US Women in Combat? Historically nothing new says Civil War novelist Caroline Hartman

EXTON, Pa. - Aug. 27, 2013 - PRLog -- During America's Civil War, author Caroline Hartman’s great grandfather fought with the Army of the Potomac from June 1861 to June 1864. He left behind an honorable account in his detailed diary of the years spent with the Army of the Potomac. Hartman first read the diary—in his own handwriting—while taking an American History course at Penn State. After graduating she taught elementary school, raised a family, and has been a constant student of the American Civil War. She read hundreds of history books and dragged her children through battlefields, cemeteries, and museums. She walked the fields of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredricksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, listened for the drums, and felt the pride, and the heartache. This was the inspiration for her first novel, Summer Rose now available in paperback and Kindle.

Summer Rose is an epic tale of triumph and tragedy, love and loss, and lives forever united both on and off the US Civil War battlefield. The chance meeting of a woman unlike all others, forever changes the life of Union Captain Daniel Charteris, and sets in motion a chain of events powerful enough to destroy friendships, save lives, and possibly even alter the course of the war. When Summer Rose McAllister, orphaned by the Civil War and living alone in the Pennsylvania wilds, comes to the young soldier’s aid, sparks fly and passions blaze.

The beautiful Summer Rose soon becomes Daniel’s wife and almost overnight, is plunged into the social whirlwind of Washington D.C., a world far removed from her beloved valley where she hunted and trapped and survived by her wits.  Undaunted, she straps her Bowie knife beneath her crinolines and joins her husband in his undercover work for President Lincoln—combating child prostitution in the section of the capital dubbed “Murder Bay”, and despite danger from the city's criminal element and an icy reception from Daniel's wealthy family, Summer Rose is happier than she ever imagined. That is, until Daniel returns to battle and the unthinkable happens. Summer Rose must then fight the most important battle of her life to save her family at any expense.

Meticulously researched, this novel is rich with history including a look at a little-known, though well-documented aspect of US military history; women disguised as men fighting shoulder-to-shoulder in combat positions.

Please visit www.CarolineHartman.com to learn more about the author and her novel and download a free Kindle edition on Thursday 8-29-13 at Amazon.com. Summer Rose is a 480 page novel published by Alexemi Publishing imprint, Red Dobie Press, www.RedDobiePress.com (http://alexemipublishing.com/blog1/books/),  ISBN (print): 978-0-9815954-9-8 and ISBN (ebook): 978-0-9893871-0-1.