Author’s Copyright date: February 15, 2001 Preamble Captain Jake Killman had ridden with Jeb Stuart’s cavalry, for four years, in the War Between the States, until he had seen the coming of the end to the cause the Confederacy supported. Six months before the surrender at Appomattox, he had ridden away from the carnage, with the blessings of his general, who knew the cause was hopeless, remembering his last conversation with General Lee. Dejected and disgusted, he had ridden from Georgia to Texas, tried to drink away his lost years of war, then made his way back from the bottle to stand tall, once again a man, then headed rode for his home range in the far west. The Apaches had stood in his way, as did the Comanche’s, but he had fought his way through their marauding bands, only to arrive home, to find his ranch taken over by the men who had supported the north, and his wife living in the settlement of Strawberry, working as a drudge, taking in washing to survive.
