The war between the states had ended. The Confederacy was toppling. Jefferson Davis remained steadfast that the cause for states' rights was a just one. He prepared to head south, wanting to reach Texas.
Davis's plans reached the ears of bankers in Richmond, Virginia. They emptied their bank vaults of gold, entrusting it to Davis and his enterage to keep safe for a later time. After all, Union troops were near Richmond, ready to take the capital of the Confederacy. Too, Confederate soldiers planned to burn the city so that nothing remained for Yankee invaders. The gold was best removed and safeguard somewhere else.
By the time that gold reached Georgia, the plan fell apart. Davis was captured, along with his family. The gold from the Richmond banks had moved further south, no longer traveling with him by that time. Even so, Union soldiers took control of it soon after.
End of story, right? Not so quick.
In the dead of night, a group of approximately twenty-five riders swept into the camp. They surprised sleeping soldiers and seized the gold. The raiders stuffed as much of it as they could carry into saddlebags and left as rapidly as they had arrived.
Union forces took after them. Much of the gold was recaptured immediately. Some was found in later years stuffed in the knotholes of trees. However, a small amount of the gold was never recovered.
Too me, that makes for a great mystery in a historical novel. In fact, I have based an entire series around the search for this missing gold. I call it The Confederate Gold Widows.
The first in the series is already available. Here's what one reviewer had to say about Mail Order Marietta:
This sweet novella kicks off the Confederate Gold Widows series. I love mail order bride stories, and this one is rather unique. The smoothly flowing, intriguing plot grabbed me from the beginning and held me to the “to be continued” ending. The characters are diverse and compelling. I loved Marietta and Riley individually and as a couple. Interesting history adds depth and interest to the story. A gentle faith element and sweet romance temper the villainous activities. I enjoyed this quick, satisfying read and look forward to the next book in the series. (Carolyn, Amazon Review)
Buy it at Amazon!
Marietta is panicked after her husband’s execution. Her best choice is to marry a stranger.
Her future with her sheriff husband hints at love until a desperate man tracks her down, intent on forcing her to give up the stolen Confederate gold. One problem – she doesn’t have it!
Will this treasure hunter ruin Marietta’s chance at a home and family?
Recently, I was working on a project revolving around the game of
baseball, and out of curiosity, I decided to look up the most expensive
autographed baseball in history. Google pointed me to this
article written by Jenny Chang in which she asserts that a brand new
baseball signed by Babe Ruth sold for over $388,000 (though I’m not sure how
the “brand new” part works since ol’ Babe lived . . . well, a long time ago). I
found much more interesting—and ironic—autographed items listed in this
article, however, such as a newspaper signed by John F. Kennedy right before he
was assassinated and a photograph signed by Jesse James, which his
granddaughter apparently gave up for hard cash. Wow, that’s harsh.
Among these anomalies, I also discovered an interesting fact about the
Emancipation Proclamation that I suspect not many people know. President
Abraham Lincoln didn’t sign just one copy of the famed document. He signed 48
copies, with 26 of them still in existence today. (The original draft, written
by Lincoln’s hand, burned in the Chicago fire in 1871.) While most of the surviving
copies reside in museums and other government collections now, a precious few
are privately owned, with the record high for the purchase of one copy being
$3.7 million.
What else do we know—or not know—about the proclamation? For starters, it
was issued twice, first on September 22, 1862 as a warning to the Southern
states who had seceded from the Union, which included Texas, Louisiana,
Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, South and North Carolina, and
Virginia. President wasn’t wholly concerned about freeing the slaves, though it
did bother him some and he wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. Rather, his
main purpose for issuing the proclamation was to help the Union come together
and he was prepared to use whatever means available to make it happen. Thus,
this warning alerted the Confederate states they would be losing their slaves
if they didn’t “cease their rebellion” by the first of January in the coming
year. (Unfortunately, we all know what the Conferacy’s decision was.) The
second issuing of the proclamation did, in fact, occur on January 1, 1863—and ironically,
it did not free slaves that were within Union lines (for fear of those states
erupting in ire as well). It only made provisions for those border states which
were causing so much trouble. And by provisions, I really do mean that. Lincoln’s
idea was to compensate the slave owners for their slaves. This idea didn’t go
over too well, though. But this is something else I learned about the
proclamation that I didn’t know before. Did you?
Lincoln had to use some fancy
footwork to get this proclamation out to the people. First, he wasn’t
technically within his rights to do so as President of the United States of
America. Instead, he had to do it as the Commander in Chief of its army and
navy. Also, his cabinet advised him to wait until the Union army secured a
victory and the people would be more receptive to it. While the Battle at
Antietam didn’t exactly result in the rout they wished for, it was enough of a
victory to count, and Lincoln followed through on this course of action.
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation with Lincoln's Cabinet - Painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter
If the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free all of the 4 million people
enslaved at that time, what good did it do?
First, the Emancipation Proclamation effectively cut off Southern
negotiations with outsiders like France and England, who abhorred slavery,
thereby negating any assistance that might have come to the Confederacy.
Second, it allowed people of African-American descent to join the army, giving
the Union a much-needed advantage with over 200,000 enlistments. And third, the
proclamation changed the focus of the war. At first, the two sides were
fighting over states’ rights which included the question of what to do with the
institution of slavery as it pertained to westward expansion. Once the
proclamation was issued, however, the cause of freedom for all quickly gained
momentum and in one of the bloodiest conflicts to ever take place on American
soil, that freedom was won.
