FICTION - Historical

THE UNION FOREVER

In Search of Honor Book III

by Russell A. Dole
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     The author is a retired history teacher from Rockland, Maine,  where he, his wife Darcy, son Ben, and daughter Carrie lived for several years. He and his wife currently reside in South Portland.
Abraham Lincoln’s election as sixteenth president of the United States in November, 1860, has brought about a national crisis. South Carolina, a state that has promoted the idea of secession for nearly thirty years, finally makes good on that threat, and withdraws from the Union on December 20. By early 1861, six more “cotton states” are ready to follow South Carolina’s lead, putting the United States, entering into its eighty-fifth year of existence, in jeopardy of an all-out civil war. For Benjamin Dean, recently graduated from Bowdoin College, tough decisions lie ahead. Should he continue to pursue his future career path by apprenticing in a law office, or by offering to remain in Rockland to support his brother Sam who manages the family shipbuilding business, or should he volunteer his services in the defense of the Union if the threat of secession leads to civil war? The choice he makes will bring him into contact with an old adversary that will affect not only his life but also the lives of his family, his friends, and the many new people he meets along the way.