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The Corporal's Codebook
Jack Miller stumbles through the Civil War, winding up a telegrapher and cryptographer for the army. In the field with General Sherman in Georgia, he is captured along with his precious cipher key.
His captor, Hamilton Buckley, thinks he should have been president of the Confederacy, not Jefferson Davis. Jack doubts Buckley’s sanity and longs to escape. Buckley’s kindhearted niece, Marilla, might help him—but only if Jack helps her achieve her own goal.
Meanwhile, a private investigator, stymied by the difficulty of travel and communication in wartime, is trying his best to locate Jack for the grandmother he longs to see again but can barely remember.
His captor, Hamilton Buckley, thinks he should have been president of the Confederacy, not Jefferson Davis. Jack doubts Buckley’s sanity and longs to escape. Buckley’s kindhearted niece, Marilla, might help him—but only if Jack helps her achieve her own goal.
Meanwhile, a private investigator, stymied by the difficulty of travel and communication in wartime, is trying his best to locate Jack for the grandmother he longs to see again but can barely remember.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2021
10 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Susan Page Davis
177 books533 followersFROM AUTHOR'S WEBSITE: I'm a native of central Maine, and grew up on a small farm with a wonderful mom and dad, three sisters and a brother. Most of my books take place in small towns, many of them in Maine.
My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim's family have even moved to Maine!
Our children are all home-schooled. When Jim retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, we moved from Maine to Kentucky.
I've always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books.
Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I'm proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim's and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters.
For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman's World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.
My husband, Jim, and I moved to his birth state, Oregon, for a while after we were married, but decided to move back to Maine and be near my family. It allowed our six children to grow up feeling close to their cousins and grandparents, and some of Jim's family have even moved to Maine!
Our children are all home-schooled. When Jim retired from his vocation as an editor at a daily newspaper, we moved from Maine to Kentucky.
I've always loved reading, history, and horses. These things come together in several of my historical books.
Another longtime hobby of mine is genealogy, which has led me down many fascinating paths. I'm proud to be a DAR member! Some of Jim's and my quirkier ancestors have inspired fictional characters.
For many years I worked for the Central Maine Morning Sentinel as a freelancer. This experience was a great help in developing fictional characters and writing realistic scenes. I also published nonfiction articles in several magazines and had several short stories appear in Woman's World, Grit, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 2, 2022
Just like the first book in the series, this book had a lot going on. Jack had a talent for telegraphy and cryptography, which was valuable during the war. It also placed him in danger as he accompanied the Union Army. After the death of Marilla’s mother, she was forced to live with her great uncle in the South. She hated the slavery and hoped to someday be able to go back North. Ryland Atkins was trying to find Jack in hopes of reuniting him with his grandmother. Of course, everything was hindered by the war. There was a lot of adventure, and I loved how this story all came together. I would recommend this book.
I received a copy of this book from the author and was not required to write a positive review.
I received a copy of this book from the author and was not required to write a positive review.
December 17, 2021
The Corporal's Codebook is book 2 in the Homeward Trails series by Susan Page Davis. In book 1, The Rancher's Legacy, Page begins the saga of trying to reunite the Cooper children after being adopted separately when they were children. The Corporal's Codebook continues with Jack, the middle Cooper child. Originally named Elijah, he was adopted by the Miller family and given the name Jack. I was really not looking forward to reading this book simply because I am not a huge civil war era fan. Most books from that genre seem to have the wilting southern belle and the evil soldiers, whether north or south. I was pleasantly surprised when reading The Corporal's Codebook. As usual, Davis leads us down a twisting, turning plot line that somehow manages to interweave and never leave the reader confused. The characters, Jack and Marilla, are both strong and determined to do the right thing. Ryland Atkins, the detective that has been given the task of finding and reuniting the three Cooper children, finds himself embroiled in the war even though he is a civilian. The detail about how important telegraph was for both sides during the war and the significance of the code book was extremely interesting. I love reading a fictional story but with so much factual information. The other plot that kept me turning the pages rapidly is how this detective managed to track Jack Miller AKA Elijah Cooper. Having done my own ancestry research and the ease of finding information I was very interested in the storyline of Atkins. Considering the difficulty caused by the Civil War and very few public records, I thought Davis did a remarkable job of explaining how information was received during that time. So far the second book in the Homeward Trails series is a favorite. I gave The Rancher's Legacy five stars but I wish I could give The Corporal's Codebook book six stars! I'm looking forward to the third book in the series!
December 21, 2021
Searching for the corporal
Ryland Atkins has searched for two years to find Jack Miller and bring him to his grandmother in Maine. Meantime, Jack has been taken captive by a deranged man who believes he should have been president of the Confederacy instead of Jefferson Davis. Hamilton Buckley is the uncle of Marilla, a childhood friend of Jack, and he has imprisoned Jack in his basement. Marilla & Jack escape & have a harrowing journey back to the yankee-controlled Chattanooga. Very interesting. It is book 2 of the series.
