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  • Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden
  • Elizabeth Bush
Bolden, Tonya Crossing Ebenezer Creek. Bloomsbury, 2017 [240]
ISBN 978-1-59990-319-4 $17.99
Reviewed from galleys         R Gr. 7-10

Rumors of William Tecumseh Sherman's march reached the slave quarters in advance of the Union soldiers, and Mariah and her remaining family and friends in bondage on the Chaney estate in Georgia have plans in place to join their liberators. The foraging party arrives—a relatively gentlemanly bunch by Sherman's standards—and Mariah is immediately drawn to Caleb, one of the loading crew. Her companions from the quarters aren't so sure about Caleb; the very fact that he seems to be on cordial terms with his officer, Captain Galloway, makes him suspect, and his reticence to share much of his family history makes Mariah uneasy. There's no denying, though, that he takes extra care of Mariah and those dear to her, and his protection is needed when it becomes clear that not all Union troops are as respectful and humane as Captain Galloway, the condescending and insulting Union General Jefferson C. Davis (no, not that Jefferson Davis) being a case in point. Nonetheless, Mariah and Caleb's love thrives on the trek toward Savannah, and as they gradually reveal the darkest moments of their brutal pasts, they make plans for a life together. Unfortunately, the exigencies—and treacheries—of war separate them at Ebenezer Creek, with Caleb in an advance party on one bank, and Mariah trapped between the stream and the pursuing Rebel forces on the other. [End Page 401] Bolden bases her novel on a little-discussed tragedy in December, 1864, in which Davis and other Union officers were exonerated of responsibility for loss of black lives in their trust. The condensed time frame of Mariah and Caleb's story augments the intensity of their personal drama, and their heartbreaking fate will elicit equal parts outrage and sorrow.

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