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A Passel of Trouble: The Saga of Loyalist Partisan David Fanning
"A Passel of Trouble" is a fact-based historical novel about one of the most unique characters on either side of the American Revolutionary War. David Fanning, a 19-year old Loyalist sergeant, fought in the first battle of the revolution n the South in November 1775, and before then the war ends seven years later, he is commissioned a colonel by the British and considered the most feared man in North Carolina.
Told from the Loyalist's perspective, this meticulously researched saga describes how two young men, Fanning and his Quaker friend, Josh, find themselves at philosophical odds, yet allies to preserve the king's rule in the Carolinas.
Over the first three years of the war, Fanning is captured fourteen times. With gutsy ingenuity, he escapes his captors, including bodacious breakouts from the brick jail at Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Between captures, he survives by his wits, subsisting on grubs and plants in the Carolina wilderness backcountry, constantly on the move while evading a determined enemy.
In 1780, Josh's uncle is killed in a senseless act of mayhem by drunken Whigs, causing Josh to abandon his Quaker faith of non-violence. He joins with David to seek vengeance.
Fanning and his friend move to central North Carolina where they organize Tory guerrillas and lead them in three dozen firefights. Fanning's exploits inspire admiration in his followers and dread in his enemies. A master in raids and ambushes, he moves great distances by horseback, often striking without warning, often with brutal effectiveness. British Army commanders marvele at his ability to capture political and military leaders and make him a militia colonel.
Fanning's boldest action comes in a spectacular raid on Hillsborough, the acting capital of the state where he captures the governor, several senior officers, and more than one hundred Continental soldiers. While marching the captives 200 miles to Wilmington and British prison ships, he is wounded as his Loyalists militia successfully fight off determined Patriot forces trying to rescue the governor.
In addition to demonstrating how Fanning grows from a naive backwoods militia sergeant to a highly skilled partisan leader, "A Passel of Trouble" provides insight into the significant role a prominent Quaker family played during the war and influenced Fanning's career. The Lindley brothers fought each other as they resisted the admonitions of a pious father and sibling to adhere to the strict non-violence tenets of their faith.
After the British Army abandon him in late 1781, Fanning's aggressiveness, vindictiveness, and brutal actions increase. In the meantime, Josh regains his faith and tests his loyalty to Fanning as they search for ways to extricate from a war now lost..
Fanning continues as a thorn in the side of the newly independent nation for a year after Cornwallis surrendered his British Army. His goal is to get fair treatment for the Tories who fought for him as he seeks ways for him and his young bride to slip through enemy lines and escape on one of the last ships leaving British occupied Chares Town.
Told from the Loyalist's perspective, this meticulously researched saga describes how two young men, Fanning and his Quaker friend, Josh, find themselves at philosophical odds, yet allies to preserve the king's rule in the Carolinas.
Over the first three years of the war, Fanning is captured fourteen times. With gutsy ingenuity, he escapes his captors, including bodacious breakouts from the brick jail at Ninety-Six, South Carolina. Between captures, he survives by his wits, subsisting on grubs and plants in the Carolina wilderness backcountry, constantly on the move while evading a determined enemy.
In 1780, Josh's uncle is killed in a senseless act of mayhem by drunken Whigs, causing Josh to abandon his Quaker faith of non-violence. He joins with David to seek vengeance.
Fanning and his friend move to central North Carolina where they organize Tory guerrillas and lead them in three dozen firefights. Fanning's exploits inspire admiration in his followers and dread in his enemies. A master in raids and ambushes, he moves great distances by horseback, often striking without warning, often with brutal effectiveness. British Army commanders marvele at his ability to capture political and military leaders and make him a militia colonel.
Fanning's boldest action comes in a spectacular raid on Hillsborough, the acting capital of the state where he captures the governor, several senior officers, and more than one hundred Continental soldiers. While marching the captives 200 miles to Wilmington and British prison ships, he is wounded as his Loyalists militia successfully fight off determined Patriot forces trying to rescue the governor.
In addition to demonstrating how Fanning grows from a naive backwoods militia sergeant to a highly skilled partisan leader, "A Passel of Trouble" provides insight into the significant role a prominent Quaker family played during the war and influenced Fanning's career. The Lindley brothers fought each other as they resisted the admonitions of a pious father and sibling to adhere to the strict non-violence tenets of their faith.
