Book Details:
Book Title: Rebel Correspondent by Steve Procko
Category: Adult Non-Fiction 18+, 356 pages
Genre: Biography & Autobiography, Military and Nonfiction, History, United States, Civil War Period
Publisher: Steve Procko Productions, LLC
Release date: September 2021
Tour dates: September 1 to September 14
Content Rating: PG
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypuisWQwCsY]
Book Description:
Rebel Correspondent is the true story of a young man who joined the Confederate Army days after his eighteenth birthday and served bravely
until the war ended. Wounded twice, he emerged a changed person. But he wasn't just a returning veteran; he was also a writer.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Arba F. Shaw was a fifty-seven-year-old farmer. On a chilly December day in 1901, he put pen to paper to write his memories of being a Rebel Private in the 4th Georgia Cavalry (Avery), C.S.A. He completed writing his account in February 1902. His local newspaper, the Walker County Messenger, in
Lafayette, Georgia, published his account in more than fifty articles from 1901 to 1903. Then it was all but forgotten. Until Now. Rebel Correspondent presents Arba F. Shaw's account word-for-word, as first published in the Walker County Messenger almost 120 years ago. Procko annotates Shaw's account with in-depth research, verifying it and uncovering the back story of his life and the lives of his Rebel comrades. Procko's research offers a historical perspective on the many
places and events Shaw so richly described.
Join me in reading this very interesting and informative Guest Post....
By: Steve Procko; Author, Rebel Correspondent - RebelCorrespondent.com
In Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War, Burns would regularly use the eyewitness accounts of people from that era to illustrate his storyline. One individual who was often featured and quoted was Samuel Rush Watkins (1839-1901).
Watkins wrote his personal account of his memories as a Rebel private in Company H of the 1st Tennessee Infantry, CSA. His writings were serialized in his local newspaper the Columbian Herald in Columbia, Tennessee from 1881 to 1882. The articles were so popular that the newspaper published them 1882 as a critically-acclaimed book - Co. Aytch: Maury Grays First Tennessee Regiment or A Side Show of the Big Show.
The book has been republished in multiple editions since the 1800s including recently by Watkins’ great-granddaughter Ruth Hill McAllister using her ancestors original first-edition copy of the book filled with his handwritten notes and additions. Today, Watkins is one of the most well-known soldiers from the Civil War.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Arba F. Shaw was a hard-working fifty-seven-year-old farmer. After finishing his daily work on the farm and hanging up all the tools, he would sit down at his farmhouse’s kitchen table with another set of tools, writing implements. Because Shaw was also a correspondent for the Walker County Messenger, a weekly northwest Georgia newspaper published in the town of LaFayette, Georgia.
Arba Shaw’s town of LaFayette, Georgia and Sam Watkins’ town of Columbia, Tennessee are separated by just 175 country miles. But during the summer of 1864, both men, as part of the Army of the Tennessee under General Joseph E. Johnston were just miles apart. In battle after battle, the rebel army was pushed south by Union forces leading to the fall of Atlanta. Shaw and Watkins were both there, experiencing the same battles. Watkins was marching with the Infantry, Shaw was on horseback with the Cavalry. Shaw was wounded at the battle of New Hope Church in May 1864.
In December 1901, Shaw began putting pen to paper with the personal account of his memories as a Rebel private in Company F of the 4th Georgia Cavalry, CSA. Shaw’s Civil War memories were burned deep into his mind, he knew it was time, and in what must have been cathartic release, thru February 1902, he managed to scratch out over 40,000 words.
Much like Sam Watkins’ home-town newspaper did just twenty years before, The Walker County Messenger then serialized Arba Shaw’s recollections into fifty-five articles published from 1901 to 1903. Sam Watkins style of writing has been described as like Mark Twain. Arba Shaw’s writing style is like “News from Lake Wobegon”. Though Shaw’s writings were popular when printed in the newspaper at the time, there would be no book like Watkins, his words were all but forgotten, until now.
My book Rebel Correspondent, brings Arba Shaw’s complete, original account and enhances it with research into the backstories of many of his Rebel comrades and offering historical perspective on places and events Shaw described so richly.
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Meet the Author:
Steve Procko never thought of himself as a Civil War history buff, let alone a biographer. He does love history, however, particularly learning about the small, everyday events in the lives of little-known people and the small towns they lived in.
A documentarian and cinematographer, Steve was sleuthing stories for a documentary series he has developed, “There’s History Around Every Bend,” currently available on YouTube, when he came across the writings of Private Arba F. Shaw.
The down-to-earth accounts of the everyday life of a lowly private just struggling to survive one of the greatest events in American history fascinated Steve. As he read the series of articles, mostly unread since they were published in a small, north Georgia newspaper in 1901-1903, he began to realize that this was a remarkable cache of history.
A native of Florida, Steve, with his Lauren and their dog Rigby, splits his time between a mountain log cabin nestled next to Stanley Creek near the town of Blue Ridge, Georgia, and a home in Ocala, Florida.
He opened a commercial film production company with a partner in 1984. In 2003 the company became Steve Procko Productions (SPP). His Emmy-award-winning financial literacy program Talkin' Money Minutes is available on over 100 Public Television stations nationwide. SPP has also won three additional Emmys over fifty Addy Awards, Telly Awards, and two Promax awards.
When he’s not behind a video camera or researching the archives for his next documentary or book, Steve explores remote areas throughout the United States and Canada as a fine art photographer. He has had work displayed at The Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, The Museum of Art in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, as well as solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States.
Steve’s second book, Captured Liberty, another Civil War story about nine POW Union officers and their amazing escape will be published in 2022. He also plans to develop documentaries about The Rebel Correspondent and Captured Liberty.
connect with the author: website ~ twitter ~ facebook ~ instagram `~ goodread
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