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Book Cover Photo Shoot

4/29/2015

Today was perfect for my graphic designer, Jody Christian, to meet me at the setting of my latest novel! We had a wonderful time snapping photos to use for the book cover, and enjoying the warm sunshine and gorgeous flowers at Locust Hill. Bill Turpin has generously agreed to allow me to use his family home and name for the historical fiction novel, "On Grounds of Honor," the first in the two book series, "My Brother's Flag."

Locust Hill has been in the Turpin family since 1812 and was occupied by Turpins during the Civil War. Although my stories are purely fictional, they are meant to represent what it might have been like to live in Centreville, or anywhere on the Eastern Shore, during that time in history.

Maryland was a Border State, sitting right on the Mason Dixon Line between the nation's capital and the rebellion. Culturally, Maryland identified with the South, having an agricultural economy that depended on the labor of slaves. Most residents of the state sided with the Confederacy in their pursuit of States Rights, but were thwarted in their desire to secede from the Union. As a result of this tension, men in Maryland joined both armies, Union and Confederate.

"My Brother's Flag" will explore the divided loyalties of the time, exemplified within the Turpin household by the opposing views of the two brothers.

The first book, "On Grounds of Honor," tells the story of the older brother, Jeremiah, who chooses to fight with the Union. The second, "For the Cause of Freedom," will tell Charlie's story, the rebel who crosses the Potomac River to join the Confederacy.

More information coming soon!

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The Story of Jennie Wade

4/24/2015

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One of the places we visited while at Gettysburg was the Jennie Wade House. Grace had learned about the story from a ghost show on TV and was interested in learning more about her. She was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg, shot by an accidental bullet that penetrated two doors before lodging in her back while she bent over a table kneading dough for bread.
Virginia didn't live in the house where she was killed. She had come to her sister's house with her two younger brothers at her mother's request, believing they would be safer there than at home. Her sister, Georgia, had recently delivered a baby and Jennie's assistance was also appreciated. However, a skirmish developed near the house and they were caught in the crossfire. The boys hid beneath the bed in the living room, which had been placed there for Georgia's sake before the birth of her child.
Bullet holes can be seen not only in the front door, and the second door which Virginia positioned herself behind as a shield, but also in the bedframe and mantle. It must have been a terrifying time for the family.

A shell also struck the house, blasting a hole through the wall which was later opened into a doorway for tourists to pass through from the apartment on the Wade's side to the apartment on the other side. This hole proved to be of use to the Wade family when Jennie was killed. The Union soldiers outside had developed a rapport with Jennie in the days leading up to this battle as she was kind enough to share her resources with them. Hearing the screaming from within the house, they rushed inside to investigate. When they found Jennie lying lifelessly upon the floor, her mother weeping over her, they insisted that the remainder of the family retreat to the cellar. As the only access to the cellar was either by exposing themselves to more gunfire outside or crawling through the opening made by the shell, they were able to avoid more injury by passing through the damaged wall.
Jennie's mother refused to leave her body, and the soldiers were compelled to wrap her bleeding form in quilts from the bed and carry her to the cellar. There is currently a mannequin shrouded in quilts in the cellar to represent Jennie's body, along with a painting depicting that tragic scene.

Jennie's body was hastily buried in her sister's flower garden as the fighting continued. To further illustrate the atrocity of war, her fiancé, Jack Skelly, was also killed nearby, along with a close friend to both of them, Wesley Culp, who had been entrusted with a final message from Jack to be delivered to Jennie. She never received this letter.
Additionally, Wesley Culp was the cousin of one of the farmer's whose land saw some of the fiercest fighting, and he was killed on the very hill where he once roamed as a child. He was buried in a shallow, unmarked grave, like so many others.

After Jennie Wade's death, she was buried in her sister's yard for about 6 months, then transferred to a cemetery adjoined to the German Reformed Church, until her third and final resting place in November 1865, in the Evergreen Cemetery.

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Visiting Gettysburg

4/16/2015

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Last weekend my devoted husband and daughter went with me to visit Gettysburg, the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. As I’ve been reading copiously about the battle, studying numerous accounts and maps and watching the movie, it only seemed fitting that I complete my research by visiting the actual site.

Stone monuments are erected throughout the area where the heaviest fighting occurred, naming the various regiments involved. The number of monuments is staggering, but when you consider that the casualties from this one battle are estimated at 51,000 (including dead, wounded, and missing), you can only imagine the number of men who engaged in the three days of fighting there, from July 1-3 of 1863.

Of particular interest to me are the Eastern Shore Infantry of the U.S.A and the First Maryland Infantry of the C.S.A. (Confederate States Army). As I’ve mentioned previously, Maryland was a Border State with divided loyalties. In the same state, the same county, even in the same household, there were men who came to opposing conclusions on the issue of States Rights verses Federal Law and enlisted accordingly. These two regiments, although technically enemies, were composed of friends, cousins, and brothers who found themselves facing one another on the battlefield of Gettysburg.

Colonel Wallace of the Union 1st Maryland wrote, “The 1st Maryland Confederate Regiment met us and were cut to pieces. We sorrowfully gathered up many of our old friends and acquaintances and had them carefully and tenderly cared for.”

The ten thousand dead soldiers from both sides were hastily buried to prevent disease, laid to rest in shallow graves on the battlefield with wooden boards to mark their identities. As wind and rain eroded these crudely penciled markers, the citizens of the town requested that a national cemetery be created to honor the Union dead.

In October of the same year, the bodies were disinterred and the Federal remains were buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery. Confederate dead were relocated to cemeteries in the South, in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

It was at the dedication ceremony of this cemetery where Lincoln delivered his famous “Gettysburg Address.”

