In Pursuit of Glory Author:William H. White Sail with Oliver Baldwin, recently back from the Barbary Wars, in the US Frigate Chesapeake as she leaves Hampton Roads, VA, on a routine patrol. The patrol turns out to anything but routine as the ship is confronted by the fifty gun HMS Leopard outside the Virginia Capes. The British ship is seeking Royal Navy deserters and, when Commodore Jame... more »s Barron refuses the British captain's orders to produce them, fires into the ill-prepared American frigate with disastrous results. The lop-sided fight, the Chesapeake/Leopard Incident, was one of the major contributors to the War of 1812 which started five years later. Following the ensuing court martial, Stephen Decatur takes command of Chesapeake to enforce the Jeffersonian Embargoes on the Atlantic seaboard with Oliver, Henry Allen, and others from William H. White s The Greater The Honor. Oliver will experience more - though less disastrous - encounters with ships of the Royal Navy, and ultimately, the start of the War of 1812. In October of that year, sailing in the American Frigate United States, Oliver, now a lieutenant, and Henry Allen, under the command of Barbary Wars hero Stephen Decatur, cross tacks with HMS Macedonian. A bloody battle ensues, concluding with the capture of the British frigate. White's portrayal of the significant early naval encounters of the war, told by his well-constructed characters, brings to life a period not well known but of crucial importance to the development of the fledgling United States and her Navy.« less