The prisoners of war
returning from Andersonville and other prisons not only suffered the numbing
terror of horrendous battles but had to endure the grinding misery of
starvation in the prison camps. The sequel to Hiram's Honor, tentatively
titled Hiram's Hope, examines how my ancestor Private Hiram Terman, coped after
his return. Based on his pension files, it is a novel about how again, as
in battle, the help of his comrades lifts him from lonely isolation to a life
of hope.
“As for myself, I never felt so utterly depressed, cursed, and
God-forsaken in all my life before. All my former experiences in battles, on
marches, and at my capture were not a drop in the bucket as compared with this.” —Walter E.
Smith, Pvt., Co. K, 14th Illinois Infantry commenting on his time at
Andersonville
