While Union and Confederate forces clashed in monumental battles at Gettysburg, Antetum and Manassus, a lesser-known conflict took place in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia.
A small Union army under the command of Colonel George Crook played a cat-and-mouse game with Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General Henry Heth.
It was inevitable that these two forces would meet in a brief, yet violent battle - The Battle of Lewisburg - at stake was control of the mountain turnpikes and supply lines that provided access to the west and the materials of war.
Thomas Williams tells the story of Boyd Houston, a new, untested Confederate recruit who is forced to quickly become a man by the Battle of Lewisburg and the events surrounding life in war-torn western Virginia.
Thrown into a world of death and fear, Houston is confronted with his internal struggle against violence, the issue of slavery, and his forbidden love for the young slave woman who nursed his wounds.
