Chapters : First Light --- All Talk --- They're Here --- They're Gone --- Storm Clouds --- The First Day --- The Second Day --- The Third Day --- The Fourth of July --- Sunday "Sabbath of Suffering " --- Monday " Up From The Ashes " --- Tuesday " Food Bandages and Prayer " --- Wednesday "More Surprises " --- Thursday " On The Move" --- Friday "A week of Peace " --- July 11 - 12 " The Living and The Dying " --- July 13 - 19 " Some Go Home " --- July 20 - 31 " An End To Nursing " --- August and September " Lingering Effects " --- November 19 " Four Score and Seven " --- Epilogue --- List of Hospital Sites
Summary
"Many books have documented the military repercussions of the Battle of Gettysburg - but never before has an author delved so deeply into what has been a nearly untapped historical resource: the accounts of the town's 2,400 civilians, who became combatants and casualties, spies and stretcher-bearers - eyewitnesses all to this momentous event." [from GoodReads]
This a novel set in 1863 in the Susquehanna River towns of Columbia on the east side and Wrightsville on the west side of a bridge that connected the two. The main event at that time was the burning of that bridge to prevent a Confederate army from entering eastern Pennsylvania . Another main event in the area at that time was the active protection of escaped slaves in the Underground Railroad. Both of these causes are addressed in the novel. The author states: "The main characters of the novel are fictional , but they became involved with persons who actually lived during the period, as well as with incidents which have been recorded in our country's history, several of them indelibly."
This story is a border tale of southern Pennyslvania, dealing with certain phases of the Civil War and the events immediately preceding it. The historic details are based on fact.
