The Skirmisher

About the Book

This a story of a group of boyhood chums from a small town in South-western Michigan serving under Gen. U.S. Grant during his first foray down through the middle of Mississippi as he began his campaign to capture Vicksburg. The boys found themselves caught up in a seemingly never-ending, grizzly war. One young man hoped to use his pay from the army to eventually be able to purchase a farm and begin building for the future with the love of his life. So, it is also a love story of the girl left behind as the diary’s author enlisted rather than be drafted.

If you have ever wished to know what the day-to-day existence was like, this is your opportunity. The author of the diary describes many instances that happened, which only an eyewitness could relate. These events took place during Gen. Grant’s first foray into northern Mississippi as he struggled to capture Vicksburg.

This is a love story of two young people caught up in those turbulent times. The young man going off to war in hopes of being able to come home and provide for his love. The girl staying home and her only contact with her love is by writing letters to him and trusting they could be delivered as he moved rapidly from battle to battle.

This story is based on his diary, family legends and letters to his family. It is also an account of life in pre-Civil War days. In this book you will experience the excitement of enemy ambushes, agony of forced marches, sorrow of losing a beloved mount, despair of seemingly endless involvement in fighting and eventually the joy of returning to the girl he loves as can only be told in an eye-witness account.

About the Author

J.R. Higgins is a descendant of two pioneering families, one northern and the other southern. She lived in Colorado and Kansas until her parents moved to Southern California. Her love of horses began at an early age and has continued to this day. She became an excellent rider and devoted horse owner by her teen years. Upon reading the diary that her Great-Grandfather had meticulously kept during his service with the cavalry she felt a closeness to him because of a love for horses. This developed into a desire to learn more about his life and times and eventually led to a compulsion to write about what may have happened in his life. The author is in possession of the original day-to-day diary of her Great-Grandfather who served in the Union Army, Third Michigan Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. She has ancestors who served on each side of this tragic conflict. She has developed a story based upon the diary and the beautiful girl he left behind when he enlisted. It is an account of his life during the pre-Civil War days and while he served in the Third Michigan Cavalry.