Over more than a year, John Banks crisscrossed the country, exploring battlefields, historic houses, forts, and more. He rode on the back of an ATV with his “psychotic connection” in Mississippi, went under the spell of an amateur hypnotist at a U.S. Army fort in Tennessee, admired a sunset from the grounds of the notorious Andersonville prison camp in Georgia, prayed during a tense boat ride in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, and briefly interviewed Louie the wild boar in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Join him on a road trip like no other.
Foreword: The road less traveled
Acknowledgments
CHAPTER 1: A ‘lobster claw’ and three little demons
CHAPTER 2: Meet Mrs. B, Civil War Mission Control
CHAPTER 3: Charleston, South Carolina: Storming a Rebel fort with an Englishman
CHAPTER 4: Columbia, Tennessee: ‘Murder’ and marriage in the Mule Capital of the World
CHAPTER 5: Sharpsburg, Maryland: Tales from my Civil War poppa
CHAPTER 6: Memphis, Tennessee and Marion: Arkansas: Lives lost and a passion found on the mighty Mississippi
CHAPTER 7: Hinds County, Mississippi: Exploring Champion Hill with my ‘psychotic connection’
CHAPTER 8: Vicksburg, Mississippi: ‘Whoa, he’s a Black guy’
CHAPTER 9: Resaca, Georgia: Characters, coonskin caps, and cognac ‘cee-gars’
CHAPTER 10: Perryville, Kentucky: ‘What a pisser’
CHAPTER 11: Thompson’s Station, Tennessee: Alice’s 15 seconds of fame
CHAPTER 12: Ashwood, Tennessee: The ‘lost’ mansion site of ‘The Fighting Bishop’
CHAPTER 13: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: My very own ‘Philly Special’
CHAPTER 14: Shepherdstown, West Virginia: In the footsteps of a Civil War badass
CHAPTER 15: Franklin, Tennessee: ‘Hypno-history’ at a U.S. Army fort
CHAPTER 16: Middle Tennessee: Spies, gaps, and graves
CHAPTER 17: Roberts Switch, Tennessee: Exploring graveyards with a moonshiner’s son
CHAPTER 18: Andersonville, Georgia: Voices from America’s saddest place
CHAPTER 19: Deatonville, Virginia: ‘The House With Nobody In It’
CHAPTER 20: Farmville, Virginia: A vow to be buried on his battlefield
CHAPTER 21: Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley: The Mother Road
CHAPTER 22: Sharpsburg to Frederick, Maryland: Abraham Lincoln and The Oreo Cookie Lady
CHAPTER 23: Middletown, Virginia: Rambling with ‘The Chief’ at Cedar Creek
CHAPTER 24: Nashville, Tennessee: On the trail of a Medal of Honor recipient with an ex-roadie in an all-girl band
CHAPTER 25: Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Carnage in a construction zone
CHAPTER 26: Middletown, Maryland: A love story in a house with a presidential suite
CHAPTER 27: Henrico, Virginia: Guardian of a Medal of Honor recipient’s legacy
CHAPTER 28: Richmond, Virginia: Talking Turkey Hill at Cold Harbor
CHAPTER 29: Sharpsburg, Maryland: Mayhem and monarchs in the 40-Acre Cornfield
CHAPTER 30: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: My first ghost walk and investigation
CHAPTER 31: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: A collection that got out of hand
CHAPTER 32: Trevilians, Virginia: Where Custer lost his underwear and love letters
CHAPTER 33: Henrico, Virginia: ‘It’s always an honor to be on that ground’
CHAPTER 34: Marshall, North Carolina: Four hours in ‘Bloody Madison’
CHAPTER 35: Sharpsburg, Maryland: ‘The Shadow King’
CHAPTER 36: Lessons learned
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Index
