Damn Traitor’s Grave
by Thomas Patrick
Copyright: © 2008
Paperback $12.96
E-Book $1.25
329 Pages
I have to admit that Thomas Patrick’s book appealed to me because of its book cover. Don’t judge a book and all. The cover itself is not appealing as it appears to be a bad scan of an old sepia photograph or quite possibly a photo taken of a photograph in a frame since there seems to be a shiny glare just across the woman’s face. However, I have a huge respect for the sepia photographs of yesterday and have been known to buy them up when I see them in junk stores and antique places. Yes, I have an odd collection of pictures of complete strangers…your great great grandparents, perhaps? So the old lady in the long dress feeding the chickens out in the yard spoke to me and I knew I wanted to read this book.
The story begins with a letter written by Silas Tilman from Euslis County, Tennessee. Silas writes about two generals he knew during the War with Mexico, Randall Crudmatch and Cadmus Throckmorton, and how the three men came into possession of a cross of gold with an ivory figure of Christ on it which they found on a dead Mexican they’d probably shot from their post during the night. The three men debate on what to do with the cross and decide to hide it on Cad’s plantation. This results in a feud between Cad and Randall, and the cross ends up with Silas who hides it from Cad after Randall dies in battle.
Years later, Silas admits to Cad that he has the cross and Cad instructs him to give it to Gizzy Jordan, a slave woman belonging to Cad. Silas obeys and Gizzy hides the cross from Cad. Gizzy told Cad that his dead mother knew where it was and that he’d have to raise her spirit to find out. Silas, believing the cross was cursed, tells the reader that Cad and Gizzy were both respectable people. Gizzy had gone to battle along side Cad and nursed several wounded soldiers back to health. But Gizzy took the location of the cross to her grave, and Silas ends the letter telling the reader he does not know its whereabouts.
The book then goes into a haunting tour of the Hamblin Cemetery where the three men are buried, stopping at each of their graves to let the reader in on a bit more information about their relationship with each other and their services to their country. Crudmatch’s plot has been nicknamed the “Damn Traitor’s Grave” since he fought on the northern side instead of with his native South during the Civil War. But it is the religious artifact that they are best known for. Locals gossip over which of the three men’s graves probably conceals the cross, and its story has even become quite a local legend.
Move forward several years after the war and meet Daisey Peters, the great granddaughter of Silas. Daisey finds the infamous cross, the foundation for the story, and its true secrets begin to unfold. It’s important to note that everything up to the introduction of Daisey happens in the first 14 pages of the story. Daisey’s part in the tale is over 300 pages long, but laced with bits and pieces about the three generals who stole the Mexican relic and let it take over their lives.
Cosmetically, the book is a mess and is riddled with bad formatting, misspellings, and poor grammar. Despite the chapter headers being dates and times, the plot bounces all over the place as if the storyteller is verbally telling you the story but keeps backtracking because he forgot important parts. Also, there’s a lot of “telling” rather than “showing” as I’ve already pointed out that most of the history of the cross is covered in the first 14 pages of the 329 page book.
However, that being said, there are few historical fiction pieces that have captured and held my attention like this one. I hated textbook history in school, and have much preferred the individual stories of people and their colorful family trees. Damn Traitor’s Grave has the privilege of being one of those few historical books to keep me entertained all the way through. Mr. Patrick has done a wonderful job of lacing together a multi-level story of history, humor, family and intrigue that never gets boring. With a revamped cover and a nice dose of editing, I’d say this is one worth remembering!
