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After four years of bitter struggles and immeasurable cost in human
lives and property, the armies laid down their weapons and the
country was reunited. But there was a magnitude of problems
emerging from the rebellious and war-torn South and the now-freed
slaves. The freed slaves, excited about their liberation, were led
to believe that they would receive "forty acres of land and a
mule," but this didn't happen. The politicians felt that freedom,
citizenship, and the right to vote was enough for them. True
equality was never pondered, and these people, emerging from
servitude, were met with apathy and resentment. Who would represent
these people, and who would mend the bitter feelings and
destruction left by the war? John Wilson, who first appeared in the
author's "Hillcountry Warriors" which was acclaimed as "an
above-par work of period fiction" by "Publishers Weekly," was such
a man. Wilson had fought for the Confederacy and upon returning to
his home in Mississippi, felt there was room for all races. In
essence, he was a man beyond his time. As long as Federal troops
were stationed in the South, some order existed, but when they were
removed in 1876, an internal struggle for power erupted. As time
passed, Wilson was eventually appointed a district judgeship and he
felt that he could make his dream of justice for all a reality.
This is his story, and the story of many who labored to mend the
bitter feelings and destruction left by the Civil War. Johnny Neil
Smith, author of the critically acclaimed "Hillcountry Warriors" of
which "Unconquered" is the sequel, is now a retired educator and
has always had a deep interest in early American history. Since
four of his great grandfathers served in the Confederate Army, he
is fascinated with the American Civil War and has spent years of
research on the subject.
In the antebellum American South, a family who were among the first
to enter east central Mississippi in the 1830s are forced into the
Civil War despite their opposition to slavery. Many hardships in
the unspoiled wilderness, their unusual friendship with the native
Choctaws, and extreme trials following the crushing events of
defeat in the war are woven into this story that takes the reader
back into an era when a society that supported slavery as an
institution was considered both moral and necessary. JOHNNY NEIL
SMITH has always been interested in history and as an educator in
Mississippi and Georgia, has taught Mississippi, Georgia, American
and World History. He is now retired as headmaster of Piedmont
Academy in Monticello, Georgia. Over the years, he has spent
numerous hours reading about the War Between the States and
visiting battlefields where his great-grandfathers fought. The main
character, John Wilson, was named after his grandfather and many of
the accounts of battle and prison life relate to his great
grandfather, Joseph Williams, who lost an arm in the battle for
Atlanta and was sent to a Federal prison in Illinois. Smith has
tried to recapture the emotion that existed during this time in
history as was told to him by people who lived during that era. In
one sense, this is their story.
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