Interrupted Lives

About the Book

Hood’s Texas Brigade was one of the most distinguished fighting units in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, participating in virtually all of the major battles and campaigns from Eltham’s Landing through Appomattox. This book, although a work of fiction, is faithful to the movements of the brigade, including its detachment to Bragg’s command and the resultant battle at Chickamauga. Prominent in the book are Hood, Lee, Longstreet, and “Stonewall” Jackson, as well as many lesser but real personalities.

The book is basically about Caleb Walker, a Texas farm boy who enlists after First Manassas and remains with the Texas Brigade throughout the war. It includes Caleb’s companions, most of whom will be killed or wounded; the ribald humor of enlisted men; Caleb’s letter exchanges with his girlfriend; homosexual advances; non-combat related murder; the life, leisure and horror of the common soldier; and the leadership, sometimes inept, often inspiring, of non-coms and officers.

Each chapter opens with an account in the Dallas Spectator of the war’s progress and problems in all theaters of the war, and the home front, and illustrates the typical Southern editor’s willingness to criticize as well as praise, without fear of retribution.

About the Author

During a teaching career of 38 years, Bob Cheney developed an abiding interest in the Civil War. A native Texan, Bob taught in Dallas public schools, then the Dallas County Community Colleges. He is now retired and living in Arizona, but still teaches locally and for Elderhostel.