Sean Gabhann

Gebundenes Buch

Harper's Donelson

A Novel of Grant's First Campaign

Beschreibung

February 1862. The War of the Rebellion is a year old and, except for minor skirmishes, the Federal army has suffered repeated defeats in the East, the West, and the Trans-Mississippi. After Confederate forces violate Kentucky's neutrality, US Grant occupies Paducah Kentucky in order to ensure Federal access to the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. When Lieutenant James (Jamie) Harper returns from leave, he discovers that not only has he lost his position in a combat company but he has also lost the trust of the men in the First Iowa Mounted Rifles Volunteers. Young, naïve, saloon girl Katie Malloy, who provides comfort to Harper on his last night of leave, must settle into her new life to work off the indenture paid to her drunkard father. She befriends Eleanor St. Croix, a former New Orleans courtesan, who promises to teach her how to exploit her position in order to become an independent woman-of-means. The Battles for Fort Henry and Fort Donelson provide Harper a way to demonstrate his military abilities, but the opportunity goes awry when his is captured by Confederate partisans operating under Bedford Forrest. Although Harper is in nominal command, Corporal Gustav Magnusson, a Quaker farm boy who ran away from home to join the army, is the one the captured men look for leadership. Meanwhile, allowed to assist in nursing the overwhelming numbers of wounded from Fort Donelson, Katie envisions an opportunity for a different future. In this first volume of the Shiloh Trilogy, three lives intertwine against the backdrop of the battles which made Ulysses S. Grant's reputation. Gabhann reveals the perils faced by the common people caught in the midst of the War Between the States in the style of C.S. Forester and Leon Uris.

Autor

Sean Kevin Gabhann was born in Philadelphia in 1949, growing up in nearby Pennsauken, New Jersey. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and spent the next several years in the Navy, including seven and a half years serving in the Western Pacific. He saw combat with Coastal Forces, Vietnam in 1971-73 and was afloat with Seventh Fleet during the final evacuation in April 1975. He completed graduate studies in Applied Sciences at the University of California San Diego followed by a twenty-five year civil service career in the defense acquisition community. Several anecdotes from his career have made their way his books. He first became interested in American Civil War history during the centennial celebration and he owns an extensive library of primary and secondary material related to Civil War. Shortly before retiring, Gabhann became aware of the works of Bernard Cornwell. These excellent stories triggered a long-postponed desire first inspired by the Hornblower novels of C.S. Forrester to write adventure novels about the lives of common people during the Civil War. He especially wants to write about campaigns in the West because of a fascination with the careers of U.S Grant and W.T. Sherman. Sean reports, "My approach to writing historical fiction is to begin with a framework of the historical timeline and local geography derivehd from primary and secondary sources and then fit the plot within the framework. Then I edit for character development, followed by historical setting. Finally I edit for the reading experience: reorganizing chapters and scenes to enhance the flow before turning the manuscript over to the reading circle and to the beta readers. Accordingly, each manuscript undergoes at least five edits or revisions." Sean enjoys living in San Diego, California.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Natchez Trail Press
• 2nd edition
• Seitenzahl: 368
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. November 2020
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 24mm
• Gewicht: 698g
• ISBN-13: 9781734397468
• ISBN-10: 1734397462
• Artikelnr.: 65648241