Jake McKenzie

Jeff Drifmeyer was on active duty for over two decades in the Army Medical Service Corps, serving overseas twice and throughout the U.S. including duty at Fort Monroe. He's been an award-winning research professor at the military's medical school, Uniformed Services University of Health Science, and a division chief at the founding of the National Center for Medical Intelligence.

He was working at the Veteran's Affairs hospital in Hampton, when suddenly diagnosed with rare neuroendocrine cancer. During this ongoing struggle, he's reinventing himself as an author. AKA Jake Mckensie,

Civil War Comes Home by Jake McKenzie

What did life hold for residents of a small, sleepy town 150 yrs ago, when the Civil War arrived on the doorstep?

Williamsburg's tranquility was suddenly 'gone with the wind,' as citizens had to decide, flee or stay; students to return home or join up; and slaves either runaway or remain. All under vainglorious Generals, Washington and Richmond politics, and blockade-caused shortages of every necessity imaginable.

Yet, somehow, people fall in love, even marry, care for wounded, and survive hardship and deprivation.

These are the stories of real people from diverse walks of life during the Peninsula campaign. From massing Federals at Fort Monroe through the battles of Big Bethel and Williamsburg and the subsequent occupation, these are the stories of how people from diverse walks of life survived when the Civil War Comes Home.