The Rifleman

A gripping, fact-based story of how Daniel Morgan and his courageous riflemen played a crucial role in George Washington's victory in the American Revolution.

They wore hunting shirts, deer-skin leggins and moccasins. Each had a tomahawk and a scalping knife in their belts and carried "long rifles" in their hands. Every rifleman was a Patriot volunteer, a tracker, and a hunter. And they could kill a redcoat from 250 yards.

"This is a war story. It's about real people and events before, during, and after the American Revolution. The central characters in this work — Daniel Morgan, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Charles Mynn Thruston, and Generals Arnold, Knox, Lafayette, Greene, Lee, Gates, and a host of others — actually did the deeds at the places and times described herein. So too did their accurately named foreign and native adversaries. Though this is a work of fiction, readers may be surprised to discover the American Revolution was also one of the most 'un-civil' of civil wars.

"If Daniel Morgan were alive today, he would be my near neighbor in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley. It was while visiting a nearby gristmill that Morgan and Nathaniel Burwell, a fellow Revolutionary War hero, built in the late 1700s [now restored and operated by the Clarke County Historical Association], I became fascinated by this unsung national hero.

"As many readers already know, I'm grateful to have spent my entire life in the company of real American heroes. I'm looking forward to spending eternity in the company of my personal American heroes-the Riflemen you will meet in this book." (Oliver North, from the Preface)