American Brave

Book excerpt: Joshua Barney had youthful aspirations of becoming a sea captain. When he was eleven years old, his dream came true, and a lifetime occupation on the sea commenced, something possible for a boy living in the 18th century to achieve. Joshua Barney made his first sea voyage at the age of eleven. At the age of fourteen, he was captain of a merchant ship to Europe and back. Barney took part in thirty-five Revolutionary War naval engagements. He lost five of these engagements, suffered imprisonment three times, and escaped the British prison twice. The tale of Barneys incredible victories at sea, frustrating defeats, and cleverness as a prisoner constitute a series of remarkable anecdotes. Joshua was a member of the Cincinnati Society, the Freemasons, and Paris Masonic Lodge of Nine Sisters. Joshua Barney worked with Robert Morris to collect $600,000 dollars in Havana and transport the gold and silver to Philadelphia in June 1782 to fund the Philadelphias Bank of North America, the first United States chartered bank. Barney served in the French Navy as Capitaine Vaisseanu de Premier with the rank equivalent to that of Post Captain of the highest grade. Commodore Barney was the American hero at the battle of Bladensburg, 1814. Joshua Barney proved to be one of the American Brave. American Brave by Thomas Williams Historical Fiction: The story of Admiral Joshua Barney (1759-1818) is fun, informative, emotional, and adventurous.