Thirteen Months in Dixie tells a rollicking tale of adventure,
captivity, hardship, and heroism during the last year of the Civil
War--in the protagonist's own words. After being hidden away for decades
as a family heirloom, the incredible manuscript is finally available,
annotated and illustrated, for the first time.
Oscar Federhen was a new recruit to the 13th Independent Battery,
Massachusetts Light Artillery, when he shipped out to Louisiana in the
spring of 1864 to participate in the Red River Campaign. Not long after
his arrival at the front, a combination of ill-luck and bad timing led
to his capture. Federhen was marched overland to Tyler, Texas, where he
was held as a prisoner of war in Camp Ford, the largest POW camp west of
the Mississippi River.
Thirteen Months in Dixie recounts Federhen's always thrilling and
occasionally horrifying ordeals as a starving prisoner. The captured
artillerist tried his hand at escaping several times and faced sadistic
guards and vicious hounds before finally succeeding. But his ordeal was
just beginning. The young soldier faced a series of challenges as he
made his way cross-country through northeast Texas to reach Union lines.
Federhen had to dodge regular Confederates, brigands, and even Comanches
in his effort to get home. He rode for a time with Rebel irregular
cavalry, during which he witnessed robberies and even cold-blooded
murder. When he was recaptured and thought to be a potential deserter,
he escaped yet again and continued his bid for freedom.
Federhen wrote his recollections in lively engaging style not long after
the war, but they sat unpublished until Jeaninne Surette Honstein and
Steven Knowlton carefully transcribed and annotated his incredible
manuscript. Numerous illustrations grace the pages, including two from
Federhen's own pen.
Thirteen Months in Dixie is not only a gripping true story that would
have otherwise been lost to history, but a valuable primary source about
the lives of Civil War prisoners and everyday Texans during the
conflict.
