James Haydock

Against the Grain James Haydock

Children of the grain. When the horror came they went against the grain. A  community of Quakers in eastern North Carolina finds itself caught up in the action of the Civil War. Union and  Confederate armies tramp through the region, bivouacking wherever they choose, destroying anything in their path, and confiscating as the war drags on everything of value. A close-knit Quaker family, entrenched in rural tradition and unswerving faith, quietly resists the ugly brutality of war. When two of their men refuse to pay the exemption tax, they become unwilling Confederate soldiers in the vanguard at Gettysburg and Petersburg. At home their women suffer nocturnal danger and deprivation until the horror ends. Against the Grain is a story of courage and endurance in the maw of adversity. It is a novel closely based on historical fact, Confederate records, and Quaker tradition.