The Crack Widens Irreconcilable Differences: Snakebit Series Book IV (John Poniske -F)

In 1861, Lincoln’s election caused eleven Southern states to break with the Union. The peculiar institution of slavery, its continuation and spread into the Western Territories became the sticking point.The Garrett family resides in Western Maryland, a border state that lies between the warring parties. There, opinions are as divided as the country, and emotions run hot. Because of their abolitionist leanings, the Garretts have their homestead burned. They have lost their patriarch, Valentine. His brother, James, falls at Bull Run. Their friend and Mennonite neighbor, Aaron, is lost at Ball’s Bluff. In the midst of it all, Toby, a little slave girl is rescued and taken in by the family as they pack up and move to Hagerstown, an important Maryland city near the Mason-Dixon Line.In the first half of 1862, all hell breaks loose. Gabriel, the eldest Garrett boy leaves home to become a war correspondent. On his way to join Ulysses S. Grant’s western army, he finds himself waylaid and caught