The Sources

This page is where you’ll find links to places and articles I’ve used during research. Please check back often for updates.

Research for Rebecca:

• My Pinterest board (for visual inspiration)
• More coming soon!

Research for Mary:

• Coming soon!

Research for Elinor:

• My Pinterest board (for visual inspiration)
• More coming soon!

Research for The Wise Guy and the Star (I lost most of my links due to a computer crash, so these are just a few!):

• American-Rails.com
• 1919 in rail transport (Wikipedia)
• My Pinterest board (for visual inspiration)

Research for The Blue Cloak:

[NOTE: Most websites on the Harpes draw their information from Otto A. Rothert’s book The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock. Rothert in turn drew heavily from primary sources–newspaper articles, court documents, memoirs by eyewitnesses–but also leans on T. Marshall Smith’s work, of which I am more suspicious. I came to different conclusions about various historical figures partly because in the modern age we have better access to genealogical records, not to mention photos of gravestones. Where the websites are independent of Rothert’s research, or provide an interesting parallel, I have made note.]

Books about the Harpes:

• America’s First Serial Killers: A Biography of the Harpe Brothers, Wallace Edwards, Absolute Crime Press, 2013
• Blood in the Wilderness, John Edward Shay, Exlibris, 1998
• The Harpes’ Last Rampage: The True Story of America’s First Serial Killers, E. Don Harpe, Flint River Press, 2010
• Legends of the war of independence : and of the earlier settlements in the West : Smith, T. Marshall (Thomas Marshall) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
• The Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock, Otto A. Rothert, Southern Illinois University Press, 1996 [my main resource]
• The Outlaw Years: The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace, Robert M. Coats, Pelican, 2002
• A Wilderness of Tigers: A Novel of the Harpe Brothers and Frontier Violence, Kenneth Tucker, AuthorHouse, 2005 [… in case anyone’s interested in how differently a male author treats the novelization of this subject matter …]

Web articles on the Harpes:

• All That’s Interesting: The Harpe Brothers, America’s First And Most Psychopathic Serial Killers
• Crime Library: Families who Killed together: The Harpe Brothers and the Borgia Family)
• Evansville Courier & Press: Infamous Harpes: Outlaws paid price of evil-doing with their heads [Article shows close-up photo of the historical marker I went searching for down a remote little Kentucky highway in August–and found! Although I have no photos of my own…]
• Henderson, KY History: The Harpe Brothers
• Illinois History: Frontier serial killers: The Harpes
• Legends of America: The Vicious Harpes – First American Serial Killers
• The Lineup (under True Crime): The Harpe Brothers: America’s Original Serial Killers
• Morgan County, TNGenWeb: The Harpe Brothers and the Murder of James Brasel
• Murder by Gaslight: Big Harpe and Little Harpe
• The Nashville Scene: The terrifying true story of the Harpes, who terrorized Tennessee two centuries ago — and paid with their heads
• Natchez Ghosts: Natchez Ghosts: The Devil’s Punchbowl: Historic Research: Harpe’s & King’s Tavern
• Prof. Tucker’s Home on the Web:  Harpe Brothers [One of the most detailed sites]
• The Vintage News: The Harpe brothers: The first recorded serial killers in the United States
• Webster Counter Kentucky Tourism:  The Harp Brothers
• Wikipedia: Harpe brothers

Related genealogical pages, etc.:

• Sarah “Sally” Madden (Rice) (c.1781 – 1834) – Genealogy   
• Sarah Rice – Facts
• Sarah (Rice) Madden (abt.1781-) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree
• Susan Wood, AKA “Susannah Roberts” (deceased) – Genealogy0
• Big Harpe on Ancestry
• Micajah “Big” Harpe (c.1768 – 1799) – Genealogy
• John Rice (1760-1834) – Find A Grave Memorial  
• John Rice (1760-1834) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree
• Stephen Langford – Facts 
• Stephen Langford (1746-1811) – Find A Grave Memorial 
• Thomas LANGFORD IV – Facts  
• David Irby – Facts
• John Leeper Captain – Facts  
• Hugh Lawson White – Wikipedia 
• WHITE, Hugh Lawson – Biographical Information
• Benjamin “Pitt Ben” Langford – Facts
• Mary Lankford (b. 1752, NC, d/o Benjamin and Henrietta Bowcock, m. Richard Todd), of Pittsylvania County, Virginia « Sherlene\’s G-LOG 
• Thomas Langford, b. abt. 1782, m. Elizabeth Mitchell, Killed by Harpes Bros. 1798?, of Virginia « Sherlene\’s G-LOG
• Kentucky Langfords « Sherlene\’s G-LOG
• Letters of Sarah McClendon: Henderson County Kentucky. TNGenWeb, Letters From Forgotten Ancestors

Miscellanea:

• CAMPBELL STATION (Tennessee) 
• Early Regency Cloaks: A Quick Overview – Sewing Empire 
• Hazel Patch | ExploreKYHistory  
• Kentucky 1797. – David Rumsey Historical Map Collection 
• Knoxville, Tennessee – Wikipedia
• Tennessee Walking Horse Origin and Characteristics — Karina Brez Jewelry

Research for The Rebel Bride:

