Overview

This novel is a US Civil War (1861-1865) saga of faith, love, perseverance, devotion, and fidelity to family and country. It is the true story of James Harrison Hodam and Sarah Harshbarger, lovers separated by the turmoil of war, and James' three-year search for his fiancée after the war. The story is historically accurate, based on the diary of my great uncle, James Harrison Hodam, during and after the war; newspaper archives of 1861-1868; and personal interviews. Some of his own thoughtful and prescient words about the future of the United States and changes in our culture are quoted in the appendix. The ideas are as valid today as they were in mid-nineteenth century America. Little in politics, love, and war has changed. I begin this novel at the Battle of Gettysburg, then follow James and his two Confederate comrades, Amos Feather, a Shawnee Indian, and Jelly Ellison, a Negro, through the war to Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. James returns to Hodamsville, West Virginia, after the war and begins his search for Sarah. That search takes him more than 500 miles and concludes in Rantoul, Illinois, after three years of searching in vain. James encounters many obstacles and challenges, setbacks and problems, in his efforts to reunite with Sarah. His hopes of ever seeing Sarah alive again are secured by a rope of sand.