Tag: Civil War

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A Bookchat about A Million Little Choices with Tamera Alexander

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About the author

Tamera Alexander is a USA Today bestselling novelist and one of today’s most beloved authors of inspirational historical romance. Her works have been awarded numerous industry-leading honors—among them the Christy Award, the RITA Award, the Carol Award, and Library Journal’s top honors—and have earned the distinction of Publisher’s Weekly Starred Reviews. Her deeply drawn characters and thought-provoking plots have earned her devoted readers worldwide, including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Romania, among others.

Tamera and her husband reside in Nashville, Tennessee, where they live a short distance from Nashville’s Belmont Mansion, Belle Meade Plantation, and Carnton —the settings of Tamera’s #1 CBA bestselling Southern series.

About the book

Two women from different centuries living in the same house share strikingly similar journeys.

Claire Powell’s life is turned upside down when her beloved husband admits to a “near affair.” But when Stephen accepts a partnership with an Atlanta law firm without consulting her and buys a historic Southern home sight-unseeing—it pushes their already-fractured marriage to the breaking point. Claire’s world spirals, and she soon finds herself in a marriage she no longer wants, in a house she never asked for.

In 1863, Charlotte Thursmann, pregnant and trapped in a marriage to an abusive husband, struggles to protect her unborn child and the enslaved members of her household. Desperate, she’s determined to right the evils her husband and others like him commit. But how can one woman put an end to such injustice? Especially if her husband makes good on his threat to kill her?

Both Claire and Charlotte discover truths about themselves they never realized, along with secrets long hidden that hold the power to bring God’s restoration—if only they choose to let it.

Questions

  1. If you could travel back in time for a vacation, would you rather visit the remote setting of your Timber Ridge Reflections series (Colorado Territory) or the Reconstruction-era South setting of your Belmont Mansion series?
  2. You have written three series set in the post-Civil War South. How do you approach writing in such a politically charged and emotionally heavy time period?
  3. And now we have a fan-submitted question: Out of all your many novels and novellas, over all the series and standalones you’ve written, who is your favorite heroine and why?
  4. As far as the historical side goes, you’ve moved from writing about after the Civil War to setting your story smack in the middle of the conflict. Did that make a difference for your writing, or did it feel like a natural transition?
  5. As mentioned, this is your first time venturing into a contemporary setting, which is super exciting. Other than the old house, what ties these two storylines together?
  6. What’s next for your writing?

Listeners, Tamera is offering a copy of  A Million Little Choices. To enter, check out the giveaway page on our website Historical Bookworm dot com. You also find the giveaway link in the show notes for this episode. 

Connect with Tamera: website, newsletter, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and Instagram.

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Canada and the American Civil War

If you ever watched National Treasure 2 you probably know that Great Britain was rumored to be sympathetic to the Confederate States of America. Canada did not exist as a federated nation at the time but was under British rule. Even though Canadians largely apposed slavery–with Canada serving as a terminus for the Underground Railroad–there was talk in London that the Union might move against the Crown and invade Canada. 

The Trent Incident

  • In 1861 two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell evaded a Union stockade and boarded the RMS Trent to travel to London under a neutral flag. However, Captain Charles Wilkes of the USS San Jacinto boarded the Trent and took Mason and Slidell captive. 
  • Great Britain was not happy about having one of their ships boarded and their passengers taken captive. London demanded an apology as well as the freeing of the diplomats then sent 11,000 troops to Canada and put the Royal Navy on alert. France stated they would support Britain if war broke out. 
  • Lincoln was recorded to have advised his cabinet that they should not be hastily to make enemies of Great Britain, telling them they should worry about, “One war at a time.” The cabinet unanimously voted to release Mason and Siddell one month after their capture.

Canadians who served in the Civil War

Recruitment poster. Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN 513926.
  • In July 1861, a surveyor by the name of Arthur Rankin gathered Canadians to fight for the Union Army.
  • it is believed that a total of 40,000 Canadians fought during the Civil War, some serving the Confederacy but most the Union. Of these people, 29 had won the Congressional Medal of Honor by the end of the war.

Confederates in Canada

  • There were also both Union and Confederate spies in Canada at the time.
  • In March 1864, Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent lieutenant colonel Jacob Thompson to Canada to establish a second front. He organized missions to rescue prisoners of war from Union Prisons, sent raiders down into New York setting fires and wreaking havoc in the streets, and attacked Union ships on the Great Lakes.
  • The Union reacted and established their own embassy in Canada where Union spies could watch for Confederate spies. 

The End of the War

  • Now to backtrack a little, at the beginning of the war men from both the North and the South immigrated to Canada to escape conscription into a war they, obviously did not want to fight. (this included aliens who intended to become citizens of the Union.)
  • Following the war, wealthy southerners including military officers, politicians, and even confederate President Jefferson Davis (after a two year imprisonment) moved to Canada.
  • Relations between the US and Canada remained strained after the war.
  • Britain had supplied the Confederacy with ships and after the war was over President Grant demanded an inordinate sum in reparation. There was even talk of cleaning the slate by ceding Canada to the US.
  •  Many feared that the US would take their Manifest Destiny and turn north to try and conquer Canada. These threats helped to show Canada and British officials a need for Confederation. Canadians saw this finally happen in 1867, 2 years after the American Civil War ended.

While I enjoy reading Civil War fiction and researching the war, it can be a subject that is well talked-out in our day and age. This view of the Civil War in relation to Canada will, I hope, shed knew light on the subject and remind us that you never know what other countries are watching and including your story into their history.

This Pinch of the Past was originally shared in Episode 29: Guest Ann H. Gabhart & a Review of Long Way Home