Julia Faye Smith

Tommy Julia Faye Smith

Tommy: The Civil War Childhood of President Thomas Woodrow Wilson is the story of President Woodrow Wilson's youth during the years of the American Civil War and Reconstruction in Augusta, Georgia where the future president and his family lived from early 1858 until the 1870's. This childhood biography, the only one of its kind, allows readers to share experiences with Tommy (as he was called during his early years) as he grows from a two-year-old to a teenager. Readers will learn that Tommy's earliest memory was the election news of Abraham Lincoln. They will learn that Tommy watched the Confederate wounded arrive at his father's church-turned-hospital, gazed in wonder at the Union war prisoners housed within the churchyard, and helped his community prepare ammunition for the Confederacy. Readers will learn about Wilson family life during Reconstruction. They will learn that Tommy, like many students, was a reluctant scholar who did not enjoy school and did not learn to read until he was nine years old. The lessons learned from family and church, and the history lived, were later evident as President Wilson guided his country through World War I. The book includes an early photograph of Thomas Woodrow Wilson plus other photos and historical drawings related to the story and their significance to Augusta during the Civil War. Readers will also learn that the Wilson home has undergone a complete restoration and is now open to the public. The church where his father preached is one of the major landmark churches in downtown Augusta, Ga. It is still in use today. Then the question becomes, did his childhood years affect his later decisions as he led the U. S. into World War I.