Caged Confederates - Capturing the Heart of the Confederacy [Paperback]

TJ Myers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2010

Surrender didn't just bring dishonor, it brought death.

A story of passion, intrigue and the fight to defend the land they love. This historical novel depicts the hard fought battles for control of the crucial waterways of the Tennessee River Valley and the South's Heartland. Flush with its first major victories, the Union Army would find itself woefully unprepared to care for the thousands of prisoners captured on the field of battle.

The Confederate prisoners of war faced an enemy just as deadly as rifles and artillery. They faced the brutal hell of Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, where over 6,000 would meet their end in the harshest conditions devised by their fellow Americans. The two-fold tragedy is first, that it happened and second, so few of us even know it occurred.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Civil War History enthusiasts will be taken with this account of the battles of Tennessee, the accounts of the Iron Clad warships and the point of view of the Confederate soldiers. TJ Myers has done his research and his own military background must have helped him to recreate realistic, visually stunning and epic battle scenes.

Caged Confederates is right up there with Red Badge of Courage, North and South and all the rest of the great Civil War historical novels. --EJ Thornton, best-selling author of Angel On Board

About the Author

TJ, a retired Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force Reserves, and military "brat," works for the Veterans Affairs. At 15, he visited Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

A park ranger made the Civil War "come alive," with his vivid storytelling and TJ's been a Civil War buff ever since. The torch passed and TJ tells the stories. He is a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust.

Product Details

• Paperback: 468 pages
• Publisher: Books To Believe in (July 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984541772
• ISBN-13: 978-0984541775
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,129,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Civil War history buffs this book is a "must read!", October 7, 2010

By 

Othniel J. Seiden "Otti" (Denver) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Caged Confederates - Capturing the Heart of the Confederacy (Paperback)

Caged Confederates by Lt. Col. (Ret) T. J. Myers
For Civil War history buffs this book is a "must read!"

Well written it draws you into the drama of life in this historic time in the South. You'll feel the anguished decisions that had to be made by the characters as they decide between their patriotism to their South, and the needs of their families being left to face wartime hardships and dangers without the heads of their families. You'll live and experience the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh and the agonies of their defeat. You'll know the anxieties and dangers as well as the joys of success of being a blockade-runner carrying a cargo of vital supplies to a Southern army in desperate need. You will experience the horrors of Camp Douglas, the Union's infamous Prisoner of War camp in Chicago. Death there came hard and painfully with inhuman hardships and torture; your best hope for survival being almost impossible escape. This book is so well written you'll feel you lived these parts of the Civil war, its romances, its horrors, and occasional humor along with its characters.
Othniel Seiden - Historical fiction author

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Civil War history buffs this book is a "must read!", October 7, 2010

By 

Othniel J. Seiden "Otti" (Denver) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Caged Confederates - Capturing the Heart of the Confederacy (Kindle Edition)

Caged Confederates by Lt. Col. (Ret) T. J. Myers
For Civil War history buffs this book is a "must read!"

Well written it draws you into the drama of life in this historic time in the South. You'll feel the anguished decisions that had to be made by the characters as they decide between their patriotism to their South, and the needs of their families being left to face wartime hardships and dangers without the heads of their families. You'll live and experience the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson and Shiloh and the agonies of their defeat. You'll know the anxieties and dangers as well as the joys of success of being a blockade-runner carrying a cargo of vital supplies to a Southern army in desperate need. You will experience the horrors of Camp Douglas, the Union's infamous Prisoner of War camp in Chicago. Death there came hard and painfully with inhuman hardships and torture; your best hope for survival being almost impossible escape. This book is so well written you'll feel you lived these parts of the Civil war, its romances, its horrors, and occasional humor along with its characters.
Othniel Seiden - Historical fiction author

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read For Any Civil War Enthusiast!, July 29, 2011

By 

Rachael Sandvig (Moscow Mills, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Caged Confederates - Capturing the Heart of the Confederacy (Paperback)

I am a history educator and a Civil War scholar, and I feel that "Caged Confederates" is an amazing piece of historical fiction that any Civil War enthusiast will love! Myers does an eloquent job mixing in historical facts of the Civil War in Tennessee with a storyline that focuses on the personal human element of how the War impacted the lives of Southern soldiers and civilians. This book will pull the reader back in time to the Civil War with several intermingling stories that detail the plights and triumphs that the characters encounter throughout. A very captivating novel that engrosses readers into a storyline that really captures the struggles, strength and resilience of Southerners and gives a vivid perspective to events that many people of the South likely endured during the Civil War, but were not necessarily reported in the history books. This is an extremely well written literary work and a pure pleasure to read. It is one that I would read again and would heartily recommend it to other Civil War scholars.

~Jason A. Spurgeon (Rachael's husband)