The Bucktail Brothers: Brave Men's Blood

ABOUT William Robertson

William Robertson
I was born in 1950 in Bradford, Pennsylvania. After graduating in 1972 from Mansfield University with a BS in English, I've worked in factories, taught high school English, and run a successful house painting business. I'm also a freelance writer, and my short stories, poetry, and articles More...

Description

Henry and Willie Cole were lucky to have survived the bloody first day's battle at Gettysburg that reduced the Fighting 149th Bucktails from 590 strong to just over a company of able-bodied men. Little did the brothers know that the worst was yet to come! Sent to defend the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, the regiment's ranks were filled with draftees of questionable bravery and then further weakened when its stalwart colonel, Walton Dwight, resigned for medical reasons. This left a small core of battle-tested veterans to lead the Bucktails in the gruesome Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House Campaigns that put them in harm's way for two grueling weeks of combat. Equally brutal were the Battle of Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. With death just a bullet away, Henry and Willie each find God, but in completely unexpected ways. Add a tour of duty guarding the infamous Elmira Prison Camp, and the Bucktails visit every circle of Civil War hell.