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Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon
"Raise
The Flag & Sound The Cannon" formerly titled "Raid From Hell"
by Don Davison is the historical novel recounting the 1864 raid on St. Albans,
known as the Northernmost battle of the civil war.
Buy
The Book
Where
to buy the book
Background
"The
Wide Spread and Free Soil of the Yankee" by
Don Davison. An insight into the author and his telling of the story of the raid
of 1864.
Introduction
Setting the scene of the American Civil War and how the St. Albans of the 1860's
played such a key role role
Excerpts
Excerpts
from the book
"Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon".
Book
Reviews
"Living
as we do in this bucolic out of the way rural setting, it is easy to assume that
History is something that happens somewhere else...
Read
the Sherbrooke Record Book Review from April 24th, 2009
Reader
Reviews
"Just
finished the book this evening. What a pleasant way to spend a couple of rainy
days.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
I really find a it very unique
when an author takes a historical event and historical characters and blends in
fictitious characters and fill ins.
The character John Rumsey is masterfully
blended into this event without detracting from the real life characters and the
raid itself.
I guess the biggest complement came this morning when I had
laid the book down at the breakfast table and my wife picked it up.
Keep
in mind while she loves history she could care very little about the details of
the Civil War. But after about 5 minutes of skimming the book she asked me when
I was finished to pass it on to her "because it looked very interesting".
A
book well written--Kudos Don!!
Ken Sullivan
Plymouth, Michigan
Email
The Author
Send your comments
Contact
the author, Don Davison, by email
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The Story:
The raid on St. Albans, Vermont October 19, 1864.
 During
the American Civil War, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of
America (CSA) was desperate for money and arms. One solution was to rob Union
towns close to the Canadian border and run back to the safety of Canada thereafter.
As a result a raid was planned in Montreal by the Confederate "rebels" on St.
Albans, Vermont.
A young officer was put in charge and asked what he
thought of his chances for success. “Canada can’t arrest us. They’re neutral.
We’ll call the raid a military action and besides ... it's only 14 miles back
to the border”, laughed the confident rebel leader, Lieutenant Bennett Young.
All of which is a true story.
To
give this historical novel a human interest, some fictional characters are imbedded
into the story. In particular "Doc" Rumsey, a patent medicine man and the Widow
Minnie Green, a local lady who lost her husband in the Civil War, are found on
the Green when the raid occurs.
Don
Davison's novel "Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon" centers around
Rumsey, Green and the townspeople of St. Albans, Vermont when the tranquility
of this peaceful town is destroyed by the Rebels as they rob the town's banks
of over $200,000. "That ain't just a pile of corn husks, I'll tell ya," cries
Ed Fuller, a local stable owner.
| "We
have had to use Cousin Joe's forcible expression, a Raid From Hell*.
For about half an hour yesterday afternoon I thought that we should be burnt up
and robbed. But I hope you don't imagine I was one moment frightened, though the
noise of the guns, the agitated looks of the rushing men and our powerless condition
were startingly enough."
(Excerpt from a letter by Mrs. Anne Eliza Braineard
Smith to her husband John Gregory Smith, Governor of Vermont. Ref. Carl Johnson,
The St. Albans Raid, 1864, p.44, private, 2001 and the St. Albans Historical Museum.)
*
This novel had been tentatively
titled "Raid From Hell" but will now be published by Shoreline Press
as "Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon" |
|
Don
Davison
 author
of "Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon".
Published 2008.
A historical drama recounting the raid on St. Albans of October 1864. 227 pages
with illustrations and maps.
Buy the book
*
This novel had been tentatively
titled "Raid From Hell" but will be published by Shoreline Press as
"Raise The Flag & Sound The Cannon" |
Introduction
The
middle of the 19th century in America is in a transition from huge immigration
from Europe in the first half of the century to industrial expansion, in particular
the manufacturing of iron and steel, the railways and the telegraphs, in the latter
half.
Life styles are simple. A nightly church service is the only entertainment
and diversion in town. There are no cars, trucks, phones or lights. Patent medicines
are the principal method for curing the effects of maladies but not causes. Because
of the War, St. Albans is struggling with the loss of many of its men.
When Robert E. Lee’s
Confederate Army lost the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and General Ulysses
Grant became the leader of the Union forces in the spring of 1864, the tide of
the Civil War turns against the Confederate States of America. Read
more
| The
following is a special telegram from the Editorial Correspondent of the Montreal
Gazette, at Quebec, dated yesterday evening: -- The Montreal Gazette, October
20, 1864
"From the Vermont and Boston Line: St. Albans, Vt., 19th.
-- A party of 20 rebel raiders entered this place this p.m. shooting and killing
the citizens. They robbed all the banks, stole 15 or 20 horses, killed 4 or 5
and wounded several. They have left town but are expected back soon with a large
force. If there is no error or exaggeration in this statement, a gross outrage
has been committed, in a peaceful and thriving village, situated on the Vermont
Central Railway, a short distance from Rouses Point, and not far from the borders
of Canada." | |
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