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Hard Road South
The Civil War is over. Soldiers have returned home, and families have begun to piece their lives back together. But for Union Army veteran Solomon Dykes, there is no kin waiting; his Connecticut home holds no promise. He hopes to make a fresh start in Virginia, where he can farm a piece of land and start a family. But the contentious times don’t favor such ambition. Dykes settles near Jeb Mosby, a Virginia native farming his family’s land near the town of Middleburg. Under different circumstances, the pair might have been fast friends. But the community is still reeling from the stinging defeat of the war and view all Northerners with suspicion—Dykes is no exception. Mosby finds himself torn between his faith in humanity and an allegiance to his small town, while Dykes begins to doubt his future as a farmer and finds himself drawn to the cause of the newly freed slaves. The battlefields may have cooled, but passions still run hot in this turbulent era of societal change. Both Dykes and Mosby learn even the smallest actions can carry far-reaching consequences, sending each on a collision course with tragedy.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 5, 2020
About the author
Scott Gates
2 books29 followersScott Gates grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, and has worked as a writer and editor in Colorado, Virginia, and North Carolina. He is the author of "Gone, the Redeemer" and "Hard Road South," which was a finalist in the debut author category of the Feathered Quill Book Awards. His short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Scott and his brother share perspectives on Southern culture at incidentalist.com. He currently lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Kelly, and their three children.
Scott and his brother share perspectives on Southern culture at incidentalist.com. He currently lives near Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, Kelly, and their three children.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 4, 2020
Hard Road South is a little jewel box of a novel set during the early days of Reconstruction Virginia. This beautifully rendered tale imagines a naïve Connecticut Yankee—a former Union soldier—who travels South to visit and potentially settle in some of the lush foothills of the Shenandoah Valley where he once engaged the Confederate “enemy”. Hoping to find peace while helping to reform a culture that wishes to be left alone, our hero, one Solomon Dykes, finds fast friends but also fast enemies amidst the verdant pastures of his would-be Old Virginny Home.
An early scene sets the tone: A down on her luck woman is stopped in the town of Middleburg—the place that would become the enclave of the likes of millionaires John and Jackie Kennedy and Jack Kemp Cooke a century later—by some Union soldiers still on the scene occupying this “foreign” land to ensure compliance with Union directives. Her transgression? Wearing the Confederate uniform jacket of her dead husband. The three Confederate buttons on the jacket must be removed or she will be arrested and charged with treason. Such is the over-reach of conquering heroes.
Our damsel in distress is aided by the swift thinking of one Jeb Mosby, a local farmer, who pulls out his knife and gently removes the buttons so as to spare his life-long neighbor the embarrassment of arrest.
“Such was life now,” Mosby observes. “Filled with reminders—small as they may seem—that life would not soon be returning to how he’d left it before the war.”
It is small observations such as this that gives this book its charm and its weight. Representations of what life must have been like for the conquered South are constant reminders that the likes of Solomon Dykes were not at all welcome and most likely would be rebuffed should the opportunity arise.
Scott Gates is new to novel writing, but you wouldn’t know it from his sharp eye for and his pacing. Gates gives his story and his characters plenty of room to breathe and develop while providing the reader with glimpses of the specifics of their war-torn lives. A Southerner by birth, Gates offers a sensibility of one trying to bridge the great divide while not shying away from the difficulties building that bridge might require.
This is a tale for our time, as well, as our nation is once again fraught with deep divisions perhaps not seen since the ending of that great Civil War more than 150 years ago. We are stuck and unable to move forward until some fundamental rift gets settled.
Hard Road South is a highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable yet cautionary tale for our time. Perhaps we can learn from the past and this time get things right. Perhaps …
An early scene sets the tone: A down on her luck woman is stopped in the town of Middleburg—the place that would become the enclave of the likes of millionaires John and Jackie Kennedy and Jack Kemp Cooke a century later—by some Union soldiers still on the scene occupying this “foreign” land to ensure compliance with Union directives. Her transgression? Wearing the Confederate uniform jacket of her dead husband. The three Confederate buttons on the jacket must be removed or she will be arrested and charged with treason. Such is the over-reach of conquering heroes.
