Book Review: Jonathan Walker books
Q: What intrigued you most about Jonathan Walker?
A: I suppose it must be the dual-track life that he led, all the while maintaining a highly moral stance. In one life, he was a sailor, a man in a very tough trade, often among drunken hoboes whose habits were not his; and on the other, he was a gentle and sensitive husband and father. I won't claim to have his high moral standards, but I think I can almost see a bit of me in him. He had nine children; I've had eight. He loved to write; you couldn't stop me from it. And in the end, family, for both of us, counts most in life.
Q: Did Jonathan Walker transport other runaways?
A: I don't think he did. The book reports on others who believe that he did; for example, the Pensacola Gazette's John McKinley. But it is my belief that a man who wrote as much as Walker wrote would not have been silent about other efforts. He lived more than a decade beyond the Emancipation Proclamation, so he would have had no fear to record his work then, even if he had been discretely silent earlier.
Q: Why do you feel Jonathan Walker is unknown to most people?
A: Well, of course, he shouldn't be, as you have noted in your reviews. He is a genuine American hero. His story had not been told before I wrote his biography. As a result, a few thousand readers know about him. But the efforts to make him better known continue. A Midwesterner writer is preparing a script for a motion picture. The book publisher is sounding out interest in a second printing with a Florida publisher. So, the efforts do go on. I won't be happy until Walker is as well known as John Brown and his Harpers Ferry adventure.
See the web site, Branded Hand, which details the exploits and punishment of Captain Walker.
Branded Hand : Trial and Imprisonment of Jonathan Walker
by Jonathan Walker
The actual book written by Jonathan Walker, it documents his imprisonment and the branding which he endured for attempting to help seven slaves escape from Pensacola, Florida. This book sounds more like a defense of Jonathan Walker's actions than an autobiography. Mr. Walker writes with stunning detail of things he has seen and led to his punishment. His detailing of the paddling and whipping of slaves is especially stunning
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