Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile by Herman Melville

ISRAEL POTTER is the eponymous tale of an American farmer who leaves his land to serve in the American Revolution. After being wounded in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Potter recovers and joins the navy, where he is promptly captured by the British and taken to England as a prisoner. After escaping, he encounters King George III, Benjamin Franklin, who presses Israel into service as a spy; John Paul Jones, who invites Israel to join his crew; and Ethan Allen, whom Israel attempts to free from a British prison. His adventures prevent his return to America until finally, fifty years after he left his farm, he makes his way back to Massachusetts.