Raven Reviews Interviews Beth Rogers Regarding YANKEE GOLD

Elizabeth Rogers wrote the book, Yankee Gold, a historical fiction novel focusing on the Civil War.  I became infatuated with the Civil War somewhere between Harriet Tubman and Gone With the Wind.  This book has such a different perspective on the Civil War, I had to stop Beth Rogers and talk to her about it. The interview below captures some key questions I thought you might also be interested in:

1. How did you choose the title?

The fact that the Union mined for gold and silver during the Civil War and for at least two years afterward is the motivation for my protagonist to go to New Mexico.

2. A novel doesn’t usually reveal the true names of characters. Why have you identified your protagonist and named him a Civil War spy?

Because Steve Elkins never admitted he served either side in the Civil War. The story begins in New Mexico a little over a year before the war ended. Little has been told of this important era in New Mexico. Around four thousand Texas Confederates invaded New Mexico in 1861. They were met by four thousand New Mexican and Colorado Volunteers in the winter of 1861-1862. The Confederates were defeated and forced out of New Mexico by the summer of 1862. The fight was for the southwestern gold fields. Once Elkins arrived in New Mexico at the end of 1863 he became the leading attorney in the territory. He was so controversial that someone had to tackle why his story has been avoided. His personal history as a spy, the Union’s role in gold mining with private investors, and the government’s tolerance of Indian debt slavery were all issues the government preferred the public wouldn’t know.

3. How much of the story is true?

The events of the story are true. I placed them on time lines and eventually merged the time lines. My character, Elkins, served in the official capacities portrayed. I had to jump to several conclusions in the story, but the facts which followed made those conclusions reasonable. Naturally, when dialogue can’t be verified, the story must be labeled a novel. I can’t know that closely what these people thought or their entire motivations.

4. How did you get interested in this story?

My family came to West Virginia where Steve Elkins made his home in his later years. We were complete strangers and we settled in the town named for him. My father was born in Cuba of American parents and Cuba was his home until he left college. He was curious about Elkins’ mysterious New Mexico past and encouraged my research of it.

5. How long did it take for you to write Yankee Gold?

The research took twenty years. I taught myself to write at the same time I chased down the story. It went through countless drafts. In the beginning I wrote one other book, a murder mystery, which took nine months. I also wrote a monograph for the New Mexico Historical Review on Elkins as president of New Mexico’s first bank early in my research.

6. What did you find most interesting in your character?

Steve Elkins was first and foremost an abolitionist. He was a Republican, but clearly had the backbone to act independently and follow his own conscience. It was interesting to see how this worked out in the story.

7. Was it difficult to write from a male point of view?

At first it was. That’s why I wrote another book in nine months from a female POV first. However, when I saw how the events of Yankee Gold reflected such a male-oriented society, the story became far easier to portray.

8. When did you decide to become an author?

It was when I was somewhere between eight and ten years old. My father and I speculated on this story often, given the few facts we could obtain. Almost immediately solving the questions which arose became an obsession for me.

9. How did you research the novel?

I first looked for every possible bit of evidence of what Elkins did during the Civil War in Missouri. I traveled to New Mexico and stayed with a relative.  I arranged to meet with several experts on this period of New Mexico’s history. I followed their advice and branched out into the various issues of Elkins’ career in this decade. I copied microfilm on the Bosque Redondo and the official records of the War of the Rebellion. I copied the records of Elkins’ service as

U. S. Attorney. I finally copied the Santa Fe newspapers for the entire decade. I bought all the books possible on the period and compared the material against the newspaper accounts. I found the first scene in a diary account of the daughter of the man who was Elkins’ mentor. That wasn’t until 2003. Information available from the internet grew enormously during the period I researched the story. The research was intensive and bore a lot of fruit.  

MORE ABOUT BETH…
Beth Rogers was born in New York City and lived in West Virginia for over twenty years. Her career includes writing at Living magazine in New York, teaching in Virginia and West Virginia, selling and brokering real estate in North Carolina, and as a federal clerk and courtroom deputy in Richmond, Virginia. She has been published in the New Mexico Historical Review. She is a member of the Virginia Historical Society and is active in several Virginia writers’ clubs.

Click here for more about Yankee Gold.

Interview on My Addiction Books

YANKEE GOLD - ELIZABETH ROGERS

 Elizabeth or Beth Rogers is the author of the new – very exciting, triple P novel – Yankee Gold. Yankee Gold has an interesting story that unfolds in fiction behind a reality that sprung from research.

