The War Between the States was a particularly difficult time for those who lived in the South, especially those in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, who quickly became witnesses to many battles and other ravages of that awful conflict. Among those who were beginning to wonder how they could endure all of this was Julia Claiborne, who held great concern for her family and almost daily had to fight off the fear of losing that which had become a big part of herself—their beloved, ancestral plantation, Beulah Land.