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| The Rebel Chaplain working on Chapter 4 |
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| Amos the Crow keeping an eye on things!!! |
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Working On Chapter 4 ~ "I Guess Jedediah Was Right After All!"
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Book # 1 "Amos and His Adventure at Antietam" Portion of the First Chapter
Chapter # 1 of the first book in the Battlefield Critters series is finished and submitted to my publisher/editor for critiquing. I have three more chapters completed and am waiting for a response for the first chapter and then I will submit the other chapters for their critiquing. I am including a small portion of the first chapter "The Secret Plans" here for your approval!!!! Let me know what you think. Bear in mind, these books are targeted for 4th and 5th graders (or at least those with a similar mentality.)
Chapter 1 "The Secret Plans"
The Miller cornfield was one of the largest fields in the small town of
Sharpsburg, Maryland. It‘s rows ands rows of corn with their bright yellow
ears seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. It was here that Amos felt
the most at home , for his family had lived in a large maple tree next to
a similar corn field in Manassas, Virginia. It was in Manassas where Amos
was separated from his parents during the first major battle of the War back
in July of 1861. After the smoke cleared on the battlefield, Amos went back
to the woods where his maple tree home was. When he landed there, his
parents were gone, the nest was gone, in fact, the whole blasted tree was
gone! A large Union cannonball had ripped through this portion of the
woods and left a large area of splintered trees and destroyed bushes. As
Amos looked at the damaged woodlot he noticed a small group of other
woodland critters who had now lost their homes. Amos asked if any of them
had seen a pair of crows in the area when the woods were attacked. A young
squirrel, named Otis, spoke up and told Amos he had seen the two flying
north, away from the battlefield right after the woods were destroyed. Amos
hopped from one foot to the other, “That’s gotta be them! I’ve gotta find
them! Now the first thing to do is to figure out how.” As Amos was saying
this he noticed a large group of soldiers in gray, brown and even blue
uniforms coming his way. He moved even faster from foot to foot and began
to bob his head up and down, “Aha! That there’s the answer, I’ll hitch a ride
with these fellas.” Not really knowing where they were going, it still seemed
to be a good idea. As the soldiers got closer one of them motioned toward
Amos, “Hey! Why don’t we help this little feller out, and take him with us.”
These words made the feathers on Amos’ neck stand straight up. “I like that
idea!” added another soldier who was wearing a brownish colored
uniform. As Amos heard these words, he flew up and landed on the shoulder
of the first soldier. “I think he likes you, Major!” Laughed brown uniform.
“It appears he does,” the major chuckled, “I guess he is one of our new
recruits!” Amos laughed on the inside and thought to himself, “A soldier in
the Confederate Army? That would certainly be an honor!” With that the
Confederate Army , along with their newest “recruit”, started heading down
the dirt road out of town.
The War slowed down quite a bit after Manassas. The soldiers in blue hadn‘t
expected such a ragtag group of fighters to whip them as they had. In fact,
the Southerners called it “The Great Skedaddle”, all of those soldiers in blue
running all the way back to Washington DC. This was not going to be a
short war. The Confederates may have been short of men , supplies and
ammunition, but the one thing they weren’t short on was courage! Amos
enjoyed his journey with his new friends, but he was still missing his
parents, of course. Amos wasn’t a real young crow, he was I guess what you
would call a “teen crow”. He was constantly watching and learning from the
men and one in particular seemed to help him and teach him the most about
being a good Southern soldier. The men referred to him as “Sarge”, so that’s
what Amos called him when he described him to his woodland critter
friends. Amos loved shiny items and he always brought Sarge various
“gifts”, including buttons, coins and other shiny items he found around the
campsite. Sarge was the one who trained the men the most and Amos
watched all of this while doing his best to imitate it. Through all of this
Amos was learning some very important disciplines that would help him out
in the future, but we will get to that a little later on.
During the later part of 1861 the first part of 1862 the Union Army was still
involved in restructuring it’s army to be more efficient. And because of this
slow period, many of the men were able to go home for a short time on what
is known as a furlough. So, as it would happen, Sarge was able to go home
and visit his wife and his 4 children in the small town of Sharpsburg,
Maryland. And who would be going along with Sarge, but Amos himself.
Now, remember the Miller cornfield that was spoken of a while back? This
is the area of the countryside where Amos chose to camp out. He was close
to the pond over on the Roulette Farm and he was especially happy to be so
close to all of that delicious, yellow corn in Mr. Millers‘ cornfield. Amos
liked it here so much that when Sarge returned to the Army of Northern
Virginia, Amos decided to stay in Sharpsburg and keep looking for his folks.
