By: centraljersey.com
The American Revolution looms large in our national psyche. Every child is schooled in the glories of how the patriots defeated a world power and established a republic that not only survived but thrived.
There is another side to the story. What Americans revere as a brave revolution was in the eyes of the British a civil war. When teaching about the American Revolution, we don’t often consider that neighbors and families were pitted against each other in what was a political struggle.
In "A Royal American: A New Jersey Officer in the King’s Service During the Revolution" (Dog Ear Publishing, 2009), John Frederick liberates the American Revolution from the dry pages of textbooks to tell a story of real people living in extraordinary times. Though a novel, this fiction is deeply steeped in historic facts, particularly the often-overlooked history of the British military in America.
Mr. Frederick, a Princeton resident, has an interesting background that encourages his bipartisan take on the American Revolution. Though a native of Manhattan, he has spent most of his professional life in England and holds both U.S. and British citizenship. A serious student of British military history – he is known for two authoritative books on British Army lineage – he also is the descendant of the protagonists of his fiction.
James Ricketts is a New Jersey officer in the King’s service. A proper British officer, he is caught between his duty and his love of Sarah, daughter of the noted New York patriot, Peter Van Brugh Livingston. A posting to the West Indies and a rendezvous in Scotland to marry Sarah keeps him away – for a time – from the conflict in the Colonies. But even in London, James and Sarah find themselves entangled in plots by subversives. Besides the underlying mystery that propels the fictional plot, readers are treated to vivid details of the 18th-century world as James and Sarah travel across the Atlantic to postings in England, Jamaica, Florida, Savannah, South Carolina and eventually, the New Jersey arena of the war.
Though James and Sarah are lively and likable characters who carry the story, at times the plot slows under the weight of historical details. In "Dear Book Lover," Cynthia Crossen’s Wall Street Journal column, she recently noted that "short history is a tall order" as "The kind of historian who will, as one critic put it, ‘cross an ocean to verify a comma’, isn’t apt to omit any commas."
Mr. Frederick’s impressive knowledge yields long passages with precise details of military units and chains of command, including connections and relations of officers. An awareness of British history and military forces would be helpful in speeding progress in digesting the story, though interested readers can certainly process the details. History buffs, however, will delight in the details of currency, sailing, camp life and bits of trivia, such as the words to the tune of the "British Grenadiers" (the "epitome of British military music"). In an aside, the author shares that "the stirring lyrics known to British and other schoolchildren over the world" were penned to celebrate the conquest of Savannah by the Royal American Regiment of Foot, "amongst whom was James."
The elements of a good fiction are all here – romance, adventure, intrigue and a satisfying resolution that is grounded in facts. James and Sarah do get to "come home again." Though we don’t realize it until the last pages, the 18th- century portrait of a proud husband and his charming wife and young daughter that graces the cover of the book are actually James and Sarah and young Maria as painted by the well known Daniel Gardner of Bond Street in London. In his "Author’s Notes," Mr. Frederick clarifies fact from fiction, which is always appreciated by readers of historical fiction.
Beyond telling a good story, Mr. Frederick provides interesting insights into the other side of "our" Revolution. Through conversations between James and other British officers, the author reveals the challenges faced by this elite army, in particular, the perception that their opponents were merely a "rabble" to be put down.
As one British major, born in America, argues to his comrades, "It has always been a singular conceit of our regular officers to underrate the enemy because his parade ground appearance is ludicrous. In my view, that is one of our greatest weaknesses. The rabble is rapidly becoming an army."
James comes to admire a captain in his ranks who "came from the wilds of Pennsylvania" whom James notes with amazement, "keeps a copy of Tacitus, in Latin, by his cot."
As the war goes on and one, James and his men ponder the wisdom of the conflict.
"Why not let the Americans go their way? The Caribbean – places like Jamaica – they’re what count. Besides, the less we antagonize the rebels with bloody campaigning, the more willing they may be to drift into some sort of partnership with us."
As they say, with practical prescience, "Today’s enemy is tomorrow’s friend."
Key players in the historical drama make cameo appearances including Robert Morris – a Founding Father who is finally getting his due – and William Franklin (son of Benjamin Franklin, and the last royal governor of New Jersey), whose reputation still is not improved, even when his story told through a British perspective.
Mr. Frederick’s work is admirable as he takes years of study of military history and his own genealogical research to create a novel that is good story telling and historically accurate.
"A Royal American" does fill a need in telling the tale of the American Revolution from a unique point of view. And fortunate for his readers that author’s ancestors – the dutiful solider and adventurer James Ricketts and his beautiful and competent wife Sarah – make such a compelling story.