Although this town has been inevitably converted into a tourist attraction, it memorializes a tragic time in our nation’s history when politics ran deeper than blood and the line between love and hate blurred and overlapped. As I study the war, and specifically this battle, it grieves me to know how easily peace can be lost and how violent the cost of inflexible pride.

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150 Years After Appomattox: A Redemptive Surrender

4/9/2015

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Today I would like to share with you an article written by Stephen Douglas Wilson of Baptist Press. I believe this story exemplifies the command: "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you," Matthew 5:44.

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Gen. Robert E. Lee arrived at the McLean House near Appomattox, Va., On April 9, 1865, to meet with Union commander Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant).

Nearly surrounded and with an undernourished army, Lee sought generous surrender terms from the Union army leader whose wartime nickname was "Unconditional Surrender Grant." Both men knew that what they decided on here would set the tone for the nation after the grueling four-year Civil War.

The two men grew up in a United States that embraced a strong Christian worldview.

General Lee was a practicing Christian for most of his life and was confirmed in his Episcopal faith. He carried around a worn-out prayer book during the Civil War that was only replaced when he could no longer read the small print. He had freed his own slaves long before the war, retaining one of his freed slaves as his paid servant and confidant. Lee's personal compassion for others as both a private citizen and an army commander was legendary. In addition, he later confessed to other Southerners after the war that he had prayed for his enemies during the conflict.

The faith of General Grant is harder to discern. At West Point, a youthful Grant revealed to others that he disliked attending chapel services. He was not a regular churchgoer, but did so occasionally at the request of his devout wife. Grant never publicly made his faith convictions known, although the Methodist pastor of his wife said that Grant had confessed Christ before his death. Grant eventually confessed to resigning his military commission prior to the Civil War in part because of drinking too much. After returning to the Army, his wartime record never included incidents of alcohol impacting his military performance, although the pre-war charge of insobriety resurfaced among his critics. Nevertheless, his memoirs reveal his Christian worldview and a desire to live a moral life. After the war when Grant was president, he signed the bill that made Christmas an official federal holiday.

Lee, dressed in his best uniform, arrived at the McLean residence first and waited for Grant to arrive. In a previous correspondence, Grant magnanimously told Lee to pick the meeting place and that he would meet him there. Grant entered the house in a mud-spattered field uniform that revealed his haste to get there. The two men exchanged pleasantries and discussed their common military service in the Mexican War.

Surprisingly, Grant could not bear to bring up the subject of surrender. He later related he was genuinely saddened by the plight of his Confederate enemies. It was Lee who gently nudged the Union general into that discussion.

In what must be described as one of the most Christ-like moments in American history, Grant then proceeded to propose a very gentle settlement for his enemies of the last four years.

Grant offered to parole Lee's enlisted men only on their word not to take up arms against the United States ever again. Officers would have to sign a written parole vouching for their men. Enlisted men would have to give up their arms, but officers could keep their sidearms, horses and private property. Then the Union commander said each man could return home without fear of being imprisoned or prosecuted for treason.

In a brief discussion, Lee convinced Grant to let enlisted men keep the horses and mules they possessed to assist them in planting crops for that spring. Arrangements also were made for the hungry Confederates to be fed from Union storehouses. Lee, who realized that Grant's terms were better than he had expected, conveyed his gratitude by saying to Grant, "This will have a very happy effect among the men and do much toward reconciling the country."

Both men then shook hands and left. Lee rode back to Confederate lines; when Grant emerged from the McLean residence, Union troops began cheering, but the general rebuked them. "The Confederates are now our countrymen, and we do not want to exult over their downfall.

"Three days later, Lee's entire army formally surrendered without incident. Each army showed the proper respect to each other; there is no record of a single Union soldier cheering for their victory or jeering their Confederate counterparts. Within two-and-a-half months, all other Confederate armies would surrender in like fashion. The Civil War was over.

For the rest of their lives, both Lee and Grant possessed a great respect for each other. Grant never spoke ill of Lee and later prevented federal authorities from charging Lee with treason as that would have violated the letter and spirit of the Appomattox peace.

Lee long remembered Grant's generosity at Appomattox. Years later when a college faculty member at Washington College where Lee was the president spoke ill of Grant within hearing distance, Lee interjected, "Sir, if you dare presume to speak anything disrespectful of General Grant in my presence again, either you or I will sever your connection with this university.

"The spirit of Christ certainly had prevailed on that April day at Appomattox. It was on a Palm Sunday. As noted by an American historian, the men of both armies would all live to see Easter.

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The Mourning Cross

4/3/2015

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During the Victorian era, a popular trend was to make jewelry out of human hair. It was a very intricate process, and the hair could be formed into any number of unique designs to create keepsakes and mementos of loved ones. Male or female, dead or alive, the hair was a part of the parent, spouse, or child that could be physically held and cherished.

Once the Civil War broke out, many women kept a lock of their man’s hair before he went off to fight. Necklaces, pendants, bracelets, earrings, or brooches were all created using human hair. Pictures of Civil War widows often depict a woman with a cross around her neck, made from the hair of her deceased husband.

For centuries the cross has been a powerful symbol of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross and the immeasurable and undeserved love of the Father to send His one and only son.

The cross is a symbol of hope, resurrection, and grace. As we celebrate Good Friday and prepare for Easter, let’s remember the beauty and the cost of the gift Christ gave to us by dying on the tree, and live as ones who are grateful.

In modern times, it’s easy to take our loved ones for granted, to forget that every day is a gift and tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. As we express our gratitude for God’s goodness, let us demonstrate love to those in our lives and treat them as treasures to be cherished.

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers,” I John 3:16.

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Book Cover Photo Shoot

The Story of Jennie Wade

Visiting Gettysburg

150 Years After Appomattox: A Redemptive Surrender

The Mourning Cross

Rebekah Colburn

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