Rebels on Lake Erie

Rebels on Lake Erie tells a story of intrigue, conspiracy and adventure, set against the backdrop of the Civil War. Virginia native John Yates Beall - a wealthy, college-educated Southern plantation owner - served in the Confederate army under the legendary General Stonewall Jackson. Wounded in battle, Beall continued to serve the cause as a privateer, attacking Union ships on Chesapeake Bay. Later, he would lead two ambitious (and ultimately unsuccessful) missions: to liberate the Confederate soldiers imprisoned on Johnson’s Island Prisoner-of-War Depot near Sandusky, Ohio and to free captured Confederate officers by derailing a passenger train in Upstate New York. Three years in the making, Rebels on Lake Erierecounts Beall’s wartime exploits through interviews with Civil War authors, historians and scholars; photographs, maps and illustrations from libraries and archives across the U.S. and Canada; and period music from the Civil War era.