Ryland Atkins has searched for two years to find Jack Miller and bring him to his grandmother in Maine. Meantime, Jack has been taken captive by a deranged man who believes he should have been president of the Confederacy instead of Jefferson Davis. Hamilton Buckley is the uncle of Marilla, a childhood friend of Jack, and he has imprisoned Jack in his basement. Marilla & Jack escape & have a harrowing journey back to the yankee-controlled Chattanooga. Very interesting. It is book 2 of the series.
May 25, 2023
Book 2 in the series of three orphaned children during 1800s.
This is about the second son, who now goes by the name Jack Miller after being adopted and loved by the Miller family in Pennsylvania, even though there were children at home. Jack is blue eyed and a hard worker. He is trained Morse code by his adopted father who works in the telegraph office. He is a quick learner and is hired at the age of 16 to help. The Millers are a family of many children, but Jack is the closest to Caroline and Ned.
He joins the Union Army along with Ned to keep an eye on him and his wandering ways. He is a Corporal. Ned is killed and Jack feels the guilt every day. His commanding officers also recognize his ability to solve puzzles and codes and recruit him to work in secret sending messages to the high commander in Washington to and from generals. He has traveled to Florida and Georgia where he is captured by a Southern former Colonel in the Mexican War who believes he should be in charge. He is placed in a cellar and then moved to a former slave quarters which also has chains to keep him in place.
A private investigator is searching to reunite the three siblings by their Grandmother Rose along with the difficulties of finding the siblings this is all done during the Civil War and transportation is difficult due to cut railway lines and uncertainty of the outcome of the war.
Jack is helped to escape by the niece of the southern uncle when she knows he is beaten and starved.
This was an uplifting story even though the times were very difficult for the slaves which were recently freed by President Lincoln, the war, and unrest.
This is about the second son, who now goes by the name Jack Miller after being adopted and loved by the Miller family in Pennsylvania, even though there were children at home. Jack is blue eyed and a hard worker. He is trained Morse code by his adopted father who works in the telegraph office. He is a quick learner and is hired at the age of 16 to help. The Millers are a family of many children, but Jack is the closest to Caroline and Ned.
He joins the Union Army along with Ned to keep an eye on him and his wandering ways. He is a Corporal. Ned is killed and Jack feels the guilt every day. His commanding officers also recognize his ability to solve puzzles and codes and recruit him to work in secret sending messages to the high commander in Washington to and from generals. He has traveled to Florida and Georgia where he is captured by a Southern former Colonel in the Mexican War who believes he should be in charge. He is placed in a cellar and then moved to a former slave quarters which also has chains to keep him in place.
A private investigator is searching to reunite the three siblings by their Grandmother Rose along with the difficulties of finding the siblings this is all done during the Civil War and transportation is difficult due to cut railway lines and uncertainty of the outcome of the war.
Jack is helped to escape by the niece of the southern uncle when she knows he is beaten and starved.
This was an uplifting story even though the times were very difficult for the slaves which were recently freed by President Lincoln, the war, and unrest.
December 13, 2021
The story of the continuing search for the Cooper siblings for their grandmother by Ryland Atkins takes the readers into the war-torn state of Georgia. Elijah, the middle Cooper sibling, was adopted by the Miller family from Emmaus, Pennsylvania. He has grown up and become a telegraph operator. In an effort to keep one of his younger Miller brothers safe when the youngster decides to join the Union Army, Elijah, now named Jack Miller, joins with his brother. Eventually, Jack finds himself in Georgia with General Sherman’s forces where he is captured and ends up being held in the root cellar of a plantation owner who thinks he has more power and authority than he actually does. The only bright spot for Jack is a young woman who he knew back home. She is now living on the plantation with her great-uncle. The great-uncle is so full of hatred of the slaves and anyone who sympathizes with them that he has trouble seeing straight. As we sometimes say around here, he is eaten up with hatred. Not only is Jack a prisoner, but the owner is a prisoner of his own hatred and his great-niece is practically a prisoner as well. What a horrible taskmaster hatred becomes. Meanwhile, Ryland loses almost two years in his search for Jack. We all know who won that war, but you have to read the book to find out what happened to Jack, and if he ever got to see his grandmother again. I received a copy of this book from the author. This is my honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.
October 8, 2022
A year after locating the oldest Cooper sibling, Ryland Atkins is on the trail of the Elijah Cooper, adopted as a child and renamed Jack Miller. But the conflict between the states complicates matters, first in locating the Miller family and then in finding Jack, now a telegrapher employed by the War Department.
Matters are complicated for Jack as well, as he falls into the hands of an increasingly deranged petty tyrant set on using Jack and his codebook to advance himself politically within the Confederacy. Under that same man’s power is his great-niece, Marilla, who must hide her objections to her circumstances and her recognition of her uncle’s Yankee prisoner.
