Author Daniel McDonald Johnson will sign copies of his most recent book, “This Cursed War,” at McIntosh Book Shoppe in Beaufort from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11
Johnson’s latest work is a story of perseverence, the tale of Lachlan McIntosh, who suffered setbacks to his military strategies and smears to his reputation throughout the American Revolution.
McIntosh, who was given command of Georgia’s continental troops at the beginning of the war, was never able to recruit enough soldiers to bring the battalion to full strength, yet he was able to establish a string of forts to protect Georgia’s southern border while his personal fortunes and family suffered.
McIntosh participated in the defense of Charleston until he was taken prisoner when the city fell to the British. He eventually witnessed two of the most disastrous defeats of the Revolution, the assault on Savannah and the capture of Charleston. Yet McIntosh persevered.
Johnson spent 25 years writing for newspapers and now works as a librarian at the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie. He has written several books concerning Clan Mackintosh and McIntosh families.
He credits his mother Lorena McDonald Johnson with instilling a reverence for ancestors who, like Lachlan McIntosh, served in the Continental army during the American Revolution and participated in the sieges of Savannah and Charleston.
His other books include “Blood on the Marsh,” a sprawling epic that traces the McIntosh and McDonald families from their ancestral home in the Scottish Highlands to the southern frontier of Colonial America and describes their participation in the Jacobite Risings and the American Revolution.
“Mr. McIntosh’s Family” deals with Clan Mackintosh in the Jacobite Risings and with the McIntosh families who settled Darien, Georgia, and fought in the struggle for the Colonial American southern frontier.
“Brier Creek Battleground” gives the history and legend of a Revolutionary War site near Sylvania, Georgia. The book includes maps, photos and travel information for people who want to visit the battleground and related sites along the Savannah River. Biographical information is given on John McIntosh, who was taken prisoner at Brier Creek.
