Billy'O Lost in the Promised Land Book III

Billy’O - Lost in the Promised Land - Book Three, is the third volume of a four part coming of age story about Billy O’Shea, a teenage survivor of the Irish Famine. The continuing auto-biography of Billy O’Shea spans almost thirty years, from the age of thirteen at the time of the Irish Famine to the California Gold Rush and through to Billy O’Shea’s heroic exploits during the blood stained years of the American Civil War.

By the conclusion of Book Two, Billy O’Shea is sentenced to an eleven year prison term for the robbery and attempted murder of Daniel Wolcott in March of 1850. Billy was a teenager barely turned 17 at the beginning of his imprisonment. He is released in March 1861 at the age of 28. Billy returns to Portland Maine for an uncertain homecoming. Billy learns he has a ten year old son, James. He travels back to Boston to find James on the run from boarding school. This sets the stage for a dual story line beginning with chapter fourteen that is narrated by Billy and his son James in corresponding chapter sections titled by their names.
Just as they begin to become acquainted and bond as father and son, the events of the Civil War intercede. James travels abroad to visit his wealthy grandfather in Amsterdam while Billy volunteers to join the New York Sixty Ninth Irish Volunteer Regiment and travels to Washington City for an eventual engagement with the enemy at Bull Run on 21 July, 1861.
Billy and his son James follow divergent paths as the war goes on. James is stranded in Paris while Billy has a confrontation with his old nemesis, Daniel Wolcott, who is now a Congressman, in an incident that follows the Battle of Bull Run. Billy is accused of shooting and wounding the Congressman as an act of revenge and then deserting his unit. Billy is captured and held prisoner by the Confederate army. He is caught in the middle between the false charges against him by the Union Government and the Confederate Government suspicions that he is a spy. A southern patriot named Edwin Healey manages to get Billy released from Prison and takes him on a journey from Richmond Virginia to New Orleans to seek an escape to Havana Cuba via a blockade running ship in the Mississippi Delta. Young James manages to find his way back to New York as a stowaway aboard a steamship as the adventure continues.