Wind on the River

A Sto­ry of the Civ­il War

Wind on the Riv­er reveals the com­ing-of-age expe­ri­ence of 15-year-old Pri­vate John Grif­fith Allen, a Con­fed­er­ate sol­dier from South Car­oli­na. Pri­vate Allen sur­vives the Bat­tle of Get­tys­burg in 1863 only to be cap­tured by Yan­kee sol­diers and sent as a pris­on­er of war to the noto­ri­ous death trap called Point Lookout.

After tak­ing the oath of alle­giance, switch­ing sides, and becom­ing a “Gal­va­nized Yan­kee,” Grif­fith is sent to remote Fort Rice on the upper Mis­souri Riv­er in Dako­ta Ter­ri­to­ry. There he strug­gles to dis­cov­er who he is while sur­viv­ing the rig­ors of a hos­tile new envi­ron­ment and a ter­ri­fy­ing Indi­an war.

His encounter with two half-sis­ters liv­ing at Fort Rice chal­lenges his prej­u­dices and forces him to com­plete­ly recon­sid­er what it means to be a hero.

The book con­tains orig­i­nal pho­tos, sketch­es, map, and doc­u­ments of life as a “gal­va­nized Yan­kee” in Dakota.