Amazon.com Review
Essay by Erin Lindsay McCabe
It is July, 2009, and I've already written hundreds of pages. I am talking to my mom on the phone when she asks me.
“Why do you want to write about this?” she asks. “Why this person? Why not someone else?”
I give her my answer, the one I think I would give Oprah if Oprah asked me the same question, the one I would say to my mom’s book club if they asked.
“Because people should know about her,” I say. “Because people should know women did these things. Because I can’t believe no one gets taught this stuff. Because I think it’s important.”
I am not writing about Rosetta because of the things we know about Sarah Rosetta Wakeman. We know that she was born on January 16, 1843. We know that she was the oldest of nine children, that she was her father’s farmhand, that her family had financial trouble. We know that when she was 19 she decided to leave the family farm and find work so she could send money home. We know that she decided to dress as a man to get work on a canal boat and that it only took her one boat ride up the river to find out that being a soldier for the 153rd New York State Volunteers paid better than any job she could find: $13 a month plus a $152 signing bonus. But there's a lot we don't know.
***
March, 1998. I had gone into the stacks to find a woman, any woman, who lived in the 1800s. I was looking for a primary source on which to write my next paper for U.S. Women’s History. I wanted to find a diary, but what I found were Rosetta Wakeman's letters.
Rosetta told her family, “I have got So that I Can drill just as well as any man there is in my regiment.” She is both tender and brazen, writing in one letter, “I don’t know how long before i shall have to go into the field of battle. For my part i don’t Care. I don’t feel afraid to go. I don’t believe there are any Rebel’s bullets made for me yet. Nor i don’t Care if there is.” She can make us laugh with her directness. We know for sure she got into a fistfight with Pvt. Stephen Wiley, who was a drunk and a thief. She “give him three or four pretty good cracks and he put downstairs with himself.” She loved her family, sent home all the money she could spare, and had dreams she could never fulfill as a woman. “If I ever own a farm, It will be in Wisconsin. On the prairie,” she wrote. She tells us she was “independent as a hog on ice,” and that she had no intention of giving in to anyone else’s ideas of how she should behave, saying, “I will Dress as I am a mind to for all anyone else cares, and if they don’t let me Alone they will be sorry for it.”
Rosetta was not an anomaly. In fact, there were a lot of women like her. At least two hundred women are documented as having fought on both sides of the Civil War. Even Rosetta knew they existed, writing:
“Over to Carroll Prison they have got three women that is Confined to their Rooms. One of them was a Major in the union army and she went into battle with her men. When the Rebels bullets was acoming like a hail storm she rode her horse and gave orders to her men. Now She is in prison for not doing aCcordingly to the regulation of war. The other two is rebel Spies and they have Catch them and Put them in Prison.”
Who were those women? Rosetta doesn’t say. History doesn’t either, because the records from Carroll Prison are incomplete.
There are a lot of things I love about Rosetta that didn’t make it into that college paper, but they made it into my novel. And there are a lot of things she didn't tell us: How it felt to be a woman dressed as a man. Whether or not she ever killed anyone in battle. What it was like to march into combat, all the way down to Louisiana, and to never once get found out for being a woman in the two years she served. How she did it, how she did all this, while pretending to be a man.
I imagined answers to the things we can't know, adding tidbits from the tales of other women who fought. Then, with Rosetta’s voice in my head, I tried to introduce a woman like her to the world, envisioning what someone in her position might have experienced, giving her a fictionalized life, a fictionalized husband, and a fictionalized story. But here, I'll leave you with Rosetta's own words:
“The weather is cold and the ground is froze hard, but I sleep as warm in the tents as I would in a good bed. I don't know the difference when I get asleep. We have boards laid down for a floor and our dishes is tin. We all have a tin plate and a tin cup, and a knife and Fork, one spoon. We have to use the floor for a table. I like to be a soldier very well.”
*Starred Review* A girl as tough as Katniss Everdeen. A romance out of Twilight. A historical backdrop as strong as Cold Mountain. These things combine in the extraordinary story of Rosetta Wakefield, a young woman from rural New York who follows her childhood sweetheart, Jeremiah, into the Civil War. Rosetta grows up preferring to haul hay with her father over mending socks with her mother and sister. Often teased for her tomboy ways, Rosetta has a constant defender in Jeremiah—and eventually a lover and husband. When he enlists in the Union army to earn money for their future, she finds she can’t sit at home, bearing the hostility of her new mother-in-law and the oppressive domesticity. Dressing in men’s clothes, she takes the name of Ross Stone and enlists. Together the two young people face the everyday challenges of army life—cold nights, drunk tent mates, uncertainty—and the horrors of war, culminating in the terrible battle of Antietam. Author McCabe makes every sentence count, with a narrative full of authentic dialogue, historical realism, and great feeling. Loosely based on true events, including the letters of the more than 200 women who are known to have served as men in the Civil War. --Lynn Weber
Review
“I Shall be Near to You is one of the most enjoyable, thought provoking, well-written books I have read in a long time. . . The power of the story lies in the richness of character development, especially “Ross” Wakefield. The relationships and emotions are timeless. The historic details delivered a punch to the gut concerning the reality of war. I Shall be Near to You is everything the publishers claim—a must read.” —Civil War Courier
“A real gem…In the long, distinguished history of Civil War fiction, Erin Lindsay McCabe has presented us a book that might be for the ages. Her novel, I Shall Be Near to You, tells a passionate love story that moved me as much as I’ve been moved in years. Her heroine, Rosetta Wakefield, is as compelling a warrior as any that appears in Michael Shaara’s great novel about Gettysburg, The Killer Angels. Rosetta is a magnificent creation and lets us know that the people of the North had the same attachment to their land as any Southerner ever did. If you don’t like this book, you don’t like to read.” —Pat Conroy, New York Times bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and The Death of Santini
“Erin Lindsay McCabe has given us an unforgettable tale of the power of love and commitment over war and all that comes with it. She breathes life and heart into Rosetta, a young bride who struggles to find her own footing in a marriage too new to have much of a footing at all, as Rosetta chooses to follow Jeremiah into war and into what will prove to be the horror and the richness of a life lived in the fullest.” —Robert Hicks, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country
“Erin McCabe’s I Shall Be Near to You is a beautiful book, a historical novel inspired by the more than 200 women who disguised themselves as men to serve in the Civil War. It is a touching, emotional story that reminds us that in different times and in entirely different circumstances, we are all fighting for the same things.”
