Masque of Honor

• The Chesapeake Campaign and Craney Island — In June 1813, British forces attacked Craney Island as part of their campaign against Norfolk. Armistead Mason commanded Virginia's 57th Regiment on Craney Island shortly before the battle and wrote to his brother from there only days before the attack.
• The Defense of Baltimore — Virginia militia units served in the defense of Baltimore in 1814. William McCarty served in Captain Ball's company under Armistead Mason, whose regiment joined American forces at Hampstead Hill.
• Military Service and Religious Conscience — Armistead supported amendments to Virginia's militia laws addressing religious exemptions from military service and the controversial practice of allowing substitutes to serve in another man's place. His wartime association with Michael Everhart, a member of the pacifist Dunkard faith, is documented in the historical record.
• The Congressional Election of 1817 — Armistead Mason and Charles Fenton Mercer faced one another in a bitter campaign for Congress. Their political dispute grew out of an earlier rift, and during the campaign the two men publicly attacked one another's records during the War of 1812.
• Tariffs and the Postwar Economy — Following the War of 1812, Americans fiercely debated protective tariffs designed to encourage domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on British goods. Agricultural states such as Virginia feared the consequences for overseas trade as the nation moved toward the financial crisis of 1819.

Sharon weaves these real events into the fabric of the story, creating a narrative that honors the actual people and moments that shaped this era.

Set against the landscapes of early nineteenth-century Virginia and Maryland, Masque of Honor moves from the estates and small towns of Loudoun County to the military camps of Norfolk, the political halls of Richmond and Washington, and the streets and taverns of Alexandria and Georgetown. Selma, Raspberry Plain, Cedar Grove, Belmont, and Leesburg anchor the story in the interconnected world of the Mason, McCarty, and Lee families, while the battlefields of the War of 1812 and the political arenas of the young republic widen its reach.