Our damsel in distress is aided by the swift thinking of one Jeb Mosby, a local farmer, who pulls out his knife and gently removes the buttons so as to spare his life-long neighbor the embarrassment of arrest.
“Such was life now,” Mosby observes. “Filled with reminders—small as they may seem—that life would not soon be returning to how he’d left it before the war.”
It is small observations such as this that gives this book its charm and its weight. Representations of what life must have been like for the conquered South are constant reminders that the likes of Solomon Dykes were not at all welcome and most likely would be rebuffed should the opportunity arise.
Scott Gates is new to novel writing, but you wouldn’t know it from his sharp eye for and his pacing. Gates gives his story and his characters plenty of room to breathe and develop while providing the reader with glimpses of the specifics of their war-torn lives. A Southerner by birth, Gates offers a sensibility of one trying to bridge the great divide while not shying away from the difficulties building that bridge might require.
This is a tale for our time, as well, as our nation is once again fraught with deep divisions perhaps not seen since the ending of that great Civil War more than 150 years ago. We are stuck and unable to move forward until some fundamental rift gets settled.
Hard Road South is a highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable yet cautionary tale for our time. Perhaps we can learn from the past and this time get things right. Perhaps …
June 16, 2020
What a read! The imagery of Hard Road South carried me through familiar lands in another time. The details had me walking alongside Jeb and Sol. The story offered a fresh perspective on a notable moment in American history--spotlighting the hard work of mending a union with so many fresh wounds, physical and psychological. It's a beautiful American tale of landscape and loss and loyalty.
March 31, 2022
My goodness, I really enjoyed this one.
I enjoyed the novel's unique, welcoming prose and style. The setting is familiar. The history is familiar. I loved it.
Mosby made me laugh multiple times (grumpy guys are just, the best).
The descriptions were great, the plot was intriguing, and I liked the more realistic, balanced view regarding the Civil War and the aftermath.
I would have liked a bit more of Dykes's personal conflict shown, especially after the mid-way mark, but that's a personal opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one! I look forward to Gates's next novel.
I enjoyed the novel's unique, welcoming prose and style. The setting is familiar. The history is familiar. I loved it.
Mosby made me laugh multiple times (grumpy guys are just, the best).
The descriptions were great, the plot was intriguing, and I liked the more realistic, balanced view regarding the Civil War and the aftermath.
I would have liked a bit more of Dykes's personal conflict shown, especially after the mid-way mark, but that's a personal opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one! I look forward to Gates's next novel.
May 3, 2020
It is always instructive when things connect in unexpected ways. My father was a Civil War buff, and he instilled in me an interest in this tragic but fascinating time. My favorite genre has always been historical fiction, which I have now read for over 60 years. Yet, until recently, the only Civil War fiction I had read took place during the war. Now, in the space of a month, I have read two novels set during the aftermath of the war, a time that we tend not to think of very much. And that is a mistake.
It was a time of upheaval that left scars just as deep as those left by the war itself. Scott Gates’ novel, Hard Road South, reflects this, even while it tries to show people’s attempts to reach out to former enemies and to meet them half-way as people trying to heal from the war’s destruction. Gates’ survivors of the war—Solomon Dykes from the North and Jeb Mosby from the South—meet early on, when Dykes arrives in Virginia, wanting to start a new life there. When stationed there during the war, he felt called to the verdant beauty of this southern state, and he leaves the cold New England winters behind. He is a man with a dream, but as the novel shows to devastating effect, good will is not enough to reach across the North-South gap.
Gates’ characters are well written. We want Dykes to succeed, and for Mosby and his wife Fannie to rebuild their lives after a shattering tragedy. Former slaves, notably Cassius Freeman, and Quakers band together to build a new life with education and fellowship. A friendship between Freeman and Dykes stands for the possibility of people seeing beyond skin color.
It is not giving away anything to say that this does not go down well with most of the residents of Loudon County, where Dykes settles. But how it plays out in Hard Road South is thought-provoking and profound.
