Blessed is He

By Colin Thomas

Towards the end of the American Civil War in 1863, Sergeant Zack Jackson, a black Confederate soldier, wakes up after a battle in Virginia, in a field full of his dead comrades, and he sees a hand held up in the middle of all the dead bodies. On further investigation, a dying soldier hands him a wallet, with both monies, his home address, and the deeds of a map of his claim to a gold mine. He requests, with his dying wish, that Zack takes the contents to his wife and family and to eventually go and find the gold mine. He then dies of his wounds. Zack, also gravely wounded, sets off to find the dead soldier’s home but collapses along the way. Isaac, a young 11-year-old Jewish boy, finds him and manages to take him back to his parents’ home where they look after him until he is fully recovered. Zack, fully refreshed, goes to find the dead soldier’s wife and hands her the wallet. She thanks him for his courage and honesty and agrees for him to search for the mine. Together with Isaac and his dog, they begin their journey through the dangerous terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Unknown to them, they were being followed by an outlawed gang of Chinese immigrants, who had overheard their plans. They eventually manage to find the mine, but it is not what they expected. Ancient settlers from various Red Indian tribes appear and create havoc, and the two heroes are tasked with unbelievable struggles to save their own lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jan 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398435827

Colin Thomas

After studying Classical Languages at St. Bede’s School Manchester, Colin Thomas at the age of 16, left to start work as a silk screen printer and poster writer, later becoming a Litho machine operator. At 17, he joined as a singer in a popular rock and roll band, who became the regular band at the ‘BBC TOP OF THE POPS STUDIOS’ in Manchester in the 1960s, and other venues throughout the UK. At the same time, he worked as a Litho machine tester and demonstrator, for a well-known Manchester Printing Machine Manufacturer, and travelled all over the World extensively, whilst demonstrating their new Machinery on International Exhibitions. In 1980, at the age of 36, he set up his own successful commercial printing company, before selling it in 2010. Then took a part time job as a fleet car and courier van driver, until finally retiring in December of 2019. Colin then began to write his autobiography and books of poems and children’s books and continued further writing novels. To this day, Colin has written ten unpublished novels and over twenty other unpublished works. He has two children, Warren, aged 55, and Kelly, aged 37, from his first marriage to Lesley in 1965 who sadly died in 2007. Colin has now been married for the past 6 years to his lovely wife, Karen, and lives in a nice home in Cheshire, England, together with her 21-year-old son, Joe. Colin continues writing every day and Blessed is He is the first of his novels to be published.

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About the Author

After studying Classical Languages at St. Bede’s School Manchester, Colin Thomas at the age of 16, left to start work as a silk screen printer and poster writer, later becoming a Litho machine operator. At 17, he joined as a singer in a popular rock and roll band, who became the regular band at the ‘BBC TOP OF THE POPS STUDIOS’ in Manchester in the 1960s, and other venues throughout the UK. At the same time, he worked as a Litho machine tester and demonstrator, for a well-known Manchester Printing Machine Manufacturer, and travelled all over the World extensively, whilst demonstrating their new Machinery on International Exhibitions. In 1980, at the age of 36, he set up his own successful commercial printing company, before selling it in 2010. Then took a part time job as a fleet car and courier van driver, until finally retiring in December of 2019. Colin then began to write his autobiography and books of poems and children’s books and continued further writing novels. To this day, Colin has written ten unpublished novels and over twenty other unpublished works. He has two children, Warren, aged 55, and Kelly, aged 37, from his first marriage to Lesley in 1965 who sadly died in 2007. Colin has now been married for the past 6 years to his lovely wife, Karen, and lives in a nice home in Cheshire, England, together with her 21-year-old son, Joe. Colin continues writing every day and Blessed is He is the first of his novels to be published.

Dedication

I am dedicating this book to my wife, Karen, for her encouragement in listening to my brief ideas for the story line.

Copyright Information ©

Colin Thomas 2023

The right of Colin Thomas to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398435810 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398435827 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Foreword

Sergeant Zach Jackson is a Black slave soldier in the confederate army and is the only man alive after a ferocious battle in Virginia in 1863 which sees his regiment of 600 men destroyed before him.

He sees a dying man, whose last wish is to take his dowry back to his family and offers him a map of his legal claim to a gold mine in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

He regains his strength and delivers the dowry, then sets off to follow the map accompanied by Isaac, a young black Jewish boy.

