I grew up in East Tennessee, and although I live in and love Virginia now, I wanted to tie the book back to my roots. So I let my character, Jefferson Banks, have lived in that area for a while during his life. I also allowed him to be on the Union side of the Civil War because I have an ancestor, David Tipton, who lived in Tennessee and who served in the Union Army. This was my tie-in from my own family's history into my story. ~January 28, 2013