So Amos became friends with many of the young critters in the Sharpsburg
area and some he grew closer to than others. His best friend in the area was
a friendly rooster named Muldoon.
Chapter 1 "The Secret Plans"
The Miller cornfield was one of the largest fields in the small town of
Sharpsburg, Maryland. It‘s rows ands rows of corn with their bright yellow
ears seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. It was here that Amos felt
the most at home , for his family had lived in a large maple tree next to
a similar corn field in Manassas, Virginia. It was in Manassas where Amos
was separated from his parents during the first major battle of the War back
in July of 1861. After the smoke cleared on the battlefield, Amos went back
to the woods where his maple tree home was. When he landed there, his
parents were gone, the nest was gone, in fact, the whole blasted tree was
gone! A large Union cannonball had ripped through this portion of the
woods and left a large area of splintered trees and destroyed bushes. As
Amos looked at the damaged woodlot he noticed a small group of other
woodland critters who had now lost their homes. Amos asked if any of them
had seen a pair of crows in the area when the woods were attacked. A young
squirrel, named Otis, spoke up and told Amos he had seen the two flying
north, away from the battlefield right after the woods were destroyed. Amos
hopped from one foot to the other, “That’s gotta be them! I’ve gotta find
them! Now the first thing to do is to figure out how.” As Amos was saying
this he noticed a large group of soldiers in gray, brown and even blue
uniforms coming his way. He moved even faster from foot to foot and began
to bob his head up and down, “Aha! That there’s the answer, I’ll hitch a ride
with these fellas.” Not really knowing where they were going, it still seemed
to be a good idea. As the soldiers got closer one of them motioned toward
Amos, “Hey! Why don’t we help this little feller out, and take him with us.”
These words made the feathers on Amos’ neck stand straight up. “I like that
idea!” added another soldier who was wearing a brownish colored
uniform. As Amos heard these words, he flew up and landed on the shoulder
of the first soldier. “I think he likes you, Major!” Laughed brown uniform.
“It appears he does,” the major chuckled, “I guess he is one of our new
recruits!” Amos laughed on the inside and thought to himself, “A soldier in
the Confederate Army? That would certainly be an honor!” With that the
Confederate Army , along with their newest “recruit”, started heading down
the dirt road out of town.
The War slowed down quite a bit after Manassas. The soldiers in blue hadn‘t
expected such a ragtag group of fighters to whip them as they had. In fact,
the Southerners called it “The Great Skedaddle”, all of those soldiers in blue
running all the way back to Washington DC. This was not going to be a
short war. The Confederates may have been short of men , supplies and
ammunition, but the one thing they weren’t short on was courage! Amos
enjoyed his journey with his new friends, but he was still missing his
parents, of course. Amos wasn’t a real young crow, he was I guess what you
would call a “teen crow”. He was constantly watching and learning from the
men and one in particular seemed to help him and teach him the most about
being a good Southern soldier. The men referred to him as “Sarge”, so that’s
what Amos called him when he described him to his woodland critter
friends. Amos loved shiny items and he always brought Sarge various
“gifts”, including buttons, coins and other shiny items he found around the
campsite. Sarge was the one who trained the men the most and Amos
watched all of this while doing his best to imitate it. Through all of this
Amos was learning some very important disciplines that would help him out
in the future, but we will get to that a little later on.
During the later part of 1861 the first part of 1862 the Union Army was still
involved in restructuring it’s army to be more efficient. And because of this
slow period, many of the men were able to go home for a short time on what
is known as a furlough. So, as it would happen, Sarge was able to go home
and visit his wife and his 4 children in the small town of Sharpsburg,
Maryland. And who would be going along with Sarge, but Amos himself.
Now, remember the Miller cornfield that was spoken of a while back? This
is the area of the countryside where Amos chose to camp out. He was close
to the pond over on the Roulette Farm and he was especially happy to be so
close to all of that delicious, yellow corn in Mr. Millers‘ cornfield. Amos
liked it here so much that when Sarge returned to the Army of Northern
Virginia, Amos decided to stay in Sharpsburg and keep looking for his folks.
So Amos became friends with many of the young critters in the Sharpsburg
area and some he grew closer to than others. His best friend in the area was
a friendly rooster named Muldoon.
Meet Amos!!!
This cute feller is Amos the Crow!!!! He is the main character in the Battlefield Critters book series. In Book # 1 "Amos and His Adventure at Antietam", we find out how Amos starts his adventure and we meet some of his friends that he has made in Sharpsburg, Maryland.
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