A little background first before I address the question directly.....in researching my family's history, I traced our roots back to the colonial era in Virginia, and even back to England prior to that. One aspect I found particularly interesting was our family's cast of colorful characters during the 19th century.

I have five ancestors who were Virginia farmers in the western part of the state who went on to side and eventually fight with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Having grown up in the Shenandoah Valley and been educated there (a degree in history at Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, Virginia), I had a particular interest in the Civil War. Knowing how the Valley was devastated in 1864, I have always been amazed at the sheer brutality that took place there, (rivaled only by the partisan guerilla warfare in western Missouri at the same time), and I felt strongly that this was fertile ground for a story from a unique civilian point of view, as told through the eyes of a young boy growing up in the midst of it all to tell his own personal story.

Although historical fiction, I felt this was a story that needed to be told. The fictitious Wise family could easily have been any one of thousands of real families living in the Shenandoah Valley at that time. The residual effects on the population of the Shenandoah Valley lasted for a good three generations after the war and well into the 20th century. (There are still hard feelings and resentment down there amongst some of the old timers!) The war and the Reconstruction period afterwards were very tough times for those people to live through. The combination of the actual historical events, my own family history, and my intricate knowledge of both made the Shenandoah Valley from 1850 to 1900 the perfect setting for my book.

What misconceptions, if any, do people have about the Civil War?

I think the biggest misconception out there today is that the Civil War was fought simply to end slavery. Although slavery was a huge factor in the conflict, it was by no means the only cause. In fact, President Lincoln implicitly stated at the start of the conflict that the war was about preserving the Union first and foremost. In western Virginia especially, many people were fighting simply in defense of their homes and families. The vast majority in those parts were not slave owners nor did they support the institution of slavery.

In fact, in the election of 1860, Virginia voted for John Bell (not Lincoln), who was a Democratic compromise candidate. However, Virginia accepted the results of the 1860 election. When South Carolina seceded from the Union, and Fort Sumter was attacked shortly thereafter - - - Virginia's General Assembly voted initially to remain in the Union. It was not until President Lincoln called up troops from Virginia (and other states, both North and South) to put down the insurrection, that Virginia finally swung the other way and sided with the new fledgling Confederacy by seceding from the Union as well. This was inevitable, as Virginia was a slave state after all.

Slaves were universally considered property by the Federal government and taking them away without any compensation whatsoever would ruin the fortunes of many in the rich and powerful Southern planter class, particularly in the lower country of the eastern and central part of the state. Even at that, most of western Virginia (present day state of West Virginia) and a good part of the Shenandoah Valley retained strong Unionist support. However, what really turned Valley residents against the Union was when Federal troops invaded the Valley and began to indiscriminately inflict destruction upon the formerly pro-Union civilian population. That naturally changed things forever. Confederate ranks then began to really swell with Valley men volunteering to defend their homes and way of life.

Another misconception prevalent now is that Confederates were slave-owning racists. Not true at all, as most Confederate soldiers were not slave owners and the fact is they could have cared less about the fate of the slaves, (a sentiment shared by most Union soldiers as well). Again, to most volunteers, - - - - - particularly Valley volunteers - - - - it was about defense of their homes, a commonly held belief in States Rights at that time, and resisting the outright oppression of the bullying Northern invader. To their way of thinking in 19th century terms, it was also about honor and chivalry. It's easy for us to look down our noses at these dated concepts today, but this aspect was a very big deal back then. I believe slavery, although clearly evil and wrong, would have eventually died a natural death. The industrial revolution would have seen to that in due time.

This fact is borne out by the fact that slavery had existed in the North for hundreds of years until the North industrialized and moved away from an agrarian-based economy. The South had some significant catching-up to do with the North in becoming industrialized, but it apparently was not happening fast enough for many abolitionist radicals in New England, and encouraged by the Northern media, ever-increasing pressure was put upon the South to change.

(Ironically, scholars estimate that the wreckage of the Civil War set the South back economically and culturally by at least fifty years!) Southerners by nature are independent folk and reluctant to change, especially when coerced to do so by their northern neighbors. This also boiled down to simple economics 101. Whichever region controlled the national economy would have the power to control the country. That and the issue of slavery spreading to the western territories was the catalyst that placed North and South on a collision course with history.

Unfortunately for the people of the Shenandoah Valley, public sentiment in the North painted all Southerners with one broad brush and they suffered immensely for this. (So much so, that when the counties of western Virginia had had enough, they broke away in 1863 to form the new entirely pro-Union state of West Virginia.)

I tend to blame our public education system partially, and political correctness and the media as well for "dumbing down" our youth in this country as to the true, complete history of the Civil War. The general trend in our public educational systems is to over-simplify the story of the Civil War. However, to any serious student of the conflict, there is so much more to the story than what is taught today in the public school system. That war made us what we are today. By the same token, I believe you can trace the roots of many of the issues and problems affecting our nation today back to this singular event. For that reason alone, this is something worth a closer look.

Good question. I believe these themes have a wide appeal to people everywhere. Putting them in the context of such a monumental struggle sets the stage for a grand, believable drama. As stated earlier, I believe that telling the factual history of what happened at that time and place as well as loosely basing the tale on snippets of my own family's story made for an interesting challenge.

As I wrote this story, I kept both the historical record and my ancestors’ experiences in mind and the story just simply flowed from me. Writing it soon took on a life of its own - as it gained momentum it began to touch many emotions. I believe this is a story that resonates particularly with Southerners. I further believe that it is a combination of the characters and the events that tell the story.

I can trace a few other external influences to certain parts of such period films as, "Shenandoah", "Pharoah's Army", (and much later) "Cold Mountain", as well as John Heatwole's book mentioned earlier, "The Burning:Sheridan's Devastation of the Shenandoah Valley". This was a tough time to live through. My book's synopsis says it is triumph of the human spirit and it truly is that. Through perseverance, the book's protagonist survives quite a lot and my challenge was to take the reader back in time so that you experience it all with him, while at the same time making it entirely believable. I would like to think that I accomplished that.

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To check out the positive review by Shirley Johnson, Senior Reviewer at MidWest Book Review, click on Tom's book.