Rail's End

When the American Civil War broke out, fifteen-year-old Lucas Boone ran away from his home in Saline County, Arkansas and eventually became a valued member of General N. Bedford Forrest’s renowned Escort Company. In the spring of 1863, before the battle at Brice’s Crossroads in eastern Mississippi, General Forrest ordered Boone on a mission with his most talented and trusted scout, Lieutenant Jubal Hazzard. Neither man ever discovered why Forrest selected Boone to accompany Hazzard who preferred to work alone. Attempting to return to Forrest’s headquarters with indispensable information, a Union patrol discovered them. Hazzard ordered Boone to return with their report; he stayed to cover Boone’s escape. Boone made it back; Hazzard disappeared. Following the war Boone returned home fueled by his dream to marry Sarah Ruth Panman and his desire to reconcile with his father and reconnect with his family. He wanted nothing more than to live the remainder of his life as uncomplicated as the war years had been demanding. It was not to be so simple. When he arrived home he was nineteen years old, highly skilled with most weapons, an able horseman, but all he knew was combat. And he had to amendment his long-cherished plans. And, there was the nagging issue of Jubal Hazzard. What happened to him? Was he alive or dead? In their short time together Boone felt a kinship with Hazzard, a sense of emerging friendship—if there had been an opportunity for one to develop. He vowed to do all he could to discover what happened to the scout who sacrificed so much for Boone’s escape.