• Abraham Lincoln Online: Selected Quotations on Slavery: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/slavery.htm
• Abraham Lincoln Research Site: http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln2.html
• American Battlefield Trust: Chickamauga and others: https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/10-facts-battle-chickamauga
• The American Civil War: https://mycivilwar.com/
• Atlanta Black Star: Not the Great Emanicipator: https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/05/05/not-great-emancipator-10-racists-quotes-abraham-lincoln-said-black-people/
• Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChickamaugaNPS/
• Chickamauga Blog by Dave Powell: https://chickamaugablog.wordpress.com/
• Civil War Digital: https://www.civilwardigital.com/index.html
• Dade County, Georgia: Battle of Chickamauga: http://www.dadecounty-ga.gov/180/Battle-of-Chickamauga
• History.com: Battle of Chickamauga and other articles: https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/battle-of-chickamauga
• Handguns of the Civil War: http://civilwarhandgun.com/
• The Historical Marker Database: The Xzanders G. McFarland House and McFarland Gap: https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=39268
• My Genealogy Hound (various historic photographs): http://www.mygenealogyhound.com/index.html
• National Park Planner, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park: https://npplan.com/parks-by-state/georgia/at-a-glance-chickamauga-and-chattanooga-national-military-park/battle-of-chickamauga-chickamauga-battlefield/
• National Park Service, Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park: https://www.nps.gov/chch/
• National Park Service, The Civil War: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilwar/
• Ohio in the Civil War: http://www.ohiocivilwar.com/
• Shiflett Family Genealogy: Hillory Shifflet Letters: http://www.shiflett-klein.com/shifletfamily/War/CW/hillory.htm
• Shotgun’s Home of the American Civil War: https://civilwarhome.com/index.html
• Sons of Confederate Veterans: http://www.scv.org/new/
• Tennessee Encyclopedia: Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga: https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/battles-of-chickamauga-and-chattanooga/
• Thomas’ Legion: American Civil War: http://www.thomaslegion.net/americancivilwar/index.html
• ThoughtCo.com: American Civil War, Causes of Conflict and other articles: https://www.thoughtco.com/american-civil-war-causes-of-conflict-2360891
• University of South Carolina: University Libraries Digital Collections: https://www.sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/digital_collections/index.php
• Wikipedia, for initial research and reference only

Research for The Cumberland Bride:

• Where the story took place–the Wilderness Road, stretching from eastern Tennessee up into Kentucky
•  (more to come…)

Research for The Counterfeit Tory:

• Where the story took place–the backcountry of South Carolina
•  Real-life villain Bloody Bill Cunningham, according to Wikipedia
• A more sensational account of Cunningham’s biography
• (more to come…)

Research for The Highwayman:

• Where the story took place–the middle Shenandoah Valley, on the Great Wagon Road, near colonial Staunton, Virginia.
• What is a wagonmaster? Much about this story I drew from the diary of real-life colonial wagonmaster William S. Alexander, who worked the Great Wagon Road [different link from above] from Charlotte, North Carolina, up to Philadelphia. Quite the haul in its day.
• Why oxen and not horses? And, the handling of colonial oxen, with this fun article about oxen at Colonial Williamsburg.
• What purpose did the colonial “ordinary” (inn) or tavern serve, and what’s the difference?
• Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia–an invaluable resource for local history and flavor. I could write a dozen stories inspired by this alone!
• Why “The Highwayman”? The poem by Alfred Noyes, of course, first and foremost … with a happier ending. 🙂
• Why a whip, and not a firearm? Well … because it’s fun, of course. Combine that chapter in Farmer Boy where the mild-appearing teacher takes down a group of bully-boys, the fancy whip-work from The Man From Snowy River, then add all the stories about Zorro, and … yeah. (Come to think of it, Tom Burlinson’s character reminds me a lot of Sam!)

Research for Defending Truth:

• Where the battle took place–Kings Mountain National Military Park [NOTE: the battle took place in October 1780, not 1781 as the timestamp says in the September 2013 edition. That was a most unfortunate typo … my fault, not the publisher’s! It was corrected in the September 2015 edition.]
• Another account of the Battle of Kings Mountain
• Who were the Overmountain Men? (called over-the-mountain in their time)
• Overmountain leaders John Sevier and Isaac Shelby
• About Indian/settler relations–TNGenWeb Project Colonial Period Indian Land Cessions
• History of apple growing near the Overmountain settlements
• Anthony Allaire’s account of the Battle of Kings Mountain (loyalist perspective)
• The Bledsoe family really lived!**
• What did Anthony Bledsoe do after the time of Defending Truth? (Another account by Bill Puryear.)
• Was there really a Loven Bledsoe? (Yes, but his name was properly spelled Loving.)
• Who was Joe Greer? (besides an ancestor of my children’s ballet teacher …)
• What kind of stories of Indian attack might Truth have grown up hearing?

**Truth and her immediate family–father, mother, and siblings–are fictional, but I anchored her story within the real-life Bledsoes of North Carolina and Tennessee. Information about them was often sketchy and inconsistent, but I did my best to piece together names, dates, and places in a way that made sense for the framework of my story. The family was more extensive than I was able to cover in a novella, but I hope I’ve honored their memory.

Also!! Truth’s little brother Thomas returns in his own story, The Cumberland Bride, coming October 1, 2018!