Baptism of Fire by Eric A. Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp is available online now.

Eric A. Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp are pleased to announce the release of their upcoming non-fiction work, Baptism of Fire. The book details the story of three Federal regiments that were engaged at the historic Battle of Franklin. In conjunction with the release, Jacobson will host a book signing at The Carter House on Saturday, Sept. 17. Refreshments will be provided, and the book will be available for purchase. Jacobson will speak at 11:30 a.m. and sign books from 12-1 p.m. Book Synopsis: The book focuses on the 44th Missouri, 175th Ohio, and 183rd Ohio, not only because they had never been in combat prior to Franklin, but they played such key roles in the battle.  The book follows the units from their organization in the late summer and fall of 1864 until they went home in the summer of 1865, but the real focus is a detailed account of how they helped to turn the tide of the Battle of Franklin in favor of the Federal army.  The long held belief that Col. Emerson Opdycke’s Brigade almost singlehandedly turned back the Confederate breakthrough is shattered by this book.  A reader will see that these new units had as much to do with saving John Schofield’s army as any Federal troops on the Field.

Civil War Trust President James Lighthizer said, “One learns not only a great deal about a controversial part of that savage event but more interestingly to me, one sees it through the perspectives of the actual soldiers and their, up till then, largely untested units."

Eric A. Jacobson Eric Jacobson has been a student of the American Civil War since the mid-1980s. He has authored two prior books, For Cause & For Country and The McGavock Confederate Cemetery, and has a deep and heartfelt interest in elevating the stories about Spring Hill and Franklin to their appropriate place in history. For many years he has assisted a variety of organizations, from Franklin's Charge to the Civil War Trust, in their efforts to preserve and reclaim critical portions of both battlefields, which are so crucial to a greater understanding of the men and boys who fought there in 1864. Eric is the Chief Operating Officer and Historian for the Battle of Franklin Trust and works in the historic Franklin community, and nearly every day he walks the hallowed ground on which so many Federal and Confederate soldiers so valiantly struggled. His interpretive and preservation efforts at Carnton Plantation and The Carter House, in particular, have been extensive. He lives in Spring Hill with his wife, Nancy, and their two daughters.

Eric A. Jacobson

Richard A. Rupp

Richard A. Rupp has been interested in the American Civil War since his family visited Gettysburg at the beginning of the war’s Centennial. Raised in Rhode Island and a graduate of The Rhode Island School of Design, he has worked for 36 years in a manufacturing company that is celebrating its 200th year of operation. He is a member of the Rhode Island Civil War Round Table, serves on the executive board of the Rhode Island Labor History Society, and is Vice-president of Local 1554-T, UNITEHERE. Richard lives in Wickford, Rhode Island with his wife, Jo Ann. 

The hardcover book will be available beginning September 17 at The Carter House and Carnton Plantation Museum Stores. It can also be purchased online immediately beow.


Purchase Baptism of Fire by Eric Jacobson and Richard A. Rupp: The Hard Cover Edition is $34.95 plus $6.00 shipping.
Published by O'Moore Publishing.