As the result of near death wounds received in battle, Jurian is taken to the home of a pacifist pastor of a colony of Brethren in Virginia. While there, he is conflicted concerning his motives and attitudes toward killing as he reflects on his heritage and his father’s teaching and the convictions of the pacifist code of belief.
Much has been written about the strategy, politics, and bloodshed of the Civil War.
Phillips brilliantly goes beyond the horrors of witnessing the death of comrades on the battlefield and the dreadful conditions prevalent in Civil war history to uncover the emotional trauma of human suffering, the accompanying sacrifice, the confusing emotional reactions experienced by the participants of war and their families, and the unanswered moral questions of life and death while in the midst of battle.
Charles Phillips’ writing creates tension, conflict, introspection, and a mindfulness of the persecution, injustice, and futility that are the result of man’s bias, intolerance, and bigotry. Phillips has developed strong believable characters, a realistic plot, and engaging dialog. I appreciated Phillips’ careful attention to details of Civil War history, evidence of meticulous research, manifest by the transference of this knowledge as expressed though his characters and storyline.
The Sharpshooter 1862-1864 by Charles Phillips is destined to become a classic in the genre of Civil War Novels.
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