great western story. A civil war deserter on the run fights for survival. Good condition
An interesting western, except that most of it takes place in Pennsylvania and a little west of that state (Tennessee?). While I enjoyed it for several different reasons, one of which is that I am a Civil War buff, there were some things about the story that left me bewildered.
Numerous mistakes made me wonder if the author was testing us to see if our memory lasted longer than the page we were currently reading.
For example, twice, two different soldiers, one of whom is the hero, pick up a Henry rifle, but two or three pages later the author refers to it as a Winchester. Then the hero picks up a Smith & Wesson .44 off a dead man, and then throughout the rest of the book, before he loses it to someone else, constantly refers to it as a .22 pistol. No gunman, and certainly no one involved in a war, is going to waste their time packing a .22 pistol. He might as well be packing a water pistol.
Then, the hero leaves the Confederate Army after the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. A week or so later, mistaken for a Union soldier, he is told to move on, as the people in that town won't like him if they think he "left General Grant." The only problem being that General Grant isn't anywhere near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania or the Union Army of the Potomac. Grant is currently accepting the surrender of Vicksburg in Mississippi, over a thousand miles away.
Numerous mistakes made me wonder if the author was testing us to see if our memory lasted longer than the page we were currently reading.
For example, twice, two different soldiers, one of whom is the hero, pick up a Henry rifle, but two or three pages later the author refers to it as a Winchester. Then the hero picks up a Smith & Wesson .44 off a dead man, and then throughout the rest of the book, before he loses it to someone else, constantly refers to it as a .22 pistol. No gunman, and certainly no one involved in a war, is going to waste their time packing a .22 pistol. He might as well be packing a water pistol.
Then, the hero leaves the Confederate Army after the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. A week or so later, mistaken for a Union soldier, he is told to move on, as the people in that town won't like him if they think he "left General Grant." The only problem being that General Grant isn't anywhere near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania or the Union Army of the Potomac. Grant is currently accepting the surrender of Vicksburg in Mississippi, over a thousand miles away.
