R. W. 'Ben' Benoit

I became interested in Historical Fiction in a round-about way: Genealogy. I discovered that my family tree revealed 10 generations of Benoits. Most were quite boring, i.e. date of birth, name of spouse, children, died and buried in, etc..

I was far more intrigued by the times they lived in, their culture and livelyhood. These skeletons must have had flesh at one time. What might have been their emotions, their thoughts as they passed through events now historical? I learned that one of my ancestors, Joseph, lived in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) and was deported from his homeland by the English in 1755. He found himself in an English colony called the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where I was born 180 years later. I had to make this Acadian come alive, and in so doing, his life gave me a richer understanding of the history of that period. The result is one of my first books, Surviving Damnation. It's considered a prototype of how to make one's family history authentic as well as captivating for future generations.

In the same fashion is Battle At The Pass, an epic account of a little-known Civil War battle called Glorieta Pass, involving Texans, New Mxicans and the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers. The battle is often referred to as the the Gettysburg of the West.