We find duty-bound Corporal A. P. Peacock, 27th Alabama Regiment of the Confederacy, in the midst of the bloody battlefield of Shiloh, having neither finished his medical training nor his seminary studies. Unprepared, yet willing to do what he can with the skills he has, Peacock encounters a darkness, an otherworldly coldness that chills him to the core of his being.

Surrounded by wounded soldiers, desperate for any aid that can be offered, Peacock sets to the work at hand with only a sewing kit, his knife, and knowledge gained through brief study. The young man’s faith is tested as much as are these skills, as he fights to overcome his doubt in his own half-trained abilities and his despair, faced with wave upon wave of increasingly suffering wounded.

Never a superstitious sort, Peacock is surprised to not only hear about the legend of the Angel’s Glow, but to see its phosphorescense with his own eyes. The air is filled with the sounds of war, gunshot and cannon fire, whispered prayers of the faithful, strangled cries and moans of the mortal victims of battle’s aftermath. Peacock struggles with the evidence his eyes show him as soldiers with the glow survive more often than those who remain dark, especially the dark soldier who always seems to suffer, yet never dies like the others.

This tale is rooted in history and folklore proven true, yet weaves the truth into a tale of the fight between light and dark, doubt and faith. Corporal Peacock must discover his true purpose as his knowledge and faith are tested in this terrible theater of war. As he says, “…there are powers beyond us at work in this world.”

I was pleasantly surprised to be challenged, as a reader, to explore further, both into Civil War history and legend. Faith and belief are an integral part of this story, as well, bringing a different perspective to the supernatural side of this adventure. I’m glad to find there will be a sequel, following Pox, the dark soldier, the personification of disease and pestilence who is the battle-sworn opponent of Corporal Peacock, and he doesn’t even know it, yet.