Thieves of Mercy: A Novel of the Civil War at Sea

Front Cover
Harper Collins, Oct 13, 2009 - Fiction - 480 pages

Having survived the bloody Battle of New Orleans and the loss of their ironclad Yazoo River, captain Samuel Bowater, engineer Hieronymus Taylor, and the survivors of their crew are given new orders -- take command of an ironclad warship being built in Memphis, Tennessee.

Bowater and his men take passage upriver from "Mississippi" Mike Sullivan, one of the wild, undisciplined captains of the River Defense Squadron, only to find, on their arrival, that their ship is not even half built and the enemy is closing fast.

Against their better judgment, Bowater and crew join forces with the mercurial Sullivan on board his ad hoc river gunship the General Page. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Confederates once again fling themselves bravely at the overwhelming power of the Yankee invaders. The deadly back-and-forth fight along the Mississippi ends at last in the massive naval battle of Memphis, and the near-suicidal attempt by the Confederates to hold back the Northern flood.

Filled with wild characters and heart-pounding action, and set against the bold backdrop of the Civil War, Thieves of Mercy is a worthy successor to the W. Y. Boyd Award-winning novel Glory in the Name, the book Bernard Cornwell lauded as "by far, the best Civil War novel I've read."

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
1
Section 2
7
Section 3
18
Section 4
30
Section 5
41
Section 6
45
Section 7
51
Section 8
63
Section 26
263
Section 27
274
Section 28
283
Section 29
301
Section 30
316
Section 31
323
Section 32
328
Section 33
330

Section 9
74
Section 10
88
Section 11
107
Section 12
116
Section 13
119
Section 14
127
Section 15
131
Section 16
149
Section 17
163
Section 18
178
Section 19
197
Section 20
204
Section 21
214
Section 22
228
Section 23
237
Section 24
248
Section 25
256
Section 34
348
Section 35
355
Section 36
363
Section 37
381
Section 38
386
Section 39
399
Section 40
403
Section 41
408
Section 42
420
Section 43
424
Section 44
438
Section 45
441
Section 46
447
Section 47
452
Section 48
455
Section 49
465
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 230 - I have heard That guilty creatures, sitting at a play, Have by the very cunning of the scene Been struck so to the soul that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions; For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ.
Page 303 - It was now 7 o'clock in the evening, and this unexpected information rendered prompt measures necessary for the safety of the Virginia. The pilots had assured me that they could take the ship, with a draft of 18 feet, to within 40 miles.
Page 151 - Point yesterday, mainly with the view of ascertaining the practicability of landing a body of troops thereabouts. The Merrimack came out, but was even more cautious than ever. The Monitor was kept well in advance, and so that the Merrimack could have engaged her without difficulty had she been so disposed, but she declined to do it, and soon returned and anchored under Sewall's Point.
Page 9 - ... when we consider the extent of the valley of the Mississippi ; nor are those formed from the sterile basins of the great rivers of Siberia, the lofty plateaus of Central Asia, or the mighty sweep of the swampy Amazon more adequate. Latitude, elevation, and rainfall all combine to render every part of the Mississippi Valley capable of supporting a dense population. As a dwelling-place for civilized man it is by far the first upon our globe.
Page 3 - Shirly is regarded as highly important to the defenses of the Mississippi. One of them at Columbus would have enabled you to complete the annihilation of the enemy.
Page 118 - SIR : I have the honor to inform the department that yesterday morning a little after seven o'clock the rebel squadron, consisting of eight iron-clad steamers, four of them, I believe, fitted as rams, came around the point at the bend above Fort Pillow and steamed gallantly up the river, fully prepared for a regular engagement.
Page 206 - It. .lones and J. Pembroke Jones. The opinion was unanimous that the Virginia was then employed to the best advantage and that she should continue for the present to protect Norfolk, and thus afford time to remove the public property. On the next day, at...
Page 20 - Unable to govern themselves, and unwilling to be governed by others, their almost total want 01 system, vigilance, and discipline, rendered them useless and helpless, when the enemy finally dashed upon them suddenly in a dark night. I regret very much that the department did not think it advisable to grant my request to place some competent head in charge of these steamers.

About the author (2009)

James L. Nelson has served as a seaman, rigger, boatswain, and officer on a number of sailing vessels. He is the author of By Force of Arms, The Maddest Idea, The Continental Risque, Lords of the Ocean, and All the Brave Fellows -- the five books of his Revolution at Sea Saga. -- as well as The Guardship: Book One of the Brethren of the Coast. He lives with his wife and children in Harpswell, Maine.

Bibliographic information