Real Characters

 

Where Duty Calls, the Middle Grade Civil War Novel set in New Mexico Territory that I published through Kinkajou Press last summer, is populated with a mix of fictitious and real people.  All of the important events and dates are historical, the information gleaned from diaries, newspapers, and secondary sources. If I could have found real people who were always in the middle of the action, I would have made them my main characters. Since I couldn’t, I created Jemmy and Raul. The small, personal scenes depicting their family life are entirely made up. But when my sources described a scene I wanted to include in my novel, I often added the writer of the account into my novel. ​Some of the real people whose diaries, letters and sources I used proved to be real characters, with wonderful stories of their own.  One of these is Frederick S. Wade, who left the teaching profession to enlist as a private in the Army of New Mexico, the force Major General Henry Hopkins Sibley organized in Texas for the purpose of taking New Mexico Territory for the Confederacy. ​ Frederick Wade in his later years Wade’s obituary,in the June 27, 1925 edition of the San Antonio Express says that he was the one who told Abraham Lincoln that Texas would secede from the Union.  Born in Ontario, Canada, Wade was raised in Illinois, then moved to Texas in 1857. In 1860, he was visiting his parents in Illinois when Lincoln asked him about Texan opinion.  The obituary states that Lincoln tried to get Wade to tour Texas and urge it to remain with the Union. Wade declined, and Texas joined the Confederacy. Wade then joined the Confederate brigade being formed by Tom Green. He continued to serve under Green until he became a prisoner of war in 1862. While in prison camp, Wade helped a friend escape. His friend had contracted smallpox and was in the hospital. One day, Wade found him sitting in a coffin with a white sheet around him. Wade sprinkled the man’s face and hands with flour, then sealed the coffin and made sure it was loaded on the top of the other coffins in the dead wagon.  After the wagon had left the prison, the man raised the lid of the coffin and called “Come to judgement” in his spookiest voice. The frightened driver ran away yelling “Ghosties! Ghosties!” Wade’s friend then stole one of the horses and escaped to Canada. You can read this story, plus some other remembrances here. ​ Who needs to make up characters when people like this already exist? Jennifer Bohnhoff is a former middle grade teacher. Where Duty Calls is the first book in a trilogy entitled Rebels Along the Rio Grande. Book 2, The Worst Enemy, will be published by Kinkajou Press, a division of Artemesia Publishing,  in August, 2023.

Mission completed

 

Last month I met ten friends and some of their family members at the Bataan Sculpture in Veteran's Park, Las Cruces, New Mexico. We wanted to see these larger-than-life veterans on the day before we paid tribute to the men they represent: the men involved in the Bataan Death March, which I've recently talked about in another blogpost.

The three figures in the sculpture look in three different directions. One looks back to what they have already endured. One looks down, as if considering where they presently are. The third looks forward, to their future.

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We had looked forward to the Bataan Memorial Death March for a long time. Our own journey began when one of the students on my track team heard from an Educational Assistant that I'd done it before. He asked if it was hard, and I answered that yes, it was, but it was possible for anyone who put in enough training. "So," he said, "when are we going to start training?"

How could I say no?

​We began hiking right after Thanksgiving. We hiked three to five miles on Mondays and Wednesdays after school, with longer hikes on Saturdays, eventually building up to twenty miles.

On the day of the march we gathered in the pre-dawn hours. After a stirring ceremonial and a chance to thank the few remaining survivors, we were off on our adventure.

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Some of us did the short course, which was a little over 14 miles, while others in our group completed the full 26.2 mile marathon. The course had a mix of dirt roads and pavement through the dry high desert of White Sands Missile Range, in southern New Mexico.

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The portion of the route known as the Sand Pit was the hardest for most. Located in the last third, when we were already good and tired, the Sand Pit went right up a sandy arroyo. It was like walking on a beach.

A majority of the people who do The Bataan Memorial Death March are military and in uniform, so we were always surrounded by strong and supportive people. This is one of the things that makes this marathon very different from any other marathon: rather than being a competition, it is a day-long commemoration of the fighting spirit of our troops. We march to remember, and to challenge ourselves to be as tough as we can be.

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Despite the arid conditions, the desert is not without its beauty. The California poppies were in bloom and the beautiful Organ Mountains stood sentinel over our west flank.

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Many thanks to Barbara Leiber- Klotz, who took the majority of these pictures.

I am proud to report that everyone finished strong, and with good times. Some have even started to talk about "next year." 

Mission Accomplished.

Spinach, New Mexican Style

 

 

When most people think of vegetables and side dishes in New Mexican cooking, they think about pinto beans and rice, and maybe a garnish of chopped lettuce and tomatoes.

Authentic New Mexican cooking offers more than a bit of chopped up salad.

Spinach is a wonderful spring tonic because it grows early, before the soil warms up, and more tender plants are still endangered by the Southwest's late freezes. Because of its hardiness, spinach is a needed dose of fresh greens after the long, hard winter.

I recently went to The Church Street Cafe, a wonderful restaurant tucked into a side street behind San Felipe Church in Albuquerque's Old Town. The cafe is in Casa de Ruiz, on property that has been in the Ruiz family since Albuquerque's founding in 1706. If you want an historical New Mexican experience, you can't get much more authentic than the food here, which includes quelites, Spanish for spinach, calabacitas, a wonderful medley of summer squash and corn, and old fashioned chili rellenos, which I've had in private homes but haven't seen offered in any other restaurant.  

When my novel set in New Mexico during the Civil War comes out, I plan to also offer a small cookbook with recipes from the period. The cookbook will have New Mexican recipes, plus some from the Gettysburg area to tie in with The Bent Reed. This one will be in that cookbook, but I'm offering it to you now, when we could all use a touch of spring tonic. Espero que te guste.

QUELITES (New Mexican Spinach)
Yield: 4-6 servings
Cooking Time: Approximately 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds washed fresh spinach 
1/4 teaspoon chile flakes (the kind you sprinkle on pizza)
1 tablespoon shortening
3 tablespoons chopped onion
1 tsp salt
2 slices of bacon 

Directions:
1. Wash spinach and remove stem ends.
2. Place spinach in a medium-sized saucepan and steam for 10 minutes at medium heat.
3. Drain and chop spinach. Set aside.
4. Sauté onion and bacon in a medium-sized saucepan at medium heat. Add spinach and remaining ingredients to onion, bacon and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with chile flakes.