Confederate General Trivia: I

JUBAL ANDERSON EARLY: 1816 – 1894

VIRGINIA  LAWYER and GENERAL

This will be first in a series of “Lessons” about great – and not so great – generals who served in the Confederate Army. Some were handsome and noble and rode a horse with more royal bearing than a European king. Others were little more than scalawags and renegades who went to war to serve their own interests. 

Jubal Early was the heroic sort of general. Smart, quick and possessed of the finest military education available at the time, he could have served on either side of the conflict. Being a Virginan, he chose to fight for the Confederacy.

Oh! I forgot to tell you! There WILL be a quiz over ALL the generals – so you people in the back row need to listen and take notes.

The quiz is scheduled for early January and will be a large part of your grade.

Back to Jubal A. Early. He was of high character and made an imposing figure as he led soldiers into battle. He is still remembered, admired and honored today. Anyone would be proud to claim him as an ancestor. Right? Of course. And so it is with a young Canadian actor who lives and works in the United States. No, I don’t know how General Early’s DNA made it to Edmonton, Alberta, but as I’ve indicated- Jubal Early was a resourceful man.

Can you spot a resemblance between General Early and actor Nathan Fillion, who was born in Edmonton in 1971?

Study the next two photos closely.

 Jubal Early disguised himself as a farmer in order to escape to Mexico in 1865. Nathan Fillion diguised himself as Captain Malcolm Reynolds in oder to command the spaceship SERENITY in the FIREFLY TV series.

Hold on to your notes and be ready for the January Quiz!

Civil War Christmas story part of An American Rose Christmas anthology

My latest release, The Christmas Ball, part of the anthology, An American Rose Christmas, is already available in print as an early bird special at The Wild Rose Press!

Includes novellas by Beth Trissel, Carol A. Spradling, Donna Dalton, Lauri Robinson, Tori Anne and myself.

Reclaimed by his wealthy uncle, former Shawnee captive Corwin Whitfield finds life with his adopted people at an end and reluctantly enters the social world of 1764. His one aim is to run back to the colonial frontier at his first opportunity–until he meets Uncle Randolph’s ward, Dimity Scott.

Tory captain Dr. Nicolas Clayton discovers stolen military secrets on a severely injured female spy. When her wounds heal, Holly Masters must decide if she can kill the man who saved her life.

While pretending to be a male soldier, farm girl Sara Brewster falls for a handsome Union army surgeon. When her secret is revealed, will a lavish Christmas Eve ball work in her favor–or will her heart be broken?

Southern belle Marybeth Dawson discovers Santa Claus can’t cross the Mason Dixon line–but handsome Union soldier, Trevor Sulton can.When a strong willed upper class New York girl falls for a dashing, compassionate stable boy, it will take a Christmas miracle to bring them together. Thankfully, true love is on their side.

All reformed prostitute Eva Baird wants for Christmas is to have her daughter back in her arms. But gun-toting outlaws, spiteful in-laws, and a sweet-talking stranger with arresting gray eyes threaten to turn her dream into a lump of coal.

Excerpt from my story, The Christmas Ball

She rose, rubbing her hands over her arms. “You won’t tell on me, will you? My parents depend on the money I send home.”

He sighed. “Not if you don’t want me to, but I don’t think this is a wise idea. You could serve just as well as a civilian nurse.”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t make near enough money, and I like being a soldier.”

He rose and settled his hand on her shoulder. “I won’t betray your trust, Sara…er, Miss Brewster. I promise.”

Her sharp intake of breath sent his gaze to her face. Her full lips parted and a blush colored her cheeks. He ran his hand down her arm and took her hand. It was work-roughened, the nails broken, but small, making her seem vulnerable and frail. She’d had a hard life by her reckoning. He wanted to do something for her, to help lighten her workload.

To his surprise, she lifted his hand to her face and kissed the back of it. The softness of her lips on his knuckles sent a shiver through him.”Miss Brewster,” he said. “This isn’t a good idea.”

She drew in a deep breath. “Doc Ellison, I’ve longed to do this ever since I first set eyes on you.”

