Mystic Chords

Mystic Chords centers on a family of immigrant settlers in the Minnesota River Valley who with their neighbors are quickly engulfed in simultaneous culture collisions-Red versus White and Blue versus Gray. One family member and several neighbors enlist in the Minnesota First Regiment and serve with that renowned unit in Civil War campaigns. The remaining family members and other area settlers experience a destructive, bloody Indian Uprising that sees the slaying of 600 settlers and soldiers and the capture and captivity of more than 200 women and children, and eventually, the execution of 38 convicted Sioux warriors at Mankato.

Written in a style concordant with the period depicted, Mystic Chords features authentic historical content and settings, and a full range of unforgettable characters.

All people will relate to its themes of the hardships of immigration and pioneering, the camaraderie, anguish, and violence of war, the misunderstandings and injustices of colliding cultures, the treasures of family and heritage, and the indomitable will of people to survive and abide.

William Ridley is a retired educator and administrator who resides with his wife, Lucille, in St. Paul near their five children and eleven grandchildren. "Mystic Chords," a historical novel that follows a Minnesota family in the 1860s through the Civil War and the Dakota conflict, is his first book. Inspiration for the story came during a trip to the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, PA. The Minnesota Historical Society has included the book as part of its permanant library collection.