Bøger af Joe Poindexter

In 1860, David Lofland and his family, residents of Hickory Flats, Tennessee, will relocate to Arkansas. Before the move to Bluffton, Arkansas, David's love, the beautiful Lillie Mashburn, will be enticed to marry the local parson, Reverend Claxton. The long trip to Arkansas will yield even more disappointments. The depressed nineteen-year-old, finding little joy in life, will ultimately join the Confederate Army, in February 1862. He will be sent to White Sulfur Springs training camp to prepare for the war. During the short training period, David will meet two other young men, Lum and Squirrel, and they will become close friends. The three men and the new 24th Arkansas Regiment will be sent to Fort Hindman at Arkansas Post, Arkansas. The heartache of losing Lillie, along with a series of other disappointments that David will experience, will cause him to seriously question his faith and belief in God. If that is not enough, the 24th Arkansas Regiment will suffer serious losses, as the Confederates face heavy odds in 1863. The young Arkansans, upon being captured at the fall of Fort Hindman, will be sent to Camp Douglas, the notorious Union prisoner-of-war camp near Chicago. How can a man so overwhelmed with such grief, bitterness, and tragedy in his life, continue on with a struggle to live?

Gravelly, Arkansas, was not too different from most small towns in rural Arkansas. For the most part, there was not a great disparity in terms of wealth between the mostly lower middle class and a sizable lower class. Though poor, and largely uneducated, the hardworking Yell County residents were able to scratch out a living in the rocky soil of the Fourche River Valley. Cotton, the cash crop of the South, allowed most families to live reasonably happy, rewarding lives. Though backward by some standards, the people were, for the most part, honest, hardworking, and God fearing. The standard of living was improving for most, and a brighter future lay ahead. Few people ever left Yell County and moved away. Most grew up there, got little education, selected a Yell County mate, bore children, worked hard, died, and were buried in one of the cemeteries. Since the industrious natives seldom had time for visiting and fellowship, they always enjoyed the occasional gatherings, whether church, revival, sale day, or even funerals or wakes. A segregated society existed, yet some knew not why since there were almost no blacks in Yell County. Of course, very few whites could have afforded to own a slave. Beginning on May 6, 1861, life would begin to drastically change for most people in Yell County. Secession from the Union would change everything. Four young men, fast friends, would join the state militia. The four friends, all from slightly different social-economic levels and backgrounds, would become soldiers and prepare for the approaching invasion of Arkansas by Federal troops. From a training base at Van Buren, Arkansas, the Arkansas militia would march north to meet a Federal army moving down from Springfield, Missouri. The battle, on March 6-7, 1862, would be the largest Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi River. The battle would result in a divided state of Arkansas, with a Federal capital at Little Rock and a Confederate capital at Washington, Arkansas.