Civil War
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Blogging A-Z K Is For Kitchen
Sanitary Commission Cooking Tent at Fredericksburg, VA (You thought I forgot, didn’t you? No, I was on babysitting duty and didn’t have research material at hand.) We walk into our kitchens each morning not thinking about all the conveniences at our fingertips. For the participants in the Civil War, hunger was a constant companion, especially…
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A-Z Blogging J Is For Jordan
Thomas Jordan, like most Confederate generals, started out in the Federal army. It was a tough decision for many to leave the army they loved, but they could not bring themselves to raise arms against their homes. What man would not defend his home and loved ones? For certain, some southerners did join the Union,…
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Spies and Habits
South Carolina has seceded as well as Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. War has not been declared, but on March 11, 1861 the Confederate Constitution replaced the provisional Confederated States Constitution. Lorena, my main character in The Rain Crow starts out the book on a ride into the forest to meet a man…
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Pistols and Petticoats–The Moon Sisters
The Rain Crow, the novel I’m currently working on, is about a woman from Luray, Virginia who has a small plantation and boarding school and agrees to become a Confederate spy. As fertile as my imagination is at times, I confess I can’t match some things that actually took place during the Civil War. It…
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The Devil Wore Blue
Once again, I am scavenging from history. I can’t remember the woman’s name nor the Union commander’s, nor even where it takes place, but I think it was Louisiana. A company of Union soldiers came to a plantation and demanded the woman surrender it. She met him at the door with a knife and told…
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Love Keeps Me Warm
This is a writing exercise based on the phrase “Love Keeps Me Warm.” Years ago I read a journal written by a Yankee soldier who had been captured by Confederates. He detailed his stay as a prisoner of war in Texas and spoke of the hardships suffered by both the captives and the Rebels keeping…