In 2011, my sister, Martha Hines-Templeton, author of Twice a Hero, made a trip through Virginia, Kentucky, and the Ozarks of southern Missouri, to learn as much as she could about our dad's side of the family, specifically the Hines, Sellars, Alley and Mahan's.
She sent me all the information she had come up with by visiting courthouses, libraries, and cemeteries.
She had uncovered a wealth of information that neither of us had seen before.
Our purpose in writing this historical fiction work is three-fold:
First, to write something our reads will enjoy.
Second, to write in such a way as to honor our long dead relatives.
Third, as we see our nation become more and more divided, to remind ourselves of the terrible cost of the Civil war, not only in the loss of over 630,000 lives, but also the horrendous destruction of property, and the social upheaval in so many families.
Perhaps, if we know and understand the underlying causes of our true history, another such tragedy can be averted.
