Sons of East Tennessee
Author | : Jack Brubaker |
Publisher | : McFarland |
Total Pages | : 238 |
Release | : 2021-12-28 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781476684147 |
ISBN-13 | : 1476684146 |
Rating | : 4/5 (47 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: Two aging Civil War veterans mourned the death of their sons at a joint funeral in Knoxville National Cemetery. One, a cavalry general, had fought for the Union. The other had served as surgeon/major of a Confederate cavalry regiment. They met for the first time at the graves of their sons--two army lieutenants and University of Tennessee graduates killed together in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Newspaper accounts presented the encounter as an example of reconciliation between North and South. This book recounts the meeting of two families from opposing sides of the war--both rooted in East Tennessee, a region harshly divided by the conflict--placing their story in the context of America's reconciliation narrative at the end of the 19th century.