—Vanessa Diffenbaugh, New York Times bestselling author of The Language of Flowers
“I Shall Be Near to You marks the impressive debut of a truly gifted author. Erin Lindsay McCabe’s riveting story of a woman who disguises herself as a man to follow her husband into the Union army enthralls even as it wrenches the heart.”
—Jennifer Chiaverini, author of Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker and The Spymistress
“Told in the unforgettable voice of Rosetta Wakefield, I Shall Be Near to You is one of those wonderful stay-up-late-to-devour-another-chapter novels. Erin Lindsay McCabe strikes the perfect balance of historical research and lyrically crafted prose. Through Rosetta's eyes, readers experience the horror and the humanity of daily life during the Civil War. This is a book you'll definitely want to read—and tell your best friend to read, too.” —Lois Leveen, author of The Secrets of Mary Bowser
“The spirited voice of McCabe's indelible Rosetta demands your attention from page 1 and captures your heart with her remarkable story. I fell hard for this courageous character and readers will too! Driven by fierce love, Rosetta exemplifies the timeless fighting spirit of womanhood. McCabe has done her homework well, mining Civil War secrets for this historical golden nugget. I laughed. I wept. I learned and will treasure always.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of The Baker's Daughter
“McCabe has given us a memorable tale of love in the midst of war, loyalty and faith in the maelstrom of our nation's greatest tragedy.” —Howard Bahr, author of The Black Flower and winner of the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction
“Erin Lindsay McCabe portrays all this with such empathy and credible detail that it feels like you are there alongside these youngsters, sharing their initial naiveté and growing awareness of what they have got themselves into…Don't miss I Shall Be Near to You - very highly recommended!” —BookLoons.com
“In addition to the immersive details about war and the portrayal of women's involvement, this novel is a love story. Rosetta's first-person narration paints a tender portrait of two lovers, desperate to stay together as the world contrives to tear them apart. …her spunky attitude and tenacity reveals a fascinating, appealing character. Rosetta is brave enough to choose her husband's love over a life of feminine conformity. McCabe's novel is an engrossing one, and her main character Rosetta is unforgettable.” —BookBrowse.com
“Quietly fierce debut... McCabe's strength clearly lies in creating characters of emotional depth and complexity. Rosetta's determination and frank yet graceful voice will mesmerize readers... A story set during the Civil War that is timeless in its exploration of love, bravery and the struggle to find individuality in a world of convention.” —Shelf Awareness, starred review
“Inspired by the actual letters of a woman who fought in the Civil War...McCabe offers a feminine perspective on a dark time in US history.” —Publishers Weekly
“McCabe’s debut novel... is a shining story of enduring love... McCabe portrays Rosetta brilliantly—think True Grit’s Mattie Ross—as she narrates her story with energy, self-perception, courage and unremitting love for Jeremiah. McCabe’s thorough research lends verisimilitude to army life, all cook fires, salt pork, hardtack, thin blankets and marches into terror. McCabe’s descriptions of battle’s chaos and mayhem…is reminiscent of Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage...Based on often overlooked history, McCabe offers an extraordinary novel, one creating a memorable character through which we relive our national cataclysm.” —Kirkus, starred review
“A girl as tough as Katniss Everdeen. A romance out of Twilight. A historical backdrop as strong as Cold Mountain. These things combine in the extraordinary story of Rosetta Wakefield, a young woman fromrural New York who follows her childhood sweetheart, Jeremiah, into the Civil War... McCabe makes every sentence count, with a narrative full of authentic dialogue, historical realism, and great feeling. Loosely based on true events, including the letters of the more than 200 women who are known to have served as men in the Civil War, this beautiful novel is literary but will have crossover appeal for more sophisticated YA readers as well, who will find Rosetta an unforgettable heroine.” —Booklist, starred review
About the Author
ERIN LINDSAY McCABE studied Literature at University of California, Santa Cruz, and taught high school English before completing her MFA at St. Mary's College of California in 2010. She has taught Composition at St. Mary's and Butte College and resides in Northern California with her husband and son and a small menagerie that includes one dog, four cats, two horses, ten chickens, and two goats.
