From These Ashes Part III

About the Book

Even in history’s darkest times, enlightened men looked to the heart when choosing a friend. From These Ashes, is about a young man from Barnwell County, South Carolina who inherits 150 of his fellow human-beings. Part I, A Friend Loveth at All Times, speaks of the close relationships that existed on plantations between master and slave and the unrecognized struggle for freedom complicated by loyalty to a fair master.
Part II, A Brother Offended, continues the story through the war. The characters serve with the 2nd South Carolina Cavalry under Edgefield’s M.C. Butler - sharing in such adventures as Brandy Station, Hampton’s cattle raid and the bitter return to South Carolina to fight against Kilpatrick’s Army, who gloried in burning a path from the low country to Columbia with more vengeance than Sherman dealt Georgia.
After the war, the main character returns home to find another challenge. Following true accounts of the Reconstruction, Part III, Through Wisdom is a House Built, places the characters into this agonizing time. In Part III, the main character does what he must to build a safe future for those he loves from the ashes left by Kilpatrick’s invasion.
From These Ashes celebrates positive qualities in men of both colors. Reynolds believes what we give our power over to will manifest. With this story he has chosen to celebrate the good in mankind - the good that was present then and is now. President Lincoln once said when meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, “So you’re the little lady who wrote the book that started this great war!” Reynolds shares a veiled history with a new generation of Americans. Knowledge brings understanding and understanding empathy. So with this tale his prayer is set free… Let the South be free to celebrate her Confederate heritage.

About the Author

In 1859 South Carolina stood on the threshold of war. The end to an era boldly knocked on every Southern door until even the peacemakers had no recourse but to allow its entrance. Without mercy, the war changed Southern lives forever. No amount of blood sacrifice shed during those tragic four years would atone for errors of past generations or gain empathy for those who so bravely fought for Southern independence.
Reynolds considers himself a 21st century freedom fighter. Being a student of the War Between the States for the past forty years he felt called to tell this tale. Believing he has heard the voices of countless, honorable good men in gray, who served for a cause they believed in, crying out to be heard and not forgotten, he has written the story because he believes it is time the truth be told. So much history of the South’s struggle for independence has been written by the victor.
Reynolds realizes his writing is no great literary accomplishment — just an interesting story that reveals a valuable truth to all Americans. He hopes his story will draw a reader, with no interest in this era, into the daily conflicts faced by those who lived during that time and provide them with an insight into the events that dramatically shaped 20th century America.