The Barefoot Brigade - by Douglas C Jones (Paperback)

About the Book

Previously published: New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, c1982.

Book Synopsis

"One of the best Civil War novels I have read."--James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

From Chickamauga to Spotsylvania, from Gettysburg to Appomattox, The Barefoot Brigade is an unforgettable Civil War novel about the brotherhood of soldiers.

War has ripped Martin Hasford's nation apart, and like many men, he is torn between his devotion to his family and his sense of duty. Leaving his wife and children behind to run the family farm near Elkhorn Tavern, Hasford embarks on a path from which he may never return--and on which he meets men as embattled as himself: the Fawley brothers, young backwoodsmen running from the; Beverly Cass, a son of plantation privilege; Guthrie Scaggs, a judge turned army officer; Sidney Dinsmore, a no-account drunk; and Liverpool Morgan, a Welsh gambler.

Together these men form a tight niche in the Third Arkansas Infantry Regiment, trudging from the Ozark foothills, headed east into one cataclysmic battle after another, determined to beat back the Yankees and end the war.

A testament to a special breed of American, The Barefoot Brigade is a work of undeniable and lasting power.

Review Quotes

"One of the best Civil War novels I have read."--James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom

"[Douglas C.] Jones writes about some of the most haunting men in the history of the American South-the dirt-farm infantry of the Confederate Army... The strength and heart of The Barefoot Brigade lies in small events, individual antagonisms, boredom, waiting, slogging, hunger. One senses the men's growing mutual dependence, a reflection of the families they have left behind, the cement that holds the Confederate Army together."--The New York Times

"Jones' new Civil War novel strives for a close-up, life-sized evocation of the conflict as it follows the men of a self-formed squad within the Thirteenth Arkansas Infantry Regiment... this is sturdy, above-average Civil War fiction- strong on unromanticized detail and day-to-day grit."--Kirkus

About the Author

Douglas C. Jones was a three-time winner of the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award, as well as the recipient of their Owen Wister Award of Lifetime Achievement. A native of Arkansas, Jones died in 1998.