New Jersey Authors Publish Novel of The Battle of Gettysburg

Into the Vortex of Fire: A Story of Honor, Valor, Courage, Sacrifice, and Remembrance, a new book by James H. Lamason with Gerard E. Mayers with a forward by Scott Mingus, Sr. and maps by Bradley M. Gottfried, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

This novel details the lives of the 11th New Jersey Infantry Regiment (Union Army, American Civil War) and their part in The Battle of Gettysburg.

"It is… the stories of the men who were there, those who came back and those who never would, that from the backbone of this work. Author Jim Lamason, long a friend, and collaborator Gerry Mayers (co-author of our book of human interest stories of the Irish in the Civil War) tell the story of one man from New Jersey and his comrades who sweated, toiled, and bled at Gettysburg. This book is a fitting tribute to the sons of New Jersey whose lives were forever changed in the fields that we now know as the Gettysburg National Military Park." - Scott Mingus, Sr.

About the Authors
James "Jim" Lamason had his first experience with the American Civil War at age nine, when a sister "recruited" him to help with her junior high history project. He cites the American Heritage Young Readers' Book of the Civil War, with narrative written by Mr. Bruce Catton, as spurring on his youthful interest. Catton's Civil War centennial trilogy, plus a companion book This Hallowed Ground, pulled him in further. Similar to his co-author/collaborator Gerard "Gerry" Mayers, the Ken Burns mini-series The Civil War and the Ted Turner Pictures Gettysburg movie rekindled his interest. A discovery of his wife being a relation to Civil War general G. K. Warren during a family get-together contributed to his interest and in becoming a true passion to learn more of this period. He has researched, studied, and read about the Eleventh Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers for over fifteen years. During that time, he has also been involved with the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association. In that organization, he served a three-year term as president; he has also been (and continues as) a trustee. As with his wife, Lamason has ancestors who served in the Civil War. In addition to Lt. William J. Mount mentioned in this book, he is related to Pvt. John Dougherty, Thirtieth New Jersey Volunteers; to Pvt. Samuel Gillespie, Thirty-third New Jersey Volunteers; to Cpl. Ezekiel Pope, Second Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery; to Pvt. Jacob Lamason, First Pennsylvania Reserves/Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry (step-two times great-grandfather); and to Jedediah Hotchkiss, mapmaker for Confederate Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (five times great-uncle). Recently retired after a career in IT for financial institutions and then in retail with Home Depot, he lives with his wife Beverly and son Steven in Middlesex, New Jersey.

Gerard "Gerry" Mayers has been a life-long Civil War buff but credits both the Ken Burns mini-series The Civil War and the Ted Turner Pictures Gettysburg movie with rekindling his interest. He holds degrees in both English and History (with Honors) from St. John's University, New York. Active with the Bucks County Civil War Roundtable (Doylestown, Pa.), he is the program chairman for that organization as well as an At-Large Member of its Board of Directors. He is also involved with Civil War reenacting and living history. An alumnus member of the Civil War Heritage Foundation (where he portrayed John W. Fairfax of Lt. General James Longstreet's staff), he currently belongs to Company C, 44th Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry as a re-enactor. In that organization, he portrays a member of the original Company C of the regiment. Mayers has previously published an historical fiction novel about the Confederate side of the September 1862 Maryland Campaign, culminating in the horror that was Antietam/Sharpsburg. Titled None But Heroes, the book is presently available on Amazon Kindle. (A companion novel, dealing with the Union side of the same campaign, remains in the works.) This book is his second historical fiction project. In conjunction with Scott Mingus, Sr., he coauthored Erin Go Bragh: Human Interest Stories of the Irish in the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Mayers's maternal two times great-grandfather, Patrick Bracken, was a veteran of the Mexican-American War; his maternal great-grandfather James T. Bracken served with the Twenty-first Regiment, N.J. Volunteer Infantry, Co. A. (Both James and John were proud first generation Irish-Americans.) He is married to his wife Bette. They reside in the charming upper Hunterdon County/Delaware River town of Milford, New Jersey.

Into the Vortex of Fire: A Story of Honor, Valor, Courage, Sacrifice, and Remembrance is a 168-page hardcover with a retail price of $23.00 (eBook $18.00). The ISBN is 978-1-6378-4069-6. It was published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For members of the press, to request a review copy, visit our virtual pressroom at http://dorrancepressroom.com or to buy the book visit our online bookstore at https://bookstore.dorrancepublishing.com/into-the-vortex-of-fire-a-story-of-honor-valor-courage-sacrifice-and-remembrance/