Veteran’s Day

Today we observe Veteran’s or Armistice Day around the world. The end of World War I and the gratitude we show those who served in our Armed Forces. The Civil War was no different.

Veterans of the American Civil War were like any other veteran. They went on to become farmers, businessmen, governors, even presidents. In Kansas alone, 3 vets became governor, 1 US Senator, and 33 state legislators.

And of course, we all know about Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States.

The Union Pacific Railroad used veterans seeking work as well as immigrant labor to complete their lines.

The National Parks Service has a site where you can search the name of a Civil War soldier, sailor, regiments, cemetaries, battles, prisoners, and Medal of Honor recipients.

Most importantly, they also have the complete listing of Civil War National Parks. Is it important to recall these areas, where battles 150+ years ago occurred? Yes. Is it important to keep them as such, open areas where no developments exist? Yes. Why? Because it’s our heritage and our history.

So today, despite there being no Civil War soldiers among us, thank a vet.

Civil War vampire romance released today

My latest release, Sweet Redemption is available today at The Wild Rose Press.

And Dariel Raye is interviewing my hero, Jonathan Hackett, on her blog today. If you leave a comment on the interview post, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a pdf copy of the anthology.

On a cold December night, Union infantry captain, Jonathan Hackett is pinned down on the Fredericksburg battlefield trying to escape Confederate fire. But a creature of the night, more dangerous than any enemy soldier, stalks him. Jon must fight for his life as well as his soul. Maddie Emery has lost everything dear to her. Her husband and parents had passed on and her brothers are off fighting in the Confederate Army. She’s alone, trying single-handedly to hold onto her family’s farm, when a Yankee soldier collapses across her stoop. Maddie and Jon form and bond of love and desire, but as Jon exhibits signs of becoming the creature he fears most, is their love enough to fight off the evil of a centuries old vampire bent on destroying them?

Excerpt:

Those knocks were not made by a wolf, but he suspected the wolf had something to do with Reverend Arnwolf. “Is the wolf his minion, or can he transform himself?” he said, under his breath.

“What?” Mrs. Emery moved close. Her scent invaded his thoughts. “Please, tell me what’s going on?”

Jon sighed. “When I said I was attacked by a wild dog, I lied.” He moved back to the settee and sat, his hands dangling between his knees.

She sat beside him, but held herself ramrod straight. “What or who attacked you?”

“I was pinned down on the battlefield. Spent the night in the freezing cold. All of my men had died. A man appeared. Claimed to be a minister from Austria.” Jon grimaced as he recalled Arnwolf’s blood-red eyes and the sharp pierce of his fangs as they entered Jon’s throat. “He offered to help me, but…instead he led me to an abandoned barn and attacked me.”

Mrs. Emery gasped. “You’re not saying this man–”

“He bit me on the throat.” Jon pushed his hand through his hair. “I don’t know exactly what he is, but he’s not human.”

“That’s who you believe was at the door?”

Jon nodded. “I don’t know how, but I now have a connection to him.” He fingered the bumps on his throat. “I know things about him I shouldn’t possibly know.”

Sarah Emma Edmonds

Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in New Brunswick, Canada in 1841. She grew up on a farm, so along with her sisters, she participated alongside her one brother to perform the hard physical work of farming. She tended to the animals, chopped wood, milked cows, planted and harvested. She also learned to ride horses, hunted and fished.

Her upbringing caused her to develop a lean, masculine-looking physique.

In 1860, she was nineteen. She moved south into the United States dressed in men’s garb. Pretending to be a man, she called herself “Franklin Thompson.” She worked in Hartford, Connecticut as a publishing agent, selling Bibles in Canada and Michigan.

In 1861 the Civil War began. She enlisted in Company F of the 2nd Michigan Infantry Volunteers, signing up for three years.

As Franklin Thompson, Sarah spent her first months of military service at the regimental hospital, serving as a “male” nurse. She then became postmaster and then a mail carrier.

One of her superior officers, General O. M. Poe, recalled that “Frank Thompson was effeminate looking, and for that reason was detailed as a mail carrier, to avoid taking an efficient soldier from the ranks.” All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies, p. 171.

As a mail carrier, Edmonds carried two or three bushels of mail over a distance of 50 or 60 miles.

