Van Temple

Whisperwood Van Temple

A story of one man's struggle of conscience through the bewildering, brutal, and terrifying experience of the American Civil War.




Anderson Flowers, a poor, twenty-year-old farmer, leaves his home and sweetheart in the summer of 1861 and walks the twenty-five miles to Kosciusko with his best friend, Dallas, to enlist as a soldier in Company K of the 20th Regiment of the Army of Mississippi.




Why does a poor farmer who believes the institution of slavery to be morally wrong join the Confederate side?




Anderson joins out of a sense of patriotism under the propaganda of the times. Like most young men he knows nothing of soldering and is unprepared for the brutality, hardships, and the spiritual and physical deprivation of war. He has not considered the possibility of being killed, nor the moral dilemma of killing others.




When the killing begins, the reasons for joining the army dissolve - it's kill or be killed. Soldiers fight for their own lives and the lives of the men on either side of them. Anderson sees no way out of the war other than to pray he's not maimed or killed, and persevere to the end.




As war rages on Anderson asks God for forgiveness and mercy as his soul becomes possessed by the devil in the hell of battle.