New book looks at reconciliation
EDITOR:
Sons of East Tennessee: Civil War Veterans Divided and Reconciled by Jack Brubaker; foreword by Jack Neely, published in January by McFarland
Two aging Civil War veterans mourned the deaths of their sons at a joint funeral in Knoxville National Cemetery in 1899. One father, Gen. Reuben Bernard, had fought for the Union; the other, Dr. William McCorkle, had served as surgeon, with the rank of major, of a Confederate cavalry regiment. They met for the first time at the graves of their sons, army lieutenants and University of Tennessee graduates killed together in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Americans reading newspaper accounts viewed the fathers’ encounter as a prime example of veteran reconciliation.
Other books have provided comprehensive reviews of veteran reconciliation. This is the first book to focus on specific veterans from opposing armies as the core of a study of the reconciliation process. That both families are rooted in East Tennessee, a section harshly divided by the Civil War, makes their story’s contribution to the overall examination of reconciliation all the more compelling.
Jack Brubaker
Pennsylvania
Note: Jack Brubaker is a journalist in Lancaster, Pennsyvania, and author of six previous books. Jack Neely, also an author, directs the Knoxville History Project.
