My latest release is a novelette titled He Is a Good Man which is part of Prairie Rose Publication's 2016 Valentine anthology, Lariats, Letters, and Lace.
A letter delivered
from the grave changes everything for two young people.
In the opening chapter, two soldiers from California meet after the 1864 Battle of Fort Stevens where Hal finds his messmate and best friend, Joshua, shot in the leg and waiting his turn with the surgeon. Having been convinced for months that he would not survive the war, Joshua reminds Hal of his promise made earlier to deliver a special letter to Joshua's sweetheart when Hal returns to California.
Wait...What?
California was involved in the Civil War?
Yes.
 |
| Gen. John White Geary, first mayor of San Francisco |
When
the Civil War started, one of the first things President Abraham Lincoln did
was to query the states and territories regarding their loyalties. He was
concerned about many issues. First, because of distance, communication and
transportation between the Capitol and the West was slow. Although gold was not
as easy to find as it had been in the 1849 gold rush days, there was still
plenty being mined. Lincoln needed it to finance the war and did not want it to
fall into Confederate hands. In addition, Lincoln put out a call to arms asking
for one regiment of infantry and five companies of cavalry to guard the overland mail route from Carson City to Salt Lake City. Three Weeks later four more regiments of infantry and a regiment of cavalry were requested. All of these were volunteer units recruited and organized in the northern counties of the state, especially around the San Francisco Bay region and the mining camps in the foothill counties of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These volunteers replaced the regular troops
transferred to the east before the end of 1861.
 |
| Company of soldiers recruited in Hayward, California |
California was in a precarious state when it came to the loyalties of its citizens. The northern part of the states including the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento areas were settled primarily by people who came from the northern and mid-western states east of the Mississippi River and were mostly in favor of preserving the existing federal government. However, there was a large populaton in the southern part of the state--particularly around Los Angeles, El Monte and San Bernardino--that had come to California from the South. Their loyalties were solidly for the Confederacy. In addition, the Californios, the earlier residents of California from before the time when the Mexican-American War brought California into the United States as a territory in 1848 and as a state in 1850, were dissatisfied with the inequitable taxes and land laws imposed by the pro-Union state government. Many Californios also favored the Confederacy.
 |
| Col.Albert Sidney Johnston, Commander of Dept. of Pacific |
Col. (Brevet Brigadier General) Sidney
Johnston was the top military commander of the Department of the Pacific when
the war broke out. Although he regretted seeing it come to war, he was from the
south and resigned his commission. He and other top military commanders who had
also resigned from the Union army managed to sneak across southern California,
Arizona and New Mexico to join with the Confederate Army.
As
part of the back story of He Is a Good Man, in 1862, both Joshua
Penrose and Henry "Hal" Avery sign up to join the California Cavalry
Battalion, a group of volunteers who agreed to travel back east and
become part of the five companies of the 2nd Massachusetts Cavalry. They left
San Francisco by sea for service in the east. The California Battalion
consisted of Companies A, C, F, L, and M. They participated in 51 battles,
campaigns, and skirmishes.
 |
| Third Infantry California Volunteers Band in 1861 |
The
story also includes the fate of Malinda's father, Charles Forsythe, who died
while serving in the "California Column." The California Column ended
up with a total strength of 2,350 men.
 |
| Col. James H. Carleton led California Column |
The
original mission of the California Column was to drive Confederate troops out
of New Mexico, which they had occupied the previous year. During their advance
the California Column engaged the Confederates in two small skirmishes, but the
Battle of Glorietta Pass in New Mexico fought between the New Mexico/Colorado militias and the Confederates drove the Confederate
troops back to Texas. Much of the Column's service during the war was garrison
duty to prevent the Confederates from re-entering New Mexico. They also fought
against the Apaches. To learn more about the California Column, read this post from the Civil War Trust which you can reach by clicking HERE.
In
addition, there were a host of local home guard units formed throughout the
state to prevent those with Southern sympathies from sending men or financial
support to the Confederacy.
Other
California units that fought in the Civil War may be found on this Wikipedia
site which you can find by clicking HERE.
 |
| "Union Boy" cannon, in Sacramento Plaza during Civil War |
Now, a little more about He Is
a Good Man.
Here is an excerpt:
“I’m trying to finish the letter I was
writing to Mali last night. I told her I got shot, but it’s getting hard to
write. You finish it for me, Hal. Tell her I love her. Tell her to think of me
fondly as a childhood friend, but…go on with her life and be happy.”
Hal reached over and pried the paper out
of Joshua’s fist. He rooted around on the ground until his fingers closed
around the pencil Joshua had been using. He smoothed the crumpled sheet
reasonably flat on his knee before he read the last few barely legible
sentences in order to know where Joshua had left off and where he should start.
“Josh, what do you mean by telling her
you’ve done all you can for her future? That doesn’t make much sense.”
“That’s between Mali and me. She’ll
know…when the time comes.”
Hal shrugged and began to write, being
careful to not poke the pencil through the paper weakened by the creases
resulting from Joshua clutching it while fighting off his pain. He had almost
finished writing the words Joshua had requested when his friend, with a voice
noticeably weaker, spoke to him once more.
“Hal, you still got that other letter I
asked you to take to Mali when I die?”
“You’re not going to die, Josh. But, yeah,
I still have it.”
“And your word’s still good, isn’t it? You
won’t mail it to her, but you’ll take it to her in person. You can mail the one
you’re writing on now, and the one for my folks that’s in my coat pocket…but
the one I gave to you before…you swear you’ll take it to her yourself in
person? And you’ll do those other two things you promised to do, too?”
“My word’s good, Josh. I meant every word
I promised.” Hal fought down the surge of annoyance that his messmate would
question his honor. He turned to stare in the unfocused eyes of his closest
friend. “As long as I live to return home, I’ll do what I swore to do. I doubt
she’ll appreciate me doing the one, but I’ll give her the option.”
“Thanks, Hal. I’ll die in peace knowing
you’ll do that.”
“Just hush up about dying, Josh. What did
you write in that letter, anyway?”
“Between…me and Mali,” Joshua barely
mumbled his words loud enough to be heard as shock and the loss of blood took
its toll. “You…just take it to her.”
About Zina Abbott:
Zina
Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her
novel, Family
Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press. Her
novelette, A
Christmas Promise, along with the first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, was
published by Prairie Rose Publications. He Is a Good Man was published in
the Lariats,
Letters and Lace anthology.
Contact
Zina Abbott:
Purchase
Lariats, Letters and Lace here:
iBooks | Amazon Trade Paperback
Tweet this blog post:
Tweet this blog post:
A letter
from the grave changes everything HE IS A GOOD MAN @Zina Abbott in LARIATS,
LETTERS & LACE http://bit.ly/1NYoTRY #PrairieRosePub
