Sandy Flash and the Trail of History

Book

The year is 1778. George Washington and his Continental Army recently suffered a humbling defeat at the Battle of the Brandywine. The war against England has been raging for three years with few victories to give Americans confidence they will prevail. One local citizen- who had fought alongside Washington’s troops- has changed sides, supporting the British, plundering local farms and bringing his wrath upon anyone who supports the Patriot cause. Large and muscular, he has become a highwayman, brutally robbing people at gunpoint wherever he finds them around southern Chester County. Known as ‘Captain Fitch’ to some, James Fitzpatrick’s exploits terrorized the area and his actions became legendary, described in a fascinating new book “Sandy Flash and the Trail of History.”

Fitzpatrick is better known to locals as ‘Sandy Flash’, a moniker given to him by Kennett Square’s most famous son, Bayard Taylor. Taylor’s novel “The Story of Kennett” (1866) reinvented the famous outlaw, placing him in the mid-1790s to fit into a narrative of Taylor’s hometown as it existed almost 15 years after the American Revolution. Though Fitzpatrick was well known and recognized in the region, he managed to repeatedly escape groups of armed men out to capture him. His ruthless escapades are magnified in Taylor’s novel which was quite popular, becoming part of local culture. Over time, the outlaw Fitzpatrick morphed into people’s consciousness as the character Sandy Flash.

“Sandy Flash and the Trail of History” is historian Gene Pisasale’s 12th book. Beautifully illustrated with over 130 color images, the book delves into the lives and accomplishments of several notable Chester County characters over the last 300 years. A ‘hybrid’, the book is an historical novel set not in the past, but in the present day. Following the exploits of the main characters Jim and Natalie Peterson, the novel brings readers on a fascinating tour of the southeastern Pennsylvania region going all the way back to the early 1680s, when William Penn built his home Pennsbury Manor on the west bank of the Delaware River. Following a trail of clues the couple find after visiting The Square Tavern in Newtown Square, they are intrigued by the late 18th century outlaw Fitzpatrick, whose exploits took him through their own community as he terrorized the citizens of Chester County from 1777-1778.

“Sandy Flash and the Trail of History” deftly utilizes numerous historical sources, including local archives and libraries to reveal the ‘real’ James Fitzpatrick, his life and wanderings around the region, showing him interacting with other well-known personalities including Indian Hannah, the so-called ‘Last of the Lenape’ and Rev War era politician/Chief Justice Thomas McKean. McKean was the trial judge who convicted Fitzpatrick in 1778 and sentenced him to hang for his crimes in September of that year. Deciphering their personal lives, the book makes some interesting and insightful observations about how several notable characters- the artist Benjamin West, botanist Humphry Marshall, Indian Hannah, doctor/entrepreneur William Darlington and Taylor himself likely knew each other and interacted in some way, a subject never before described in an historical format. Tying them all together in a fascinating narrative, the book will please both history buffs and anyone interested in understanding our rich Chester County heritage.