And here’s one more fun fact for you: The Emancipation Proclamation was
signed by President Lincoln in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House. At the
time, however, it wasn’t a bedroom but an office which Lincoln used for his
cabinet members. The walls were lined with war maps.
President Lincoln considered the Emancipation Proclamation to be his greatest
achievement while in the White House, and it is easy to see why.
Several of my Christian historical western romances take place right after
the Civil War ended, including An Agent for Jessica in the Pinkerton Matchmaker
series. Though I don’t go into a great amount of war details, I like to explore
the way this great conflict must have affected people’s lives afterward.
Another book of mine that mentions battle scars of the mental kind, even years
after the war, is The Christmas Switch, one of my personal favorites. If you
haven’t had a chance to check these titles out, I’d like to invite you to do
so. In addition to these titles, I’ll have another book, Buck’s Resilient
Bride, to share with you which also touches on this subject.
Cheers for now and keep reading those historical romances that leave you
with a feeling of warmth and belonging.
One of the many reasons I enjoy writing historical western romance novels and short stories is the research required to make sure all the historical details I include in a story are reasonable accurate.
In my novellete Mail-Order Mix Up (set in Colorado in 1891), which is included in the Valentine's Day-themed western romance anthology Lariats, Letters, and Lace, I have a scene in which the heroine, Irene Maxon, has a mental image of someone stomping about in heavy boots while singing a marching-type song. A religious song wasn’t appropriate for the situation, yet the lyrics needed to reflect the reason she was thinking of the song.
Two songs came immediately to mind: Battle Hymn of the Republic (aka John Brown’s Body) and When Johnny Comes Marching Home. But they weren’t quite right. Then I couldn’t think of any other songs, because they had achieved earworm status in my head.
I realized, though, these songs shared a common thread: the American Civil War. Since Irene was in her twenties during the war, she would have known the songs of the time period. So I did a Google search and hit pay dirt right off with a song I should have thought of on my own: Battle Cry of Freedom. Great. I had my song, and I finished writing that scene.
My research could have ended there, but I have a tendency to tumble down research rabbit holes, especially if there’s trivia involved.
Battle Cry of Freedom
George Frederick Root, an American composer, wrote Battle Cry of Freedom (aka 'Rally ‘Round the Flag') in 1862 to support the Union cause.
H. L. Schreiner (composer) and W. H. Barnes (lyricist) adapted the song for the Confederacy.
The Union version was modified as the campaign song for Lincoln/Garfield for the 1864 presidential election.
Garfield used the song during his campaign in 1880.
Composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk suggested it should be America’s national anthem.
Composer Charles Ives referenced the song in his song, “They are There”.
Ken Burns (known for documentaries) referenced the song in “The Civil War” documentary.
Film composer John Williams incorporated the song into the soundtrack of the movie “Lincoln”.
The 1939 film “Young Mister Lincoln” starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford has the song sung during the opening credits.
Here are YouTube renditions of Battle Cry of Freedom for the Union and the Confederacy. You'll notice the words a different.
Union
Confederate
Mail-Order Mix Up is set in the fictional town of Platte River City, Colorado, which is located on the South Platte River about 100 miles east of Denver.
BLURB
Remarrying isn’t on widower Dale Forbes’ mind, but his three young granddaughters want a grandma. Widow Irene Maxon yearns for something more than the disappointments life has handed her. A mail-order bride catalog, a secret letter, and a blizzard combine to set the scene for match-making between Dale and Irene. However, another man expects Irene to fulfill their marriage agreement, and he isn’t going to take no as her answer.
EXCERPT
“Forgive me for intruding unannounced, especially during your festivities. I’m here to return—”
“Oh, there you are, Dale, Violet,” Eloy broke in. “This is Irene Maxon from St. Louis.”
Irene followed Eloy’s wave and recognized the man and the girl coming along the hallway from the photograph she’d received with the letter. She also noted with more than passing interest that the photograph had not adequately captured Dale’s handsome maturity, strong chin, and fine, broad-shouldered physique. Before she could greet them, movement at the top of the stairs drew her attention, and she looked up to see a girl descending one slow stair at a time, her hand trailing lightly along the banister. The girl stopped midway down and looked right at Irene, the little satisfied smirk on her lips as pleasant as the sparkle in her eyes. So this was Meredith—the instigator of the marriage invitation.
Then a wisp of a child with braids flying burst through the midst of the group with a shriek of squealing delight. When she leaped, Irene instinctively caught her, staggering backwards a few steps under the child’s momentum. The girl clamped her arms around Irene’s neck with a grip so tight Irene couldn’t turn her head.
“Grandma! You’re here. You’re really here. I knew you’d come. I just knew it!”
Lydia’s face broke into a bright smile. Clara Jean clapped her hands and blurted, “It worked! She really got Meredith’s letter!”
All attention swung to Clara Jean who realized too late what she’d said as she ducked for cover behind the coat tree.
The few seconds of solemn, stunned silence shattered into echoes when Dale’s booming voice rebounded off the walls. “Meredith Margaret Forbes! What have you been up to now?”
As I don’t send a newsletter, you may be interested in following me on these platforms:
Amazon (for new release notifications| BookBub (my book recommendations) | Blog (occasional posts)| Twitter (history trivia)
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer Writing the West one romance upon a time
References and further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom
McWhirter, Christian L. (July 27, 2012). "Birth of the 'Battle Cry'". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved January 15, 2019. (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/birth-of-the-battle-hymn/?_r=2)
