Part of the Secret Soldier Series

Charley Smith is up to something…

Henry Schaefer is sick of standing in his brothers’ shadows. That’s why he tried to enlist just as soon as Lincoln put out the call. Now that he’s finally mustering in at Fort Snelling in the last company of the Second Minnesota Regiment, he’s eager to prove himself and catch up with his brothers on the front lines. He may be green, but at least he’s not as green as the snot-nosed Charles Smith, who seems hell-bent on making life in their squad as difficult as humanly possible. 

Charles Smith knows he’s being an unbearable ass. But it’s nothing personal — it’s a matter of survival. Because the last thing he can afford is for his squad to discover he is actually Cate Ellis, whose unhappy marriage finally drove her to throw everyone’s expectations to the wind and do all she can to open up the promise of freedom to every square mile of these United States. Which, in this case, means dressing as a man. It’s too bad she has to do everything she can to drive that lughead Schaefer away, because he is … well, he is objectively a very strapping man. 

Henry knows there’s something off about Charley. And he’s going to get to the bottom of it, even if the little weasel has these dark eyes he can’t quite look away from…

Serialized January-August, 2024 in Hadley’s Romance Book.

On sale May 1 through May 30!

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Books in the Secret Soldier Series

• A Fine Looking Soldier
• A Right Honorable Soldier – Serializing June 6!

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Illustrations

Hadley’s Romance Book subscribers and print book buyers enjoy full access to the 20 illustrated plates for this volume. The eBook edition doesn’t include illustrations, due to formatting limitations.

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Tropes

slow burn, rivals to friends to lovers, forced proximity, only one bunk/tent, cinnamon roll/lemon tart, virgin hero, nb rep

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Content Notices

Crossdressing and light gender dysphoria. Period-typical terminology/pronouns. Moral and ethical debate over slavery by White characters. Reference to period typical sexism and racism. Familial estrangement. Discussion and logistics of privies and menstruation.

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Reviews

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Media

Virtual tour of Fort Snelling, Minnesota Historical Society.

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Footnotes

Abbott, Karen. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. Harper Collins: New York, 2014.

Blanton, DeAnne and Lauren M. Cook. They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press: Baton Rouge, 2002.

Bircher, William. A Drummer-boy’s Diary: Comprising Four Years of Service with the Second Regiment Minnesota Veteran Volunteers, 1861 to 1865. United States, St. Paul Book and Stationery Company, 1889.

Bishop, Judson Wade. The Story of a Regiment: Being a Narrative of the Service of the Second Regiment, Minnesota Veteran Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War of 1861-1865. United States, Published for the Surviving Members of the Regiment, 1890.

Bishop, Judson Wade and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, Manuscripts P1922 Box 1 vol. 1-2. 

Cooper, Bernice. “Die freie Gemeinde, freethinkers on the frontier.” Minnesota History, vol. 41, issue 2, 1970, pp. 53-60.

Edmonds, S. Emma E. Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. 1864, republished 2019 by Lakeside Press.

Thomas Fitch Diary. Minnesota Historical Society, Manuscripts, P961.

Giesberg, Judith. Sex and the Civil War. The University of North Carolina Press: Chapel Hill, 2017.

Goodman, Ruth. How to Be a Victorian. Liveright; Reprint edition. September 21, 2015.

Green, William D. “Eliza Winston and the politics of freedom in Minnesota, 1854-60.” Minnesota History, Vol. 57, issue 3, 2000, p. 106-122.

Green, William D. “The Summer Christmas Came to Minnesota: The Case of Eliza Winston, a Slave.” Law and Inequality, vol. 8, no. 1, 1990, pp. 151-177.

Griffin, David Brainerd.  Letters Home to Minnesota: Second Minnesota Volunteers. Minnesota Historical Society, Stacks E515.5 2nd.G75 1992.

Lehman, Christopher. Slavery’s Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State. Minnesota Historical Society Press: St. Paul, 2019.

Lowry, Thomas P. The Story the Soldiers Wouldn’t Tell: Sex in the Civil War. Stackpole Books: Mechanicsburg, 1994.

Olmanson, Bernt. Letters of Bernt Olmanson, A Union Soldier in the Civil War 1861-1865. Compiled and Translated from the Norwegian Language by his Son, Albert Olmanson.

Osman, Stephen E. Fort Snelling and the Civil War. Ramsey County Historical Society: St. Paul, 2017.

Rotundo, Anthony. “Romantic Friendship: Male Intimacy and Middle-Class Youth in the Northern United States 1800-1900.” Journal of Social History, Autumn, 1989, Vol. 23, No. 1. Pages 1-25.

Schmid, Bendict. The Bendict Schmid Civil War Diary, Company G Second Minnesota Regiment. Minnesota Historical Society Stacks E601.S35 A313 1976.

Swisshelm, Jane G. Half a Century. Jansen, McClurg, & Company, 1880. Google Books.

Tyler, Alice F. “William Pfaender and the Founding of New Ulm.” Minnesota History, vol. 30, no. 1, 1949, pp. 24-35.