Shepherd’s Song

In March of 1863, the days were ticking down on Brenton Christie’s medical leave. If he had been lucky, he would have been lounging by the cracker barrel back in Delaware, Ohio impressing his neighbors with stories of the real war. But the foot soldier had not smelled Lady Luck’s perfume in a long time, and she was not courting him now. Instead, General Ulysses Grant had shanghaied him as scout aboard the ironclad Cincinnati, and he was steaming up Deer Creek with Admiral David Porter’s swamp navy to take Vicksburg by the back door. It should have been easy duty, but instead he encountered primeval forests, cannibalistic wildlife, and tenacious Confederates. The Army of the Tennessee did not take winters off, and Grant had already lit the fuse to his Vicksburg juggernaut. Ensuing events catch Christie in the crossfire riding with Benjamin Grierson and he discovers a second war behind the front lines-one fought by warriors without rifles who are just as idealistic and ruthless, comrades in enemy colors, and enemies among his own. This is the second Civil War novel by Jeane Heimberger Candido, who has contributed to Blue & Gray Magazine, Civil War Historian, has appeared on PBS, and enjoys living in two world.