Candice Shy Hooper shares her newest book Delivered Under Fire. Follow the General Grant’s Post Master Absalom Markland during the American Civil War as he developed the military mail service still in use today. Markland’s innovative system facilitated the exchange of millions of priceless letters between soldiers on the front lines and their families at home.
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About the Book:
Delivered Under Fire: Absalom Markland and Freedom’s Mail tells the story of the resourceful and courageous Kentuckian who created the military mail service during the Civil War that delivered millions of priceless letters for soldiers and their families and bolstered morale throughout the North. As Special Agent of the US Post Office Department, Markland visited with Lincoln once a month during the war. A childhood friend of Ulysses Grant, Markland served with him throughout the war, and during his Presidency played a crucial role in Grant’s battle against the Ku Klux Klan. Nationally famous during his life, this American hero is all but forgotten today. Markland, who briefly served as Charleston’s Postmaster, was not the only Absalom involved in the mail service during the Civil War. Candice’s book also tells the story of Absalom Grimes, the Confederacy’s most famous “mail runner,” or smuggler, who was twice imprisoned as a spy and twice escaped.
About the Author:
After a career in communication, politics, and the law in Washington DC, Candice Shy Hooper’s interest in military history led her to George Washington University in 2006 to get a masters degree. She is the author of Lincoln’s Generals’ Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War for Better and for Worse, which won three national awards. Her historical work has appeared in The New York Times and the Journal for Military History, and to Candice’s amazement, her poems have appeared in prominent literary journals and one even won a prize.