Pale Blue Light
A Novel By
Skip Tucker
NewSouth Books
Montgomery
NewSouth Books
105 South Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
Copyright 2012 by Skip Tucker. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by NewSouth Books, a division of NewSouth, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60306-205-3
ebook ISBN: 978-1-60306-206-0
LCCN: 2012013105
Visit www.newsouthbooks.com.
I dedicate this book, foremost, to my wife Lissa and my son Jeb.
Having saved my life, they became it.
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
— Matthew Arnold, “Dover Beach”
Hush now, or Stonewall will get you.
— Washington city mother to her fretful child
We see him now,—the old slouched hat
Cocked o’er his eye askew;
The shrewd, dry smile, the speech so pat,
So calm, so blunt, so true.
The “Blue-Light Elder” knows ’em well;
Says he, “That’s Banks,—he’s fond of shell;
Lord save his soul! we’ll give him hell,”
That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
Silence! ground arms! kneel all! caps off!
Old “Blue Light’s” going to pray.
Strangle the fool that dares to scoff!
Attention! it’s his way.
Appealing from his native sod,
“Hear us, hear us Almighty God,
Lay bare Thine arm; stretch forth Thy rod!”
That’s “Stonewall Jackson’s way.”
— John Williamson Palmer, “Stonewall Jackson’s Way”
Contents
5 - Standing Like a Stone Wall
6 - The World’s Largest General Store
8 - Bad Day for the Black Horse
9 - A Mutually Beneficial Arrangement
18 - Bait; and Too Many Tangles
This is not a history book, but historical fiction. While I have described battles as accurately as possible, there are inconsistencies in the interest of storyline and movement. I own them.
It is also likely that I have wronged one of history’s great generals, A. P. Hill. There is possibility, however small, that I am right.
There is authentic intrigue. I found once, in a tenth grade literature book published in the twenties, an account of that night in Chancellorsville by someone in the reconnaissance party who described “a shadowy presence” bent over the stricken Stonewall. I never relocated it.
Finally, this is not about the Civil War. It is an espionage, spy thriller set in the War Between The States. Importantly, one of my goals is to humanize the legendary Jackson and to provide a fun, thrilling read and ride. I hope folks enjoy it.
With appreciation: