HIRAM'S HOPE IS LAUNCHED

Sign near Marion, Arkansas and actual photo of Sultana--major parts of the story line of Hiram's Hope.

Hiram's Hope: The Return of Isaiah by Max R. Terman. 2014 TESA Books, Hillsboro, Ks, $14.99 print, $2.99 eBook, 260 pages print.  Printed and distributed by Lightning Source Incorporated, Ingram Book Company.

ISBN 978-1-4951-0591-3 

Following in the footsteps of Hiram’s Honor, one of Online College’s Best Books for Studying the Civil War, Hiram’s Hope tells how Isaiah, left for dead at Andersonville, survives only to board the ill-fated, over-loaded steamer Sultana. Max Terman weaves a story around this tragedy with the Lincoln Funeral Train, a woman left at Andersonville, and a veteran’s struggle to recover his life as threads in an intricate tale about the last days of the American Civil War.

Hiram’s Hope has been published, and is available at Ingram Book, Amazon, and other booksellers. Signed copies are available from the author at maxt@tabor.edu. Professional reviews of the book can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/mc9oc7k . Sample material and a chapter can be seen at: http://tinyurl.com/oe3ytcn  Author information:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001HPJGH0

Click here to buy online at Amazon.

 

Civil War Prisoners of War

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

Camp Lawton (Millen) Mentioned in Hiram's Pension Files

In the 125 pages of Private Hiram Terman's pension files, I located an 1897 letter to a comrade that described Hiram buying a calf's head from a Confederate guard at Camp Lawton in Georgia, making rice soup with his mess, and then getting sick and vomiting.  He was rheumatic, had scurvy, heart, and intestinal problems from his prison stays that affected his whole life.   Hiram also describes having to leave when the camp commandant told him to "break for the gate".  This he did and left alone without a chance to say goodbye to his comrades. 

Civil War Pension Files from the National Archives

I ordered my Civil War ancestor's pension files from the National Archives and received 125 pages of information like the above documents.  Private Terman was a walking skeleton when he came back from 17 months of prison life at Belle Island, Andersonville, Savannah, and Millen.  Incredibly, he waited until 1897 to apply for a pension that he received until his death in 1926.  His Civil War service gave him heart problems, rheumatism, stomach, and bowel problems his entire life and he also suffered from what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.  I am researching these files in hopes of writing a sequel to Hiram's Honor about his and his comrades post Civil War lives.

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Civil War Ancestor Records National Archives

Medical record, muster sheet, and Prisoner of War records for Private Hiram Terman, 82nd Ohio from the National Archives.  Finding records like these for my ancestor added reality to the writing of Hiram's Honor.

Camp Lawton Georgia

 Magnolia Springs State Park where Camp Lawton site is located, Archeologists at Georgia Southern University, Camp Lawton sketch at Georgia Southern Museum.

A major part of our trip to Georgia was a visit to Camp Lawton, a Confederate prison camp near Millen, Georgia where my ancestor was held after Andersonville.  The prison camp is being studied by the archeology department at Georgia Southern University and we met the team doing this valuable study of a relatively pristine Civil War site.