Title: The Great Carolina Migration
Author: Philip R. Morehouse
ISBN: 9798596355444
Page count: 284
Genre: Historical Fiction; Survival/Adventure
Book Price: $17.99
Kindle Price: $6.99 or Free with Kindle Unlimited membership
Author Bio:
The author was born in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, working on his family's farm. His grandfather taught him how to fish, set a trap, and stalk big game. Learning these skills was crucial to the family's survival.
After high school, he enlisted in the Navy. He was assigned to an amphibious ship, where he participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade and later rescued Americans from Haiti during the Dominion/Haiti Crisis. Then, he put in extra time during the Vietnam War. Returning home, he married and joined the Army National Guard, serving in aerial and ground support photography assignments.
Among the many diverse jobs, he worked as a professional writer and photographer for over 60 years. With his children grown and on their own, he now pursues what he loves the most - writing true-to-life, survival, adventure-type stories from which he draws on his past experiences, training, and extensive research.
Tell us about your book:
"The Great Carolina Migration", is a story about the brave people who, against all odds, traveled from the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania to the Carolines to create homesteads free of British oversight. Their story is told through the eyes of Kale Campbell, the son of Edwin and Thelma Campbell, and later, his children and their children as each generation lived their lives. This personal history has been laid over the recorded history of the areas where they traveled, settled, and lived - bringing to life the extraordinary history of the Great Migration down the Wilderness Road to the Carolinas.
How does this book relate to your real-life experiences?
In my formative years, we moved a lot, never living anywhere very long until moving to the farm. My memories of this time supplied the theme for my characters to emulate, making their odyssey believable as well as historical.
How long did it take to write the book?
It took four years and one month from concept to rough draft, initial edits, final edit, and proofing to finally see it published on 9/23/21.
What inspired you to write the book?
I was inspired by my love of history and my faith in God, whose spirit guided the writing of this book.
Let's talk about the writing process. Did you have a writing routine? Did you do any research, and if so, what did that involve?
The process for writing this book involved hours, days, weeks, and years of research and taking notes before a single word of text could be written, and even then, it had to be rewritten several times. Information was obtained from public library archives as well as dependable information from online sources and people whose ancestors' names were embedded in the Carolina history. The resulting notes and other information formed several piles around my office. My writing and research were routinely done in the late evening and early morning hours to aid in my concerted efforts at concentration.
What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?
I would hope that after reading this book, the readers would come away with a greater understanding and respect for what sacrifice and lives it took to fulfill the dreams of their Ancestors of living "free" in settling not only the Carolinas but the whole of America.
Where can we go to buy your book?
This book is readily available online through Amazon.com as a softcover, a Kindle download, or at Barnes & Noble. If any of your bookstores should be out of stock, be sure to give them the following number: ISBN- 9798596355444.
Excerpt from this novel:
"Here and there, Kale saw broken and burned spear, arrow, and tomahawk stone heads in the ashes of burned-out cabins, their frames still partially standing, a grim testimony of what life was like here."
"At the end of each day, they pulled dozens of arrows from the sides of wagons and patched the holes in the canvas as best they could."
"Andrew remembered another time back in the old country when getting caught leaving their village would have meant death, and the scenes and screams of long ago replayed in his mind as tears ran down his cheeks. The memories of the price many families paid and those left behind that were slaughtered clung to most settlers' minds – never to be forgotten."
"Chaos immediately broke out, as people were running in every direction at once. Everywhere he looked, Indians were charging the wagons, screaming their war cries, which mixed with the yelling and screaming of the people running toward the wagon train from the church service that had just ended."
"It seemed like hours before the screaming and shooting stopped, but in reality, it had been scarcely 15 or so minutes, an eternity, when people were being struck by arrows, spears, and tomahawks, and the wounded and dying lay all around you.
As Kale took stock, he could see the dead and dying lying like bits of laundry blown by the wind across the landscape, both Indian and white people: men, women, and children. A few wagons were on fire and had to be separated from the others before they, too, caught fire."
"Kale and Sarah headed their wagon toward the headwaters to find where it started high on a hillside, some distance away. Far below, perhaps a mile or so, he could see his dad had found a flat spot near the stream and was already driving stakes to mark the location of his homestead. By law, homesteaders were allowed to mark off 200-acre lots.
He, like his dad and the others, started pacing off their homesteads. He drove the first stake deep into the fertile loam with a mall. It was located far up the hill from his dad's corner post. He calculated that he would build his home on the lee side of the hill where it would be sheltered from the prevailing winds.
Each stake had a colorful piece of yellow cloth attached, which fluttered in the wind. These pieces of fabric allowed others to easily see that this area was already claimed. Also, these markers would serve as legal markers for later registering their homesteads in a book containing the deeds."