'The incident at Pittston Crossing was the single most prodigious feat of arms in the four years of that conflict.' - President Ulysses S Grant – June 29, 1883.
Dakota Wind recently reviewed the novel by C. Burton Nelson ‘Incident At Pittston Crossing’ to give a ‘must for reading’ account of this Civil War incident still locked in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Privilege Security Archives in Virginia.
Dakota said, “Few novels hold the power to turn the reader on their heels wanting to read the account one more time. ‘Incident At Pittston Crossing’ is such a novel.
General Logan had not planned on the leadership skills of Major Ellison when he promoted the Captain with orders to hold back eight thousand Confederate troops advancing towards the Notch at Pittston Crossing. Ellison asks, “I’m supposed to stop him with one hundred men?”
The Lieutenant delivering the order replied, “He didn’t specifically say ‘stop’ him. He wants you to buy him some time, one way or another.”
The odds are stacked against anyone surviving-- an old stone farmhouse on a low-lying ridge overlooking Plum Valley and thickly wooded areas were the only high ground—it was a slaughter of men in the making.
Harris Thruman, a Major in the Mexican war, and now gunsmith dealer, arrived at Mount Liberty, Pittston Crossing, with wagonloads of armaments and ammunition. If the Major and his four sons were to die, they would die fighting beside a band of elite sharpshooters who would cut down advancing Confederate Officers first.
A Union traitor was delivering information to the General Chatsworth while the swift flowing channels along the north and south banks of Spring Creek, fought efforts by Confederate troops to cross. The Notch was the pass the Confederate army needed to retreat through, after their attack on Taylorville… It was the pass Major Ellison was not willing to relinquish.”
The author C. Burton Nelson writes in part in the Epilogue: “All documents on Pittston Crossing are still sealed in the Army’s Presidential Privilege Security Archive in Virginia. Released only with permission of the Sixteenth President of the United States, A. Lincoln. The assassin’s bullet ensures the continued absence of descriptions of this action from recorded history.”
‘Incident At Pittston Crossing’, by Author - C. Burton Nelson, is an extraordinary story worthy of the finest of bookshelves. The Civil War account has been published by Helm Publishing - ISBN: 0-9723011-0-0. Rolling Seas Reviewer, Dakota Wind, recommends this well-written account from history’s turning pages.
Submitted by:
Pamela Faye
Arts Editor
P.O. Box 262
Fulham Gardens
Adelaide 5024
SA Australia
Ph: 61 438 757 138
pamela.rollingseas.com.au
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