Where Valor Proudly Sleeps

Book excerpt: On rural Doylestown in southwest Pennsylvania, a most heart-rending story of romance that struggles to endure the furies of wartime plays out in Leslie Wayne Salsbury’s Where Valor Proudly Sleeps. Written in a staid rhythm and prose apt for that time in the nation’s history, the novel sets out with a strikingly authentic recreation of life in pre-Civil War Pennsylvania. Salsbury shows a richness of detail born out of diligent, even brilliant, research and a highly creative imagination. His characters speak out and tell us of a time and place where the most tumultuous and important battles of the Civil War were fought. On a fateful night, the two young lovers, Benjamin Wayneright and Alexandra Cadwalder, meet at a ball in the town armory. Introduced by Ben’s teacher, Mrs. McIntyre, the two immediately find out how they are meant for each other. A most romantic night ensues and starts a strong, passionate relationship that will prove equal to the coming chaos of war. It is a story of heroic love: how two young lovers find their love blooming in the crucible of war and how they became a pair of strong hearts that influenced others in their town to defend the Union cause. Before the war came, Benjamin would lose his father and Alexandra was on the verge of losing hers to “bleeding cancers.” Throughout forced separations, they remain true to each other. They survive the war but experienced firsthand the cost of preserving liberty and fighting for justice. They grow old in and around Doylestown, Bucks County. When Benjamin dies at a ripe old age, he is given a hero’s burial by the town. Alexandra soon follows to reunite with her beloved.