The Draw: a Kentucky Civil War story
By Ed Ford
A/E Press, Richmond, KY 2007
100 pgs, $19.95
ISBN-13: 978-0-9790010-0-0
The Draw slaps leather with the best of them
No war has had more written about it that the American Civil War and yet, most accounts are tactical recounts of the battles themselves. Only occasionally does a writer such as Michael Shara or Stephen Crane come along who breathes life into the men who fought that war. The Draw: a Kentucky Civil war story recounts the battle of Richmond and a smashing victory for the Confederates.
But where most civil war books recount the events, Ed Ford, with the stroke of a master penman, paints the lives of the men who fought and the very depth of their souls is portrayed in this fascinating account. Reading The Draw is a step back in time...a step into the war itself... a step into the lives of fictional people who could have existed. And it is a story of the women who risked their lives to further a cause. The story of those who chose to remain neutral. And a story of those who aided wounded men, regardless of the uniform's color.
Open this book and time stands still. Open this book and the reader feels the breeze of a musket ball passing his ear; hears the shattering cannons as they burst shell after shell upon the enemy; taste the grass and roots hungry men eat as they search for food; sample the muddy water as they quench their thirst in cloudy streams; experience the sensation of killing your first enemy. Open this book and the dynamics seize the reader and captivate him.
Seldom does a historian write with such clarity. I can think of but a few who have done so. Kenneth Roberts. Thomas B.Costain, Stephen Crane and now, Ed Ford. The Draw is for that wide audience appeal of those who love the Civil War, those who find solace in military history, those who enjoy knowing others, and those who simply want to know in a way they can understand, or those who simply want a mesmerizing book to savor.. Ed Ford has accomplished all this and more in The Draw: a Kentucky Civil War story.
Russell Vassallo 360 311
Krazy Duck Productions
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Civil War Battle Comes to Life
The Draw is a fast-paced and fascinating account of the Battle of Richmond. Although the battle was the second largest to be fought in Kentucky and was one of “the most decisive and complete Confederate victories of the entire war,” it has been overlooked because it was fought at the same time as Second Manassas. Ed Ford has created, as he puts it, “a work of Faction – fiction based on fact” – to make the battle come to life.
It is apparent that Mr. Ford has done his research. Vivid descriptions of the aftermath of the battle were particularly compelling. The description of the Mt. Zion Church, used as a field hospital for both northern and southern wounded, made me feel as if I were in the church – hearing the cries of the wounded, feeling the heat, smelling the stench, and seeing the bloodstains.
I particularly like Mr. Ford’s use of dialogue. No dry history here! The reader learns through conversations that the common soldiers on both sides were pretty much the same – young men, many from farms, who were just doing their duty as they saw it. Northern fears were voiced succinctly: “If Kirby Smith crosses the Kentucky River there’s nothing to keep him from invading Ohio.” Southern reasons for seceding from the Union were stated just as clearly.
This gem of a book has everything – troop movements, skirmishes and battles, the field hospital, civilians who were affected by the battle in their midst, and spies for the South. There is even one retreating Union soldier who felt he was “an offensive majority of one,” since he still managed to fire a few shots as he ran.
As I read The Draw, I realized it is a cross between The Killer Angels and The Red Badge of Courage. This is a not-to-be-missed book.
Virginia G. Vassallo
Unsung Patriot: Guy T. Viskniskki
How The Stars and Stripes Began
www.krazyduck.com
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Draw provides flavor, effects of Kentucky Civil War battle
This novelette, written by a distinguished author and preservationist, is an impressionistic recounting of the August 1862 Battle of Richmond, Kentucky, through the eyes of participants on both sides. The battle’s power and drama comes to life in these pages.
Ford does not give a blow-by-blow account of the campaign, opting instead to string a series of vignettes together to compile the story of the greatest Confederate victory of the Civil War. His characters range from Union and Confederate officers and privates to civilians, and a Confederate spy in Richmond. Some of these characters are real people while others are fictionalized. Several of Ford’s vignettes, all based on historical research, are very powerful, and convey the horror of war in graphic detail.
The book features strong, tight writing, which keeps its pace fluid. Ed’s passion for his subject comes through in these pages. A cast of characters in the back is very useful to help keep track.
I recommend this book for all those who want to get a flavor for Civil War battles and their effects on the localities where they occur.
Christopher L. Kolakowski
Executive Director
Perryville, Kentucky Battlefield Preservation Association
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