7th Tennessee Infantry publishing activities continue.

The 7th Tennessee Infantry book is another step closer to publication.

The editorial staff at McFarland Publishers has informed me publishing activities on the book continue.

It now appears the book will be released in late August 2013.

If you would like to check out the description of the book on the McFarland Publisher’s website catalog, here is their address: http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/

Look for the 7th Tennessee book by my name — Venner.

The lost Maya city

Lakam Nah Naabil — the lost Maya city

Writing on The Maya Princess continues; presently the manuscript has passed page 170 and the story is rolling.

Lakam Nah Naabil is the lost Maya city; its location is in the Cordillera de Cuchumatanes in northwestern Guatemala.

If the main character, Cliff Walker can follow clues written on a set of Maya vases he will be able to locate this hidden city and rescue Corra Alveras.

However, information interpreted from the hieroglyphics read from the Sandoval Stela indicates a princess will soon be sacrificed.

Cliff Walker and his friends will have to hurry…

The Sandoval Stela describes the history of the lost Maya site.

Writing progress continues!

Words keep getting added to the Maya Princess manuscript. I have now reached page 140 and the novel now is about halfway completed.

A critically important artifact in Maya Princess is the interpretation of a Maya Stela. This monument contains 60 Mayan glyph blocks which tell the new history of the lost Maya site. In order to create an accurate hieroglyphic re-creation I enrolled an in amazing class at Davidson College – Maya Hieroglyphics and Art, by Dr. Bill Ringle. He is a marvelous professor and his instruction enabled me to write in Mayan.

The stela, which is called the “Sandoval Stela” in the novel is composed of four passages.  The Columns read from left to right (A,B,C,D,E,F), and from top to bottom (1 through 11). The columns read in pairs (A-B), (C-D), and (E-F). They are as follows:

Who was this young woman? And who was the Tennessee soldier who held her photo in his hands as he bled to death?

The Unknown Tennessee Girl

Who was this young Tennessee woman?

And who was the Tennessee soldier who held her photo in his hands as he bled to death?

Once Pickett’s Charge collapsed Union forces moved out among the fallen Southerners. One of these Federals was a rifleman from the 14^th Connecticut, one of the units that had shot apart the 7^th Tennessee’s attempt to reach the stone wall. This Yank knelt down beside a young Confederate who lay dead not far from one of the Tennessean battle flags.  The Tennessean lay on his back, having bled to death from his wounds, not unlike scores of other Southerners beside him. However this Southerner differed from his fallen comrades; he clutched in his lifeless hands a photograph of a young woman. It was obvious to the Yankee soldier that the last thoughts, and virtually the last vision this dying Confederate possessed, were of this young woman.

The Federal soldier called his officer over, and the captain was equally impressed by this scene. Moved by this final display of love, the officer vowed to return the photograph to the girl, along with a note describing what had taken place. He searched the Confederate’s pockets but could not find any form of identity—unfortunately he had become just another unnamed dead rebel, as someone had already rifled through the dead soldier’s pockets and taken everything of value.

The officer was never able to resolve who the dead Confederate was; all he was able to determine was the soldier had died among a cluster of Tennesseans. None-the-less, this captain was so captivated by the soldier and the photograph that when the 14^th Connecticut’s regimental history was published he made sure the story and image were included in the book.

So – who was this Tennessean?

There are several facts which the Connecticut officer established that can assist in narrowing down the Confederate’s identity.

1: The soldier fell close to the stone wall, not far from where the 14^th and 1^st Tennessee flags were captured. We know from various writings the Tennesseans in Archer’s Brigade who advanced beyond Emmitsburg Road and approached the stone wall had grouped themselves together in one courageous multi-unit mass. Thus, we know men from the 1^st, 7^th, and 14^th Tennessee died side-by-side. It is quite possible the soldier who fell came from the 7^th.

2: Casualty reports for the July 3^rd, 1863 assault note the 1^st Tennessee had six killed, the 7^th, nine dead, and the 14^th, five. The soldier who gripped the girl’s photo as he died was most likely one of these 18 soldiers.

Who were the 7th Tennesseans who died in front of the stone wall, and did any of these nine valiant men fit the description penned by that Connecticut officer? Let’s examine the records of the men in the 7^th Tennessee who were killed in Picket Charge:

Two soldiers, Pvt. James Hearn (Co. D) and Cpt. Asoph Hill (Co. F) were mortally wounded in the attack. They were then collected by Federals, to be sent to Union hospitals. Captain Hill died of his wounds on July 8^th, and Hearn succumbed to his injuries a month later, on August 8^th. Thus, we know these two men were still alive when the Connecticut officer examined the dead Tennessean and can be eliminated as a possibility.

Another Tennessean, 2^nd Lt. George Cowen (Co. A), fell nearby, killed by Union bullets. The 7^th Tennessee’s officers wore insignia identifying their rank, and since Lt. Cowen had been an officer since the army’s reorganization in March 1862, he clearly had been wearing officer indications for over a year. The Connecticut captain did not mention any form of rank on the dead Tennessean; therefore we can remove Lt. Cowen as a possibility.

First Sergeant William Baird (Co. G) also can also be excluded for the same reason; Sergeant Baird had been wearing NCO stripes since his promotion following the fight at Fredericksburg and these would have been apparent to the concerned Federal.

Private Thomas Halloway can easily be removed from possibility; published writings detail Halloway’s death. A writer recorded in a magazine article; “[Thomas Halloway] raised his head … just then a bullet went crashing through his brain.” A bullet through the head would have killed Halloway nearly instantly, so we know he did not bring out this photo and hold it in his hands.