It was a time of upheaval that left scars just as deep as those left by the war itself. Scott Gates’ novel, Hard Road South, reflects this, even while it tries to show people’s attempts to reach out to former enemies and to meet them half-way as people trying to heal from the war’s destruction. Gates’ survivors of the war—Solomon Dykes from the North and Jeb Mosby from the South—meet early on, when Dykes arrives in Virginia, wanting to start a new life there. When stationed there during the war, he felt called to the verdant beauty of this southern state, and he leaves the cold New England winters behind. He is a man with a dream, but as the novel shows to devastating effect, good will is not enough to reach across the North-South gap.
Gates’ characters are well written. We want Dykes to succeed, and for Mosby and his wife Fannie to rebuild their lives after a shattering tragedy. Former slaves, notably Cassius Freeman, and Quakers band together to build a new life with education and fellowship. A friendship between Freeman and Dykes stands for the possibility of people seeing beyond skin color.
It is not giving away anything to say that this does not go down well with most of the residents of Loudon County, where Dykes settles. But how it plays out in Hard Road South is thought-provoking and profound.
May 3, 2020
I went into this book with no expectations and ended up loving it. If historical fiction is a genre you enjoy, then Hard Road South fits the bill. I haven't been this excited about a book since Cold Mountain. Gates does a great job of drawing you into the lives of Solomon Dykes (former union soldier) and local farmer, Jeb Mosby. The book takes place in Virginia after the Civil War where these two men, on opposite sides of the war, converge in a small southern town, and all kinds of trouble ensues. You can tell the author did his due diligence in researching the era. Authentic and raw. Great debut novel from Scott Gates.
July 2, 2020
A More Than Satisfying Piece of Historical Fiction
Gate's use of the era's vernacular sends the reader deep into the setting in every scene. The language, in both narrative and dialogue, is worth the read.
Gate's use of the era's vernacular sends the reader deep into the setting in every scene. The language, in both narrative and dialogue, is worth the read.
July 2, 2025
The ending was not good. I really could give this book 1 or 2 stars for the plot.
July 19, 2020
Gates delves into so many intricate details with the various settings. You can really tell he did his research. As a reader, I felt like I was right there in the story.
May 19, 2020
Many, maybe most, people leave their formal education with a wrong concept of history. They think history is about famous people such as kings, potentates, emperors, prime ministers, generals and presidents. They think of wars, conquests, inventions, migrations, philosophies and the so called “turning points.” There is a lot of attention paid to eras, ages and important dates. But that is rather limited. History is so much more.
Scott Gates gets it. In Hard Road South he tells a tale that is in many ways our-story. It is a tale well told. It is a story from the Reconstruction, but without the famous names, well-known places or grand events. It is a story about veterans, freedmen, Quakers, farmers, homesteaders and dreamers. It is historical fiction with a historian’s love of detail. Gates describes the emotions, fears and concerns of those living in an isolated rural setting. The reader learns about farming, homesteading and the complications of a self-sustaining way of rural life. The plot unfolds as the characters attempt to reestablish their lives after a tragic war, but it all happens in an atmosphere of suspicion, distrust and lingering animosity.
Misunderstanding leads to tragedy, a perilous flight from danger and reconsideration of what it means to start over. I look forward to more from Scott Gates.
May 19, 2020
Scott Gates gets it. In Hard Road South he tells a tale that is in many ways our-story. It is a tale well told. It is a story from the Reconstruction, but without the famous names, well-known places or grand events. It is a story about veterans, freedmen, Quakers, farmers, homesteaders and dreamers. It is historical fiction with a historian’s love of detail. Gates describes the emotions, fears and concerns of those living in an isolated rural setting. The reader learns about farming, homesteading and the complications of a self-sustaining way of rural life. The plot unfolds as the characters attempt to reestablish their lives after a tragic war, but it all happens in an atmosphere of suspicion, distrust and lingering animosity.
Misunderstanding leads to tragedy, a perilous flight from danger and reconsideration of what it means to start over. I look forward to more from Scott Gates.
May 19, 2020
May 4, 2020
Hard road south is a page turner that documents the journey of Solomon Dukes as he decides to rebuild his life in beautiful Virginia, after the southern defeat in the Civil War.
