By the Red Glare

This sprawling Civil War novel vividly explores the collapse of the Confederacy as General Sherman marches on the South Carolina capital.

Fear and brutality grip Columbia, South Carolina, in the winter of 1865 as General William Tecumseh Sherman continues his march to the sea and advances on the capital city where secession began. John Mark Sibley-Jones's By the Red Glare takes us into the lives of representative citizens—black and white, men and women, Confederates and Unionists, civilians and combatants, freed and shackled, sane and insane—on the eve of historic destruction.


The Columbia hospital is overcrowded with wounded soldiers from both sides and old animosities threaten an outbreak of violence in this place of healing. Less than two miles from the hospital stands the Lunatic Asylum, whose yard is occupied by hundreds of prisoners—some of whom are plotting a risky escape. In the heart of the city, Confederate leaders gather with General James Chesnut to plan a battle strategy, only to hear cannon fire announcing the arrival of Sherman's troops.

Foreword by historian Marion B. Lucas, author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia