In PursuitIt is 2018, 200 years after Andrew Jackson's foray into Florida, wreaking havoc and leaving the Seminole Indians in many cases, homeless and hopeless. Jackson came with his Coweta Indian minions under William McIntosh to pursue those Red Sticks now living among the Seminoles 200 years ago and the Blacks, free and escaped slaves, at the Negro Fort located 18 miles up the Apalachecola River at Prospect Bluff .Just who were those people? How did their situation come to this? I came into their story curious as to what happened to the Red Sticks after Horseshoe Bend and the end of the Creek Indian War. I researched those who survived the Creek Indian War about whom I had written in Swimming with Serpents. Jackson illegally confiscated 23,000,000 acres of Creek land and left many homeless. Where did they go? And what did they do? Those were the questions left in my mind after writing Swimming with Serpents. Homeless, ragged and hungry, Peter McQueen's band of at least 1000 floundered through the swamps to Pensacola and the British in Spanish Florida. They joined British officers Col. Edward Nicholls and Captain George Woodbine in the Corps of Colonial Marines. And thus they came to fight Jackson once more in the First Semiole War. In Pursuit is their story. You can find the histories and genealogies of the members of Jackson's Militia at any meeting at the Archives in History in Montgomery. But, discovering my own Native American heritage left me wanting to find out THEIR STORY. And I have chosen to do it through HISTORICAL FICTION to try to make the history more personal. Perhaps we can see the events through THEIR eyes. In Pursuit is a tale of revenge, betrayal, lost treasure and a people bent but not broken. In its midst are young lovers from diverse backgrounds whom fate have brought together. Joie and Godfrey, first introduced in Swimming with Serpents
set during the Creek War, come together once more and live an adventure
with pirates, Red Sticks, Andrew Jackson's army, and British officers
determined to build an empire. I hope readers will come away from the novel satisfied with the love story and the adventure, motivated to honor the memory of some of those forgotten people in the history of our country. In Pursuit is the second in the CREEK FAMILY SAGA, beginning with Swimming with Serpents, followed by In Pursuit and now the newly released On to Angola. |
Sharman Ramsey has spun a rollicking story of kidnappings, lost treasures, Red Stick Creeks and Seminoles, betrayal and revenge, populated with well- known historical figures such as Jean Lafitte, Billy Bowlegs, William Weatherford, and even Old Hickory himself, Andrew Jackson.”
Cassandra King -- Same Sweet Girls
"Historian and author Sharman Ramsey has worked magic with her latest novel In Pursuit.
Ramsey is a born storyteller and what a tale she has woven with this
novel. One part adventure and one part historical fiction, this novel
is all parts intrigue. Ramsey reminds us that love, passion and greed
are human experiences regardless of the era.
—Michael Morris, Man in the Blue Moon
“Dear readers of In Pursuit, prepare for a literary feast. A novel that is both elegant and electrifying, chock-full of intrigue and suspense, and a love story that is utterly absorbing, I inhaled In Pursuit like a decadent meal, unable to slow my delight until the last, delicious page. As she proved in her beautifully-crafted debut Swimming with Serpents, Sharman Ramsey knows her history and—more importantly—the hearts and minds of her characters. They shine here once again—and I ponder them, and their remarkable journeys, still.”
—Erika Marks, author of The Guest House
ON TO ANGOLA
Swimming with Serpents
In Pursuit
Shawnee recommended reading list
South Carolina and Fort Mims
People
Places
Maps of South Carolina Districts and Federal Road Route
Map of Southern Alabama during 1813-14
Family Trees of Major characters of Swimming with Serpents
Bibliography of Indian Culture and History
Writing the Southern Scene
Media Page
Writing Historical Fiction Swimming with Serpents
Reading Guide for Swimming with Serpents
Reading Guide for In Pursuit
ON TO ANGOLA
Flyer for Mint Julep Mysteries and Wakefield Plantation: history and cookbook