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…the Erbs weave the complexities of the white settlement of the
West, the tragic experience of Native Americans and the epic
1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn into a moving love story… Frances DeWolf, wife of Seventh Cavalry surgeon James DeWolf, lay in bed alone on a frigid morning in 1875, listening to her husband’s activities in their military quarters--opening the parlor stove, tossing in logs, the metal-on-metal screech as he closed the stove door. She knew she should get up, but instead she curled under the warmth of heaped blankets and recalled their adventure so far. They met in the Oregon wilderness, where James was an enlisted hospital steward at an Army camp and she a teacher for ranchers’ children. She was 19 and he was 28 when they were married in 1871. In 1873, James applied for and was granted a transfer to a post near Boston so he could attend Harvard Medical School. She was proud when he graduated in the summer of 1875, but even with his Harvard degree, he wouldn’t leave the Army. So here she was in the middle of a frozen prairie, wondering what their time in Dakota would bring. There were rumors that Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer would lead the cavalry in a campaign against roaming Indians next year. She hoped the rumors were false, but if true, she hoped her husband wouldn’t have to go off to fight as well. Voices in Our Souls, a historical novel based on fact, tells James and Fannie’s poignant story--one filled with joys and triumphs, regrets and sorrows, and above all else, enduring love. |
| Sunstone Press encourages readers to purchase books from their local bookstores whenever possible. To purchase VOICES IN OUR SOULS directly from Sunstone Press or from an on-line retailer, visit Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and sunstonepress.com. |
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Gene Erb is also the author of A Plague of Hunger based on two award-winning newspaper series, one focusing on the migration of jobs from Iowa to Mexico and the other examining world hunger issues. A former U.S. Navy pilot, Mr. Erb was a reporter and editor with the Des Moines Register and Tribune from 1974 through 2000. He has a bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. Ann DeWolf Erb was a librarian at
Iowa State University and then an analyst, manager and officer
at an Iowa insurance company through 2000. She has a bachelor’s
degree from the University of West Florida and a master’s degree
in library science from the University of Rhode Island. She is a
distant cousin of Dr. James Madison DeWolf. The authors live in Iowa. Contact authors via E- mail - Click Here visit Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and sunstonepress.com.for book purchases
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| Latest Reviews - see below |
| By Christine Riccelli -
dsm
Magazine “Voices in Our Souls: The DeWolfs, Dakota Sioux and the Little Bighorn” By Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb (Sunstone Press) In this historical novel, the Erbs weave the complexities of the white settlement of the West, the tragic experience of Native Americans and the epic 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn into a moving love story that focuses on U.S. Army surgeon James Madison DeWolf and his wife, Fannie. Though fiction, the book is based on James’ diary and the letters between the DeWolfs. Gene Erb, an award-winning journalist who worked at The Des Moines Register for 26 years, and Ann DeWolf Erb, a distant cousin of James Madison DeWolf, evoke a strong sense of place and time, whether describing a bloody battlefield, a desolate prairie fort or the horrific conditions of a Dakota Sioux reservation. Against this backdrop, the passionate and heartbreaking romance of the DeWolfs plays out, their experience ultimately proving the devastating cost of conquest and the lasting power of love. -- On the Web: Read an excerpt from “Voices in Our Souls.” http://www.dsmMagazine.com ----- VOICES IN OUR SOULS Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb, Sunstone, 2010, $19.95, pb, 195pp, 9780865347588 In November 1875, James DeWolf, Army surgeon, along with his wife, Frances, arrives in Dakota Territory to join Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry…. Based on fact, this novel tells the story of how James and Frances DeWolf dealt with living on a frontier army post (they were from “back east”). The couple befriended the Native Americans while living at Fort Totten, treating many for illnesses suffered from malnutrition. Stories of the Battle at Little Big Horn are numerous, yet this book was based upon the diary kept by James DeWolf as the 7th Cavalry moved towards the Indian encampment along the Little Big Horn River. The novel is well researched, illustrating the close relationship between James and Frances and their plans for the future after James left the Army, and describing in detail the anxiety felt by Frances while James marched to the Indian encampment. This is a love story of two individuals caught up in a tragic battle. The authors, with the use of diaries and excerpts from letters, tell a poignant story. I recommend it to those who wish to learn more about this major American battle and to understand its effect on those who actually lived and died during Custer’s Last Stand. Jeff Westerhoff -- Historical Novels Review, November 2010 ----- By VANCE E. NELSON The Bismarck Tribune Title: "Voices In Our Souls: the DeWolfs, Dakota Sioux and the Little Bighorn" Authors: Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb By telling the story of a little known doctor who was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, the Erbs have provided an important expansion of our knowledge of that historic fight. Capturing the differences in language, social graces and experiences that exist between the past and modern eras often escapes modern writers, but not the Erbs. That difficulty might be explained in this manner: "When visiting the past it is like visiting a foreign country. They do things differently there." The authors of "Voices in Our Souls" remain sensitive to these differences, as they have produced a book that rings true to the era being described. The story expands upon the basic fact that is stated in many of the history books about the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, that Dr. James DeWolf sustained a mortal facial wound while fighting under Major Reno's command at the Little Big Horn. Up until the authors took up the challenge to provide an expanded background, little else was known about DeWolf. Even less known is the story of DeWolf's wife, Frances, who was one of the four military widows left at Fort Totten after the battle. Very few of the history books on such subjects deal with the potential jealousies and difficulties that could result from life and social expectations at frontier military posts, and how extended campaign expeditions actually affected the dependents that were left behind at those posts. "Voices In Our Souls" corrects that deficiency. The authors also provide the background of the marriage of DeWolf, and his wife, Frances, and how that relationship helped DeWolf achieve the best available medical