They engage on a journey which brings them into conflict with a band of Chinese thugs and Indians who seem interested in this mine.

But there is more to this mine than anyone could possibly imagine.

Chapter 1

He suddenly woke up in the open field on a cold rainy morning in June 1863. His body was aching and he was covered over by something heavy. He could smell the brackish soil and wet uneven bush land of the earth underneath him. His nostrils could also define the metallic smell of blood. There was silence all around him. No animals, no birds; just as silent as a graveyard. He opened his eyes and through the morning mist, which was now steadily receding, he could barely make out the silhouettes of shapes all around.

He tried to move his body up but felt the presence of something draped across his legs. He pushed out with his feet and raised his knees and with an extreme effort, managed to get up on one knee, then supported by his arm, he pushed himself up to a sitting position.

The dead body of a man slid off his legs and lay silent on the wet ground. It was then that he felt the excruciating pain around his ankle and wiped the congealed blood from his face.

The first view seemed surreal, then after a while, it all came back to him, he realised where he was and why he was here. With another feat of strength, he managed to push himself up to a standing position with the aid of his obsolete flintlock rifle, and then he hobbled to a nearby tree and took shelter from the torrential rain which was now cascading from the black and grey skies above his head, and pulled his tunic tight around his neck. He sat down against the tree and surveyed the scene of carnage spread before him.

As the rain began to secede, he saw the vision of 600 men and boys, lying dead before him. The silence of death was all too real and it made its own noise inside his head. Dead bodies of his comrades in arms, too gruesome to look at. The sight and smell of pungent congealed blood from soldiers and horses covering the field like a blanket over a bed. He leaned against the tree and cast his mind back to the reason why all this started.

It was two years after the start of The American War of Independence and he was in the defeated Confederate Army, here in this battlefield on the farm of Antietam Creek. The State Of The Union Army from the north had just won a decisive battle which left his army in a very poor shape as hordes of ‘federals’ laid siege to all and every Confederate, or as they called them, Rebels, Johnny Reb, Greybacks, Traitors and many other names from their Black Slave backgrounds.

The American Civil War of 1861–1865 was fought between the Northern United States (who were loyal to The Union) and The Southern United States who had seceded from The Union to form The Confederacy. It began as a result of the long-standing controversy of the enslavement of Black People. Abraham Lincoln was the President of The United States at this time.

From the then 34 US States, Seven Southern ‘Slave States’ were declared to have seceded from the country and the Confederate States of America were organised in rebellion against the Constitutional Government.

The Confederacy controlled the eleven States of Kentucky and Missouri. The two remaining ‘Slave States’ of Delaware and Maryland were invited to join The Confederacy but did not because of the intervention of Federate Troops.

This was a time after The California Gold Rush which ended in 1855 and started in 1849 (So called THE 49ers). There were still pockets of un-mined Gold to be claimed and staked, enough for someone to make themselves a fortune if they were lucky.

There were rumours of numerous deposits in the South Eastern state of Tennessee, part of the Coker-Creek Gold Belt in The Cherokee National Forest.

He had been a soldier in The Confederate Army since he joined to fight the oppression from the North, who discriminated against Black People, using them as slaves, and he was one of 1,200,000 troops who together were up against fighting The Federals with 2.2 million soldiers and more joining every day. They had much more superior weaponry with cannon and repeater rifles and the new Gatling gun, invented by Richard Gatling in 1861, and was in service by 1862. The 0.30 calibre ammunition could be fired at 400 to 900 rounds a minute and the 0.58 calibre at 200 rounds per minute. The Confederate soldiers did not stand a chance, but they were fighting for what they believed in.

The battle had been relentless. They were no match for the well-equipped soldiers who came at them in hoards and shot, stabbed and mutilated his brothers to the mass destruction which he saw laid out before him here today.

Chapter 2

But what should he do now? he thought. His ankle was swelling and giving him a great deal of pain, and his arm had been sliced open by a Northern sword. He tried to stem the blood with a turnkey up under his arm-pit using a torn length from his tattered shirt.

He then sat back against the tree, closed his eyes, and said his prayers.

"Thank you Lord for freeing me from this tragedy, as I pray for my brave comrades who died fighting