In 1781, the Continental Forces under General Nathanael Greene had literally worn out the British, leading to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in October of that year. But though the British and many loyalists in South Carolina had retreated to Charleston, the partisan conflict in the Carolinas raged on in the form of guerilla warfare and various acts of vengeance.

Among them was a rampage later called “the Bloody Scout,” led by William Cunningham, a loyalist promoted to officer by the British. My story supposes a member of the Continental forces being sent in to infiltrate Cunningham’s gang with the hopes of bringing him down…and I did my best to make every event in the story coordinate with actual events, including the raid that led to Cunningham’s flight back to Charleston just before Christmas of that same year.

On the side of my heroine, many of the loyalists did not flee to Charleston when Greene and his army made their push to clear the South Carolina backcountry, but did their best to hold on and keep up their livelihood. This was met with varying degrees of success, but most loyalists wound up caving to the pressure from neighbors etc. with more patriot leanings, and seeking refuge under the wings of the British army at the coast. Some decided to change their own political leanings in order to stay where they’d put down roots. I touch on all these in the course of my story.

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