>> EXCERPT ONE | Bushwhackers: The Civil War in North Carolina represented both the best and the worst of the South. In the mountains, where sentiments on both sides were strongly held, internecine warfare broke out. Bloody skirmishes were fought between Unionist and Confederate guerrillas. Family feuds erupted into ever-widening circles of violence and revenge. And countless numbers of men, women, and children were caught in the crossfire of conflicting loyalties.
>> EXCERPT TWO | Lavinia “Vinnie” Ream Hoxie was an American sculptor and the youngest artist and first woman to receive a commission as an artist from the United States government for a statue. She was awarded the commission for the full-size Carrara marble statue of Lincoln for the U.S. Capitol on July 28, 1866, when she was 18 years old. *There was significant debate over her selection because of concern over her inexperience and the slanderous accusations that she was a woman of questionable reputation.
