Sins of My Brothers

Sins of My Brothers is the historic account of a harrowing and gritty tale of survival, a true story fueled by greed, corruption, and incompetence. The "powers that be" on both sides make disastrous decisions that result in heartbreaking consequences.

Canadian-born Robert Knox Sneden aspires to become an architect in America. Soon after his arrival in the U.S., Sneden answers the call to quell the rebellion enlisting as a 29-year-old private in the 40th New York Volunteer Infantry. Sneden is captured by "The Gray Ghost" John S. Mosby and imprisoned in Andersonville. POW and Union mapmaker Robert Sneden secretly documents the Andersonville experience within its walls awaiting parole or death.

Epp McIntosh, the son of an Illinois shoemaker proudly claimed to have once been an office boy for a young upstart country lawyer named Abraham Lincoln. Years later, McIntosh answers President Lincoln's call to preserve the Union, serving as a 17-year-old drummer boy in the 14th Illinois Infantry. Eager to "see the elephant", Epp enters the Civil War, is captured in Ackworth, Georgia, and confined at the notorious Andersonville Prison. There, he endures unimaginable horrors as a POW and after being paroled, survives the worst maritime disaster in American history.

Ill-prepared for the volume of POWs arriving daily and lacking in supplies, Confederate prison commandant Captain Henry Wirz struggles to effectively run the Georgia stockade. Stories of disease, starvation, neglect, and abuse abound within the stockade walls. The inmates suffer inhumane treatment not only from their captors but also from those among their own ranks, a bloodthirsty gang called the Raiders―until the miserable and shocking end.

Vainglorious John Wilkes Booth has plans of his own to balance the scales of the prisoner exchange. Aided by a shadow conspiracy and pushed to the limits of sanity, Booth commits the most heinous crime of the century, assassinating President Abraham Lincoln―dividing the Union further still. The largest manhunt in the nation tracks Booth and his accomplice David Herold as they attempt to flee their pursuers and avoid the hangman's noose.

A government-chartered Mississippi paddle-wheel boat, the Sultana, is headed north, loaded with more than 2,000 paroled POWs with Epp McIntosh among the doomed passengers. Cash-strapped Sultana Captain James Cass Mason chooses profits over safety when he accepts a bribe from corrupt Union Colonel Reuben Hatch. The sick and weary POW's ride home abruptly and explosively ends during the cold and dark early hours of April 27, 1865, a few miles north of Memphis.

Introduction

A Brief Note About The Geneva Bible & The Soldier's Pocket Bible

Prologue

PART I. ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA - CAPTIVI IN INFERNO

1. "Captured"

2. "In Bonds"

3. "In the pit"

4. "Drenched in blood"

5. "New tenant"

6. "The drummer boy"

7. ''The Angel of Andersonville"

8. "Mad as a hatter"

9. "The Reckoning"

10. "Running the gauntlet"

11. "Time's up!"

12. "Skeletons in rags"

13. "Is that scarecrow really a provost?"

14. "Found alive"

PART II. CONSPIRACY AND SURRENDER

15. "Inauguration Day"

16. "Starstruck"

17. "Reconnaissance"

18. "One of the largest and best steamers ever constructed..."

19. City Point

20. "Options"

21. "...and I would rather die a thousand deaths."

22. April 9, 1865

23. "We are all Americans."

24. "My heart is too full to say more."

25. "I'm done playing."

26. "Now, by God, I will put him through."

PART III. SICARIUS

27. "Disturbing Dreams"

28. April 14, 1865 - Good Friday

29. "...and your old men shall dream dreams."

30. "Hail to the Chief"

31. "Sic Semper Tyrannis!"

32. "Oh! My husband's blood!"

33. "Murder! Murder!"

34. "Now he belongs to the ages."

PART IV. THE JOURNEY HOME

35. Easter Sunday Photos

36. "I was a stranger..."

37. "Darkness favors us."

38. Camp Fisk

39. "Windfall Profits"

40. "No, they can all go on one boat."

41. "Boots and Saddles"

42. "JWB"

43. "...the greatest trip ever made on the western waters."

44. "missed the boat"

45. "Trapped"

46. "Useless, useless!"

47. April 27, 1865

PART V. THE AFTERMATH

48. "We cannot hold out any longer!"

49. "Gruesome Cargo"

50. "I want you to die quick."

51. "It Was Murder!"

52. Change

53. Epidemic and Extradition

54. Madness

55. The Angel and the Bad Men

Epilogue

Acknowledgements

References

Notes and Resources

Index

About the Author