She isn’t a stranger to survival. But can she persevere when the North occupies her town and shatters their way of life?

Florida, 1862. Mary Adeline Walker Andrews has endured hardship before, but the Civil War tests her strength as never before. With her husband and eldest son away fighting, the determined mother of eleven must keep her family safe, her home running, and her faith alive amid scarcity and fear. As raids, deserters, and uncertainty close in, Mary’s quiet resilience becomes the anchor her children depend on.

When Union troops march into Monticello and seize the courthouse—the symbol of the community’s authority—life in Old Florida changes overnight. Long-trusted leaders are replaced by outsiders, loyalties are questioned, and Reconstruction forces Mary to navigate a world reshaped by conflict. Through hunger, grief, and the loss of familiar order, she refuses to give up hope or abandon her belief that God’s providence can bring healing from ruin.

Drawn from four decades of meticulous research and family history, Cindy Roe Littlejohn brings to life the courage, faith, and endurance of Florida’s early settlers as they faced war’s devastation and the upheaval of Reconstruction.

Yankees in the Courthouse is the powerful third installment in the Palmetto Pioneers creative nonfiction series—a moving portrait of Southern women who met the challenges of a changing world with unwavering resolve. Through Mary’s story, readers glimpse not only the human cost of war but also the grace and perseverance that sustained a generation determined to rebuild.