by Sandra Merville Hart

Learning that citizens of Vicksburg, Mississippi, didn’t celebrate our country’s Independence Day for about a century prompted me to dig into the city’s history during the Civil War.

What I discovered so touched me that I had to write about it—and it required three books to tell the story. The main characters are fictional…the historical backdrop is real.

Vicksburg’s strategic location on bluffs along the mighty Mississippi River during the war was often a topic among leaders of both sides. Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent troops early in the war to protect the city and keep Union ships from passing on the river. More troops were sent as the focus on Vicksburg increased from the Union army.

President Abraham Lincoln felt that “Vicksburg is the key” to winning the war. Union General Ulysses S. Grant was determined to capture the city.

That was easier said than done.

The Union Navy bombarded the city for sixty-seven days from May to July of 1862. Confederate soldiers fired cannons on the fleet while citizens hunkered in hastily dug cave shelters. One battered Confederate ship called the Arkansas possessed enough power to convince the Union fleet to head south on July 27^th.

The defeat only whetted Grant’s desire to take Vicksburg by force. The following year, Union ships once again attacked the town for weeks from the Mississippi River—this time while the Union army battled the Confederate army surrounding Vicksburg.

The surprising discoveries found while digging into Vicksburg’s history inspired books four, five, and six in my Spies of the Civil War Series.

Streams of Courage, Book 4, begins before the war starts in early 1861 and goes to the fall of 1862.

River of Peril, Book 5, tells the story of Felicity and Luke. It begins in December of 1862.

Tides of Healing, the sixth and final book, tells the story of Vicksburg resident Savannah Adair and Union First Lieutenant Travis Lawson, who was among those who march into the city to seize control on July 4, 1863. Their first meeting begins with fireworks—and not the kind typically associated with an Independence Day celebration.

Beginning in 1861, three fictional heroine friends living in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the start of the Civil War are each affected in different ways by the events of the Civil War as their city becomes a target for the Union Army.  

Streams of Courage, Book 4, Julia and Ash fall in love against her mother’s wishes. Townspeople accuse Ash of cowardice because he doesn’t become a soldier in the Confederate army. He begins spying for the North in his Mississippi city, a dangerous undertaking that puts his family and Julia’s family at risk. The story starts before the first battle in early 1861 and goes to the fall of 1862.

River of Peril, Book 5, tells the story of Felicity and Luke. They started courting before the war began. She volunteers as a nurse to distract her worry for her soldier—then her worst nightmare happens. Luke has been wounded in battle. Worse, he doesn’t remember her…or why he was fighting for the Confederacy when his loyalty is with the North. It begins in December of 1862.

Tragedy strikes one of the friends, Savannah, in Streams of Courage, Book 4 in my Spies of the Civil War Series. This feisty, spirited Southern belle has been chomping at the bit to tell her story. She gets her chance as our heroine in Tides of Healing, Book 6!

Here’s the back cover blurb for Tides of Healing:

A Southern belle fights to reclaim her home, but will her spying destroy the Union officer she never meant to love? 

Savannah Adair has endured the unimaginable, hiding in a cave while her beloved Vicksburg was under siege. With the city now occupied by Union soldiers, Savannah cannot stand by and do nothing. So when one of the gaunt, half-starved Confederate prisoners asks her to spy for the South, she can’t refuse the chance to take back her home. 

First Lieutenant Travis Lawson takes pride in the Union army’s hard-fought victory, but he quickly realizes that the challenges of rebuilding and reconciliation are just beginning . . . and not everyone is appreciative of changes he’s making. Namely, the fiery and alluring Savannah Adair. Despite their differing loyalties and the societal divide between them, Travis cannot deny the growing feelings he has for her. When he is tasked with finding Southern spies in Vicksburg and he captures a female spy, Travis is forced to consider that the woman he’s beginning to love may be the enemy. 

I hope that you enjoy the whole series!

Sources

Bearss, Edwin C. with Hills, J. Parker. Receding Tide: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, the Campaigns that Changed the Civil War, National Geographic, 2010.

“Vicksburg National Military Park,” National Park Service, 2025/02/09 https://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm.