Only months before, the first shot of what would become the American Revolution had been fired. But not everyone was committed to battle. The people were caught between a patriotic fervor for the cause of liberty and deep concern about the righteousness of, and the danger in, rebelling against the world’s largest empire. And unbeknowst to them, as September 1775 opened, a powerful hurricane was making its way across the Atlantic, one that would test the colonists’ strength, resolve, and faith in the rebellion.

Hurricane of Independence is the untold story of a violent storm and the violent birth of a nation. On September 2, 1775, the 8th deadliest Atlantic hurricane of all time landed on American shores. Over the coming days, it would race up the East Coast, striking all of the important colonial capitals and eventually killing more than four thousand people. In an era where hurricanes were viewed as omens from God, what this storm meant to the colonists about the justness of their cause would yield unexpected results.

Hurricane of Independence is the story of the individual people in the eye of the storm and how they saved the American Revolution. From well-known founders like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin to ordinary individuals such as sailors, escaped slaves, farmers, and fishermen, Tony Williams paints a stunning picture of what it meant to live at the opening of the American Revolution and the incredible weight of the choice the people were facing at that deciding moment.

Hurricane of Independence brings to life an incredible moment when the forces of nature and the forces of history came together, and the courageous stories of sacrifice, survival, and strength amidst the fight for freedom.  less