The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War

“The most prolific and successful historical novelist in the world today.” —Wall Street Journal

“Readers who haven’t discovered Bernard Cornwell don’t know what they are missing.” —New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn

From the New York Times bestselling author of Agincourt, the Saxon Tales, and the beloved Richard Sharpe series, Bernard Cornwell’s The Fort plunges prow-first into the largest naval clash of the Revolutionary War. Fans of the Nathaniel Starbuck Chronicles and The Burning Land will thrill to Cornwell’s triumphant return to American historical fiction in this gripping story of courage, strength and patriotism.

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While the major fighting of the war moves to the south in the summer of 1779, a British force of fewer than a thousand Scottish infantry, backed by three sloops-of-war, sails to the desolate and fog-bound coast of New England. Establishing a garrison and naval base at Penobscot Bay, in the eastern province of Massachusetts that would become Maine, the Scots—the only British troops between Canada and New York—harry rebel privateers and give shelter to American loyalists.

In response, Massachusetts sends a fleet of more than forty vessels and some one thousand infantrymen to “captivate, kill or destroy” the foreign invaders. Second in command is Peleg Wadsworth, a veteran of the battles at Lexington and Long Island, once aide to General Washington, and a man who sees clearly what must be done to expel the invaders.

But ineptitude and irresolution lead to a mortifying defeat—and have stunning repercussions for two men on opposite sides: an untested eighteen-year-old Scottish lieutenant named John Moore, who will begin an illustrious military career; and a Boston silversmith and patriot named Paul Revere, who will face court-martial for disobedience and cowardice.

Grounded firmly in history, inimitably told in Cornwell's thrilling narrative style, The Fort is the extraordinary novel of this fascinating clash between a superpower and a nation in the making.

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“Nobody in the world does this stuff better than Cornwell—action set six hundred years ago is as fresh and vital as six days ago, with rough, tough men at war, proving once again that nothing changes... least of all great storytelling.” - Lee Child

“In The Fort, Bernard Cornwell, author of some 45 scrupulously researched and well-received fictional accounts of battles Arthurian and Napoleonic, takes a little-known event-but in a place that many readers know-and gives it the same on-the-ground treatment, backed up by a detailed historical note. As always in Cornwell’s military epics, there are nice human touches.” - Michael Kenney, Boston Globe

“Bernard Cornwell doesn’t know how to be dull. . . . He holds his audience with a seemingly effortless command of historical detail that’s actually the product of painstaking research.” - Lee Randall, The Scotsman

“Cornwell captures the men’s characters and dramatizes the whole thing perfectly.” - Toby Clements, Daily Telegraph (London)

“An outstanding effort by a master of the genre.” - Curtis Edmonds, Bookreporter.com

“Historical novels stand or fall on detail, and Mr. Cornwell writes as if he has been to ninth-century Wessex and back.” - Tom Shippey, Wall Street Journal

“Cornwell’s historical accuracy is excellent.” - Diana Gabaldon, Washington Post

“Cornwell turns his key historical eye on the Penobscot Expedition. . . . Illuminating the battle from all angles and telling the story from both sides, Cornwell once again offers a fresh perspective on a stirring episode in martial history.” - Margaret Flanagan, Booklist

“Is a rousing yarn of clashing personalities, crashing cannons, and lively musket and bayonet work, along with spies, cowardice, and moments of incredible bravery. Cornwell presents a fascinating, accurate, and exciting history lesson enlivened with a generous blast of gun smoke and grapeshot.” - Publishers Weekly

“A readable and thoroughly researched.” - Library Journal

“Cornwell at his best is a fine storyteller with a flair for describing battles and individual combat in a way that’s exciting and easy to follow. He weaves the fictional and the factual together so you can hardly tell where the novel stops and the history lesson begins. In The Fort, he has stuck closely to the events and characters history dealt him, and the result is one of his most successful books. . . . The novel is both an exciting account of a mostly forgotten event and a thoughtful exploration of the absurdity and futility of war. . . . This book succeeds as both fiction and history.” - Steve Drummond, NPR