Defiant Honor

Defiant Honor 1864 completes the three-book Civil War series about Captain John McBee and the 5th Texas Infantry Regiment in the Texas Brigade of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. By the spring of 1864, the war is slipping away from General Lee. Grant is moving towards Richmond with a huge army. In May, newly promoted Major John McBee and the 5th Texas Infantry enter the battle at the Wilderness under the eyes of General Lee. Major McBee is wounded in battle a second time. Two weeks later, McBee's body servant Levi finds himself with McBee's old company in the trenches at Spotsylvania. Levi faces the conundrum of either fighting with McBee's men or standing out of the way. Confined to a Richmond hospital, McBee again encounters Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin. By June, the siege of Richmond and Petersburg has begun. The 22nd Regiment of US Colored Troops earn their first battle honors. The town of Lexington is occupied by Union soldiers, and the campus of the Virginia Military Institute is shelled by Federal artillery, then sacked by Union soldiers. Faith McBee is hunted as a Confederate spy. The occupation ends, but the pursuit of Faith McBee brings armed Union soldiers into the McBee home in the dead of night. The summer winds down, and the soldiers of the 5th Texas endure the heat, filth, and constant danger of trench warfare around Richmond. Major McBee reluctantly again accepts a clandestine errand for Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin. This time, the job for Samuelson causes McBee to contact the agent of a blockade running ship. McBee is stunned that Luvenia McNeill, a lady he knew in Galveston before the war, is that agent, and worse, must become a guest in the McBee house in Lexington. In late September, the 5th Texas and the 22nd Regiment of US Colored Troops battle over the earthworks at New Market Heights. Levi must decide whether or not to fight against other black men. John McBee and Faith's first husband, Lieutenant Adam Samuelson, now an officer in the 22nd USCT, slash their way through their inevitable violent confrontation. In October, the surviving 5th Texas soldiers make their last charge at Darbytown Road, a bloody final zenith for the Texas Brigade, Lee's Grenadier Guards. The mission for Secretary of State Benjamin stretches into November, and sets the McBee family on paths they will walk after the war.