Beth, Welcome to the MA blog, where we are very honoured to interview you on your new novel Yankee Gold. 

Starting right off the block here, while we were introducing ourselves you mentioned that there is a story that you would like to get out that is quite a revelation during your research you did for your novel. Would you like to share that with our readers?

Yes. The revelation I discovered in my research for YANKEE GOLD is related to its ending. I think it’s interesting that the financial crisis of today is most often compared with the “Panic of 1873” which closes my YANKEE GOLD story. In 1862 the U. S. Army began several mining operations in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Nevada which would eventually yield $326,000,000 to relieve the country’s war debt and finance the Union Army until the war’s end. In January 1868 Congress offered a bill to sell western land to the English for a needed half billion dollars. Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase rejected the bill. It appears the Civil War debt was never paid in full although other means were pursued in the interim.

So how does your novel Yankee Gold tie into this entire revelation?

YANKEE GOLD is a story about a territory that strove to become a state. It tells how a majority fraction of the people who lived in New Mexico resisted the terms of statehood. However, they wanted all the advantages. Mining of precious ores was a nascent industry in New Mexico. The Civil War complicated the development of this business. Martial law was in effect when my character, Steve Elkins, arrived. The Army was doing a certain amount of mining itself. It was also being paid to protect private mining businesses. Elkins came to New Mexico to write contracts on several mines where the Army, or U. S. Government, had an agreement with some prominent investors such as Samuel Colt and the Bernard’s of Kansas City.

What makes Yankee Gold unique for you? How long did it take to write?

How is YANKEE GOLD unique? Perhaps the most unique aspect of this story is that no one else has tried to tell it. I still marvel at how little research has been done to tie together the threads of this decade in the southwest. Twenty years is much longer than most authors are willing to spend on a single book.

How did you decide on your main character? What made him so interesting?

I didn’t choose my main character. Elkins was given to me at a very young and impressionable time of my life. Our family moved to the town of Elkins, West Virginia at the end of World War II when I was eight. My father chose the place as a location for his first venture into a new small business. He wanted me to find out more about Steve Elkins’ background.

Was it easy to write from a male point of view?

Yes. It was difficult until I began to understand the male dominated society.

From the little exposure you have had up to know on releasing the novel, how has readers accepted the novel which is filled with, Passion, Power and Politics?

People seem to be responding well to YANKEE GOLD. It’s very new, having been launched in print form only February 14. I’ve had limited feedback from anyone who has clearly read the whole story.

On a more personal note, when did you decide to become an author?

I decided to become an author when my father gave me the mission of research into Steve Elkins’ past. As I read novels I began to shape what I found about Elkins so that it would synchronize with the peaks and valleys of the stories I read.

Did you know from the start that this was the novel you were going to write?

I knew as soon as I began to unravel the mystery of Elkins’ past that it would likely be a life’s work.

At the end of your novel you provide an article which gives evidence Steve Elkins, your protagonist, was a Civil War Spy. Novels don’t typically feature real characters, what made you decide to use his real name?

So much of this story explores new ground and integrates fascinating events of the frontier not generally known by the public that I wanted to both validate fact and create a “whole” story. Many European stories are told in this manner and I believe that enough time has passed that I can freely do so as well.

Apart from writing, what other things do you do that has made publishing Yankee Gold become a life that had gone full circle for you?

Publishing YANKEE GOLD has required me to learn so many skills and made my entrée into places I never dreamed of. Sheer nerve and determination have changed much of my own character. I’m an intuitive and can be very impulsive. I’ve learned to discipline that part of myself. I’ve also learned to accept the importance of record keeping and time management. These are all things I would never have done independently. I had to see the necessity and create my own version of organization and arrangement. I understand sculpture and I feel I’ve chipped away a great deal of the extraneous matter for a more balanced self.

Where to from here?

There are several avenues open to me and I’m not certain of the next one to take. If I would pursue Steve Elkins’ life further, I’d have to deal with a lot of the “hidden” which takes time consuming research. I know something of a story which is more current and might take less time. I’m undecided about future projects.

Where can fans stay in contact with you or buy your novel from?

Fans can stay in touch with me through :

Blog: www.yankeegold-anovel.com

Website: www.beth-rogers.com ;

Face Book page: Yankee Gold

Amazon for $15.99 : Yankee Gold

Elizabeth Rogers was born in New York City and lived in West Virginia for over twenty years. She has been published in the New Mexico Historical review and is a member of the Virginia Historical Society. She is also active in several Virginia Writers Clubs. 

by Nadine Maritz