education of the era through the Harvard Medical School. The story further provides information regarding the first military station after graduation from Harvard Medical School taken by the DeWolfs in Oregon, rather than following another available career path. The difficulties of a change of station trip to Fort Totten, Dakota Territory, are well told. It was at Fort Totten that DeWolf and his wife established a friendship with the Dakotas that is remembered to this day. Integral to the story presented by the Erbs is the effort of DeWolf to reach out and provide medical assistance to the wife of one of the main Native American leaders of the eastern Dakota People of the Fort Totten Indian Reservation. An excellent setting for the mood of the book is established by the authors through the somewhat blurred and "mystical" book cover photograph of two headstones existent above the base of the ravine on the Little Big Horn Battlefield where DeWolf died. Important to the story is the aftermath of the battle at Little Big Horn which had major effects on the lives of the four widows left alone at Fort Totten to not only deal with their grief, but also the necessity, because of military regulations, to immediately pack and move from the fort. The authors have divided the story into 20 chapters that not only provide information on Fort Totten, but also on Fort Seward, Fort Abraham Lincoln, Heart River and the Badlands, all located in North Dakota. Although most historians focus on Fort Abraham Lincoln as the "jumping off place" for the Seventh Cavalry's expedition against the Sioux in 1876, few mention that the vast majority of the soldiers killed under Lt. Col. George Custer's direct command at Little Big Horn, had actually been stationed at Fort Totten, Dakota Territory, prior to the campaign. Finally, I found the material presented at the end of the book in the "Notable Characters," "Afterward" and "Bibliography" to be extremely helpful to a full reading and understanding of the main story of the book. This is indeed a "poignant story filled with joys and triumphs, regrets and sorrows, and above all else, enduring love," as stated on the back cover of the book. Furthermore, it provides the modern day reader with a perspective of the human character that has the potential to enlighten our own relationships with other peoples through the voices in our souls. (Vance E. Nelson served as curator of the Fort Robinson Museum near Crawford, Neb.; site supervisor, Fort Totten State Historic Site, Fort Totten; and regional manager, East State Historic Sites in N.D. He and his wife live in Pembina.) ----- By David Elbert, The Des Moines Register "Voices in Our Souls; The DeWolfs, Dakota Sioux and the Little Bighorn" by Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb (Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, N.M.; $19.95) Good historical fiction provides a sense of time, place and suspense. A new book, "Voices in Our Souls" by local authors Gene Erb and Ann DeWolf Erb, adds a fourth dimension, romance, by focusing on the relationship between U.S.Army surgeon Dr. James Madison DeWolf and his wife, Fannie. The backdrop is the seven months leading up to the 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, where Lt. Col. George Custer and DeWolf were killed, along with 261 other soldiers and scouts of the Seventh Calvary. Custer is a looming figure in history but a bit player in this book, appearing on fewer than 20 pages. His portrait here consists mostly of unflattering comments from soldiers who wound up paying the ultimate price for what they believed would be a Custer bid for the presidency. As a newcomer to the Seventh Calvary, DeWolf was trying to be open minded about Custer, as he was about Indian problems. Although written as a novel, the Erbs' book is based in part on a diary found on DeWolf's body and letters between him and Fannie from the time they parted in March until his death in June. The story focuses on the relationship between the DeWolfs and uses their lives to call attention to the complex situations between whites and Native Americans as settlers and soldiers pushed west during the last half of the 19th century. Soon after arriving at Fort Totten in the Dakota Territory in November 1875, the couple discovers the wretched conditions in which traders and government agents are keeping nearby Indians. The DeWolfs' efforts to help require them to build bridges across the culture gap to gain trust from natives who are routinely cheated by whites and from many whites who view the natives as less than human. The DeWolfs also battle their own emotions, which include jealousy and distrust on the part of the doctor and worry and deception on the part of Fannie, who is uncertain whether a pregnancy will help or hurt her efforts to persuade her husband to return to Boston. Once DeWolf was killed, the question became unanswerable. But until then, their romance, his jealousy and her deception create a level of suspense that rides with him onto the battlefield. When the Erbs began researching DeWolf's story, they discovered that his was among a handful of soldiers' bodies on Little Big Horn battlefield that day that were not mutilated or defiled by the victors. There was a reason that DeWolf's body was not touched, which the book makes clear. ----- By Thomas Norman DeWolf This review is from: Voices in Our Souls, The DeWolfs, Dakota Sioux and the Little Bighorn (Paperback) I'll disclose upfront that one of the authors, Ann DeWolf Erb, is my second cousin. We've never met in person; only via e-mail. James Madison DeWolf, one of the two main subjects of Voices In Our Souls, is my second cousin, four generations removed. I've anticipated this book for the past few years; knowing that it was being researched and written. The reading of it proved enlightening and a great experience. Of course my interest was high due to the family connection. Yet I believe that anyone with an interest in American history--and specifically the events involving General Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn--will find Voices In Our Souls to be a valuable addition to their library. Most history books focus on locations, events, and the actions that famous people took. This is the story of a little-known assistant surgeon who was killed during that battle in 1876; a man who kept a diary and exchanged many letters with his wife. Those documents survived and provide the foundation for this wonderful novel. The authors invite us into a more intimate relationship with people who were at the center of historic events but they are people we either have not heard of before or have only heard of in connection with the result of the battle. Voices In Our Souls shares the intimate feelings and experiences of real people. It invites us to contemplate the human implications of the mistreatment of Indian children, women, and men, the human impact of war on those involved in the battle, as well as their wives, children, and friends waiting for them back home. Though set in the late 19th century, those feelings are critical for us to consider today as we make decisions about war and peace and the treatment of other people who are different from us or supposedly stand in the way of our "national interest." Voices In Our Souls offers much to ponder. |
