Part of the Secret Soldier Series
Charley Smith is ready for war…
Charley Smith has sacrificed everything to fight for the Union in the US Civil War. However, despite giving up her family, marriage, and assigned sex, she has never felt more like herself. And finally, after months of training, the Second Minnesota Regiment is on its way to the front.
Henry Schaefer isn’t ashamed to admit he’s hopelessly drawn to his bunkmate. But as their regiment heads to the frontlines, he’s grappling with how to make Charley see that he wants more from her than a relationship of convenience—he wants her whole heart.
As the Second Regiment makes its way across the Kentucky Pennyroyal, Henry and Charley have to find a way to weather the harsh conditions of life in the field while keeping their relationship a secret. Close quarters, illness, and an unexpected family reunion are nothing, though, in comparison to the hell of battle as their regiment gains on the Confederate general Zollicoffer and his rebels.
Charley’s sacrificed everything to fight, but will it cost her Henry too?
Serialized June-December, 2025 in Hadley’s Romance Book.
Books in the Secret Soldier Series
- A Fine Looking Soldier
- A Right Honorable Soldier
Illustrations
Print book buyers enjoy full access to the 15 illustrated plates for this volume. The eBook edition doesn’t include illustrations, due to formatting limitations.
Tropes
secret relationship, forced proximity, grumpy/sunshine, virgin hero, nonbinary rep
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. Discussion and logistics of privies, menstruation, prophylactics, and abortifacients. Accidental outing of gender identity. Depictions of battle.
Reviews
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.
Bishop, Judson Wade and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society, Manuscripts P1922 Box 1 vol. 1-2.
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.
Griffin, David Brainerd. Letters Home to Minnesota: Second Minnesota Volunteers. Minnesota Historical Society, Stacks E515.5 2nd.G75 1992.
Greubner, Constantin. We Were the Ninth: A History of the Ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry April 17, 1861, to June 7, 1864. Translated and edited by Frederic Trautmann. Kent State University Press, Ohio, 2009.
Lehman, Christopher P. Slavery’s Reach : Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State. Saint Paul, Mn Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019.
Lehman, Christopher P. It Took Courage: Eliza Winston’s Quest for Freedom. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 6 Feb. 2024.
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.
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.
Wingerd, Mary Lethert. North Country: The Making of Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press, 2010.
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