True Blue Confederate:

Real events that occurred in the Civil War of Tennessee and a soldier's struggle to save his very soul. Stones River - December 31st, 1862 The battle in middle Tennessee has begun and Confederate Sergeant Jon Lyhton is lost amid scattered skirmishers. Jon obtains a Union overcoat to survive the freezing night, but his desperate attempts to survive backfire in a horrid twist that only war can deliver. Disillusioned with himself and the lack of Confederate efforts to win the battle, Jon is confronted with failure and dishonor. For atonement, he must take heroic, but drastic action to avert the very judgment of God and his faith is tested to the limits of the human will. In vivid contrast are Jon’s experiences of the previous summer at the Cumberland Gap in Eastern Tennessee. While in the 11th Tennessee Regiment, he is introduced to garrison duty, first combat and the cold realities of war. Unionist partisans populate the nearby hills and there, Jon meets Bethanna, the daughter of German farming emigrants. As her serene valley is threatened by the encroaching sectional conflict, she must find a way to rise above the chaos of love and war. True Blue Confederate is a dynamic historical fiction surging with action, morality, and compassion during extremely difficult circumstances. Culminating in a heart-clinching final day at Stones River (Murfreesboro), Staten M. Rall proves that passionate characters still live and breathe in deeds of chivalry and honor.

Staten M. Rall was born in San Luis Obispo, California in 1966. The War Between the States or The American Civil War had always been a personal family experience for Staten. His two grandmothers are direct descendants of Confederate soldiers, one from Alabama, and one from South Carolina. His father's family emigrated from Germany to Iowa in the 1840's and married into families that provided soldiers for the Union. True Blue Confederate is a child of this legacy. Over the last twenty years, Staten has immersed himself in Confederate lore, family histories and military knowledge, which endeared him to share a new version of a soldier's struggle. From the short stories he fashioned, the novel True Blue Confederate began to take shape. Creativity is plentiful for Staten and he is a commissioned artist, songwriter, musician, and writer. He lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida.