Crimson is the Eastern Shore by Don Tracey

Crimson is the Eastern Shore by Don Tracy publisher by The Sears Readers Club, Chicago. Originally published by Dial Press. Copyright 1953 by Don Tracy. Book Club Edition. Jacket design by Harry Barton.

From the Fly leaf:
In Crimson is the Eastern Shore, the reader is taken through one of the most action-packed periods of history - the War of 1812 in the setting of America’s most beautiful and romantic stretch of land and water, the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In this stirring story, Don Tracy creates his most memorable character, Anthony Worth, called by many The King, the most powerful politician, planter and plotter within “three days’ hard riding or closed-hauled sailing”. Worth has his magnificent plantation, Fairoverlea, the seat of his Kingdom, but he also has a grim secret on which his fortune is based, and which, if disclosed would bring him shame and ruin.
To keep disaster from touching his daughter, Gracellen, Anthony Worth resorts to every dark device of intrigue and violence. Imperious Gracellen, pampered daughter of The King, is the most precious thing in life to him and he works and schemes to protect her from the doom that threatens both of them.
The threat is personified by Task Tillman of Larkspur Hill, the near-penniless neighbor who has loved and been loved by Gracellen since both were children. Task is torn between his adoration of Gracellen and his bitter hatred for Gracellen’s father, a hatred based on the black suspicion of murder.
Through the pages of Crimson is the Eastern Shore walk such colorful figures as Jett Worth, Anthony’s nephew and the skipper of a privateer clipper ship. Jett, though forbidden to peek and pry by his uncle, does - and meets what has been prophesied.
There is Vivian Dangerfield Worth, Anthony’s London-born fourth wife, who is described by everyone as the most beautiful woman on the Eastern Shore, and the strangest. She has her own secret and one which is hardly less terrible than her husband’s.
Stalking through Crimson is the Eastern Shore are such swaggering personalities as Admiral Sir George Cockburn, the “Butcher of Hampden”, and handsome, laughing Sir Peter Porter, elated at a chance for what he calls “a frolic with the Yankees”. There is Francis Scott Key and General Sam Smith, a man as plain as his name but a military genius who outwits the contemptuous British admirals and generals time and again. There is Charles Hilliard Hawlent, whose militia company, the Dragoon Footguards, provide an odd footnote to history. There are Anthony Worth’s three lieutenants who do The King’s ruthless bidding with a growl, a sneer and a giggle.
Guns thunder and men die, some heroically and some cravenly. There is deep-dyed treachery and unbounded loyalty. On land and at sea the fledgling United States comes to grips with the Mother Country; a weak, ill-fitted nation fighting the most impressive power in the world.