Faces at the Manger: An Advent-Christmas Sampler of Poems, Prayers, and Meditations

Will McTeer was one of more than two million soldiers who fought to preserve the Union during the Civil War years of 1861-1865. He was not looking for a fight. He did so because he loved his country and what it represented and because he feared the Confederacy - an idea with which he, his family, and his community disagreed. McTeer grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee, a state that seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, although it did so reluctantly. McTeer might just have easily sided with the rest of his state, put aside his allegiances, and cast his lot with the Confederacy. Many others did. McTeer did not. In 1862, when McTeer made his way past Confederate patrols, traveled to the Cumberland Gap, and joined what became the Third Tennessee Volunteer Cavalry, the end of the war and its outcome was by no means certain. Had the Confederacy prevailed, he might have become an outcast - or even a traitor - unable to return to his beloved mountains. McTeer took that risk, as did many other sons of the South, and the nation owes all those like him a huge debt of gratitude. In this book, McTeer gives us what we find all too rarely: a detailed, exciting, but modest account of his actions and his reasons for taking those actions. He remembers his friends and neighbors with whom he fought. Many of them returned home to live active and productive lives. Many of them did not. McTeer does not dwell on justifications or rationalizations. The reasons he gave three years of his life to his country are self-evident to him, and he assumes, rightly so, that they should be self-evident to others. *** This book is published as part of the Blount County Public Library's Southern Appalachian Studies Editions. These editions are produced and marketed by the Blount Country Friends of the Library. More information about other titles in this series can be found elsewhere in this book. The editor of the series is Jim Stovall.…