Private John Roberts (Co. G) was 37 when he was killed by Connecticut lead in front of the stone wall. Roberts owned a farm in Goodlettsville, Davidson County, which he shared with his wife and their three children. His wife, Mary was 36 years-old; she probably was not the young girl depicted in the photograph, and we know the Federal describe a younger man, so we must reject John Roberts as a potential.

That leaves the only three remaining dead Tennessean riflemen; James Paty (Co. B), James Sutton (Co. F), and John ‘Wes’ Eatherly (Co. I), all who fell not far from the stone wall.

Private John (they called him ‘Wes’) Eatherly (Co. I) was not quite 18 when he took his last breath. He was a farm boy who had worked on his parent’s farm near Silver Springs, Wilson County. Wes lied about his age when he joined the regiment in 1861, telling the recruiters he was twenty. He was a tall boy, standing 5-11, so his mistruth was tough to detect. Plus, Wes enlisted alongside his older brother, 23-year-old Martin, who told no one about his younger brother’s age. Wes Eatherly’s age makes him an unlikely candidate for the soldier found dead holding the young woman’s image.

Of the final two possibilities, Private James Sutton (Co. F) was a new recruit, having just joined the regiment in March of 1863. Sutton came from McMinnville, Warren County. Regimental records do not show his age and marital status, so we know tantalizing little about this man. He may have had a sweetheart back home, but we just don’t know.

And finally, Private James Paty (Co. B). Paty was 23 years-old and single. He came from Gordonsville, Smith County, where before the war he lived with his parents on their small tenant farm. James Paty came from a family with little funds, and had no cash other than the infrequent military payments of $13 a month. Paty had served responsively throughout the entire war and had been wounded at 2^nd Manassas. James Paty was the right age to have a girl back home, though we have no writings to confirm that fact. In 1863, letters were few and extremely difficult to acquire, as no mail service between central Tennessee and Virginia existed. Plus, we’ll never know what items were stolen from the dead soldier’s pockets. There may have been letters among the valuables that were pilfered when the pick-pocket stole this valiant soldier’s identity.

We thus, are left with a mystery difficult to solve. We can conclude though; if the dead Tennessean was from the 7^th Tennessee, he most likely was either James Paty (Co. B) or James Sutton (Co. F).

Sorrowfully, either way, this loving young woman would have to wait weeks before she learned her man had fallen and would never return to her arms.

75 pages have now been completed.

The Maya Princess update:

The novel is progressing well, with over 75 pages now having been completed.

Each week since the last update I have added 2,000 to 3,000 words every week, and the story has now taken a life of its own. The main characters have been developed to the point the reader should be able to anticipate how they will react to each other, and to events.

I’m hoping by now the main character’s mission is well established, and enough sympathy has been developed the reader will care that the main character succeed.

I am also taking an anthropology class at Davidson College on reading Maya hieroglyphs. This course, led by the incredible instructor, Dr. William Ringle is presenting me with a good background in the Maya culture and the rudiments in how to read their hieroglyphics.

The Maya Princess novel moves forward, word-by-word, and page-by-page, each week. As of yet I have no way of predicting when the novel will be completed, though my goal is to have a story-length around 300 pages.

McFarland publishing has included Tennessee Valor in its 2013 Spring/Summer catalog!

All the editing has been completed and the galleys are due out in the next couple weeks.

Then the index will be created, and the book will go to the printing presses!

I’m expecting a release in May.

As of yet I do not know how many pages, though the word count was close to 100,000.

The book will be soft cover; 7 x 10 format.

I want to thank everyone who has so generously helped me get this research and writing to completion.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

I could not have done this without you.

Chapters 1 and 2 have been completed.

The Maya Princess Update – December 11, 2012

Writing has resumed and over the past week I been able to work on the story a total of 18 hours. I’ve completed the first chapter (2,700 words). The first chapter is the ‘hook’; my attempt to get the reader to read past page one. This is a scene which sets up the suspense which will dominate the entire tale by showing there is a time-based urgency.

I’ve also completed chapter 2 (3,875 words). This chapter introduces the main character [Cliff Walker], one of the secondary main characters [Lupe Alveras], and the main character’s sidekick [Charlie Koch]. Of course it is entirely possible the characters’ names will change as the story progresses. Chapter 2 also sets the stage for the primary plot goal – the mission to search for a missing person [Corra Alveras]. A minor level of suspense should build as the main character refuses to accept this mission.

I now have begun chapter 3, the scene in which more characters are introduced and we learn more about the main character. This is also when the main character will change his decision and accept the mission to find the missing person.

Chapters 1 and 2 have been completed

Maya stela showing numbers

Chapter 1 is nearly completed.

The Maya Princess – An Update

Most of the research has been completed. I now believe I’ve enough data for the story’s Maya archaeology detail. I’ve assembled a stable of interesting characters and created a plot-outline. And now the writing has begun.

Chapter 1 — This past week 2,100 words have been written and about two-thirds of the chapter completed. The writing has been slow; it has been a while since my mind has been tuned to putting thoughts and ideas on paper by composing readable sentences. There have been plenty of sentence rewrites. This past week’s writing time was only 9 hours.

The suggested book cover is a from an illustration that actually has been used for tattoos. I am trying to get in contact with the artist and get permission to use this image. When that happens I will note the artist and website so more of that person’s art can been seen. If the permission does not come, this book cover will go away and another selected.