Kilian, Michael. The ironclad alibi.(A Harrison Raines Civil War mystery). Penguin Putnam. 308p. c2002. 0-425-18823-X. $6.99. SA This is part of a series, a complement to the Grace Monfredo Civil War mysteries KLIATT frequently reviews. Harrison Raines is from Virginia, but since he abhors slavery, he is working as a spy for the Union. His father and brothers are fighting in the Confederate Army, and he often poses as a dealer in horses, changing his story as the need arises, with papers from both Lincoln and Lee on his person, to use as the occasion requires. The actual battle that serves as the basis for this mystery is the encounter of the USS Monitor USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy. She is most famous for her participation in the first-ever naval battle between two ironclad warships, the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862 during the American Civil War, in which and CSS Virginia CSS Virginia was an ironclad warship of the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War (built using the remains of the scuttled USS Merrimack). (actually The Merrimack) near Hampton Roads Hampton Roads, roadstead, 4 mi (6.4 km) long and 40 ft (12.2 m) deep, SE Va., through which the waters of the James, Nansemond, and Elizabeth rivers pass into Chesapeake Bay. , Virginia. Harry's friend, the ex-slave Caesar Augustus, who is in all the books, is arrested for murder and imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- in Richmond, so Harry has a lot of hard work to do to find the real murderer, rescue Caesar, and report the details about the Confederate's ironclad ironclad, mid-19th-century wooden warship protected from gunfire by iron armor. The success of the ironclad when first employed by the French in the Crimean War sparked a naval armor and armaments race between France and Great Britain. ship to the Union. This is a painless way to get interested in crucial events in U.S. history. |
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