Noel CarpenterAs a boy growing up in Decatur in the 1920s, author Noel Carpenter played on the sites of Civil War action that had taken place a few blocks from his home. After graduating from the University of Alabama and earning a master's degree from the Universty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carpenter spent 30 years as a command pilot and Air Force officer. Later in life, he combined a lifelong interest in Civil War history with his military perspective and decided to examine in depth the episode that had unfolded in his hometown more than a century earlier. He spent 12 years researching and writing the story. Read More Read Less