Never a Dull Moment

 

Hello, friends! I hope all of you have been well. Here in the old writing room, there's smoke coming out of my keyboard and my fingers are blistered from all of the writing going on. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but not far off. A lot has been going on.

First, I'm proud to unveil the cover of my new book, Notable Women of Alabama, which is due out October 24th. I think the designers at Arcadia and History Press out did themselves on this one. I'd like to know what you think. Just drop a comment below. This is my 20th book since I began this crazy journey back in 2000. You can pre-order the book now. 

  

Speaking of Arcadia Publishing and History Press, the publisher is now offering 15% off any of my Mobile, Gulf Coast, and Alabama history books. Simply click the link, add the book to your cart, and the discount will be displayed in your cart.

• Baseball in Mobile  
• Hidden History of Mobile 
• A History Lover's Guide to Mobile/Ala. Gulf Coast 
• Notable Women of Alabama (coming soon)

On the writing front, I was thrilled to have been asked to read and review Debra Goldstein's book, "With Our Bellies Full and the Fires Dying." It's a little different than your usual mystery books. It's an anthology of short mysteries, some as little as 800 words in length, but all with a tantalizing twist. Read my review on the Alabama WritersForum website.

I spent last weekend in 1943 visiting some friends, Judy Campbell and Art Foley. I tell you, those two. They are nothing but trouble. Everywhere they go, there is a murder and then they have to solve the mystery for the police.

Yes, I spent the weekend working on book two of the Crystal Bay Mystery series. After taking my final beta reader's advice on "Dead Air" and and did a major tidy up on it to send to the agents who requested it, it was time to work on the second book of the series.

That second book is tentatively titled, "A Wedding to Die For." I was working on it non-stop the last couple of days. Some have called me "obsessive," but I call it "immersion." No, I haven't given up on the history and outdoor rec guides (when I can,) but writing in the cozy mystery genre is liberating and sets the mind free with all of the plotting, character development, banter. I feel literally immersed in the time period and characters making it difficult to pull myself away.

OK, maybe it is a little obsessive. But when you're on a roll....

 I also spent a little time this past week heading down memory lane. There are a couple of 50th anniversaries coming up in my life (more on that in the next edition), but I had fun reliving my radio past and rediscovering a video I created for my book, Waterfalls of Alabama. 

45 years ago last week, I began my dream career in radio broadcasting. I uncovered an old cassette tape with the only aircheck I have left of those days when I worked my dream job from 1980 to the mid-1990s. This was recorded at the last station I worked at, WBCA in Bay Minette, Alabama. It's a collection of bad comedy bits, a few commercials, a sports play-by-play clip, and some ofmy morning show, "The Country Club." It was a country music station, after all. At times you can still hear me talking ninety to nothing like I was still in NJ. You can take the boy out of New Jersey, but....

 

And finally, a memory from 5 years ago when I was researching one of my favorite guidebooks for Falcon Books, Hiking Waterfalls of Alabama. The Auburn area is about as far south in the state you can go to see a decent waterfall. A distinct fall line in the area created one of the best in the region, Great Falls (the last clip in the video.)

 

Wow, this was a long one. If you made it this far, congratulations! :) Thanks for reading and joining me on my writing adventures. There's more to come. Drop me a line if you have any questions of comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time...Cheers!

Soldier Girls

I would like to introduce you to another fascinating tale from my latest book, The Pig War & the Pelican Girls. Both general readers looking for a good story and armchair historians will find this collection of forgotten American history a fascinating read - 21 main stories plus 21 shorter footnotes to history, like this story about Civil War "soldier girls." The book is available now at your favorite local and online bookstore.

The next time you see a photo of a tough looking Civil War soldier dressed in uniform posing for the camera with gun or sword in hand, take a closer look. That soldier boy might just be a soldier girl.

The general historical overview of the Civil War paints a picture of it being a man’s war. Men took up their guns and were either drafted, volunteered, or forced into service to fight the incredibly bloody battles while the women were relegated to maintaining the farms back home or acted as nurses for the wounded. The truth is that women, on both the Union and Confederate sides, took up arms themselves to fight.

A wonderful story of these “soldier girls” is that of Private Franklin Thompson who fought with the Union’s 2nd Infantry Unit. Thompson was, in reality, Canadian born Sarah Evelyn Edmonds.

Sarah enjoyed the physical work and was described as energetic and adventurous. She loved to ride horses, became an excellent marksman, and a strong swimmer. When her family arranged her to marry an older man at the age of fifteen, she ran away and soon disappeared, taking up the male identity of “Frank Thompson.”

After moving to Flint, Michigan, the Civil War broke out and Sarah made the decision to volunteer to fight with the Union army. So how did Sarah pass the physical required to join the military? The requirements were hardly stringent: the volunteer must not be blind, lame, have all of their limbs, and not be subject to having fits. For the physical exam, they were not required to strip down, only to have a firm handshake. Sarah, with her physical abilities, was a shoe in to pass the physical.

Sarah was able to remain incognito by bathing in streams and creeks near the troop’s encampments and slept in her clothes. While she was assigned to being the regiment’s male nurse, she did encounter the realities of war taking part in both battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Antietam. Afterwards, she volunteered to become a Union spy. Shaving her head, donning a curly wig, and painting her exposed skin with silver nitrate, she posed as a slave named “Cuff” and infiltrated a group of Black laborers working in a confederate camp in Yorktown. After overhearing Confederate plans for an attack, she slipped away in the cover of darkness and relayed the intelligence to the Union army who made a surprise attack on the rebels and scored an impressive victory.

Eventually, Sarah deserted because she had contracted malaria and did not want to have her cover blown. Sarah relinquished her identity of Frank Thompson and married. When she attended the regiment’s reunion, the men were shocked and surprised that Frank Thompson was actually Sarah Edmonds.