For Love and Liberty
By Robin Young
Link to Avalon Publishing Press Release
| For Love and Liberty: Major Sullivan Ballou, the Second Rhode Island Regiment and His Famous Love Letter. For Love and Liberty will be the first book to tell the inspiring story of Major Sullivan Ballou, the soldier made famous by the Ken Burns film The Civil War for his moving letter expressing his love and devotion for his wife, family and country with an eloquence we all wish we had. |
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| For Love and Liberty is like Gone With the Wind, set in the North.
Not the Gone With the Wind of the stripped down movie plot, but as the best seller book.
The "Rhett" and "Scarlett" of this narrative non-fiction book are real people, whose lives have
been reconstructed by author Robin Young from letters and old records. |
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The son of a prominent New England family, Rhode Islander Sullivan Ballou left his law practice
and prominent political career - as well as his adored wife, Sarah, and little sons - to join
the Union Army. In 1861 and 1862, a grateful nation honored Major Sullivan Ballou as one of
the earliest heroes of the Civil War. As the long, terrible war dragged on, more durable heroes
like Lee and Grant arose, and Ballou was forgotten in death until he became one of the stars of
Ken Burns' Civil War documentary. |
| It is a brand new Civil War story focused on a young couple, Sullivan and Sarah Ballou, whose lives change irrevocably because of his commission in the army and the opening hours of the assault on Manassas. Full of the dazzle of a military campaign and battle, the book is unique because the wife and children are more than footnotes. The full impact of the sacrifices made by the heroic soldiers of both sides in the Civil War comes home in a personalized way. Sullivan makes such a fuss about his family and now readers can learn why as they meet the very special woman he loved so much, and the two sons of whom he was so proud. |
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| For Love and Liberty tells his inspiring tale in a unique, fully rounded way. Written in a narrative style which moves the action along, it is like getting several books in one. It is a book which simplifies the complex politics and culture of the era so the average reader understands the nation's slide towards Civil War. The most ardent action fans will find gripping reading in the seven chapters which bring to life the first major battle of the war, First Bull Run/First Manassas. Civil War buffs will also enjoy the chapters which explain how civilian volunteers like Sullivan Ballou were trained to fight in this war, and what happened to them after a battle. The average reader will find easy to understand explanations of basic items taken for granted in trade books. |
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| As children, Sullivan and Sarah face unusual hardships obtaining educations after the deaths of their respective fathers. They prevail, meet, fall in love, court, marry and have two sons. She comes alive in the clothing, etiquette and competencies of the mid-Victorian era. He builds a career as a lawyer and rising politician who campaigns for Attorney General on the same Republican ticket as Abraham Lincoln as war threatens. He accepts the commission and is immersed in the unfamiliar life of the military. The locale shifts to Washington D. C. and Virginia to follow him through training. Readers learn the basics of military command as practiced in 1861 and what the job of a Major was. Afraid that mobilization would provoke a war the Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln wished to avoid, the Union in many ways is not ready to fight. The army is pushed into battle by the press, popular opinion, the politicians and the fear of Washington D.C. falling into the hands of the Rebels surrounding it. |
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| Sullivan Ballou and the men of the Second Rhode Island Regiment become the lens through which readers experience the march into Virginia and the climactic battle scenes of First Manassas, where the Rhode Islanders stride calmly into an inferno to do their patriotic duty. The book continues on with the confusion and anguish surrounding his untimely death from battle wounds. |
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| Buried in Virginia, his remains and those of fellow officers are recovered by an expedition of Rhode Islanders as soon as the Confederates withdraw to counter the Peninsula Campaign. The honored dead are reverently returned to Providence via New York City, where the populace turns out en masse to honor this hero. The focus of the story shifts to Sarah alone, a widow who never re-marries, who supports her two sons by shattering the Victorian glass-ceiling and building a career for herself. It ends with her death at eighty-one, and those of her sons, in the Twentieth Century. A final chapter recounts the genealogical sleuthing and research methods used to create accurate, real life stories for this mystery couple. |
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| The story is supported by one hundred b/w illustrations, cartoons and photos, memoirs, nine unpublished Ballou letters, and forgotten press accounts - all sound bites from long ago. Uniquely, the rich, sentimental culture of that era is brought alive in poetry and popular songs, and cross references to video clips, to create a multi-media experience for the reader (these last two on the book's website). |
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| Based on three years of research in New England and Virginia archives, the book employs social and political commentary to provide context and background for the characters' decisions and experiences. |
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