My writing year: a look back and a look forward

This year has been an important one for my writing career. I had two military history books published, Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896: the Italian Disaster in Ethiopia and Ride around Missouri: Shelby's Great Raid 1863. Both have received positive reviews on Amazon and on various blogs and magazines. The Adowa book has been especially well received because it’s the only book in English that covers this campaign in detail. That’s one of the fun things about working for Osprey Publishing—you get to break new ground.

I have a book on the James-Younger gang’s Northfield raid coming out from them next year and I’m starting a book on Wyatt Earp. There may be more Osprey projects in the works for 2012 but those aren’t finalized yet.

I also continued to blog for Gadling and wrote a series on living in Harar, Ethiopia. I’ll be continuing my regular postings this coming year as well as writing a series on the Orkney Islands and hopefully another visit to Ethiopia.

My biggest advance in my career was publishing my Civil War novel A Fine Likeness via Kindle Direct Publishing. I’ve blogged about why a traditionally published author would choose self-publishing.  The novel came out less than two months ago so it’s too soon to see if this is a good career move, but it's already garnered some sales and positive reviews. A couple of weeks ago I followed up with a short story collection called The Night the Nazis Came to Dinner, and other dark tales.

So what’s in store for 2012? My focus will be fiction. Of course I’ll continue to blog for Gadling and write for Osprey because that’s where I earn 90% of my income. The big change now, however, is that my fiction career has finally started. After waiting for months or even years for rejections from publishers who kept telling me how much they liked my writing, I’ve taken my fiction career into my own hands. I have several old manuscripts I’ll be polishing and publishing, as well as works-in-progress that I’ll be finishing, editing, and publishing.

First order of business is getting a print edition of A Fine Likeness prepared. This will be followed in short order by four fantasy novels, a novella set in Viking Greenland, a historical fantasy novella set in an 18th century Germany where paganism never died, and the as-yet-unnamed sequel to A Fine Likeness. There may be a few other surprises in store. Writing has a tendency to surprise even the writer!

Of course I’ll also be keeping this blog up to date, so check in regularly or add an RSS feed.

See you in 2012!

Civil War Photo Friday: A Floating Battery

Over at the fine blog Seven Score and Ten, there's a reprint of a report by General Grant about moving a floating battery to New Madrid, Missouri. this would make sense as that town is on the Mississippi River, and a battery there would help reinforce Union control of the all-important waterway.

But what was a floating battery? Basically a floating platform for several cannon that could be towed to a strategic position where there wasn't any convenient land. They weren't warships per se, not being very navigable and often not having any locomotive power of their own.

Perhaps the most famous floating battery of the Civil War was the first, built by the rebels and used in the bombardment of fort Sumter. As you can see from these Wikipedia images, it was a barnlike structure with only three walls, yet it gave good service during the bombardment. made of thick wood sheathed in iron, it took several direct hits from the fort with the loss of only one man wounded.

The Battle of Mount Zion Church

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss was making a sweep through Boone County looking for rebels. He found them just outside the town of Hallsville on December 27, where a company of his cavalry came across a much larger force of the enemy and had to beat a hasty retreat, leaving their captain and a private in the hands of the rebels.

Prentiss set out with his entire force of 440 men at 2am the next morning, 150 years ago today. He marched 16 miles in the predawn darkness and passed through Hallsville, heading west. At 8am his vanguard encountered a company of rebels guarding the road.

Prentiss tried to surround this force, but the move was spotted and the rebels withdrew. Some prisoners told him the main rebel body was at Mount Zion Church, one-and-a-half miles further on, and numbered about 900 under the command of Col. Caleb Dorsey. Prentiss immediately moved forward and a lively battle ensued. The rebels enjoyed good cover in some woods near the church and the Union troops had trouble dislodging them. After much firing the battle descended into a hand-to-hand fight for half an hour before the timely arrival of the rest of Prentiss’ troops, who seem to have been delayed in their maneuvers, made the rebels quit the field around 11am.

The Union troops captured 90 horses, 105 stand of arms. Prentiss reports his total loss over the two days of fighting as 3 killed, 17 severely wounded, and 46 slightly wounded. The rebel loss was 25 killed and 30 captured. No reports on rebel wounded.

Only the Union side gave a report of the battle, so the above is from that perspective. The History of Boone County, published in 1882, includes a report by an unnamed participant on the rebel side. The entire account can be read here.

This participant states that not all the rebels were armed, and that the rebels retreated only after their ammunition was exhausted. Considering the chronic rebel supply problems that’s probably true. He gave Dorsey’s loss as 5 killed, 35 wounded, and 10 prisoners. He estimated Prentiss lost 30 killed, 60 wounded, and 10 prisoners. Such precise figures twenty years after the fact (and probably several battles later) should be taken with a grain of salt. In general, though, his account agrees with the report Prentiss gave.

It’s interesting that this aging rebel showed no ill-will to his former adversaries and made a point to say “Gen. Prentiss in every respect acted the gentleman and the soldier, in regard to the Confederate wounded, affording all the assistance in his power, and detailing a guard from his own command to keep soldiers out of the church. [where the rebel wounded lay]


The Battle of Mt. Zion Church was typical of many smaller engagements early in the Missouri Civil War. A Union force of trained soldiers would disperse a larger force of rebels who suffered from lack of training, organization, and weapons. With most of the Missouri State Guard in southern Missouri with General Price, the raw recruits the Union army was mopping up in central Missouri weren’t ready for a serious fight.

