The Taylors' Civil War

 From the back cover:

This moving, action-filled story of the Taylor family, farmers in Virginia at the time of the Civil War, portrays the family's struggle and hardship during this time when they too suffer loss of life and property.

The Civil War causes unwanted change for the Taylor family, who simply wants to farm, raise cattle, and live a peaceful existence. The author describes the family's patriotism but also their need for reprisal after one of the sons is killed by renegades under the guise of the military.


Once the Civil War is over, the conflict continues as they deal with thievery in the form of the carpetbaggers, who prey on the South at war's end.
 
My review:
This story is told thru the eyes of the two main characters. Jake Taylor and his oldest son Luke.
 
Jake Taylor and his family live on a farm in Va. His wife Abigail and five children have always lived on the farm. Luke is his oldest son. Luke has always wanted to travel out west, but when his father decided that he needed to do his part for the war Luke's dreams were put on hold.
When Jake goes off to war he leaves the farm in the capable hands of his wife and children. Things go great for about six months when a group of renegades posing as soldiers come to the farm and terrorize the family, killing one of the children.
Luke vows to kill the people who have done this to his family, but first feels like he needs to find his dad and let him know what has happened.
Luke sets out on a journey to find his dad that keeps him from the farm for over a yr. He always seems to be just a few steps behind his dads regiment.
We switch to Jake who is a scout for the army. When he is wounded during a dangerous undercover mission for his regiment he can no longer remember who he is.
 
Will Luke ever find his dad, and will his dad ever get his memory back?  Will Luke avenge the death of his brother? Will either of them make it back to the farm?


The author does a great job of blending these two stories together to give us a great conclusion to the book. This is a book about revenge, family bonds, historical fiction with a dash of love story that makes for a fast read. I reccomend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction.
I was provided a copy of this book by Dorrance Publishing but in no way does it alter my opinion of this book.