Bernard Cornwell · 1993 · overland

Bernard Cornwell's 1993 novel, first of the Starbuck Chronicles. Nathaniel Starbuck, son of a famous Boston abolitionist, is stranded penniless in Richmond in the spring of 1861 and joins a Confederate legion largely because it is the option in front of him. The book carries him from that accident to the first great battle of the war at Bull Run.

1. 1
   Boston

   Nate Starbuck is the son of a celebrated Boston preacher and abolitionist, has left the seminary in disgrace over an actress, and is a long way from home with no money and no way of explaining himself when the war starts.

2. 2
   Richmond

   Stranded in Richmond as the Confederacy forms around him, he is taken up by the wealthy Faulconer family and enlisted in the legion they are raising - a northerner in a southern regiment, distrusted by nearly everyone in it.

3. 3
   Manassas

   At Bull Run near Manassas, both armies discover what a battle actually is - amateur brigades, spectators in carriages, and a Union rout that convinces the South the war will be short.