"Joel McAllister is a lieutenant in the Confederate Army--or at least he was, until Lee surrendered. Now he's determined to get as far away from war as possible, somewhere beyond North and South (and maybe somewhere with some gold): Idaho Territory. Accompanied by his steadfast sergeant, Riley, the two former soldiers travel westward from Texas. But the trail to Silver City is littered with peril--including a band of notoriously merciless Comanche...

Inman, a young Confederate soldier, who is injured during the explosive 1864 battle of Petersburg, Virginia, is struggling to make his way home to Cold Mountain, NC, where his beloved Ada awaits him. In Inman's absence, Ada befriends Ruby, who helps her keep up her late father's farm. Meanwhile, in his travels, Inman encounters a menagerie of interesting and colorful characters.

"From American master James Lee Burke comes a novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana as the South transforms and a brilliant cast of characters-enslaved and free women, plantation gentry, and battle-weary Confederate and Union soldiers-are caught in the maelstrom. In the fall of 1863, the Union Army is in control of the Mississippi River. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate Army is in disarray, corrupt...

The soldier's life.

In 1864 twelve-year-old former slave Charlotte is lucky enough to live on a plantation near Richmond, Virginia, owned by a Miss Van Lew, who hates slavery, and when Charlotte overhears a conversation she realizes that her mistress is gathering information and passing it on to the Union army; Charlotte is eager to help, (especially since her own cousin, Mary, is involved) but her enthusiasm may endanger them all--or help free 400 Union soldiers who...

The Texas frontier. The Civil War is over and Texas is reluctantly yielding to the Union soldiers spreading across the state, even into the dangerous Comanche country. David "Rusty" Shannon, proud member of a "ranging company" attempting to protect Texas settlers from Indian depredations, finds that the rangers are being disbanded.

While touring with group of Confederate Civil War re-enactors for a summer internship, Libby and Dev attempt to design and sell Southern Confederate costumes for a ball, investigate haunted battle grounds, and seek handsome Southern soldier boys.

In the waning days of the American Civil War, Inman, a wounded Conferate soldier leaves the hospital where he is recuperating and embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with Ada, the woman he left behind. Deserters like Inman are considered traitors and are ordered to be killed by the home-guards, ruthless vigilantes who also prey upon those who did not fight, torturing and killing families of Confederate...