Alicia Parkhurst, who now called herself Alice, a former lover of Philip Kent’s. When Tobias Trumball, Alicia’s uncle, found her, he tried to take her home, which Judson prevented, after which Trumball challenged Judson to a duel and scheduled it for July 3, 1776. The day before the duel, during a debate on the Lee Resolution
, Judson was dismissed from the Virginia delegation for drunkenness and therefore missed his chance to vote on the resolution. The next day, he killed Trumball in the duel and shortly afterwards, Alicia committed suicide by drowning.
While Philip was camped with George Washington
’s army in August 1777, he was reunited with his old friend from France, Gil, the Marquis de Lafayette. They participated in the devastating Battle of Brandywine
, which left Philadelphia, then the American capital, to be captured by the British.
After his expulsion from the Virginia delegation, Judson returned home, but could not move back to Sermon Hill with his father; instead, he lived with Lottie Shaw at a place once owned by her late husband. One day, in a drunken rage, he expelled her from her own property. Soon after, he visited Peggy McLean, by then a widow, and raped her; unbeknownst to him, this encounter would produce a daughter, Elizabeth. Later, when his brother told him that George Rogers Clark
had returned to Virginia, Judson rode to meet him. Clark had been a childhood friend and was now recruiting men for a military expedition to the Northwest Territory. Judson enlisted with him, but when he returned home he was met by a disgruntled Lottie, who shot him and left him for dead.
Though Judson, because of his wounds, missed his rendezvous, once he recovered he set off for Pittsburgh in hopes of meeting Clark. When he was reunited with Clark, Clark refused to include him in his detachment, due again to drunkenness. On returning to his boat, Clark caught a spy in the act of stealing his orders. After a scuffle the spy shot at Clark, but Judson absorbed the ball and was killed.
Meanwhile, Anne Kent had taken the money she had inherited from her father, who had recently died, and invested it with privateers who were aiding the Americans on the high seas. During the time that Philip was away with the army, one of the privateers with whom Anne had invested her money, Malachi Rackham, made overtures towards her, which she rejected. In 1778, he abducted her and took her aboard his ship. After he repeatedly beat and raped her, she fought for her freedom, but in the ensuing struggle both Anne and Rackham were thrown overboard.
Philip participated in the Battle of Monmouth
and was wounded in the leg, after which he was mustered out of the army. He was informed of Anne’s disappearance in a letter from a member of the privateer in which Anne had invested. As the privateer had captured a British vessel, the investment provided Philip with the money he utilised to begin a publishing firm, Kent and Son. Almost a year later, Gil introduced Philip to Peggy McLean, who would become his second wife.
Henry Knox
Marquis de Lafayette
Anthony Wayne
Friedrich von Steuben
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Paine
John Adams
Richard Henry Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Thomas Jefferson
John Dickinson
Book Two: The Times That Try Men’s Souls
Book Three: Death and Resurrection
Epilogue: The World Turned Upside Down
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
written by John Jakes
John Jakes
John William Jakes is an American writer, best known for American historical fiction.-Early life and education:...
, originally published in 1975, the second in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles
The Kent Family Chronicles
The Kent Family Chronicles is a series of eight novels by John Jakes written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. The books became best sellers, with no novel in the series selling fewer than 3.5 million copies...
or the American Bicentennial Series. The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to narrate the story of the nascent United States of America during the time of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. While the novel continues the story of Philip Kent, started in The Bastard
The Bastard (novel)
The Bastard is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1974. It is book one in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series...
, a large portion focuses on Judson Fletcher, a newly introduced character, as a different rebel.
Plot summary
The story begins on June 17, 1775, at the Battle of Bunker HillBattle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
, in which Philip Kent participates. One major event, the marriage of Philip and Anne Ware, took place in the interim. In September of that year Anne gave birth to her first child, whom they named Abraham after her father. Philip then participated in Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
’ mission to transport cannons from Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built by the Canadians and the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States...
.
Meanwhile, Judson Fletcher, a drunkard and a womanizer still pursued Peggy Ashford McLean, the wife of his friend Seth McLean, whom he had courted before her marriage. Judson lived with his father on Sermon Hill, a large tobacco plantation on the Rappahannock River
Rappahannock River
The Rappahannock River is a river in eastern Virginia, in the United States, approximately in length. It traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River.An important river in American...
in northern Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
During a great rebellion of slaves Peggy was raped, Seth killed; his father opposed to Judson's defense of black slaves (and his accusation of white violence that caused it) and his way of life, and put his son out of house.
Judson’s brother, Donald, was a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774,...
