When This Cruel War Is Over - A Novel of the Civil War in America's Heartland (Electronic book text)

The time is the summer of 1864, the third year of the savage Civil Warthat has already killed a half million Americans. The place is Indianaand Kentucky, divided by the beautiful Ohio River but joined by agrowing fury at the Federal government's ruthless censorship andintolerance of dissent.

Darkhaired, willful Janet Todd is a courier and fervent Evangelist forthe Sons of Liberty, a conspiracy to revolutionize Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and the other states of the American heartland to form aNorthwest Confederacy -- and stop the war. Major Paul Stapleton, badlywounded at Antietam and Gettysburg, commands a troop of black cavalrymenwho hunt Union deserters. Secretly disgusted with the war, Paul is tornbetween his love for Janet Todd and his West Point oath of loyalty tothe Union.

Close by is Henry Gentry, boyhood friend of Major Stapleton. Having losthis arm and most of his self respect at the Battle of Shiloh, he is aclandestine intelligence officer, urging his old friend to betray JanetTodd and the Sons of Liberty. "When This Cruel War Is Over"portrays two generations of Americans struggling to make sense of anational catastrophe, to rescue love and personal happiness in the faceof a future that is shot through with darkness and foreboding.

The story surges to a