The Passage

By James Killgore
Novel, (young adult), maps, drawings, bibliography, author's note, 249 pp., 2006. Peachtree Publishers, 1700 Chattahoochee Ave., Atlanta, GA 30318-2112, $15.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.

Review:
The Passage is a novel for young adults. The protagonist, 15-year-old Sam Wood, lives in Yazoo City, Miss. It's 1862 and he wants to join the Confederate Army like his brother and many of the other males in the area have done as "every able-bodied young man in town over the age of eighteen is expected to join up and fight or be branded a coward."

He is bullied at school because his grandfather, with whom he lives, is shunned by the town because he was against secession.

When the unfinished hulk of the CSS Arkansas is towed to Yazoo city to be completed, Sam sees his chance, and with his best friend Albert, he enlists in the Confederate Navy.

It helps that the commanding officer of the Arkansas, Capt. Isaac Davis, is an old friend and shipmate of Sam's deceased father. His grandfather reluctantly agrees.

Sam and Albert's introduction to naval life at the lowest rung is an eye-opening experience for them. War is not always shining deeds of valor and noble intentions.

Besides the misery of some of their duties (such as emptying the outhouse pits ashore with buckets) there is getting along with, and living in close contact, with members of the crew who are different social classes than Sam and Albert.

Soon the Arkansas is completed and sails to run the Union blockade to Vicksburg to support the Confederate forces there.

Sam and Albert find out about fighting a war during the ship's various actions. People were killed, horribly maimed or go crazy, among the latter being Albert. Sam loses a leg and after a along stay in a Confederate Army Hospital is eventually invalided out.

He returns home a much different person. Later his grandfather is tarred and feathered for his beliefs by members of the Confederate Army and townspeople, his former friends. Sam becomes a teacher for the younger boys at his former school. His only dread is that "this war might last long enough to suck them in as it had so many other Yazoo boys."

The Passage is well-written and fast-paced. There are a number of interesting characters, some light love interests for Sam, and the author has done his research about the CSS Arkansas and its actions. It would make an excellent gift for a young adult.