Sixteen year old Willem Stoner and his father, together with other New York teamsters, are hired by Colonel Henry Knox to haul almost sixty cannons, some weighing more than a ton, on wagons and sleds 300 miles from Ft. Ticonderoga, New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the brutally cold winter of 1775-1776. The artillery is desperately needed by General Washington and the Continental Army, preparing to attack the British in Boston. At the beginning of the arduous trek, Will is befriended by Ensign Nathaniel Holmes of the Marblehead Mariners. Their friendship deepens as the "Noble Train of...

"Tories and Patriots" continues the saga of Private Will Stoner of the Massachusetts Artillery as the British fleet arrives in New York harbor in the summer of 1776. Under fire for the first time, Will barely escapes the disastrous defeat of the American Army at the Battle of Brooklyn. Fighting alongside the Marblehead Mariners, Will and his gun crew inflict heavy losses on the Hessians at the Battle of Pelham Bay, and then retreat the length of the New Jersey, hotly pursued by the advancing British Army. New Jersey itself is a colony of divided loyalties. Will's brother, John, with the...