For the first in the series of featured books, I thought I'd highlight Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina, The Mountains, by William R. Trotter.

It paints a bleak picture of what the Civil War years were like in this very divided area of the Confederacy. One of the biggest surprises many may have is how bitterly divided the sentiments in the mountains were. Bushwhackers covers a good deal of ground: "bloody Madison" (The Shelton Laurel Massacre), Kirk's raiders, Thomas' Legion. Well researched documentation as well as oral histories are used to take you back in time as the events unfolded. If you have ancestors that were in the Mountains of North Carolina during the Civil War it is well worth reading. If you have ancestors from this area that fought in the Civil War