In the spring of 1874 the Ranger companies that protect settlers against Indian raids and outlaw bands are being reorganized and David "Rusty" Shannon is the most sought-after veteran for reenlistment. But Shannon has new goals for his life: He is in love with Josie Monahan, daughter of the family that adopted him, and he intends to marry Josie and take her to his farm on the Colorado River. Rusty also feels affection and responsibility for Andy...

In Bitter Trail, Kelton tells the story of a tough teamster named Frio Wheeler whose wagons haul cotton from Texas to Mexico. Sounds like a peaceable enterprise. The problem is that the Civil War is raging throughout the South and Wheeler's cotton is to be sold for gold, gold used to buy guns and ammunition for the Confederate army. And, added to his balky mules, the broiling heat, and killing drought of the Mexican dessert, Wheeler has even more...

Intrepid Texas Confederates stranded in New Mexico gain the chance to redeem their honor by retrieving a cache of munitions secretly held on the ranch of a Union sympathizer in Mexico.

Daniel Provost is the son of a farmer. Living up to his father's high standards for the farm is very hard work, but his life is basically comfortable and a loving woman is waiting to become his wife. When a well-traveled stranger, bearing a story of Jim Bowie's legendary silver mine, appears at the farm, Daniel might just throw away everything for the chance at adventure he thought had passed him by.

When Texan-born Josh Buckalew met Teresa, a young and beautiful Mexican woman, it was love at first sight. But with the Alamo recently sieged and destroyed, Josh knew this rosebud love would be unobtainable on account of the war thorns harrowing the country. So the Buckalew brothers, Josh and Thomas, along with Josh's friend Muley, the man-child, come together with other Texans to protect their land at Goliad against the Mexicans who have just ravished...

In Texas Sunrise, Elmer Kelton brings together two novels that tell the story of the Texas Revolution as seen by the brothers Thomas and Joshua Buckalew who emigrate to Texas at a time when the Mexican-controlled province welcomes settlers. In Massacre at Goliad, tensions mount between Mexican authorities and American newcomers, and revolution is in the air, something Thomas Buckalew welcomes but Joshua fears, he is in love with a Mexican girl. The...

After the Bugles : Joshua Buckalew has left behind the deserted battlefields that claimed his brother Thomas. The war with Mexico has cost him much, but it has also given him a strong bond to the land and to the Mexican families who stood with him against the tyrannies of Santa Ana. Josh is traveling with Ramon Hernandez, his best friend and the man who had fought with him. Where they are going, he isn't quite sure. His home is in ashes--burned by...

Texas rifles: As the Confederate States confront the hardships of the Civil War, the State of Texas is forced to raise its own troops to hold back hostile Comanche, a force that includes men still loyal to the Union, including Scout Sam Houston Cloud. Massacre at Goliad: Even in his old age, Josh Buckalew sometimes awakens in a cold sweat as he relives those horrifying moments at Goliad so long ago. And yet every time he retells the tale of Santa...