, but he suffered from gout and was unable to fulfill his duty, so designated Judson to act in his stead. While attending Congress in Philadelphia Judson began an affair with Alicia Parkhurst, who now called herself Alice, a former lover of Philip Kent’s. When Tobias Trumball, Alicia’s uncle, found her, he tried to take her home, which Judson prevented, after which Trumball challenged Judson to a duel and scheduled it for July 3, 1776. The day before the duel, during a debate on the Lee Resolution
Lee Resolution
right|thumb|[[Richard Henry Lee]] proposed the resolution on June 7, 1776.The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the United Colonies to be independent of the British Empire...
, Judson was dismissed from the Virginia delegation for drunkenness and therefore missed his chance to vote on the resolution. The next day, he killed Trumball in the duel and shortly afterwards, Alicia committed suicide by drowning.
While Philip was camped with George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
’s army in August 1777, he was reunited with his old friend from France, Gil, the Marquis de Lafayette. They participated in the devastating Battle of Brandywine
Battle of Brandywine
The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of the Brandywine or the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American army of Major General George Washington and the British-Hessian army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777. The British defeated the Americans and...
, which left Philadelphia, then the American capital, to be captured by the British.
After his expulsion from the Virginia delegation, Judson returned home, but could not move back to Sermon Hill with his father; instead, he lived with Lottie Shaw at a place once owned by her late husband. One day, in a drunken rage, he expelled her from her own property. Soon after, he visited Peggy McLean, by then a widow, and raped her; unbeknownst to him, this encounter would produce a daughter, Elizabeth. Later, when his brother told him that George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
had returned to Virginia, Judson rode to meet him. Clark had been a childhood friend and was now recruiting men for a military expedition to the Northwest Territory. Judson enlisted with him, but when he returned home he was met by a disgruntled Lottie, who shot him and left him for dead.
Though Judson, because of his wounds, missed his rendezvous, once he recovered he set off for Pittsburgh in hopes of meeting Clark. When he was reunited with Clark, Clark refused to include him in his detachment, due again to drunkenness. On returning to his boat, Clark caught a spy in the act of stealing his orders. After a scuffle the spy shot at Clark, but Judson absorbed the ball and was killed.
Meanwhile, Anne Kent had taken the money she had inherited from her father, who had recently died, and invested it with privateers who were aiding the Americans on the high seas. During the time that Philip was away with the army, one of the privateers with whom Anne had invested her money, Malachi Rackham, made overtures towards her, which she rejected. In 1778, he abducted her and took her aboard his ship. After he repeatedly beat and raped her, she fought for her freedom, but in the ensuing struggle both Anne and Rackham were thrown overboard.
Philip participated in the Battle of Monmouth
Battle of Monmouth
The Battle of Monmouth was an American Revolutionary War battle fought on June 28, 1778 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Continental Army under General George Washington attacked the rear of the British Army column commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton as they left Monmouth Court...
and was wounded in the leg, after which he was mustered out of the army. He was informed of Anne’s disappearance in a letter from a member of the privateer in which Anne had invested. As the privateer had captured a British vessel, the investment provided Philip with the money he utilised to begin a publishing firm, Kent and Son. Almost a year later, Gil introduced Philip to Peggy McLean, who would become his second wife.
Historic figures Philip Kent interacts with throughout the novel
George WashingtonGeorge Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
Marquis de Lafayette
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army general and statesman. Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigadier general and the sobriquet of Mad Anthony.-Early...
Friedrich von Steuben
Historic figures Judson Fletcher interacts with throughout the novel
George Rogers ClarkGeorge Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee
Richard Henry Lee was an American statesman from Virginia best known for the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and his famous resolution of June 1776 led to the United States...
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee was a member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia. As an active protester of issues such as the Stamp Act, Lee helped move the colony in the direction of independence from Britain. Lee was a delegate to the Virginia Conventions and the Continental Congress...
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
John Dickinson
John Dickinson
John Dickinson may refer to:* John Dickinson , lawyer, Governor of Delaware and Pennsylvania, signer of U.S. Constitution, and namesake of Dickinson College* John D. Dickinson , lawyer and U.S...
Books and Chapters
Book One: Our Lives, Our Fortunes, Our Sacred Honor- Chapter I: A Taste of Steel
- Chapter II: Sermon Hill
- Chapter III: Birth
- Chapter IV: The Uprising
- Chapter V: The Guns of Winter
- Chapter VI: “The Seedtime of Continental Union”
- Chapter VII: The Thirteen Clocks
Book Two: The Times That Try Men’s Souls
- Chapter I: The Privateers
- Chapter II: Deed of Darkness
- Chapter III: Reunion in Pennsylvania
- Chapter IV: Retreat at Brandywine
- Chapter V: “I Mean to March to Hostile Ground”
- Chapter VI: The Drillmaster
- Chapter VII: Rackham
Book Three: Death and Resurrection
- Chapter I: The Wolves
- Chapter II: The Guns of Summer
- Chapter III: The Shawnee Spy
- Chapter IV: The Price of Heaven
- Chapter V: The Woman From Virginia
Epilogue: The World Turned Upside Down