Judge Madison Curtis of North Carolina begins to rebuild his life after the devastation of the Civil War and finds himself taking on that challenge side-by-side with one of his former slaves

Freedom's Altar

Literature & Fiction

Price, Charles F.

United States

John F Blair Pub

The Cock's Spur

Contemporary

Blair

Hamby McFee dreams of leaving the valley of the Hiwassee in western North Carolina, and cockfighting is his means to that end. A renowned trainer of some of the meanest birds in the pit, he rests his hopes on the aged, much-feared Gouger, the apricot-tinted Pile-Driver, the strangely calm, lightning-quick Buttermilk.The mulatto ex-slave of the Curtis family, Hamby practices a loyalty he seldom feels. Fifteen years after the Civil War, he still inhabits the farm where he was once chattel. As Andy Curtis, the leader of the household, drifts into insanity and his once-lovely sister Rebecca withers on the vine, Hamby finds himself assuming all the responsibilities of a landowner without reaping any of the benefits. The other thread of the story involves Ves Price, the son of a close friend of the Curtis family. Hampered by a lack of good sense, Ves makes enemies in high places during his failed effort at moonshining. Then he turns informant for the Revenue and becomes more hated still.When moonshiner king Webb Darling imprisons him in his mountaintop fortress, it appears Ves is doomed. But Hamby McFee, who holds a grudge against Darling, swiftly arranges a climactic chicken fight on the king's home ground. In it, and with considerable reluctance, he will discover just how deeply his home and friends lie in his heart.

This Stunning Novel is set near the end of the Civil War in the mountainous farm country of North Carolina—bordering on the Hiwassee River—a region where neighbor turned on neighbor and helpless families were preyed on by deserters from both armies and by violent gangs pretending to be military units. Madison Curtis and his wife Sarah live on a plantation that lies in the path of a gang of Union partisans, led by a vicious bushwhacker named Bridgeman. The Curtises are hiding their eldest son Andy, who was wounded in the Confederate Army. They risk torture and death to protect him from Bridgeman. We meet also the Curtis's younger sons, Jack and Howell, who are caught up in the great battle of Chickamauga, far away in Georgia, and we are offered a unique glimpse of war as the common soldier saw it—confusing, monotonous and terrifying by turns and without any discernible meaning. There too is the rebel soldier Oliver Price, a poor kindly shoemaker who hardly ever met a black man, much less owned one, but fought on to the end for his home, long after many others with much more at stake had lost heart and quit. This is a perfect little gem of a novel: beautifully written, historically accurate and shedding light on a little-known corner of the Civil War behind the lines of the Border South. Once read, it will never be forgotten.

Hiwassee: A Novel of the Civil War

Academy Chicago Publishers

Season of Terror: The Espinosas in Central Colorado, March–October 1863 (Timberline Books)

Season of Terror is the first book-length treatment of the little-known true story of the Espinosas—serial murderers with a mission to kill every Anglo in Civil War–era Colorado Territory—and the men who brought them down. For eight months during the spring and fall of 1863, brothers Felipe Nerio and José Vivián Espinosa and their young nephew, José Vincente, New Mexico–born Hispanos, killed and mutilated an estimated thirty-two victims before their rampage came to a bloody end. Their motives were obscure, although they were members of the Penitentes, a lay Catholic brotherhood devoted to self-torture in emulation of the sufferings of Christ, and some suppose they believed themselves inspired by the Virgin Mary to commit their slaughters. Until now, the story of their rampage has been recounted as lurid melodrama or ignored by academic historians. Featuring a fascinating array of frontier characters, Season of Terror exposes this neglected truth about Colorado’s past and examines the ethnic, religious, political, military, and moral complexity of the controversy that began as a regional incident but eventually demanded the attention of President Lincoln.

History

Americas

University Press of Colorado

Season of Terror is the first book-length treatment of the little-known true story of the Espinosas—serial murderers with a mission to kill every Anglo in Civil War–era Colorado Territory—and the men who brought them down.For eight months during the spring and fall of 1863, brothers Felipe Nerio and José Vivián Espinosa and their young nephew, José Vincente, New Mexico–born Hispanos, killed and mutilated an estimated thirty-two victims before their rampage came to a bloody end. Their motives were obscure, although they were members of the Penitentes, a lay Catholic brotherhood devoted to self-torture in emulation of the sufferings of Christ, and some suppose they believed themselves inspired by the Virgin Mary to commit their slaughters.Until now, the story of their rampage has been recounted as lurid melodrama or ignored by academic historians. Featuring a fascinating array of frontier characters, Season of Terror exposes this neglected truth about Colorado’s past and examines the ethnic, religious, political, military, and moral complexity of the controversy that began as a regional incident but eventually demanded the attention of President Lincoln.

A sweeping narrative that tells the separate but ultimately intertwined stories of two compelling characters, vastly different in background and outlook, but destined to strive together in the last great pitched battle for American independence.

Nor the Battle to the Strong: A Novel of the American Revolution in the South

Frederic C. Beil

Where The Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear

Ingalls Pub Group

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Books by Price, Charles F.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Price, Charles F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Freedom's Altar

The Cock's Spur

Freedom's Altar

The Cock's Spur

Hiwassee: A Novel of the Civil War

Season of Terror: The Espinosas in Central Colorado, March–October 1863 (Timberline Books)

Season of Terror: The Espinosas in Central Colorado, March–October 1863 (Timberline Books)

Nor the Battle to the Strong: A Novel of the American Revolution in the South

Where The Water-Dogs Laughed: The Story of the Great Bear