The Lost Regiment
Encyclopedia
The Lost Regiment is a series of science fiction novels written by William R. Forstchen
.
regiment from the American Civil War
which gets transported to an alien world. The 35th Maine
Infantry is being transported by ship from Virginia
late in the war when they encounter a mysterious electrical storm and end up on a distant planet. The region they are in is populated by descendants of medieval Russians
who still live a feudal existence at a medieval level of technology. They learn from their new hosts that there are various civilizations on this world made up of the descendants of people from various eras of Earth history.
The Union soldiers eventually discover a terrible secret that their Rus hosts have been keeping from them when the Tugars arrive. The Tugar are ten foot tall aliens with a culture and technology similar to that of the Mongol Horde. They ride a neverending circuit around the planet. They have subjugated the human populations in their territory and use them as food. The Tugar visit each human society once a generation and cull part of the population for food. This culling keeps the humans docile and compliant and the Tugar make sure that none of the human societies become advanced enough to challenge them. The Union men are horrified by this revelation and kill the Tugar advanced scouts. They then support a peasant rebellion against the Tugar appointed lords and begin modernizing the Rus society. When the Tugar arrive they encounter a modern army equipped with cannon
and rifled musket
s. In a hard-fought battle the humans manage to prevail, weakening the Tugar Horde forever.
The next several books take up the story a few years later. The Rus have begun to explore union with the Romans who live in the territory next to theirs and who were spared from the Tugar depredation by the Rus victory. Meanwhile they face a renewed threat from the Merki Horde, members of the same alien race as the Tugars. The Merki make the same circumnavigation of the globe as the Tugars do, but in a zone further South. The Merki seek revenge on the Rus. While they have no love for the Tugars they have an interest in maintaining their racial dominance over the humans. The Merki are aided by a group of Union sailors who fled the Tugar war on the ship which brought the 35th Maine to this world. In exchange for their survival, the humans help the Merki develop firearms and other technology. The Merki attack is more successful than the Tugar one and forces the humans to abandon the Rus territory in a scorched earth campaign, but eventually they win.
Several years later the expanding human alliance faces a new threat in the form of the Bantag. The Bantag are a Horde from even further south. They are led by a member of their race who arrived from another world which has a late 20th century level of technology. This alien, a soldier on his own world, assumes a messianic role among the Bantag and modernizes their society to equal, and even surpass that of the humans. He is familiar with atomic reactors as well as centerfire rifle
s. The Bantag scavenge engines from decaying cities abandoned by their people millennia ago and use them to power airplanes. The reader learns that the people of the Bantag had once been a technologically advanced starfaring race, visiting many different planets and seeding teleportation devices across them. The civilization on their homeworld collapsed in nuclear war but the teleportation devices remained sporadically active and ended up transporting various humans to the planet Vallenia, (the location of the novel) though Vallenia was not the homeworld of the Tugar/Merki/Bantag race. Using their advanced technology the Bantag attack the Union. However the humans develop their own flying machines and counter attack.
The final book in the series, "Down to the Sea" takes place a generation after the arrival of the 35th Maine. WIth the children of the original regiment members reaching adulthood they face a new threat from across the Southern sea, the Kazars, aliens who have an early 20th century level of technology and who also have a selectively bred slave race of human assassins, the Shiv.
in William Forstchen's The Lost Regiment series. (The regiment is based on Joshua Chamberlain
's 20th Maine
.)
Before the series Andrew Lawrence Keane is a lieutenant who assumed command when a superior officer was KIA at Antietam
. Keane's leadership under the guide of his sergeant, Hans Schuder, made them ripe for promotion as they progressed through Fredericksburg
, Cold Harbor
and Gettysburg
.
At the start of the series, Keane has been promoted to colonel after losing his arm at Gettysburg. Hans Schuder was recently promoted to sergeant major. On the world of Valennia, the 35th becomes essentially a vassal force to Boyar Ivor of the "Rus" people, who appear to be derived from early Russian peoples earlier transported to Valennia. When Ivor is overthrown it becomes the core of the anti-Tugar resistance, with Keane filling as a military dictator. As time goes on, the men of the 35th are rapidly promoted to fill the officer corps of the Rus Army and train the Rus forces. When all hope seemed lost when the Rus broke rank in the Tugar War, the 35th reformed and made a desperate last defense.
After the Tugar War, the 35th becomes the most respected regiment which the Army of Rus is centered on. Analogous to the United States Military Academy at West Point, the 35th is the best that Rus has to offer and provides a place to train new officers for the Army of the Republic. Even some men from the original 35th remain in the regiment, when they could otherwise be high ranking officers.
Men from the original 35th include (in progress):
William R. Forstchen
William R. Forstchen is an American author who began publishing in 1983 with the novel Ice Prophet. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina...
.
Plot
The plot revolves around a Union ArmyUnion Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
regiment from the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
which gets transported to an alien world. The 35th Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
Infantry is being transported by ship from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
late in the war when they encounter a mysterious electrical storm and end up on a distant planet. The region they are in is populated by descendants of medieval Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
who still live a feudal existence at a medieval level of technology. They learn from their new hosts that there are various civilizations on this world made up of the descendants of people from various eras of Earth history.
