The Reluctant Patriot: A Novel Based on a True Story of the Civil War in Tennessee

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In the early days of the American Civil War, Harry thought it was just a quarrel among politicians – until his young son ran away to join a guerilla raid against the Confederates. Within weeks, Harry himself was falsely accused of sabotage, tried in a rigged courtroom, and sentenced to hang for treason. Based on true events and the real life of Harrison Self, this is a tale of eastern Tennessee, where loyalty to the Union survived long after the state had seceded. At times evoking the diaries, humorous tales, and adventure narratives of the period, it is the story of a man for whom love of country was not a given, but the result of decisions forged under pressure. In the course of his war, he will lose a son, plumb a daughter’s love, and form a strange bond with the region’s most controversial figure, W. G. Brownlow. Unremarked by history, Harry experienced, firsthand, the serial betrayals and surprising loyalties of a bloody war on his doorstep. How he survived – and what he became – is a suspenseful and moving tale of a soul’s reformation.