The Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis: The Great Union Guide of East Tennessee for a Period of Nearly Four Years During the Great Southern Rebellion [Hardcover]

Daniel Ellis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1989

Some men seek fame; others simply rise to the occasion. Daniel Ellis did not aspire to be a hero, but the role thrust upon him during the Civil War was accepted as a service to his country and the flag he so dearly loved.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Ellis guided thousands of Union supporters, slaves, and Confederate deserters through the mountains to the safety of the Northern lines during the Civil War. One of the many Union sympathizers in East Tennessee, Ellis eventually became a captain of the Tennessee Volunteer Calvary where he led raids against Confederate soldiers as well as finding and arresting Union deserters.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Overmountain Press; 2nd edition (January 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932807445
• ISBN-13: 978-0932807441
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,133,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars True Civil War drama in the East Tennessee mountain region., October 3, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Kentucky, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis: The Great Union Guide of East Tennessee for a Period of Nearly Four Years During the Great Southern Rebellion (Hardcover)

Daniel Ellis was a Unionist East Tennessean during the Civil War. An exiled fugitive for participating in bridge burning, he took to guiding escaped prisoners, southern deserters, slaves, and all manner of refugees through the mountains to the Union lines. He eventually became captain of Company A in the 13th Regiment, Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, U.S.A.

"Thrilling Adventures" is Ellis' memoir, recounting the brutal hardships he had to endure during his years on the run. Written shortly after the war, it is tainted by his still-burning fury toward the Confederacy. The book has been criticized for perceived exaggerations, but its true excesses are in its narrative style, full of classical allusions and long-winded melodrama -- elements long since gone out of fashion.

Given its faults in narrative and Ellis' understandable lack of objectivity, the book is an accurate account of life in southern Appalachia during the Civil War. The region in that era is receiving increasing attention, most notably in Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (which acknowledges Ellis' Thrilling Adventures) and Cameron Judd's Mountain War trilogy...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars important product detail, July 1, 2008

By 

Roger C. Adams "kentuckyboy" (Manhattan, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Thrilling Adventures of Daniel Ellis: The Great Union Guide of East Tennessee for a Period of Nearly Four Years During the Great Southern Rebellion (Hardcover)

Originally, this 1989 Overmountain Press reprint was to have a two-page biographical sketch of Daniel Ellis to accompany the index. These pages were inadvertently omitted during printing. An unknown quantity of volumes has pages 430a/430b (titled, "Biographical Sketch and Index") tipped-in by the publisher.