Book Description

In 1861 a courageous band of women brave death and defy political powers to render battlefield relief, launching the first MASH Unit on American soil. By these deeds they write their page in history. This dramatic, fact-based story is told through the eyes of Havannah, a fiery but shallow debutante, who joins the first team of women to work the battlefields during the Civil War. While blood flows and Minie balls fly, Havannah squares off with head field hospital nurse who vows to dismiss her from the corps. The heroines love affair with a crusty army surgeon adds fuel to the fire. Meanwhile, sisters at home battle enemies who pledge to squash their efforts to establish the innovative relief plan. On the trail women, board wagons hauled by cantankerous mules, strap soup pots to wagons, forge mountain passes, dodge bullets, set up field hospitals alongside battlefields and scour the land, seeking life among the dead. The weapons they carried were not muskets but hot soup, whispered prayers and compassion, bolstered by fierce determination.