John McKay spent fifteen years as a firefighter and paramedic before turning his interests into teaching and writing history. His main inspirations were his great-grandfathers on both sides of his family, Confederate veterans almost killed or badly wounded during the war. McKay has been a freelance writer and photographer for commercial magazines, newspapers, and academic and literary publications.
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Introduction Ch 1: Queen of Battle: The Infantry Pvt. James K. Newton, Co. F, Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteer InfantryPvt. James R. Barrow, Co. B, Cobb's Legion InfantryCh 2: Thunder on the Battlefield: The Artillery Capt. Francis DeGress, First Illinois Light Battery HCapt. Thomas J. Key, Arkansas Battery, Hotchkiss's BattalionCh 3: Chivalry and Sabers: The Cavalry Sgt. James Larson, Co. H., Fourth U.S. CavalryPvt. Benjamin Wortham, Co. H, Twelfth Georgia Cavalry RegimentCh 4: Wood and Iron: The Navies Seaman William Burke, USS CairoSeaman James A. Wicks, CSS H.L. HunleyCh 5: Sutures and Saws: Battlefield Medical Care Dr. Thomas Smith Waring, Surgeon, Seventeenth South Carolina VolunteersCh 6: Hell on Earth: Prisoners Of WarPvt. William J. Crouse, Co. G, Seventh Pennsylvania ReservesCh 7: Weekend Warriors: The MilitiaCapt. William Jasper Worley, Co. D, Blue Ridge Rangers, First Regiment, Georgia State LineCh 8: Pirates and Privateers: Blockade RunnersTom Taylor (civilian)Ch 9: The Everlasting Fire: American IndiansCol. Daniel N. McIntosh, First Creek Mounted Volunteers, First Creek Cavalry RegimentCh 10: I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel: Immigrant SoldiersCpl. Anton Steffens, Co. C, Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry RegimentCh 11: We Are Men, Aren't We?: Black SoldiersPvt. Scott Green, First U.S. Colored Troops (USCT)BibliographyIndexCapt. William Jasper Worley, Co. D, Blue Ridge Rangers, First Regiment, Georgia State LineCh 8: Pirates and Privateers: Blockade RunnersTom Taylor (civilian)Ch 9: The Everlasting Fire: American IndiansCol. Daniel N. McIntosh, First Creek Mounted Volunteers, First Creek Cavalry RegimentCh 10: I Goes to Fight Mit Sigel: Immigrant SoldiersCpl. Anton Steffens, Co. C, Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry RegimentCh 11: We Are Men, Aren't We?: Black SoldiersPvt. Scott Green, First U.S. Colored Troops (USCT)BibliographyIndex
About 9:00 that evening, the reinforcements arrived, and the boats finally filled up and headed south, toward Pittsburg Landing, where the broken remains of a once-proud Union army still held a foothold of ground. It had been raining since late afternoon, and Newton stepped off the boat into ankle-deep mud. In the pitch-black wilderness, he stood in the rain, waiting for the desperate fight that was only hours away; all around him, the sounds of wounded men rang in his ears. Later, Newton remarked that his only thought at the time was of how well his rubber poncho kept out the pounding rain.