The Darkest Night: A Novel on Reconstruction in the South

Freeze Time Media released “The Darkest Night: A Novel on Reconstruction in the South” on May 5, 2015. 

Darkest Night Front Cover

Author Joe Poindexter follows three disappointed Confederate soldiers as they leave for home in Arkansas after the last Civil War battle in North Carolina. As the three friends travel the poor country roads back west, they are exposed to the ravaged South and most of the major problems of the early Reconstruction period. The men observe the ruined Southland, the burned homes, farms, and plantations. They encounter homeless whites and numerous bands of wandering, freed Afro–Americans, all poor and hungry. Cruel Union soldiers and lawless Rebel soldiers, including deserters, only make things worse. And very quickly, the travelers realize that a new force has developed in their beloved Southland. The Ku Klux Klan has begun to fill the lawless void in the South. The question: is the Klan an ally or an enemy? Earl Forrest, with his wife, Emily, and a small daughter in Helena, Arkansas, worries constantly about his small family and their welfare. Al Emerson meets a beautiful, young woman who was raped during the war. She has a black child. But in love, he swears to return to Georgia in the immediate future and marry his new love, Rachel. The third soldier, Murlan Skidoff, known to his friends as “Squirrel,” worries about his older mother, father, and older sister, Mavis, and whether they survived the war. And finally, a black Rebel, Jim Washington, befriended by the white Rebs, will join up with the men and become a dear friend as they move back to their homes in Arkansas. Jim wonders how his mammy, a slave cook on an Arkansas plantation, is surviving after being freed. The four men will definitely come to realize that the Reconstruction era is one of the darkest periods in the history of the Southern United States.

This book is available through Amazon as a paperback and an ebook.

This is Joe’s third book. He is also the author of “Blue: A Novel on the Civil War,” and “A Divided State: A Civil War Novel.”

Visit Joe’s Author Page to learn more about him.

A Divided State: A Civil War Novel

Freeze Time Media recently released “A Divided State: A Civil War Novel.” Gravelly, Arkansas, was not too different from most small, towns in rural Arkansas. For the most part, there was not a great disparity in terms of wealth between the mostly lower middle class and a sizable lower class. Though poor, and largely uneducated, the hardworking Yell County residents were able to scratch out a living in the rocky soil of the Fourche River Valley. Cotton, the cash crop of the South, allowed most families to live reasonably happy, rewarding lives.

Though backward by some standards, the people were, for the most part, honest, hardworking, and God fearing. The standard of living was improving for most, and a brighter future lay ahead. Few people ever left Yell County and moved away. Most grew up there, got little education, selected a Yell County mate, bore children, worked hard, died, and were buried in one of the cemeteries. Since the industrious natives seldom had time for visiting and fellowship, they always enjoyed the occasional gatherings, whether church, revival, sale day, or even funerals or wakes. A segregated society existed, yet some knew not why since there were almost no blacks in Yell County. Of course, very few whites could have afforded to own a slave.

Beginning on May 6, 1861, life would begin to drastically change for most people in Yell County. Secession from the Union would change everything. Four young men, fast friends, would join the state militia. The four friends, all from slightly different social–economic levels and backgrounds, would become soldiers and prepare for the approaching invasion of Arkansas by Federal troops. From a training base at Van Buren, Arkansas, the Arkansas militia would march north to meet a Federal army moving down from Springfield, Missouri. The battle, on March 6-7, 1862, would be the largest Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi River. The battle would result in a divided state of Arkansas, with a Federal capital at Little Rock and a Confederate capital at Washington, Arkansas.

“A Divided State: A Civil War Novel” is available in print from Amazon. The ebook is available from various sources, including Amazon, the iBookstore and Barnes and Noble.

Visit Joe’s Author Page to learn more about him.