A look into the past
The cover of newsletter 6 features a Christmas rose in the center of a map of 19th century Alabama. The rose is a representation of hope, said author Gladys Hodge Sherrer, a hope that some Southern families relied on for survival during the Civil War.
“In the middle of the bomb burst and violence, there is hope,” said Sherrer, who completed eight years of historical research before writing “Trapped in the Crossfire: A Civil War Saga on the Endurance of Family.”
The novel, which is Sherrer’s third book, is written as fiction but based in historical fact, Sherrer said. It follows a family that flees South Carolina after rising tensions during the Civil War and relocates to North Alabama. Sherrer was first intrigued by the topic on a day trip to South Carolina, during which she found her ancestors’ old farm — the one they had left behind after migrating to Alabama.
During her trip, Sherrer found a cousin who lived on the farm, and he shared old stories of their family.
“A lot of family legends,” Sherrer said.
Immediately, she was drawn to the story of the family, wondering what happened to the women and children left behind after men were forced to join the Confederate army. She set off on her own research, during which she stumbled across a truth that was less rose-colored than the stories she heard growing up or saw in Civil War-based movies or books.
“I was reading books and hearing things that happened [in the war] that I had never been told,” she said. “I’m the third generation from this war, and growing up, sitting on my grandfathers’ knee and him singing Civil War songs … we didn’t talk about it, what happened back then.”
She found out that many families that supported the Union, oftentimes in secret, would leave their homes to live in what was essentially wilderness in North Alabama. While she had heard about Winston County succeeding from the state, Sherrer said she was unaware of how much of North Alabama supported the Union.
And while Sherrer’s book follows a family’s journey, which was born from tensions between both sides of the war, she said the purpose is not to focus on the divisions in the nation. Based on reviews she has received, Sherrer said readers, so far, have seen that.
“Even though this was a Southern story, [a reviewer] grasped that I really don’t have an agenda with this book,” Sherrer said. “I don’t have Union vs. Confederate. … It brings out the strength of family — sticking together, not pulling apart, during hard times.”
The book doesn’t “mince words” about what Sherrer categorizes as flawed decisions made by leadership in the Civil War, she said, and she hopes people will see the critical eye she turns to history. Additionally, she hopes “Trapped in the Crossfire” connects others to their past.
Genealogy has grown in popularity in the last several years, she said, partly due to DNA technology and the growth of companies that offer up genetic history tests. But she also believes that curiosity is from a deeper need.
“I think we also have an inner need to find out who we are,” she said. “We have matured to the point, I think, as a country and as a people that we want to understand ourselves, and it’s a way of self-realization.”
This book brought a connection to her past and for her family members to their past, Sherrer said, but she believes it will serve as a mirror for many other families. And she hopes as they read of the hardships endured and miracles that had to take place in these families, people will see “the gift of life” given by their ancestors, as well as the more true story of the Civil War.
“It shares with the readers the troubles, the hardships, the tension, the dangers that took place, also the inner struggle, the emotional struggle of detaching from home,” Sherrer said. “There was nothing romantic about any of it. It’s all tragic, very tragic, and dangerous.”
Sherrer’s novel is available in Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million and on Amazon. For more information, she can be reached at ghsherrer@gmail.com.