With multiple plot threads, The Corporal’s Codebook has so much going, and yet the connections between them are seamless. With the youngest Cooper sibling still to be found, I am looking forward to book three in Susan Page Davis’s Homeward Trails series, The Sister’s Search. Recommended.
This review refers to an ebook I voluntarily read through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited subscription program.
Matters are complicated for Jack as well, as he falls into the hands of an increasingly deranged petty tyrant set on using Jack and his codebook to advance himself politically within the Confederacy. Under that same man’s power is his great-niece, Marilla, who must hide her objections to her circumstances and her recognition of her uncle’s Yankee prisoner.
With multiple plot threads, The Corporal’s Codebook has so much going, and yet the connections between them are seamless. With the youngest Cooper sibling still to be found, I am looking forward to book three in Susan Page Davis’s Homeward Trails series, The Sister’s Search. Recommended.
This review refers to an ebook I voluntarily read through Amazon's Kindle Unlimited subscription program.
January 30, 2022
We ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary - Thomas Paine
Jack Miller is the adopted son of the Miller family, well loved and appreciated by his folks and many siblings. Trained as a telegraph officer, his tenure as an army Corporal is cut short. It appears his country needs him for a more important job.
The Civil War brought about a great deal of loss and strained relationships, especially when a long lost relative arrives at the family plantation in Georgia from Pennsylvania. Uncomfortable with slavery, Marilla does not find herself at home in the situation. 1863 brings the Emancipation Proclamation to everyone except Marilla. Can the underground railway save her as well?
This second book in the Homeward Trails series has several subplots which keep the reader on the edge of their seat, hoping and praying that these well developed characters will survive. This ebook was received through Scrivenings Press. The impressions and comments are my own and were in no way solicited.
Jack Miller is the adopted son of the Miller family, well loved and appreciated by his folks and many siblings. Trained as a telegraph officer, his tenure as an army Corporal is cut short. It appears his country needs him for a more important job.
The Civil War brought about a great deal of loss and strained relationships, especially when a long lost relative arrives at the family plantation in Georgia from Pennsylvania. Uncomfortable with slavery, Marilla does not find herself at home in the situation. 1863 brings the Emancipation Proclamation to everyone except Marilla. Can the underground railway save her as well?
This second book in the Homeward Trails series has several subplots which keep the reader on the edge of their seat, hoping and praying that these well developed characters will survive. This ebook was received through Scrivenings Press. The impressions and comments are my own and were in no way solicited.
May 3, 2022
Another great book,
Again as a Christian Witness of Jehovah, I appreciate the story was clean. No curse words no .sex, No graphic violence, The history was timely. . The characters were very realistic. You are a powerful writer. A very good story teller. In my book Not Like Cain it gives some history of World War ll. It also tells about the time mentioned in Psalms 46:9 which says of God," He is bringing an end to wars throughout the earth...." To learn more about that wonderful time, visit our website jw.org.
Again as a Christian Witness of Jehovah, I appreciate the story was clean. No curse words no .sex, No graphic violence, The history was timely. . The characters were very realistic. You are a powerful writer. A very good story teller. In my book Not Like Cain it gives some history of World War ll. It also tells about the time mentioned in Psalms 46:9 which says of God," He is bringing an end to wars throughout the earth...." To learn more about that wonderful time, visit our website jw.org.
September 28, 2023
Christian Historical Romance
Such a wonderful happy ending! This series has much longer stories than I usually read, but they are so, so good! It took much longer before the investigator showed up in this story. I guess a lot of background had to be laid first! I think this story is mistitled, but, it's definitely catchy and the cover is very appealing! I sure hope book three is as enthralling, with maybe a bit less action, now that the war is over!
Such a wonderful happy ending! This series has much longer stories than I usually read, but they are so, so good! It took much longer before the investigator showed up in this story. I guess a lot of background had to be laid first! I think this story is mistitled, but, it's definitely catchy and the cover is very appealing! I sure hope book three is as enthralling, with maybe a bit less action, now that the war is over!
July 27, 2022
I was so looking forward to this book because Susan Paige Davis is a great author and Civil War Era is my favourite setting. Sadly, I found this book to be quite drawn out and repetitive. But it was a clean read and interesting things were happening. If you like the Civil War Era, it's worth trying.
February 7, 2023
The Colorado's Codebook is the second book in the Homeward Trails series. The main characters are entirely new, with little overlap, except for the theme of reuniting family members long separated. There's war, intrigue, mystery, romance and family ties, both good and ill.
I'm looking forward to Janie's story.
I'm looking forward to Janie's story.
July 23, 2022
This is an amazing pice.of history
When studying the civil war, it is exciting to find novels rich in facts and environment of the time. I will recommend this book to my family who enjoy American history.
When studying the civil war, it is exciting to find novels rich in facts and environment of the time. I will recommend this book to my family who enjoy American history.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews