I am so excited to share my review of Mendota and the Restive Rivers of the Indian and Civil Wars 1861-65 (The Simmons family saga) by Dane Pizzuti Krogman. Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for your invite to take part in the tour.
of the Indian and Civil Wars 1861-65
(The Simmons family saga)
By Dane Pizzuti Krogman
The father, Dan enlists in the 1st regiment of Minnesota volunteers as a teamster. His two sons, who are both underage join the 2nd Regiment. John, aged 16 becomes a bugler and William, aged 15 becomes a drummer. Their sister, Sara is left behind with their mother, Louise to fend for themselves. Dan is sent east to fight with the Army of the Potomac while his sons are sent to the western theater to serve in the army of the Cumberland. Back in Mendota, their neighbor and close friend, Colonel Henry Sibley is ordered to stay in the state to control the Indian uprising.
Dan will see action up through the battle of Antietam. He will later find himself in the hospital in Washington DC where he befriends a comrade also from the 1st Regiment. His sons barely miss the action at Shiloh but after, are engaged in all the major battles in the West. While they are passing through Louisville, William falls for a young woman, Mary who works as a hospital nurse. Back in Mendota, Sara befriends a young Chippewa native boy while her mother struggles with the breakup of her family. After Colonel Sibley defeats the Sioux, he is promoted to General and ordered to round up all the Dakota and push resettle them in the Dakotas.
This leads to the punitive expeditions that he and General Sully will command up until 1864. William is captured at the battle up Missionary Ridge and then sent to the prison camp at Belle Isle, VA. and then onto Andersonville. GA. John receives a 30 day furlough and returns to Mendota before he re-enlists. Louise and Sara wait for the war’s end so the family can be reunited, but events may not turn out as anticipated.
I loved this book! It is such a mixed pot of writing styles. Sometimes it reads like a historical factual book, listing dates and battles etc... Then there is a good portion of fiction thrown in which gives the readers a chance to experience what life must have been like during this era. There are also multiple narratives as the author follows one character and then changes to the other which I felt made this story incredibly fast-paced. We witnessed the Civil War through the eyes of the Simmon's menfolk, but then we also witness what it was like to be the women who were left alone, who had to defend their homes on their own. Add to this the tension brewing with the Dakota tribes, then you have a book that is guaranteed to keep you reading all night!
The historical detailing in this novel is outstanding. As I said above, it did sometimes read like a factual book, but I have to admit I liked the style of writing the author has used to tell the story and to depict the history at the same time. It did not feel at all disjointed. It somehow just worked!
The characters in this novel are wonderfully depicted and some of the horrors that they have to face do make for some truly harrowing reading. I especially felt for Dan who, because of an obligated sense of patriotic duty, goes to war and because of this he suffers most dreadfully. Through Dan's experiences, we witness the appaling underfunding of the hospitals and the lack of even the most basic medical equipment such as bandages. It really was sobering to read how dreadfully understaffed and under-equipped these hospitals were.
Dan's two sons, who were meant to stay at home and look after their mother and sister, soon learn that war in not as glorious as they had been led to believe. John and William go to war filled with dreams of glory and excitement, but they soon realise how naive they had been. I thought the journey of John and William was fascinating and it was really interesting to read about the experience of a drummer boy and a bugler.
I really enjoyed this novel and I look forward to reading more books by this author.
I received my copy from The Coffee The Indie Book StorePot Book Club, but you can grab yours from Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon CA, Amazon AU and The Indie Book Store.
Dane Krogman
Dane Pizzuti Krogman was educated in the fine arts at the University of Minnesota, receiving BFA and MFA degrees. He also specialized in Asian art history, with a concentration in textile and surface design. After graduation, he worked as a freelance designer creating fashion samples for women’s athletic wear. He eventually relocated to California and taught at Cal-Poly Pomona in the Environmental
Design program then moved on to work as a pictorial artist for outdoor advertising. Moving back to the Twin Cities in 1981 he formed a scenic design company call Artdemo which in 10 years did over 1000 designs and productions for sets, props, and special effects for television commercials and feature films. In the early 90’s he relocated to Charleston, SC to work as a spec writer for feature film scripts. Six of his screenplays have won major writing awards and two of these have been optioned for production.
During this time he also taught scene design at the College of Charleston. This position led to an adjunct teaching position at Virginia Commonwealth University where he taught art direction for filmmakers. In 1998 he took a full time teaching position at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he taught art direction, life drawing, set construction, and Asian film studies, eventually becoming chairman of the department.
The common thread through all of this has been his passion for Japanese design, art, and fashion. He has lived in Kyoto, Japan for the past 20 summers studying Japanese kimono and obi design of the Heian and Edo periods. In 2002 he won the Grand Prize for the best graphic novel at the Hiroshima manga competition. His graphic Novel Skeleton boy was selected for inclusion into the Hiroshima peace memorial library in 2007.
He was most recently an adjunct faculty member in the Graduate Program in Digital Filmmaking at Stony Brook Southampton. He is also an award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay, The Schooner was produced as the Australian film, AUSTRALIA in 2008. He has other award-winning films that have been optioned for production or are in production.
As a Civil War historian he has worked as a technical advisor for the films, Dances with Wolfs, Gettysburg, and Glory. He currently has one Civil War novel in pre-publication; MENDOTA, AND THE RESTIVE RIVERS OF THE CIVIL AND INDIAN WARS 1861-65.
He also works part-time as a crew member on a Grand-Am Rolex series race team. The team won the national championship in 2008.
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