That doesn’t mean they always broke and ran. At Mt. Zion Church they fought hard for three hours. The rebels retreated some distance and then after a rest of a couple of days Col. Dorsey ordered his force to “scatter”. Most probably went home, while others probably did some guerrilla fighting guerrilla or made their own way south to Price. The Boone County history reports that in February “the major portion of the command crossed the Missouri and made its way to Price’s army”.

Defeats like this didn’t stop the secessionist cause in the area. The rebels continued to gather, and another small battle would come within two weeks. You’ll just have to stay tuned for that one.

Union troops sweep through central Missouri looking for rebels

With General Price in southwest Missouri and not showing any inclination to move northwards, the Union army busied itself with sweeps through Missouri catching Confederate recruits. All across the state, especially in the "Little Dixie" region along the Missouri River, large bands of rebel volunteers rallied around Price's recruiters. While poorly armed and untrained, many of these bands numbered in the hundreds and required a sizable force to defeat.

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Prentiss, shown here in this Wikimedia Commons image, certainly felt the need to bring a large force along on his rebel hunt. He was patrolling Boone County with five companies of the Third Missouri Cavalry and two of Birge’s Western Sharpshooters, some 440 men in all. He was looking for secessionist recruits, plus he wanted to protect the North Missouri Railroad, which had already been the object of an attack.

He set out from Palmyra on Christmas Eve and arrived in Sturgeon on the 26th. There he heard of a Missouri State Guard force rallying recruits near Hallsville. The Missouri State Guard was the original state militia, most of whom had followed Price into rebellion.

On December 27th, 150 years ago today, Prentiss sent Captain Howland and one company of cavalry to check out the situation at Hallsville. About two miles outside of town Howland found them and a sharp skirmish ensued. Finding himself outnumbered, Howland ordered a retreat but he was wounded and lost his horse, probably being shot off it. He and one of his privates were captured.

The rest of Howland’s company retreated back to the Union camp around 9pm and reported. Prentiss made plans to move out the next morning.

To be continued tomorrow!

Civil War Photo Friday: Santa Claus in camp

Happy holidays everyone!!!


Photo courtesy Library of Congress.

My short story collection is out!

My short story collection, The Night the Nazis came to Dinner, and other dark tales, is out now as an ebook.

A spectral dinner party goes horribly wrong. . .
An immortal warrior hopes a final battle will set him free. . .
A big-game hunter preys on endangered species to supply an illicit restaurant. . .
A new technology soothes First World guilt. . .

Here are four dark tales that straddle the boundary between reality and speculation. You better hope they don’t come true. 

These genre-bending tales mix fantasy, science fiction, horror, and a dose of satire. I've priced it at 99 cents in order to entire readers, and hopefully get them to move on and buy my Civil War novel. A special thanks goes to Dale Roberts, author of Irrefutable, for doing the excellent cover art.

The Night the Nazis came to Dinner is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, and all other Amazon outlets. Coming soon to Smashwords too!

Civil War bridge burner goes on trial

There's an interesting item from the Official Records about a trial held in Columbia, Missouri, on March 1, 1862.

"William F. Petty, a citizen of Boone County, Mo., did aid and assist and incite others to aid and assist in the destruction by fire or otherwise of certain rails, ties, bridges and timbers belonging to and necessary for the use of the North Missouri Railroad Company in the transaction of their ordinary business. All this at or near Sturgeon, Mo., on or about the 21st of December, 1861."

Petty pleaded not guilty to burning the Sturgeon railroad bridge or having any knowledge of plans to burn the bridge. Since the punishment for such an act was death, his plea was hardly surprising.

So what really happened 150 years ago today? A carpenter named Jacob Crosswhite testified, "I had been taken a prisoner in Sturgeon before the fire. Was at home in bed when some men came to my house, burst open the door, called me to strike a light. I did so. A man put his hand on my shoulder and told me I was his prisoner. I dressed myself and they carried me up in town; from there to Sturgeon bridge. The bridge was on fire and a good many there. Some were standing around; some piling up chunks on the fire; some tearing up railroad track.

"From that place we marched about four miles to Long Branch bridge; found that afire; staid there two or three hours. There were a good many men there had gone down from Sturgeon bridge. After the bridge was pretty well burned down we went back to Sturgeon. I did not see prisoner at either bridge. First saw him next morning at Mr. Riggs', two and one-half miles southwest of Sturgeon, where the band camped. He was in the crowd of men who had burned down the bridge and tore up the railroad the night before. 'Twixt daylight and sun-up a crowd of cavalry attacked them. Some few men fought awhile; the rest ran. Don't recollect seeing him any more until we got three or four miles from place of fight. I was still prisoner of the bridge-burners. They stopped on White Oak Ridge. They there released Schooler, another prisoner they had, and carried me on with them. They next stopped for any length of time at prisoner's house. I was released on parole near prisoner's house. W. R. Schooler and Adam Gosling were prisoner with me."

Crosswhite added that the men called him "captain" and he seemed to be in charge. Two other former prisoners of the rebel band testified the same thing. None of the three said they saw Petty at the scene of the crime.

Some witnesses to the defense swore that he was elsewhere on the night of December 20/21, when the Sturgeon bridge was burned.

"The court was then closed and after mature deliberation on the evidence adduced finds the prisoner, W. F. Petty. . .guilty. And does therefore sentence the said W. F. Petty as follows: To be shot to death at such time and place as the commanding general of the department may direct."