RIVER WARS - 1916 - 1920 Historical Fiction
A Main Line student volunteers for service in the medical corps in Britain against his family's wishes. Under fire in Arras, France in mid-July, 1917, he takes up a rifle and kills a German sniper, stopping the immediate slaughter of British troops.
The US Army assumes responsibility of Gideon Leander's recovery at his family home. Gideon chooses to remain in the Army and is ordered to Marfa, Texas, where bandits are raiding along the Rio Grande. Gideon's medical training and skills under fire will be useful in battle, as well as dealing with the 1918 influenza epidemic and a small pox outbreak.
The story is Gideon's personal journey as he becomes fond of an elderly resident who came to the area before the town of Marfa existed. Gideon also finds himself falling in love with old man McCraw's contentious granddaughter.
History details the depredations of the border bandits and the chaotic political situation on both sides of the river. The bandits were carefully manipulated by German orders, and the US Army uses the new airplanes together with the cavalry to hunt down the bandit leaders.
River Wars is both a story of growth and a detail of an unresolved conflict that is still being fought.
A Main Line student volunteers for service in the medical corps in Britain against his family's wishes. Under fire in Arras, France in mid-July, 1917, he takes up a rifle and kills a German sniper, stopping the immediate slaughter of British troops.
The US Army assumes responsibility of Gideon Leander's recovery at his family home. Gideon chooses to remain in the Army and is ordered to Marfa, Texas, where bandits are raiding along the Rio Grande. Gideon's medical training and skills under fire will be useful in battle, as well as dealing with the 1918 influenza epidemic and a small pox outbreak.
The story is Gideon's personal journey as he becomes fond of an elderly resident who came to the area before the town of Marfa existed. Gideon also finds himself falling in love with old man McCraw's contentious granddaughter.
History details the depredations of the border bandits and the chaotic political situation on both sides of the river. The bandits were carefully manipulated by German orders, and the US Army uses the new airplanes together with the cavalry to hunt down the bandit leaders.
River Wars is both a story of growth and a detail of an unresolved conflict that is still being fought.