The Union soldiers eventually discover a terrible secret that their Rus hosts have been keeping from them when the Tugars arrive. The Tugar are ten foot tall aliens with a culture and technology similar to that of the Mongol Horde. They ride a neverending circuit around the planet. They have subjugated the human populations in their territory and use them as food. The Tugar visit each human society once a generation and cull part of the population for food. This culling keeps the humans docile and compliant and the Tugar make sure that none of the human societies become advanced enough to challenge them. The Union men are horrified by this revelation and kill the Tugar advanced scouts. They then support a peasant rebellion against the Tugar appointed lords and begin modernizing the Rus society. When the Tugar arrive they encounter a modern army equipped with cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
and rifled musket
Rifled musket
The term rifled musket or rifle musket refers to a specific type of weapon made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels rifled...
s. In a hard-fought battle the humans manage to prevail, weakening the Tugar Horde forever.
The next several books take up the story a few years later. The Rus have begun to explore union with the Romans who live in the territory next to theirs and who were spared from the Tugar depredation by the Rus victory. Meanwhile they face a renewed threat from the Merki Horde, members of the same alien race as the Tugars. The Merki make the same circumnavigation of the globe as the Tugars do, but in a zone further South. The Merki seek revenge on the Rus. While they have no love for the Tugars they have an interest in maintaining their racial dominance over the humans. The Merki are aided by a group of Union sailors who fled the Tugar war on the ship which brought the 35th Maine to this world. In exchange for their survival, the humans help the Merki develop firearms and other technology. The Merki attack is more successful than the Tugar one and forces the humans to abandon the Rus territory in a scorched earth campaign, but eventually they win.
Several years later the expanding human alliance faces a new threat in the form of the Bantag. The Bantag are a Horde from even further south. They are led by a member of their race who arrived from another world which has a late 20th century level of technology. This alien, a soldier on his own world, assumes a messianic role among the Bantag and modernizes their society to equal, and even surpass that of the humans. He is familiar with atomic reactors as well as centerfire rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
s. The Bantag scavenge engines from decaying cities abandoned by their people millennia ago and use them to power airplanes. The reader learns that the people of the Bantag had once been a technologically advanced starfaring race, visiting many different planets and seeding teleportation devices across them. The civilization on their homeworld collapsed in nuclear war but the teleportation devices remained sporadically active and ended up transporting various humans to the planet Vallenia, (the location of the novel) though Vallenia was not the homeworld of the Tugar/Merki/Bantag race. Using their advanced technology the Bantag attack the Union. However the humans develop their own flying machines and counter attack.
The final book in the series, "Down to the Sea" takes place a generation after the arrival of the 35th Maine. WIth the children of the original regiment members reaching adulthood they face a new threat from across the Southern sea, the Kazars, aliens who have an early 20th century level of technology and who also have a selectively bred slave race of human assassins, the Shiv.
Titles
- Rally CryRally CryRally Cry is the first novel in William Forstchen's Lost Regiment series of science fiction novels. The book follows the Union Army's 35th Maine Volunteer Infantry and 44th New York Light Artillery as they board a transport ship, the Ogunquit, in City Point, Virginia on January 2, 1865...
(1990) - Union Forever (1991)
- Terrible Swift Sword (1992)
- Fateful Lightning (1992)
- Battle Hymn (1997)
- Never Sound Retreat (1998)
- A Band of Brothers (1999)
- Men of War (1999)
- Down to the Sea (2000)
35th Maine
The 35th Maine is a fictional volunteer regiment during the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in William Forstchen's The Lost Regiment series. (The regiment is based on Joshua Chamberlain
Joshua Chamberlain
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain , born as Lawrence Joshua Chamberlain, was an American college professor from the State of Maine, who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army...
's 20th Maine
20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment
The 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment was a combat unit of the United States Army during the American Civil War, most famous for its defense of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1863.-Organization:...
.)
Before the series Andrew Lawrence Keane is a lieutenant who assumed command when a superior officer was KIA at Antietam
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...
. Keane's leadership under the guide of his sergeant, Hans Schuder, made them ripe for promotion as they progressed through Fredericksburg
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...
, Cold Harbor
Battle of Cold Harbor
The Battle of Cold Harbor was fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864 . It was one of the final battles of Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign during the American Civil War, and is remembered as one of American history's bloodiest, most lopsided battles...
and Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
.
At the start of the series, Keane has been promoted to colonel after losing his arm at Gettysburg. Hans Schuder was recently promoted to sergeant major. On the world of Valennia, the 35th becomes essentially a vassal force to Boyar Ivor of the "Rus" people, who appear to be derived from early Russian peoples earlier transported to Valennia. When Ivor is overthrown it becomes the core of the anti-Tugar resistance, with Keane filling as a military dictator. As time goes on, the men of the 35th are rapidly promoted to fill the officer corps of the Rus Army and train the Rus forces. When all hope seemed lost when the Rus broke rank in the Tugar War, the 35th reformed and made a desperate last defense.
After the Tugar War, the 35th becomes the most respected regiment which the Army of Rus is centered on. Analogous to the United States Military Academy at West Point, the 35th is the best that Rus has to offer and provides a place to train new officers for the Army of the Republic. Even some men from the original 35th remain in the regiment, when they could otherwise be high ranking officers.
Men from the original 35th include (in progress):
- Andrew Keane (Colonel)
- Hans Schuder (Sergeant Major)
- Barry (Sergeant)
- Tim Kindred
- Jack Petracci
- Chuck Ferguson
- Gates
- Vincent Hawthorne
- Jim Hinsen
- John Mina
- Emil Weiss (regimental surgeon)