Eureka Valley: Grandfathers' Grandfathers

“Steeped in a reverence for the rivers, woods, land and people of this nation...”
Dr. Carolyn Wedin
Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin

Who won America’s Civil War?

Lycurgus Bell and more than 100,000 Southern soldiers who fought for Abraham Lincoln thought they knew. They were wrong. Eureka Valley – Grandfathers' Grandfathers tells their story.

Readers who love Jane Smiley, E.L. Doctrow or Geraldine Brooks will feel right at home with this magical telling of American history.

Grounded in northwestern Wisconsin’s glacial landscape, this powerful tale unravels the roots that bind two modern farm families to their ancestors, Lycurgus Bell and Wood John Johnson.

Born to an Alabama family loyal to the Union, Lycurgus serves in Lincoln’s Civil War army. Returning home a victor, he expects his just rewards. Instead, the Union he suffered greatly to save hangs him out to dry. Driven from home, Lycurgus and his wife seek refuge with their prized gaited horses in Eureka Valley.

Swedish immigrant, Wood John Johnson, spends years felling Wisconsin’s forests and cruising new timber stands for East Coast financiers. Upon entering Eureka Valley’s unique transitional ecosystem, he glimpses a different way of life that lives on today.

These uncommon characters and others such as Sylvester Partridge, Bratch Porter, Chickamauga, Peder Borgen, Waabani and Mountain Slasher, are drawn from the real people who fought the Civil War and made colonization of America’s vast heartland possible.

Dozens of hyperlinks in this eBook enrich the story with everything from music to tractors and sweet flowering trees.

"Meticulously researched with a haunting sense of place, Eureka Valley will give the reader a new appreciation for the history of the land."

Sue Leaf
Author of A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts