Shannon here: Sherry Shindelar shares insight into her Lone Star Redemption series. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for an e-book copy of winner’s choice between Texas Forsaken (book 1) and Texas Divided (book 2). Deadline: May 24th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Sherry:
Joseph Ives Pease (1809-1883), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Where Thou Goest, I Will Go
In my Civil War research, I ran across a real-life love story that inspired a plot twist in one of my Lone Star Redemption series books. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I won’t mention which novel, or whether it’s already published or yet to be released. I’ll leave it to the discerning reader to figure that out.
Fanny Lawrence Rickets lived by these words from Ruth 1:16, “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”. Neither enemy lines, blood and gore, or prison walls could stop her from being by her husband’s side when he needed her.
Fanny married the love of her life, Captain James Rickets, in January 1856. Shortly after the wedding, the young bride followed her husband to the Texas frontier, where his artillery company was stationed. She shared in the hardships of garrison life even as she brought cheer to the men and aided the sick.
When the Civil War erupted, she moved with James to his new post in the Washington, D.C. area, and that is where she awaited news of him when he fought in the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861.
Reports came back that he had perished on the battlefield. An aide even brought James’s sword and last words to Fanny. For two days, she endured the belief that she had lost her beloved husband, but then word came, that although he was grievously wounded, he was still alive and a prisoner of the Confederates.
Fanny immediately took action. She procured a carriage, two horses, and a pass from the Federal Army
in order to travel through the lines to her husband, and set out on her own. However, the pass meant nothing once she reached the Confederate pickets, but Fanny persevered. She sent a note to Confederate Colonel J.E.B. Stuart, an old army friend of her husband’s. Stuart agreed to allow her to travel to Manassas if she’d sign a note swearing that she wasn’t there to spy. Fanny ripped up the note in front of him and said, “I am no spy, but the wife of a wounded officer, and I will go as your prisoner, but I will never sign this.”
Flabbergasted by her audacity, Stuart acquiesced and sent her on her way to the battlefield. Fanny found James at the Lewis House, a.k.a. Portici, still covered in blood five days after the battle:
No words can describe the horrors around me. Two men dead and covered with blood were carried down the stairs as I waited to let them pass. On a table in the open hall, a man was undergoing amputation of the leg. At the foot of the stairs two bloody legs lay, and through it all I went to my husband. Outside the next door was a severed arm, and my clothes brushed by blood, cloths, splint, etc. I found my dear husband lying on a hospital stretcher, still covered with blood! Downstairs, there are some forty men in the various stages of death or possible recovery. Blood runs on the floors, the smell is dreadful but no language can describe it. ” Mrs. Fanny Captain Ricketts, 1861
Forsaking her own comfort, Fanny dug in and got to work caring for James, who’d been shot four times, and for the other men in the ward. Two weeks later, the Confederates transferred Rickets, who still wavered between life and death, to a prison in Richmond. Fanny was not about to let her husband go without her. She followed him to prison and slept by his bed for four months, nursing him and the other wounded officers, in a doorless room where they were gawked at by curious onlookers.
Fanny’s love for her husband meant more to her than her own comfort and safety. Her courage and determination enabled her to put her love into action even in the most of dire circumstances. Her sacrifices and ministrations helped save his life.
In December 1861, Ricketts was traded in a prisoner exchange and allowed to return home to finish his recovery. The ever-faithful Fanny followed.
However, the war was not over. Ricketts rose to the rank of general and was seriously wounded two more times, and his wife saw him through it all.
Sources:
Bitakofer, Sheritta. “The Bravery of Fanny Ricketts.” Belle on the Battlefield. 5 June 2019.
“Fanny and Her Captain, A Thousand Words Worth One Photograph.” Civil War Talk. 16 Nov 2017.
“Fanny Lawrence Ricketts.” History of American Women. Women’s History Blog.
Question for Readers: If you could go to Texas in any time era, when would you go, and what would you do?
About Sherry: Originally from Tennessee, Sherry loves to take her readers into the past. A romantic at heart, she is an avid student of the Civil War and the Old West. She fell in love with writing when she was nine-years-old dreaming up stories while playing on her swing set. Decades later, she is living out her dream of writing stories from her heart and sharing them with the world. When she isn’t busy writing, she is an English professor, working to pass on her love of writing to her students. Sherry is an award-winning writer: 2023 ACFW Genesis finalist, 2021 & 2023 Maggie finalist, and 2022 Crown finalist. She currently resides in Minnesota with her husband of forty years. She has three grown children and three grandchildren.
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About the book – Texas Divided (Book Two – Lone Star Redemption series):
He thought he was rescuing her from the Comanche. Now the Civil War soldier must prove he isn’t the villain she thinks he is.
Driven by the looming expectation of becoming a suffocatingly proper lady, Morning Fawn is determined to escape the confines of her uncle’s plantation and return to her adoptive Comanche tribe. But with each failed attempt, her hopes dwindle, and she wonders if she’ll ever find her way back home or if that world is forever lost to her.
Devon Reynolds, disillusioned by the price of affluence and the horrors of war, leaves his privileged life to join the Texas Rangers and later the cavalry. In the military service, he finds purpose . . . until he loses his wife during childbirth while he is away. In an attempt to redeem himself, he takes one last fateful mission to rescue Morning Fawn from the Comanche. But the results force him to question the righteousness of his actions and the cause he serves.
When Devon returns to Texas as a Yankee spy, his path crosses with Morning Fawn once more. Determined to save her from the prison of her uncle’s house and to recover Texas from the Confederacy, Devon is drawn to her fierce spirit and unwavering resolve. But can two wounded souls, each fighting their own battles, find solace and love amidst the chaos of war?
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If you could go to Texas in any time era, when would you go, and what would you do?
How about now lol, just as a traveler!
I’d be happy to do that, too. I’d love to explore Texas again in the spring or fall. (The summers can be quite hot.)
I don’t know a lot about Texas history, although I lived outside of Houston when I was 3 & 4 years old. Too young to learn much! We visited my sister there a few years ago, though, and I was fascinated by the way Texas changed nationalities over and over. And by the way they raised and restored *La Belle* from LaSalle’s expedition. I think if I were to go back, I’d choose post Civil War.
I think I’d like to visit in the late 1860’s and 1870’s:)
I am related to Sam Houston, so I would like to visit while he was serving as president of the Republic of Texas. I would talk to him about his Virginia family (the connection to my ancestors) and hear his reasoning for wanting statehood for Texas.
A couple of chapters in my book, Texas Divided, take place in Galveston. When I was doing the research, I was shocked to learn about all of the devastation and the thousands of deaths caused by the hurricane. I bet it would have been a great place before that.
I’ve always been fascinated by Sam Houston. I’d love to learn more about his Cherokee wife.
Hmmm…I have always loved Texas history. We could see the San Jacinto monument from the front door of my childhood home so the battle of San Jacinto has always been fascinating to me. That event or Galveston in its heyday before the 1900 hurricane would be interesting to visit to me.
A couple of chapters in my book, Texas Divided, take place in Galveston. When I was doing the research, I was shocked to learn about all of the devastation and the thousands of deaths caused by the hurricane. I bet it would have been a great place before that.
During World War II. Lots of air bases were in Texas where airmen learned their craft, including the WASPs. Those ladies had the right stuff.
I have a winner! Mindy S. won the drawing. I appreciate Sherry for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.