JW,

I was very honored to see the review you left for my book at Amazon. It truly means the world to me and I am in your debt.

Let's see. For future reference, my e-mail is steve_massey2@yahoo.com please make note of it and hit me there any time. Your questions are welcome as well as any camaraderie I can offer.

Can you get me the names of your ancestors and their companies? Personal stories are especially desired. From doing the research, I found my families, siblings etc, some of whom I featured. I had 8 ancestors there 2 Masseys and 6 Rays. What a unique and dark war that thing was. God rest their souls (north and south).

By the time the flatboats and ironclads left Donelson, there were many men with pneumonia and other respiratory problems. After a bloodbath like the one they had been through, they were badly mistreated by their captors. A lot of guys died on the way, many of them had army blankets taken since they were loot from battle and considered property of the US Army. The guys in the West taken POW were roughly treated for sure. I did try to include a good bit about the prisoner experience.

Both sides were pretty much running concentration camps for a series of sad and complex reasons.

Hope to hear lots more for you soon!

Steve