Gates flawlessly illustrates the unique draw of the south and it’s charm juxtaposed perfectly with the general mistrust of northerners in the south. His writing gives you the feeling as if you were there- standing observing as the tensions rise in the county following Dykes arrival, conversing with neighbor Jen Mosby, the unique way of worshiping with the Quakers, or building churches with the newly freed slaves. At its heart, Hard Road South depicts the journey of a whole community, reeling from tragedy and learning to live again in a new world.
This book is a must read and I would highly recommend to anyone!
Gates flawlessly illustrates the unique draw of the south and it’s charm juxtaposed perfectly with the general mistrust of northerners in the south. His writing gives you the feeling as if you were there- standing observing as the tensions rise in the county following Dykes arrival, conversing with neighbor Jen Mosby, the unique way of worshiping with the Quakers, or building churches with the newly freed slaves. At its heart, Hard Road South depicts the journey of a whole community, reeling from tragedy and learning to live again in a new world.
This book is a must read and I would highly recommend to anyone!
May 5, 2020
Hard Road South is a concise and clearly written novel about a protracted and occasionally opaque time in American history. The prose is skillfully written, the character development mature, and the plot engaging from the first page through the last. Although HRS takes place during Reconstruction, it is not so much about the past as it is about the vitality and kindness of the human spirit and the pitfalls of the human condition. You’ll find yourself immersed in the bucolic Virginia hill country where the Civil War has left no one unscathed, redeemed, or in search of new beginnings. Gates takes you to a place where you can taste the dirt, feel the Loudoun County heat, and keeps you guessing the fate of the wandering hero, Sol Dykes.
June 8, 2020
The author seamlessly weaves in details of life in the 1860s, which add to the interest and credibility of the “historical” part of this historical fiction as we come to both love and loathe the assembly of characters within the pages of Hard Road South. But, most of all, we come to understand the personal histories, which contribute to the actions and motivations of those people, whether noble or ignoble. I say “people,” because the true skill of an author is the ability to bring fictional characters to life, and transform them into real people who live and breathe beyond the pages of a book. Scott Gates has performed that bit of literary magic.
June 14, 2020
Much of what the characters do and say was improbable. What impoverished family leaves a gun behind when their home is foreclosed on? Who uses their spring house, where food is typically stored, for an outhouse? Who cleans up that mess by dumping the waste in a creek? Who finds soldiers’ graves on their newly purchased land but never asks acquaintances about the battles that must have occurred there? Who, in the 1800s, refers to a woman as Ms.? What former soldier hides in the barn when two men visit his home unexpectedly? I could list a dozen more instances of absurd behavior that made this book a disappointment.
April 29, 2020
Author Scott Gates has given us a view into the world of Virginia after the Civil War with Solomon Dykes and Jeb Mosby. The detail of his settings put you in their world at a challenging time and his characters are believable and inspiring. I thoroughly enjoyed Hard Road South from the first page to the last! I highly recommend it.
May 6, 2020
Exquisite story of life in Virginia during Reconstruction in which actions have unintended and tragic consequences. Beautifully drawn characters. Highly recommended.
September 13, 2023
An interesting book about post civil war culture in the south. I have learnt a lot about American history and culture and what drives the north south divide in the USA still today. The struggle for black freedom and the right to vote is also highlighted to a degree. For although slavery has been abolished at this point there is still a racist under current in the book.
I enjoyed the story and it describes well the rural farming life in Virginia at this time. It kept my attention and it is a quick read. The plot is simple but the ending is not overly exciting. The authors detailed descriptions of rural life at this time are the main highlights and also the detailed historical research.
I enjoyed the story and it describes well the rural farming life in Virginia at this time. It kept my attention and it is a quick read. The plot is simple but the ending is not overly exciting. The authors detailed descriptions of rural life at this time are the main highlights and also the detailed historical research.
May 15, 2022
4.5 Stars--Historical Fiction is one of my favorite genres. I especially love reading about times that I don't know much about, or are difficult to understand. Hard Road South is one of those. This book didn't spare the reader from seeing how very difficult those times were. We experience real heartbreak and adversity along with the characters. Although this is not a happily ever after book, it does leave the reader feeling hopeful in the end.
January 16, 2026
A beautifully written story about an unlikely friendship between a farmer and his new Northerner neighbor in post- Civil War Virginia. Gates’s vivid descriptions of the Virginia countryside are particularly moving.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews