ISBN 9798986513508
On the night of July 4, 1861, two teenage boys slipped from their homes in Delaware County, Indiana. George McLain and Chester Gerber made their way to Muncie, where they jumped a train bound for Indianapolis. The next morning, they found themselves on the grounds of the state Capitol along with hundreds of other men volunteering to join the Union army.

George left a letter telling his mother that he and Chester had left to join the Union effort against the rebels in the opening days of the Civil War. Now, 60 years later, George’s aged mother, Louisa, pulls out this letter and reads it just as she has each July 4th since that day.

The Fourth of July is a trilogy of books by Kevin Yaney. Book one: A Call to Arms follows George and Chester as they join the Indiana 19th Volunteer Regiment, part of the famed Iron Brigade. This group of volunteers encounters some of the most intense fighting in the eastern theater of the war. As they enlist, they meet and are befriended by Reverend James Franklin Turner, a radical abolitionist who has joined the Union cause to see an end to slavery. The three of them are recruited to cross the enemy lines and spy on the Confederates. Along the way, they encounter much more than just the espionage they have been sent to conduct. Reverend Turner takes advantage of this clandestine operation to conduct his own private war.

If you enjoy historical fiction, the Civil War novel will take you to the fronts of some of the most significant battles of the war. It will also show you behind the curtain of the spy networks and the freedom movement that continued in earnest in the midst of the war.