In her own words: “I was often compelled to spend the nights alone by the roadside. It was reported that the bushwackers had murdered a mail carrier on that road and robbed the mail, and there seemed to be evidence of the fact, for, in the most lonely of spots of all the road the ground was still strewn with fragments of letters and papers, over which I often passed when it was so dark that I only knew it by the rustle of the letters under my horse’s feet.” All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies, p. 171-172.

She was also engaged in combat starting with the battle of First Bull Run in July 1861.

According to a Congressional report: “Franklin Thompson, gave his heart and soul to the regiment, sharing in all its toil and privations, marching and fighting in the various engagements in which it participated… (He was) never absent from duty, obeying all orders with intelligence and alacrity, his whole aim and desire to render zealous and efficient aid to the Union cause.” All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies, p. 172-173.

While serving, Sarah became good friends with a young medical steward and assistant surgeon for the 2nd Michigan. She fell in love with the man, confessing that she was female. She felt rebuffed when he told her he was betrothed.

Besides soldiering, Sarah also served the Union as a spy. She disguised herself as a male fugitive slave wearing a wig and coloring her skin with silver nitrate. At other times she portrayed a female Irish peddler by the name of Bridget O’Shea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Edmonds

In Kentucky in the spring of 1863, Sarah fell ill with chills and fever. She feared a hospital stay would expose her sex, so, after a request for a leave of absence was denied, she deserted the army. She checked herself into a civilian hospital, planning to return to the army once she’d recovered.

On learning that Franklin Thompson was wanted for desertion, she donned women’s clothes, resumed using her real name and returned to the army to serve as a female nurse for the remainder of the war. All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies, p. 178

After the war ended, she published her autobiography, Nurse and Spy in the Union Army under the pen name of S. E. Edmonds. “In 1887, she married L. H. Seelye, a Canadian carpenter with whom she had three children.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Edmonds

For more on Sarah Edmonds and other women soldiers of the American Civil War…

Sources: All the Daring of the Soldier: Women of the Civil War Armies by Elizabeth D. Leonard

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why we write in the Civil War era

Popping in to make mention of the article up at the FW Examiner, featuring Beyond Scarlett and Rhett authors.

American Civil War and romance. Thanks gals, you had some great answers. We’ll have to do it again in a few months.

My Civil War woman soldier story is now available!

My latest Civil War romance, Confederate Rose, is now available from The Wild Rose Press.

Disguised as a man to serve with her husband as a soldier in the Confederate Army, Irish immigrant, Katie Rose O’Reilly, vows to remain in the ranks and seek revenge on Yankees after her husband is killed at Sharpsburg. As she’s transporting mail from Richmond back to camp, a stranger startles her, causing her to fall and almost drown in a swollen stream.

Southerner Alexander Hart, a Yankee spy, saves Katie from drowning, then nurses her through a resulting fever. He must keep his identity secret from the beautiful Rebel soldier even as he finds himself falling in love with her.

Katie falls in love with the caring gentlemen stranger, only to later discover he’s the enemy. Heartbroken, she turns him in to the Confederates, but then questions her goals and beliefs. Is it possible to put aside her quest for revenge to save the man she loves?

Excerpt:
“What? Are you telling me you were kissing him?” His blood heated at the thought of her moving on to another man.

“I was tryin’ to escape.”

“By kissing him?”

“Aye.” Anger flashed in her eyes. “And it was working until you came along and hit the poor lad.”

He grasped her forearm and pulled her from the guardhouse. They couldn’t stay here debating. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of camp. I fear I’ve compromised my cover.”

“But what about Nate?” she protested. “You may have killed him.”

Sighing, Alex knelt and felt for a pulse. The lad’s breathing was regular, his pulse steady. “Reckon he’ll be out for awhile, but aside from a nasty headache and some bruising, he should be all right.” He rose and glanced into the guardhouse. “They’ll reckon you clobbered him when he came for your dinner plate.” He caught her worried gaze. “Now, let’s skedaddle.”

She nodded, but eyed him again. “Why are you dressed as a priest?”

