In a Civil War–era chase, a tense hunt for a missing family and a hidden past unfolds.
A sweeping tale of daring riders, ruthless pursuers, and shifting loyalties, this installment follows a web of partisans and soldiers racing to recover captives, uncover a mystery, and outthink a cautious enemy.
- Follow rapid reconnaissance, night travel, and battlefield strategy as hidden tracks and urgent decisions shape the outcome.
- Meet bold protagonists, from hardened officers to determined civilians, each driven by danger, duty, and personal sacrifice.
- Experience the momentum of pursuit across forests, rivers, and war-torn settlements, where every clue pushes the plot forward.
- Delve into a world where trust is scarce, alliances shift, and a single break in the line can change everything.
Ideal for readers who enjoy historical adventure, military intrigue, and stories of perseverance under pressure in a turbulent era.
Historical novelist William Gilmore Simms first published The Forayers in 1855 at the peak of his reputation and ability. Simms had set out to create a prose epic through a series of linked novels detailing American history and struggles from early colonization to the mid-nineteenth century. The Forayers, which was the sixth book in his series of eight Revolutionary War novels set in the South, describes events around Orangeburg, South Carolina, before the Battle of Eutaw Springs (itself covered in this novel's sequel, Eutaw). It features such characters as Hell-fire Dick, a hardhearted, foul-mouthed looter under Tory protection. Simms hoped his readers would find this book "a bold, brave, masculine story; frank, ardent, vigorous; faithful to humanity." He described it to a friend as "fresh and original" and wrote that "the characterization [is] as truthful as forcible. It is at once a novel of society & a romance."