Brief

John's father has sent him into Texas to build ranches. Along the way, John meets a Mexican woman with whom he has a romantic connection. He builds his ranches then goes on to pilot steamships in the rivers. The Civil War breaks out and John is a Rebel, but survives and finds his way back to his family.

What We Liked

John Taylor's father has sent him on a mission, from his comfortable life in Tennessee to wild Texas where he can get free land. His journey there is a dangerous one, and he encounters many different characters including a lovely Mexican girl. While John works hard to build his life in Texas, he's surrounded by tumultuous politics and is far from the woman he marries and his children. The Civil War begins, and John's new life as a steamboat pilot gets overturned by the Confederacy and loses everything he has. These are all dramatic life events set against a time period rife with conflict - some of the worst in American history - and it's fascinating to see how the characters will navigate these historic times.

The vistas and landscapes of the old west have always been attractive to moviegoers and this story has all that and more. There are riverboats and plantations, and all the drama and strife therein. Also, there is a man trying to fulfill his destiny against the odds that takes us from one interesting locale to another as he navigates familiar yet foreign environs. John wants to give himself and his family a solid life, and it's interesting to watch the decisions he makes in his quest for the American dream.

Key points:
The old West
A driven protagonist
A country at war with itself
Scenic vistas
The cheap price of life in the past

Synopsis

John Taylor is riding in a stagecoach and stuffed in a seat next to the mail in antebellum Texas.
He’s on his way to Austin to do some land business. He thinks back to when his grandfather and brother drowned in a sinkhole pond in Tennessee. He recalls his mother and sisters’ screams. His mother had two more sons after, Thomas and Isaac. As a boy, John read anything he could and would pretend he was Odysseus. The driver of the coach is a dandy named Yancy, and his gunner is named Jack and he and John have a friendly conversation and talk about the dangers of Native Americans. John finds out Yancy deals in Absinthe and there is some in the carriage. He’s startled by a monk who offers lots of life advice - and John meets Brother Chalcas. They eat together and he offers even more advice. John goes back to where Yancy is on a makeshift stage in a white suit preaching about the curative powers of his Absinthe to the locals. There’s even a Mexican girl costumed and painted in green. John is attracted to her. She spends the night with John, who tells Jack that he didn’t have sex because he’s saving himself for marriage. The girl, Angelica, accompanies them to Austin for another Absinthe show. They stop at a town and John shoots a Mexican in the foot for calling Angelica a slur. A man named Tom makes John pay him for shooting his worker, then Tom tells him war stories. They have another Absinthe sale then head for Austin. Angelica worries that her father will miss her and feels duped into going all the way to Austin. She really likes John and asks him to take her home but they can barely communicate from the language barrier. She tells him she’s a virgin. They arrive in Austin and there is a standoff between locals and Texas Rangers who want to move the Texas archives.

John sleeps next to a cleaned-up Angelica and goes to the land office in the morning where he presents a letter of introduction and is told how much land he is to receive. He lies, saying he’s married, but it works, and John is pleased with how it goes. He uses Angelica as his “wife.” On the way back, their horses are traded for mules and they encounter a bad storm. John returns Angelica to her grateful family and offers them employment on his new ranch.

John arrives at the home of Jacob and Kathleen Shannon, who inform him that John’s slaves and animals were sent to his land to begin construction. He gets a letter from his father informing him that a lot of people are sick from animals that died in the cold and polluted the drinking water. Two years later, and his ranch is operational, and Angelica and her family have arrived to start a saddle business on John’s land. They are happy to see each other and John is still tempted by Angelica and wonders what his hometown and family would think if he were to marry her. He endeavors to learn how to pilot riverboats and own his own one day. He was in a boating accident one night and spent the night in the freezing Mississippi. John runs into Jack and Yancy, who have Tandy Walker from the Land Management office who wants to inspect John’s lands. John is nervous and tells Angelica’s father that he pretended to be married to Angelica, but he misinterprets this and thinks John actually intends on marrying her. By the time Tandy arrives, John is high on opiates and whiskey for his aching head, but Tandy finds out about his ruse and fines him $2000.00. Angelica is very embarrassed, and John tells her he is promised to a woman in Tennessee, which is another lie.

John meets Janie, his brother’s sister-in-law, at a wedding - and they go on to aggressively court each other through letters. Jane and her pregnant sister Helen talk about John’s proposal to Jane the last time he visited. Jane’s family is wealthy from gold. She is excited to marry John. When they do finally marry, the event goes well and their family and friends weep and cheer. The first locomotive comes to town and astounds everyone because few have seen them before. John and Janie ride home in the new contraption. John leaves his wife and new son Isaac at home a lot while he tries to make money with a borrowed riverboat. He is lonely a lot, and constantly asking his father for money. His father writes back that he is in bad health but can loan him some money. Little Isaac dies and John comes home, although not in time for his burial. He and Jane mourn. They try to give two of their older slaves their freedom, but they don’t want it because they are too old to go anywhere else and only have the clothes on their backs. John’s father dies and John has a ship built for himself. Called the Steamer Red Rover, he puts his land up for collateral and gets investors. One night in Louisville, he gets drunk and almost gets taken aboard a ship that kidnaps men and boys into slave labor, then is attacked by a gang of youths. The city is in turmoil over politics and the issues of immigration. John is transported by mule cart to the steamer where his brother in law is on.

John gathers his investors and the new captain of his steamer - Captain Strong - and they sign the contract to build her. Back home, Janie has 4 year old John Jr. and a baby daughter named Annie. The Confederacy conscripts John’s steamer for $20,000.00. The war begins, the war ends. John’s steamer became a hospital ship. He fought for the Rebels but is now trading jovial war stories with Union soldiers. They see one of the other ships called the Sultana and are afraid it will be fired upon by a torpedo from another ship. Its boiler ends up exploding due to a coal bomb tossed by Abe, and men and machinery are blown into the water. John’s ship can’t take on any survivors and hundreds burn and drown. They release their lifeboats for whomever can get to them and signal for help. It is as hellish as it gets. The next morning another ship rescues who remains, while John’s ship heads up river to deliver its cargo. John’s family survived economically because of their steamer business, but many farmers went under without free labor and northerners came down to take advantage of the southerner’s defeat.

About The Author

Dan’s extensive domestic and international travel and particularly his work with the poor in Southeast Asia have enabled him to amass a fortune in literary thoughts on and experiences of the human spirit. His life has focused upon adventure and a desire to lead and to comfort those in need. The human desire to endure and expect the unexpected is his literary style and lifelong passion. Dan and his wife live in Manassas, Virginia.