Fort Pierre author's latest book a mix of history and fantasy
Longtime health care professional Ken Bartholomew pens 'Gunpowder for the General'
FORT PIERRE — Ken Bartholomew has written many books over the years.
A veteran of the health care profession still working on a part-time basis out of Faulkton, Bartholomew’s first few forays into the literary world focused on his primary field, health care. Some years later, he ventured into the fantasy and murder mystery genres.
Now, at the age of 75, Bartholomew is charting a new course with his latest 306-page novel and his sixth book overall, “Gunpowder for the General.”
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A historical novel — with a fictional plot set in a real historical time and based on actual events — “Gunpowder for the General” takes readers back to the early days of the American Revolutionary War. It centers on a pivotal moment that nearly derailed the birth of the nation. The story follows a group of four friends in their 20s with diverse backgrounds, but who together know the secrets of making the gunpowder the Continental Army desperately needs. Throughout Washington’s harsh winter at Valley Forge, the group works in the shadows of the western Pennsylvania hills to produce the powder as the British were destroying existing mills, with plans to deliver it to Gen. George Washington and his men before the 1778 campaign season begins.
The novel climaxes as the group tracks the American forces to New Jersey, arriving just in time to deliver the gunpowder before the largest artillery battle of the Revolutionary War, at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse.
Bartholomew started officially writing the book just over a year ago in 2023, but the plans and research for it have been many more years in the making. In the early 2000s, he and his family loaded up on a cross-country trip through once-colonial America to see the sites that he would write about decades later. He’s made a number of trips back since then so as to make sure he fully understands every small detail he’s writing about — down to the shapes of hill tops.
As he traveled from historical marker to historical marker, learning more at every turn, Bartholomew was shocked to see that the history of the Revolutionary Army’s near defeat due to the logistics of getting gunpowder to the front lines had not been chronicled hardly anywhere in written form.
“I couldn’t get that out of my head,” Bartholomew told The Dakota Scout. “No one I talked to had ever heard about this.”
He committed one day do the work himself. But then, his kids were still young, and so was his career. Furthermore, his writing career would have to make many pit stops first, none of which would require the level of attention to detail that “Gunpowder for the General” did.
“I had to make sure my dates and facts were 100 percent accurate and well-defined,” Bartholomew explained. “You have to keep making sure that all the dominos are right and keep falling the correct way in your head.”
Despite the challenges of balancing meticulous research with crafting a compelling narrative, Bartholomew says the journey was worth it. The novel pays tribute to an aspect of American history and warfare often forgot by history, the logistical supply battles required to keep fighting men upright.
“I think the reader will learn a fair amount about the Revolutionary War, and a little bit about what went on behind the scenes by reading this,” Bartholomew said.
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.
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