Overview

A few years ago, while doing some ancestral research, the author discovered his great-great grandfather Jacob (Jake) McFarland and his brother Lorenzo were adopted by the McFarland family when they were quite young. Both served with the 51st Virginia Infantry during the Civil War and both survived the war. In His Name is Jacob Harris, these two characters and others are plunged into an environment during the Civil War that includes the Confederate Secret Service, who began planning subversive activities to encourage the northwest states to secede from the Union and form its own Confederacy. Many of these activities are still relatively unknown to many readers. Several other well-known secret patriotic organizations, such as the Knights of the Golden Circle, etc., played critical roles in carrying out sabotage against Northern line-of-communication, transportation networks and national elections. The story describes in detail blockade activities of the Union Navy, the creation by the South of an ocean-going Naval threat against Union shipping, and the smuggling of arms from Liverpool to the Port of Charleston. The characters are all involved in the intrigue and danger, and the main character, Jacob Harris, is torn between his love for two women, including Lilly, a stunning beauty and Confederate spy, and Annie back home. This spy/love story speaks to the tragedy of the Civil War--the heartbreak of loss on both sides and to the reality of history. This war provided many lessons and introduced many great men on both sides of the conflict. Many of the Confederate officers, such as Robert E. Lee, were former Union officers and West Point graduates. Several, from both sides, fought together in the Mexican War. The call of protestors and politicians to tear down the statues of Confederate leaders and generals makes us wonder where this will end and what the cost will be. This book introduces the reader to elements of the war not often discussed in other books. Surprises in it might challenge current thinking on the war between the states and the brave men who fought it.

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9780998221519

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Reviews

Name is Jacob Harris is an accurate depiction of times during and immediately after the Civil War. Having personally participated in fifteen Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg on Little Round Top hill, I can attest to the author's description of the terrain and disposition of forces on the face and at the bottom of hill. More important, it well portrays the evacuation of Southern forces as they fled to their staging areas and evacuated towards Richmond. The latter part of the book which describes the difficulties facing the disheartened Southern soldiers returning home to uncertainties and a myriad of emotional decisions is particularly noteworthy. --Tony Casey, Company B, 9th Virginia Calvary, Boerne, Texas

His Name is Jacob Harris, is historical fiction at its best. It approaches the subject from a different perspective than the typical subject of slavery. The historical background covers many areas that will be surprising, such as the Confederate Navy, connections to Canada and England, secret societies, and the financing of the Confederacy. All this is woven into a love story about a spy in love with two women. Along the way it gives a moving description of the families of those involved and the sacrifices they made. It is an interesting book well worth the read. Many of our families had ancestors on both sides of this conflict. This book speaks to the commitment and loss of people on the losing side. --Sharon Sinner, a descendant of Jacob McFarland on whom the character Jacob Harris is loosely based.Name is Jacob Harris is an accurate depiction of times during and immediately after the Civil War. Having personally participated in fifteen Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg on Little Round Top hill, I can attest to the author's description of the terrain and disposition of forces on the face and at the bottom of hill. More important, it well portrays the evacuation of Southern forces as they fled to their staging areas and evacuated towards Richmond. The latter part of the book which describes the difficulties facing the disheartened Southern soldiers returning home to uncertainties and a myriad of emotional decisions is particularly noteworthy. --Tony Casey, Company B, 9th Virginia Calvary, Boerne, Texas Name is Jacob Harris is an accurate depiction of times during and immediately after the Civil War. Having personally participated in fifteen Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg on Little Round Top hill, I can attest to the author's description of the terrain and disposition of forces on the face and at the bottom of hill. More important, it well portrays the evacuation of Southern forces as they fled to their staging areas and evacuated towards Richmond. The latter part of the book which describes the difficulties facing the disheartened Southern soldiers returning home to uncertainties and a myriad of emotional decisions is particularly noteworthy. --Tony Casey, Company B, 9th Virginia Calvary, Boerne, Texas

His Name is Jacob Harris, is historical fiction at its best. It approaches the subject from a different perspective than the typical subject of slavery. The historical background covers many areas that will be surprising, such as the Confederate Navy, connections to Canada and England, secret societies, and the financing of the Confederacy. All this is woven into a love story about a spy in love with two women. Along the way it gives a moving description of the families of those involved and the sacrifices they made. It is an interesting book well worth the read. Many of our families had ancestors on both sides of this conflict. This book speaks to the commitment and loss of people on the losing side. --Sharon Sinner, a descendant of Jacob McFarland on whom the character Jacob Harris is loosely based. Name is Jacob Harris is an accurate depiction of times during and immediately after the Civil War. Having personally participated in fifteen Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg on Little Round Top hill, I can attest to the author's description of the terrain and disposition of forces on the face and at the bottom of hill. More important, it well portrays the evacuation of Southern forces as they fled to their staging areas and evacuated towards Richmond. The latter part of the book which describes the difficulties facing the disheartened Southern soldiers returning home to uncertainties and a myriad of emotional decisions is particularly noteworthy. --Tony Casey, Company B, 9th Virginia Calvary, Boerne, Texas Name is Jacob Harris is an accurate depiction of times during and immediately after the Civil War. Having personally participated in fifteen Civil War reenactments at Gettysburg on Little Round Top hill, I can attest to the author's description of the terrain and disposition of forces on the face and at the bottom of hill. More important, it well portrays the evacuation of Southern forces as they fled to their staging areas and evacuated towards Richmond. The latter part of the book which describes the difficulties facing the disheartened Southern soldiers returning home to uncertainties and a myriad of emotional decisions is particularly noteworthy. --Tony Casey, Company B, 9th Virginia Calvary, Boerne, Texas

Author Information

Although he was born and raised in eastern Indiana, J.J. McFarland's father, grandfather, great grandfather and great-great grandfather were born in Burke's Garden Virginia. As a child and through his teenage years, he regularly visited family members still residing on the family homestead in Burke's Garden. Since his teenage years, the author has been an avid reader of spy novels and dreamed of one day working in the arena of spooks, spies, and espionage. He spent 20 years in the Air Force and worked in the Intelligence Community, six of them in Seoul, South Korea, Frankfurt and Wiesbaden, Germany in Human Intelligence, i.e., intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines. When he retired from active duty, he held a Bachelor's degree in Politics and Urban Regional Planning and a Master of Arts degree in Communication Arts. He also was an Adjunct Associate Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Dr. Wm Francis Herlehy III is a Professor Emeritus in the business Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Although retired from teaching full time, he teaches a class for Graduate Students preparing them for their final Graduate Research Project. Dr. Herlehy earned his Ph.D. in Labor Relations from Kent State University.

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