Thieves of Mercy: A Novel of the Civil War at SeaHaving survived the bloody Battle of New Orleans and the loss of their ironclad Yazoo River, captain Samuel Bowater, engineer Hieronymus Taylor, and the survivors of their crew are given new orders -- take command of an ironclad warship being built in Memphis, Tennessee. Bowater and his men take passage upriver from "Mississippi" Mike Sullivan, one of the wild, undisciplined captains of the River Defense Squadron, only to find, on their arrival, that their ship is not even half built and the enemy is closing fast. Against their better judgment, Bowater and crew join forces with the mercurial Sullivan on board his ad hoc river gunship the General Page. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Confederates once again fling themselves bravely at the overwhelming power of the Yankee invaders. The deadly back-and-forth fight along the Mississippi ends at last in the massive naval battle of Memphis, and the near-suicidal attempt by the Confederates to hold back the Northern flood. Filled with wild characters and heart-pounding action, and set against the bold backdrop of the Civil War, Thieves of Mercy is a worthy successor to the W. Y. Boyd Award-winning novel Glory in the Name, the book Bernard Cornwell lauded as "by far, the best Civil War novel I've read." |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 6
... trying . It was for want of everything else : iron plate , bolts , machinery , wood , manpower . Timber came from five different sawmills , iron from all over the Confederacy . The first load of bolt and spike iron was taken before it ...
... trying his level best to make it a reality. The Yankees knew it as well, and behind their effort was an almost unlimited industrial capacity. So, for the first year of the war, while the Confederacy struggled to get even one operational ...
... trying to determine what direction a bullet came from . Taylor's face lost its amused expres- sion and he said , “ Ah , hell . . . ” as Mike Sullivan appeared on the hurricane deck of a side - wheeler , wearing dark braces and a checked ...
... trying to breathe . " What the hell is that ? They let you run the ash hoist , or you gotta be promoted to full junior engineer to do that ? " Taylor nodded , worked the cigar around in his mouth . " Chief Taylor is lead engineer on ...
... trying to see what Sullivan saw , but it was all black waterfront to him . " Hard a'port , " Sullivan said . He rang slow astern . " Hell , Cap'n Bowater , we're doin all kinda good for the navy tonight , ” he con- tinued , eyes fixed ...
Contents
Section 26 | 256 |
Section 27 | 263 |
Section 28 | 274 |
Section 29 | 283 |
Section 30 | 301 |
Section 31 | 316 |
Section 32 | 323 |
Section 33 | 328 |
Section 9 | 88 |
Section 10 | 107 |
Section 11 | 116 |
Section 12 | 119 |
Section 13 | 127 |
Section 14 | 131 |
Section 15 | 149 |
Section 16 | 159 |
Section 17 | 163 |
Section 18 | 178 |
Section 19 | 184 |
Section 20 | 197 |
Section 21 | 204 |
Section 22 | 214 |
Section 23 | 228 |
Section 24 | 237 |
Section 25 | 248 |
Section 34 | 330 |
Section 35 | 348 |
Section 36 | 355 |
Section 37 | 363 |
Section 38 | 381 |
Section 39 | 386 |
Section 40 | 399 |
Section 41 | 408 |
Section 42 | 420 |
Section 43 | 424 |
Section 44 | 438 |
Section 45 | 441 |
Section 46 | 447 |
Section 47 | 452 |
Section 48 | 465 |
Other editions - View all
Thieves Of Mercy: a stunning and heart-pounding novel of naval adventure set ... James Nelson No preview available - 2015 |