Marching Through Culpeper

Through the pages of this meticulously researched epic march the heroes of both great armies. We share their triumphs, feel their pain, and sense their vulnerability. This gripping page-turner, set in the most marched across county of the Civil War, is sure to please lovers of history, romance, and adventure. Spirited eighteen-year-old Constance Armstrong, younger of two daughters, has been raised by her elderly judge father as a free thinking intellectual. She shares his love of politics and harbors literary aspirations. At a picnic, Constance meets West Point graduate Robert Beckam whose quiet maturity attracts her. Virginia secedes and troops flood into Culpeper for training. Constance's surrogate brother, Frank Stringfellow, is rejected by the cavalry due to his sparse size. Undeterred, he captures the pickets of one cavalry unit, and gains acceptance due to his daring. He becomes a scout and spy and undertakes countless hair-raising adventures, frequently entangling Constance. Constance is enthralled while watching John Pelham train recruits for J. E. B. Stuart's Horse Artillery. During a blizzard, Judge Armstrong invites Pelham's Alabamians to the shelter of his home, thus beginning Constance's fascination with the dashing officer. After the Confederate Army marches towards Richmond, three Union cavalrymen pilfer the Armstrong farm and kill an elderly free servant. Days later a company of Union infantry commanded by recent Harvard graduate Aaron Ames approach the farm. Constance brazenly marches out to confront them and bitterly complains about the pilfering and murder. Her spirit and beauty impress Ames. Beckam, Pelham, and Ames vie for her affection as she struggles to survive the swirling chaos of war. We watch this unpredictable heroine nurture, heal, kill, spy, hate bitterly, and ultimately love passionately Praise from Reviewers Constance, while a woman of "inordinate passion"remains chaste throughout the novel, never once compromising herself, and thus becomes even more impressive. Morton is to be commended for creating a fascinating character of such moral clarity and transparent strength. Constance Armstrong is the kind of woman not readily found in the pages of contemporary fiction. Morton even manages another tour de forcethe fictional portrayal of actual historical personages, both Southern and Northern. General Lee is here, as dignified as one would expect. So is Jeb Stuart, jovial and fun-loving. George Armstrong Custer makes a number of memorable appearances, with his flowing golden locks and his accompanying band of musicians, and it is hard, try as one may, not to like him and to be infected by his joie de vivre. Most delightful of all is Frank Stringfellow, the intrepid Confederate scout and beloved friend of Constance Armstrong, whose endless inventiveness allows him to escape the clutches of the Yankees while procuring valuable information for the Confederate Army. Finally, and best if all, Morton offers characters whose steadfastness, faith, and courage make them models of emulation. How many other present-day novels can be similarly praised? Southern Partisan Magazine, Dec. 2004

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