The 26th Ohio Infantry arrives at The Battle of Shiloh Church too late to see action, but while Private Jonah Hommen marches through the aftermath, an emotional battle rages inside him. He watches the dead being gathered for burial, while constructing mental defenses against his own death at the hands of the enemy. As the Federals drive the Confederates south toward Corinth, Mississippi, Jonah experiences his first skirmish. Although he now considers himself a veteran, the repressed trauma of the brief battle smolders beneath the surface, sustaining his insecurities. Then, in the last hours of 1862, Jonah finds himself in the vortex of the maelstrom at The Battle of Stones River. His fermenting emotional anguish reaches its zenith; his struggle at Stones River becomes a pivotal point in his life. His blackest moment, paradoxically, brings to him the truth and strength of his own humanity and the discovery begins to transform his life.
What happens to Jonah during the battle at Chickamauga Creek will alter his life and enable him to complete his spiritual maturation. Jonah's War is based upon a Civil War diary found in the basement of an old house, that contained maps and "after action" reports by relevant officers.