Wisconsin Iron: A Novel of the Civil War

 Author's Summary

Fighting in the famed Iron Brigade, Henry McCollum was already a combat veteran before his 17th birthday. This novel is about his experiences fighting to preserve the Union against the Confederate forces. From First Bull Run to Gettysburg, the Iron Brigade fought in every major eastern engagement of the American Civil War. Henry was right in the middle of it all.

MWSA Review

The author was able to use his evident vast knowledge of the Civil War to give the reader a feel of what living conditions and absolute hell a Union
soldier lived through while fighting a terrible war.

The reader will come away from this novel with a deeper understanding of the horrors of that conflict. The reader will also feel absolute compassion for the young man as he eats whatever the soldiers can forage, march mile after mile while all the time sleeping in the cold and the mud. Henry McCollum is doing all this with a sincere desire to do his part to hold the save the union.

Eckers uses our hero, Henry McCollum, and his family to accurately tell of how the war tore families and neighbors apart at the seams. 

We witness a wide eyed young innocent boy transform into a seasoned, worn and determined force to be reckoned with.

This is a story any one interested in the American Civil War would be drawn into.

Reviewed by: Don Arndt (2011)