Reflections of a Civil War Locomotive Engineer

John Bailey runs 4-4-0 engines for the US Military Railroad at Alexandria and City Point, VA; his older brother Francis swelters as a coal-heaver on the steam frigate Wabash and the ironclad Montauk in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Born in Coleraine, Ireland, raised in Toronto, Ontario, why are they serving in the US Civil War? Why is their father so ill-tempered and domineering? Beware the genies lurking among long-forgotten letters at the bottoms of old trunks; they can transform you into a history detective! This happened to the author when her father showed her some letters from a hundred-year-old trove he discovered in 1988. This book is more than the true story-based on long-forgotten letters-of John and Francis, brothers who serve in the US Civil War and go on to become, respectively, a locomotive engineer and a police officer. John recounts the events of their lives in a poignant search for the secret that enables Francis to rebound cheerfully from adversity and great personal tragedy.