Tom O'Connor

Author of Historical Fiction and Children's Books

Welcome to the official website of Tom O’Connor, author of Steel and Honor: From Cadets to Captains and Brooks’ Bubble Adventure: Wonder, Discovery and Sibling Fun.

Tom writes stories that explore courage, curiosity, and the bonds that connect us—whether through the lives of soldiers shaped by history or the imaginative adventures of childhood.

From the Book

Cadets to Captains: 1848 - 1860

Before the nation was divided, they stood together as cadets—learning discipline, courage, and the meaning of honor. At West Point, young officers forged friendships that would shape their lives forever. They trained side by side, shared ambitions, and believed their futures would be united in service.

But history would test those bonds. As tensions grew and the country moved toward war, the same men who once marched together would face impossible choices. Loyalty to friends, loyalty to duty, and loyalty to country would soon collide.

Steel and Honor tells the story of a generation shaped by discipline and tradition, whose lives were forever changed by the coming storm.

Pre-order now on Amazon

Cadets to Captains: 1848-1860. The story begins at West Point.

from my blog

The Man Who Armed the South

On a cold April afternoon in 1865, a bearded Confederate colonel walked to a tall flagpole outside his mill. He looked up at the garrison banner. It snapped in the wind above the A

A Cannon at Sunrise: The Day America Chose Its Course

A cannon fired over Springfield, Illinois, before the sun cleared the rooftops on November 6, 1860. Nobody fired it in anger. It marked the end of a long campaign. Before midnight,

The Iron Decade: How 1850s Railroads Helped Decide the Civil War

Before Gettysburg, before Antietam, before the first shot at Fort Sumter, the Civil War already leaned north. The advantage did not begin on a battlefield, camp, or inside a Washin

Then Mother’s Day came.

I was late getting a card for my wife, June. After 48 years together, a store-bought card did not feel right. So I tried something different. I used ChatGPT to create a Mother’s

Quincy A. Gillmore, Fort Pulaski, and the Lesson the South Could No Longer Ignore

Research that helped shape the Steel and Honor series In April 1862, a Union engineer did more than force a surrender. He broke an old military belief in public. Fort Pulaski looke

What McAllister and Tanner Represent in Cadets toCaptains: 1848 – 1860 by Tom O’Connor

In Cadets to Captains: 1848 -1860 from the series Steel and Honor by Tom O’Connor, Nathaniel McAllister and James Tanner stand as more than fictional officers. They represent an

What McAllister and Tanner Represent in Cadets to Captains

Nathaniel McAllister and James Tanner are not symbols. They are soldiers. They sweat through summer drills at West Point. They write letters home, bury friends, and lie awake in fr

The Reports Come Home

Five clear frictions. Three detailed reports. The Army had six years before Fort Sumter to act on them. The Reports Come Home Delafield’s Report on the Art of War in Europe in 18

When the War Came to Collect

The Delafield Commission, Part 2: The Civil War Tests the Lessons On the afternoon of July 21, 1861, the Union Army broke. Soldiers threw down their rifles and ran. Congressmen and

Author Biography

Tom O'Connor first discovered the Delafield Commission officers as a West Point cadet. He graduated in 1973 and served seven years as an artillery officer, including airborne duty with the 82nd. He then spent thirty years in entrepreneurial sales. Those years raised questions that took fifty years to answer. He lives in Bolivia, North Carolina, with his wife of more than fifty years. Cadets to Captains is the first book in his Steel and Honor series.

STEEL AND HONOR

FROM CADETS TO CAPTAINS

Steel and Honor: From Cadets to Captains is a historical novel that follows two young men who train together at West Point before the American Civil War. Their friendship, rivalry, and sense of duty are tested as the nation moves toward conflict.

Brooks’ Bubble Adventure

Wonder, Discovery and Sibling Fun

A delightful children’s picture book for ages 3–9 that follows Brooks and his big sister Olivia as a simple bubble wand sparks a day of imagination, curiosity, and playful discovery, celebrating science, creativity, and the special bond between siblings.

“Tom O'Connor brings history and imagination together through engaging storytelling. His writing invites readers to explore the past while also celebrating curiosity and discovery for younger audiences.”

Johnson

Order a Signed Copy by Tom O'Connor

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