James L. Nelson

The Guardship

by James L. Nelson

Shortly after Thomas Marlowe's arrival in Williamsburg, Virginia, all in that newfound capital city are speaking his name. With the bounty from his years as a pirate--a life he intends to renounce and keep forever...

The Blackbirder

by James L. Nelson

In a blind rage, King James, ex-slave and now Marlowe's comrade in arms, slaughters the crew of a slave ship and makes himself the most wanted man in Virginia. The governor gives Marlowe a choice: Hunt James...

Reign of Iron

by James L. Nelson

At the outbreak of the Civil War, North and South quickly saw the need to develop the latest technology in naval warfare, the ironclad ship. After a year-long scramble to finish first, in a race filled with...

The Pirate Round

by James L. Nelson

In 1706, war still rages in Europe, and the tobacco planters of the Virginia colony's tidewater struggle against shrinking markets and pirates lurking off the coast. But American seafarers have found a new source...

Thieves of Mercy

by James L. Nelson

Having survived the bloody Battle of New Orleans and the loss of their ironclad Yazoo River, captain Samuel Bowater, engineer Hieronymus Taylor, and the survivors of their crew are given new orders -- take command...

George Washington's Great Gamble

by James L. Nelson

One shining yet overlooked moment that changed the course of the Revolutionary WarIn the opening months of 1781, General George Washington feared his army would fail to survive another campaign season. The spring...

With Fire and Sword

by James L. Nelson

On June 17, 1775, the entire dynamic of the newborn American Revolution was changed. If the Battle of Lexington and Concord was, in the immortal words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the “shot heard round the world,”...

Glory in the Name

by James L. Nelson

Then call us Rebels if you will we glory in the name, for bending under unjust laws and swearing faith to an unjust cause, we count as greater shame. -- Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 12, 1862

April 12, 1861. With...