Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas

Zusatztext “James Haley—novelist and historian—is a skilled storyteller. His captivating narrative brings 1830s America vividly to life, from relatively tranquil New England to naval engagements at sea to bloody battles in Texas.... Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas is another inspiring yarn from a master in historical fiction.” – Quarterdeck "Readers expecting nautical action will not be disappointed....Author James Haley aptly draws on his non-fiction research." -- Historical Novels Review “ Captain Putnam for the Republic of Texas is the fourth novel in the Bliven Putnam Series. Haley, a Texas native with more than twenty books to his credit, is a prize-winning author and historian noted for his historical-fiction writing as well as his history-centered nonfiction. Both talents get prominent display in this well-written, smoothly structured new work.” – Lone Star Literary Life “A conflict-rich and exciting installment in Haley’s Bliven Putnam Naval Adventure series, this will leave fans clamoring for more.” – Booklist Informationen zum Autor James L. Haley Klappentext Captain Bliven Putnam returns in an exhilarating new adventure, embedding himself within a top-secret mission during the Texas Revolution that puts everything at risk. Having spent the past few years on missions in the Caribbean, Captain Bliven Putnam is all but ready to retire and settle down at home in Connecticut with his wife, Clarity. But as the Texas Revolution ignites and tensions in the Gulf of Mexico rise, Putnam is sent orders for a secret cruise that could decide the fate of their rebellion. American settlers in Texas have revolted against an increasingly tyrannical Mexican government. While the Texians have a small army under the command of Sam Houston, their navy is practically nonexistent, an insurmountable and dangerous disadvantage as the Mexican invasion is supplied by sea. Unable to risk American neutrality, United States President Andrew Jackson hand-selects Putnam to lead a secret mission that might turn the tide: In Putnam's aging sloop-of-war Rappahannock, disguised with the Republic of Texas flag, he must venture into the waters of the Gulf and intercept the Mexican armaments, not just fighting the Mexican Navy but incurring the wrath of the American shippers and insurance companies who favor Mexico. Reunited with his old friend Sam Bandy, Putnam teams up with Sam Houston to run the operation, all while the bloodiest battles of the Revolution rage. Leseprobe 1 Honor and Conscience It was like drowning in tepid water, that was the worst—­air so humid it was like sucking in water the temperature of his own body, so that if it were not for the observed rise and fall of his own chest, and his own careful observation that he was not, in fact, suffocating, Bliven Putnam might well have believed he was drowning. He had seen the brawling rivers of the Appalachians, which became the highways of commerce because the mountains were too steep, too rugged and forested, for wagons to pass through. But here in Florida the land was untenable for an opposite reason. Here one must travel on the rivers because—­and it was nature’s triumphant irony—­most of the land was too soggy upon which to march or ride. So here he was, in the stern of a longboat pulled by twenty sweating sailors, with a platoon of marines bristling with rifled muskets and bayonets like a caterpillar hunkered down along its keel. The oarsmen swept in silence up a sluggish warm river whose name was exhausting to pronounce, followed by three more boats, pulling slowly into a probable Indian war. What in God’s name was he doing here, in God’s year 1834? Bliven might have thought that now as a senior captain he would have been assigned a more dignified duty, coursing the deep in a ship of the line or at least in his own f...

Product details

• Authors: James Haley
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.10.2020
• EAN: 9780593085110
• ISBN: 978-0-593-08511-0
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 160 mm x 234 mm x 29 mm
• Series: A Bliven Putnam Naval Adventure
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature