The Guns of Shiloh is a book written by Joseph A. Altsheler which starts with a story of the first great battle of the Civil War that had been fought and lost. Dick Mason, despite his youth, was aware that luck had been on the North's side right up until the very last minute. He had no idea how the Northern charges had failed to make headway against Jackson's troops. "Don't take it so hard, my boy," said Sergeant Whitley. Although this battle has been lost, others will not. Beauregard's army is not going to sweep us off the face of the earth. Although Dick experienced many dark days, this was possibly the darkest of his life. Dick saw everywhere arms and supplies thrown away by the fringe of a beaten army, the men in the rear who saw and spread the reports of panic and terror. But the regiments were forming again into a cohesive force, and behind them the regulars and cavalry still challenged pursuit.
Joseph A. Altsheler was born on April 29, 1862, in Three Springs, Hart County, Kentucky, to Joseph and Louise Altsheler. He was a newspaper reporter, editor, and author of popular juvenile historical fiction. He wrote fifty novels and at least fifty-three short stories. Seven of his novels were in sequence.He worked as an editor at the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1885. In 1892, he started to work for New York World and then as the editor of the World's tri-weekly magazine. He wrote children's stories due to a lack of suitable stories.On May 30, 1880, Altsheler married Sarah Boles and had a son named Sidney. In 1914, during World War I Altsheler and his family were in Germany and they were forced to remain there.Altsheler died at the age of 57, on June 5, 1919, in New York. His wife, Sarah Boles died after 30 years. Their bodies are buried at the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky.Although each of the thirty-two novels constitutes an independent story, Altsheler suggested reading in sequence for each series (that is, he numbered the volumes). You can read the remaining eighteen novels in any order.
