Former Navy officer spotlights the Revolution’s Southern campaign in new novel

Ray Deptula, a former U.S. Naval Officer, has released Can’t Find My Way Home, the second book in his Those Damned Yankees series, to highlight the brutal Southern campaign that helped decide the American Revolution. The novel follows two separated soldiers after the Battle of Camden and is meant to bring attention to a lesser-known but decisive part of the war.

Why it matters: - The American Revolution’s outcome was shaped as much in the South as in New England. - Can’t Find My Way Home aims to push that overlooked battlefield history back into view. - The novel centers on survival, loyalty and moral conflict in wartime, themes that still resonate beyond the Revolution.

What happened: - Former U.S. Naval Officer Ray Deptula released Can’t Find My Way Home, the second installment in the Those Damned Yankees series. - The book follows British deserter Jack Halliday and Custis, an enslaved man, after they are separated from the Continental Army following the Battle of Camden. - The story is set in the violent South Carolina campaign, where rival militias and neighbor-against-neighbor violence made the conflict especially brutal.

The details: - The novel draws on historical research and follows the actual sequence of Revolutionary War events. - Jack Halliday and Custis endure the harsh winter of 1780-81 at Washington’s army encampment in New Jersey before being swept into Camden. - The Continental forces are decimated at Camden, undermining American hopes of removing Britain’s foothold in the southern provinces. - Jack and Custis then struggle to survive in a lawless South where trust is scarce and Custis’ status as property repeatedly tests Jack’s conscience. - Deptula said the book focuses on the bond between Jack and Custis and Jack’s moral obligation to protect his friend. - The title, Can’t Find My Way Home, comes from the pair’s desperate effort to find safety and return home. - The book is published by Speaking Volumes, carries ISBN-13 979-8890224170 and has a release date of June 30, 2026. - The book is available from Amazon. - Deptula’s website is raydeptulaauthor.com.

Between the lines: - Deptula is using fiction to argue that the Revolution’s decisive moments did not end with familiar northern milestones like Lexington and Yorktown. - The Jack Halliday and Custis storyline gives the war a human-scale lens, especially around friendship, slavery and survival. - The book also frames military service as a test of loyalty to comrades rather than ideology, based on Deptula’s own view.

What’s next: - Can’t Find My Way Home extends Deptula’s Those Damned Yankees series and positions the Southern campaign as a larger part of the Revolutionary War story. - The release gives readers another entry point into a less familiar stretch of the war and may drive attention to the historical events behind the novel. - Deptula lives in Merritt Island, Florida, and continues to write from a background that includes 24 years in the U.S. Navy.

The bottom line: - The book turns a little-known theater of the American Revolution into a character-driven survival story about war, loyalty and moral choice.