After the British Army abandon him in late 1781, Fanning's aggressiveness, vindictiveness, and brutal actions increase. In the meantime, Josh regains his faith and tests his loyalty to Fanning as they search for ways to extricate from a war now lost..
Fanning continues as a thorn in the side of the newly independent nation for a year after Cornwallis surrendered his British Army. His goal is to get fair treatment for the Tories who fought for him as he seeks ways for him and his young bride to slip through enemy lines and escape on one of the last ships leaving British occupied Chares Town.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 20, 2016
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March 24, 2018MWSA Review
When Americans recall their first brush with the history of the American Revolution—for most of us way back in elementary school—one of the lessons remembered is likely to be that the country was divided into thirds. One third of Americans supported independence, a third opposed it, and the final third was undecided or uncommitted.
Most scholars now agree that although this bit of historical "common knowledge" was based on a letter President John Adams wrote in 1815; it appears that Adams was referring to the French Revolution and not the American one. Even if less than a third of Americans were on the side of the British, and given our understandable focus on the “winning side,” it's easy to forget that there were tens of thousands of Americans who sided with England before, during and after the Revolution. The Loyalist perspective is not normally the focus of historical fiction covering the period.
Joe Epley’s Passel of Trouble takes this relatively untraveled road by concentrating on the life of an actual Loyalist soldier named David Fanning. To help transport the reader back in time to this tumultuous period of American history, Epley often uses the voice of a friend of David Fanning to serve as narrator.
The first half of the book covers young Fanning’s introduction to the struggle by the Loyalists to defeat fellow countrymen intent on breaking all bonds with mother England. Most of the action takes place in North and South Carolina. Later on, as the enthusiastic young man continues to experience the horrors of war, we see a different man emerge—a war-hardened veteran. By the end of the book—once the Loyalist cause seems lost—the protagonist strikes out in ways anything but heroic.
If the reader is expecting a chance to enjoy empathizing with a “good guy” on the losing side of the conflict, Passel of Trouble will not make it easy to do so. Instead, Epley provides a detailed and unflinching look at how war has the devastating power to turn a once-honorable civilian soldier into a revenge-seeking killer.
Thoroughly researched and filled with fascinating historical detail, Epley has given us a solid contribution to our understanding of this period and an interesting look into a part of the American Independence conflict not often explored.
By John Cathcart, MWSA Awards Director and Reviewer
When Americans recall their first brush with the history of the American Revolution—for most of us way back in elementary school—one of the lessons remembered is likely to be that the country was divided into thirds. One third of Americans supported independence, a third opposed it, and the final third was undecided or uncommitted.
Most scholars now agree that although this bit of historical "common knowledge" was based on a letter President John Adams wrote in 1815; it appears that Adams was referring to the French Revolution and not the American one. Even if less than a third of Americans were on the side of the British, and given our understandable focus on the “winning side,” it's easy to forget that there were tens of thousands of Americans who sided with England before, during and after the Revolution. The Loyalist perspective is not normally the focus of historical fiction covering the period.
Joe Epley’s Passel of Trouble takes this relatively untraveled road by concentrating on the life of an actual Loyalist soldier named David Fanning. To help transport the reader back in time to this tumultuous period of American history, Epley often uses the voice of a friend of David Fanning to serve as narrator.
The first half of the book covers young Fanning’s introduction to the struggle by the Loyalists to defeat fellow countrymen intent on breaking all bonds with mother England. Most of the action takes place in North and South Carolina. Later on, as the enthusiastic young man continues to experience the horrors of war, we see a different man emerge—a war-hardened veteran. By the end of the book—once the Loyalist cause seems lost—the protagonist strikes out in ways anything but heroic.
If the reader is expecting a chance to enjoy empathizing with a “good guy” on the losing side of the conflict, Passel of Trouble will not make it easy to do so. Instead, Epley provides a detailed and unflinching look at how war has the devastating power to turn a once-honorable civilian soldier into a revenge-seeking killer.
Thoroughly researched and filled with fascinating historical detail, Epley has given us a solid contribution to our understanding of this period and an interesting look into a part of the American Independence conflict not often explored.
By John Cathcart, MWSA Awards Director and Reviewer
February 9, 2026
Just as in “a Passel of Hate,” the late Joe Epley delivered again with this gem! One of my maternal ancestors, William Deaton, fought under Fanning and was one of the eleven Chatham County Tory militiamen killed at Lindley’s Mill. Fascinating and engaging read! Epley once again deserves an award for the historical accuracy in this novel.
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