A War Between the States

"A War Between the States" is a novel about a young woman who dresses as a man and fights in the American Civil War as a soldier. Georgia Stephens is a woman who grows up on a Virginia wheat farm with her father and younger brother. When the American Civil War breaks out, their slaves escape and their farm enterprise falls apart. When her father dies and her brother runs off to join the Confederate cause, Georgia moves to Washington City to built a new life. When she finally lands a job as a telegrapher, she is eventually recruited into the war as part of the newly formed Balloon Corps. From there, she ends up in combat and is eventually captured. It is a story of adaptability in the face of challenge and discovering one's passion through self-discovery.

This is the story of Georgia, a young woman living a bucolic life on her father’s prosperous Virginia farm … until the Civil War explodes all around her. In short order the slaves flee; Georgia’s father commits suicide; and her dissolute brother Thaddeus runs off to join the Confederate Army. Jolted from her complaisance, Georgia quickly realizes that she is a traitor twice over: a Union sympathizer and a discontented debutante. Emboldened by tragedy, dreaming of a more meaningful life, she moves to Washington City. There desperation and determination compel her to attempt the unthinkable: reinvented as “George,” she secures a position first as an apprentice telegraph operator, then as a civilian “brass pounder” in the newly formed Union Army Balloon Corps. Georgia discovers that life as a man has its own injustices when she is drummed out of the Balloon Corps, but her restless search for fulfillment compels her to accept when a general recruits her to the front lines of the Union army. The cost of her convictions is hardship, capture, and cruel confinement in notorious Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Her sole comfort there is her comrade in arms Archibald, who soon succumbs to death … only after revealing that his heart saw through her deception long before. Georgia is narrowly rescued from the same fate by her Aunt Flora, a Richmond aristocrat. Weary, wiser, but undaunted, Georgia recovers and returns to Washington City, accompanied by her oldest friend and confidante, the wealthy dandy Borley. He soon secures them a place among the beau monde of Washington, but Georgia still aches for something more. When she rejects his suit, Borley settles a sizeable fortune on her and returns to Richmond, leaving Georgia with the courage of her convictions … finally free to work, live, and love as an equal.

Kellie has been writing seriously for about fifteen years, the author of six screenplays and a young adult novel. She spent three years living in Northern Ireland and has lived in California, Washington, Illinois, Ohio, and Virginia. Travel is her drug of choice. Her formal education includes a B.A. degree in English and a M.S. in College Student Personnel. She shares her life with her adorable husband, Jim, her adorable cat, Mystic, and her adorable Border Collie, Cogan. All four live in Culpeper, Virginia.