“It’s a disguise. I’m ministering to the Rebel soldiers.” His eyes roved to the white vee of her bosom. “Button your shirt before we go. We don’t want to attract any more attention.”

Read the opening chapters at my website:  http://susanmacatee.com/confederateroseone.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflections on a Suit

                In April I went to Washington D.C. for the first time in eighteen years. I went with my brother and his wife; they are my favorite traveling companions. One sunny Friday afternoon, while my family napped, I journeyed to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. I had some time to kill before I walked over to Ford’s Theatre for a matinee performance of The Civil War.

                The museum was filled to the brim with eager and not so eager goers. Groups of school aged children obviously forced to endure a day at the Smithsonian Mall intermingled with a myriad of Midwestern families and hard –core history buffs. I am one of the latter. I truly love history, especially American History.

                The artifacts that line every conceivable space of the museum were plentiful and amazing. But something like nothing I have ever seen before stopped me in my tracks. I went no further and soaked in the beauty of it, much to the unhappiness of those others around me. I was rooted to my spot and they had to travel around me.  

                 It was Lincoln’s suit. The actual suit he wore to the office, you know that Oval one, every day. It was a faded black, almost a rich brown under the muted lights of the display case. My first thought at seeing this item was, Lincoln was skinny. After that the overwhelming sense of history, of life confined in that glass case.  The conversations this configuration of fabric and thread had been privy too was mind blowing. To everyone, including me, Lincoln was the Great Emancipator, the Father of the Civil War, one of the greatest president’s we have ever known as a people. But to me especially, he was something more.

                I am a Nevadan. Now I know what you’re thinking. What does that have to do with Lincoln? My states motto is Battle Born. You see, Nevada became a state October 31^st, 1864. Lincoln was the president who gave my home a real American identity. Nevada was born in the heat of the Civil War, in the heat of battle, hence Battle Born. As I gazed on this suit, I couldn’t help but wonder was he wearing this when he gave Nevada Statehood?  What went through his mind when he made Nevada more than a territory out west he would never lay eyes on? Home means Nevada, home means the hills. Home means the sage and the pine. All this from a lanky man in a faded black suit. Thanks Abe.  

Remembering Patrick

The news shows this morning are full of images from Patrick Swayze’s career.  Most are showing clips from Dirty Dancing and Road House.  And while I’ve seen both those movies and marveled both times at his deep, sexy voice and beautiful bod, I’m remembering a different Patrick Swayze, one the media has overlooked.

North and South, anyone? It was only one of the biggest miniseries of the 1980s.  Who could forget the star crossed love affair of Orry Main and Madeline Fabray?  Maybe it’s just the history lover in me, but I still find Patrick-as-Orry far sexier than Patrick-as-Johnny Castle or pretty much any other role he played.  If you don’t believe me, check out this love scene between Orry and Madeline.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_0s5vz5TIs

As I mentioned to my fellow ACW bloggers this morning, I always thought that if there ever was a remake of Gone With the Wind (and I hope there never is! Can you imagine how bad Hollywood would screw it up?) Patrick would have made a great Ashley Wilkes.  Can you imagine the smoldering sensuality he’d have contributed to that role? Scarlet would have a much harder time choosing between Rhett and Ashley!

What are your thoughts? If you were re-casting GWTW today, who would you pick?  Patrick may have easily filled Leslie Howard’s shoes, but what about the other roles?  Renee Zellweger in a dark wig?  Scarlet Johansson?  Nah, I don’t think so. They’d have to do a world wide search for unknowns (unless Delta Burke, who was always my pick for Scarlet when my friends and I used to have this conversation, suddenly finds a fountain of youth!)

Now I’m off to pull out my old VHS copies of North and South and remember Patrick in my own way.

Civil War Romance Rocks!

Today Vee at Night Owl Romance gave 4.25 Hearts to Northern Roses and Southern Belles! Read the entire review here, but basically: Knowing you or your lover may not live to see the next day tends to throw decorum out the window. These were all entertaining, informative stories that I enjoyed reading.

 Also, I happen to have read that on Amazon, Lila’s Vow by Diane Wylie is #87 under Romance~Historicals~United States. No small feat! Congrats, Diane!!