This is the story of Ben Hewitt, Confederate Civil War veteran who leaves the postwar poverty of Alabama, and goes to Texas. He works as a cowboy on a ranch owned by his comrade in arms, Powell Cole. Soon Ben is a partner with him in a general store and cotton gin in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas. Lavena Victoria Cole, age 14, and Ben Hewitt, age 32, are married.Ben gains a reputation as a gunfighter when twice he is forced to kill men to protect...