Life in the Past Lane
Official blog of award-winning romantic historical and military fiction author Jessica James
Poignant love letter from the Civil War
This is the second installment of my Civil War love letter series during Valentine's Day week. Featured today is Dr. Harvey Black and his especially eloquent letter to his wife.Dr. Harvey BlackIn April of 1861, the beginning of the Civil War, Dr. Black enlisted in...
From the Heart: Civil War love letters
Valentine's Day is just around the corner, so to get you in the mood, I'm going to feature a different Civil War love letter every day this week. The first one, written by Major Sullivan Ballou, was made famous by the famous Ken Burns Civil War documentary.For a...
A snowball battle during the Civil War
Civil War snowball battle.With all of the snow we've been having this year, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at how the soldiers dealt with snow during the Civil War.I found that two back-to-back snowstorms in February of 1863 provided the...
150th anniversary of Loudoun Heights
St. Paul's ChurchIn the early hours of a frigid Sunday, January 10, 1864, a column of Mosby's Rangers stealthily made their way over the snowy roads Between the Hills, stopping to collect themselves at St. Paul's Church. Then they headed off the Hillsborough-Harpers...
USA Best Book Awards Finalist!
I'm pleased to announce that my new Civil War novel Above and Beyond was a Finalist in the 2013 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS contest in the Fiction/Religious category!Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said this year’s contest yielded more than 1,500 entries...
Civil War novel receives award
I'm pleased to announce that my new Civil War novel Above and Beyond was a Finalist in the 2013 USA BEST BOOK AWARDS contest in the Fiction/Religious category!Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of USA Book News, said this year’s contest yielded more than 1,500 entries...
New book: The Council of Light
This post is a bit off topic for Life in the Past Lane, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. It's about a new book titled, The Council of Light: Divine Transmissions for Manifesting the Deepest Desires of the Soul.It's written by Danielle Rama Hoffman...
Honoring the Confederate Battle Flag
Confederate Flag Raising along I-95."The flag that is being raised today will be a living, breathing memorial to our Confederate dead.” - Susan HathawayI had a wonderful time in Virginia attending the I-95 Confederate Flag Raising on Saturday, and was sorry I had to...
Civil War Medal of Honor recipient
Dr. Mary WalkerSince Gettysburg just hosted the National Medal of Honor convention last week, I thought it would be interesting to do a post on one recipient who is not very well known.Her name is Mary Edwards Walker, and she was born in 1832 in Oswego, N.Y....
A lesson in Confederate history
Anyone out there ever heard of Dick Poplar? I hadn't until a few weeks ago when I found out that a memorial service was held at Memorial Hill in Blandford Church Cemetery in Petersburg, Va., in honor of "Dick Poplar Day."Dick Poplar was a Black Confederate...
