Union Army Captain Daniel Sutherland and his true love, Sarah Elizabeth McKee, mistakenly believe – as do many – that the Civil War will last only a few months and that they will soon be able to begin their lives together. So it is that they do not marry before Daniel goes off to fight, and the war drags on for almost four years.
His best friend since childhood, Thomas Paine, tells Daniel’s fiancé that he has been killed in action - before he actually is. Unable to bear the loss, Sarah shrieks and mourns until her family believes she will die from her grief. Weeping, lying across the bed, she feels that little movement that signals pregnancy and realizes that she does still have a piece of Daniel - his child.
She reveals the information only to her mother, who recommends that Sarah marry as soon as possible to hide the fact that she had sex outside of marriage. Thomas has stayed close by, comforting and consoling Sarah. He has loved her for years; his jealousy is what drove him to lie to her about
Daniel. Thomas and Sarah marry shortly thereafter, her in the belief that Daniel is dead.
One hundred and fifty-six years later, Lindy Dennison and her best friend, Jane Doe, travel to Pennsylvania to attend the annual reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg. Lindy has just come out of a long-term relationship, and Jane is newly widowed. They both needed to get away for a fresh perspective. What they don’t expect is to witness the ghost of Daniel Sutherland, who tells them of his love and the many
questions to which he doesn’t know the answers. Touched by this sad spirit’s tale of lost love, the women seek ways to help the Captain. In the process, both find true love again and manage to help the Captain, too.
The Gettysburg Ghost is a real find, a tender yet powerful and moving story. Philip N. Rogone’s great understanding of love makes you yearn and cry for these characters, causing you to feel that you are part of the story. Rarely are readers exposed to a man’s tender side of this magnitude, an example of
great storytelling and the power of love.