I’ve spent two decades exploring the American Civil War, but I wasn't looking for the stories we’ve all been told. I was looking for the ones that were kept secret. Hi, I’m Dr. Kathleen Fraser, author of the YA historical fiction series entitled, Blood of a Thousand Souls.

After compiling research from nearly a hundred libraries, and attending historical events, classes, and reenactments, I discovered that the Mass Exodus that took place in Virginia during the Spring of 1862 turned the war in a direction unforeseen by the country and the world. It was a chaotic migration of thousands of people that forced Lincoln’s hand to draft the Emancipation Proclamation, and compelled both armies to brace for a long and grueling conflict, where enslaved people fled for their freedom, civilians lost loved ones, and the hidden villages of free Black and Indigenous people could no longer stay in the shadows.

This veiled Virginia is the world of my first novel of the series entitled, Awaken the Warrior. It’s a story of survival and the brutal choices made when there is nowhere left to hide. Join sixteen-year-olds Jordan Kane and Cheyton Redcross, and their young friend William McGregor, as they forge their way through war zones and discover the 'warriors within' themselves.

With the support of the John H. Daniels Fellowship and the National Sporting Library and Museum of Middleburg, Virginia, I am proud to bring you exciting new perspectives on the American Civil War. Follow along as we uncover the history that shapes our Nation.