The Jackal's Mistress

Set in September and October of 1864, The Jackal’s Mistress takes place three years and approximately four months after Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor (April 12, 1861), the event to which many point as the beginning of the Civil War. Few expected the war to last a year; both sides envisioned a quick victory for themselves. In fact, Lee’s surrender came four long years later, on April 9, 1865, and it took another 16 months for Confederate forces to surrender and President Andrew Jackson to declare an official end to the conflict.

Years’ worth of bloody battles and skirmishes greatly weakened both the physical size of armies and soldiers’ morale on both sides. However, the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) marked the beginning of a slow turn in the North’s favor, followed by consequential events like Union General Grant’s refusal to retreat at the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-7, 1864) and his subsequent choice to press on to Richmond. The retreat of Confederate forces from Atlanta (September 1, 1864) followed, and Union General Sherman’s “march to the sea” started on November 15, 1864.

The novel’s events come shortly after Union General Grant’s order to General Philip H.