They Fought Like Men

by Aiden James

“…Even though she had already embraced the idea of no longer being viewed as a woman, it was a pretense she could still back away from. It wasn’t too late, yet, to call off the entire affair and creep away as a grieving daughter, left to wait on her husband’s safe return from a war that had already decimated her world. She could do that still… or she could step into a realm where danger was the only certainty.”

And, so begins the arduous journey of Hattie Grey becoming Confederate infantryman ‘Henry’ Grey in October, 1862.

Following the destruction of her world, in the tiny hamlet of Appleton, Tennessee, Hattie is eager for vengeance against the Yankee marauders who murdered her family and dear friends. Weary of waiting on word from her husband, Jonas, presently serving in the Confederate cavalry, several months with no news have passed since their lips last touched. Rather than wait any longer for his return, Hattie daringly disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Army of Tennessee.

Hoping to find what has become of her beloved, and attain meaningful revenge, what Hattie finds instead is another woman pretending to be a male soldier…. The pair’s powerful alliance is fed by courage in facing long odds of survival. Living on the edge with nothing to lose, Hattie and Lucinda Templeton, who goes by ‘Louis’, are as fearsome as any of their male counterparts in the infantry.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Jonas Grey returns home to find a burned-out farm, along with a makeshift grave believed to be Hattie’s. Grieving under the belief that the love of his life is gone forever, Jonas aligns himself with the famed mercurial and fearless general, Albert Franklin Beaufort. The general’s Elite Company of roughshod riders and former slaves provides the only succor available for Jonas to ward off tormenting memories of his beloved wife and a blissful life together that is now gone forever.

As the Southern Cause’s demise becomes increasingly evident, husband and wife experience near misses at being reunited along the Army of Tennessee’s Hell-bent course towards eventual destruction…. Can Fate’s fickle hand finally reunite Hattie and Jonas before the burdens of the war and their shared longing for each other become permanently extinguished? Or, instead, will the continued loss of those held dear during the long and bitter conflict between the North and South prove to be too much to overcome?

These questions and more await answers in They Fought Like Men….