Neutrality During the Civil War

When the Jessamine Grows is a captivating historical novel set in rural Nash County, North Carolina, during the Civil War. Joetta McBride, a determined woman, runs a small farm with her husband, Ennis, and their two sons. Unlike many of her neighbors, Joetta remains neutral about the war. Her father-in-law, Rudean, a fervent Confederate supporter, influences Henry to join the Confederate army. Joetta insists Ennis go after him, leaving her to manage the farm with her younger son, Robert, and Rudean. As weeks pass without news from Ennis or Henry, Joetta provides food and shelter to soldiers from both sides, earning the ire of the townsfolk and the Home Guard. Branded […]

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Sunflower Sisters – Book Review

“… knowledge has no enemy but the ignorant.” ― Martha Hall Kelly, Sunflower Sisters Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy bestseller Lilac Girls introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday, an American philanthropist who helped young girls released from Ravensbrück concentration camp. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of her ancestor Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey, a Union nurse who joins the war effort with her sister, Eliza, and crosses paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Ann-May Wilson, her cruel plantation mistress. Inspired by true accounts, the novel provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the inhumane plantations, to a war-torn […]

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