book details

Book: The Templers by R. Howard Trembly

categories: Book, Adventure, Survival, Family, Murder, Soldier, Rescue, Battles, Cavalry, Slaves, Romance, Togetherness, American Civil War

R. Howard Trembly

about this book: In the American Civil War, men fought for their ideals. While it is said that the war was about freeing the slaves, it was in fact much more than that. It was a cruel war that tore this country apart, causing family members to fight other family members to the death.

As I thought about the many lives lost during that turbulent time and read different documents written by those that lived through it, I came to realize how hard it was on both sides of the issue. Not just the ones who actually fought in the battles, but also those left behind. The so called non-combatants--wives, mothers, fathers, and children--left behind facing the everyday life where they never knew if they would ever see their loved ones again.

Not only that, but trying to survive with no husband or father to help the wives and children with even the simplest of necessities to keep from perishing from the lack of food, medicine, and the rest of the things needed on what in most cases was not far from a wild frontier.

The Templers is the story of one of those families, where two of their sons went off to war. It tells of the hardships suffered by those left behind and how, by pulling together as a family, they survived even against vicious attacks by those that would take all they had, even their lives.

The story starts out with the two youngest boys out hunting for food to help the family survive. And it is through the eyes of the oldest of these boys by the name of Josh, that the story begins to unfold. Others in his family come in later and tell their own parts in this widening tale of courage and sacrifices the Templers are forced to endure.

There are times when only God could save them and He does, such as the time Josh is forced to hide in a tree to avoid being mistaken for a cold-blooded killer's partner. Watching the posse take the murderer into custody below him, while in the tree above, Josh hangs on to his one possession--a chunk of hard bread that he suddenly loses his grip on, and it almost gives him away.

Later in the next town, he sees the heads of the men the posse was after the night before stuck on poles for the people to see what happens to those that murder others and get caught.

This story has many exciting twists and turns that will keep the reader wanting to read more, while learning what it was like to live, and die during the American Civil War. Those that have read The Templers found it both entertaining and factual. The Templer family will get into your heart and you will soon think of them as your own. R. Howard Trembly.