Carter credits Redford

"I studied in detail things like: How did they travel, how did they make shoes, what was the relationship between Georgia and South Carolina and the use of slaves?" he said.

The Georgian said he chose the Revolutionary War period because of the lack of literature focusing on it.

"If you think back, there've been hundreds of books written about the Civil War, and almost as many now written about the Vietnam War and the second World War," Carter said. "But practically none have been written about the Revolutionary War."

Carter called the Revolutionary War "by far the most vicious war," because of the lack of geographical division among those who fought it.

"One by one, literally, Americans violated their oath of allegiance to the king," he said. "Sometimes, say, the oldest son would decide to join the revolutionaries, and the next week, he would be fighting against his own father."

Carter said the evolution of his characters was very interesting, and that sometimes they even surprised him.

"I came in and told my wife I was shocked because two of my characters had sex out of wedlock," he said, laughing. "I was somewhat disillusioned about my main character."

He already has started work on the book's sequel, set in the years following the war.

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E-mail: mdecker@desnews.com

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