Graham Ranch Legacy

John Graham grows up on a rocky, cactus-infested ranch on the Texas Frontier. His childhood is cut short when the War between the States forces him into manhood long before Mother Nature gives his body time to mature.

This is the story of a black man who serves as a scout for Custer's Seventh Cavalry. Custer split his command and took five companies to the Little Bighorn. The only survivor of his five companies was a bay horse named Comanche, returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln aboard the steamboat Far West, along with some 50-odd wounded soldiers from the other companies. In my novel, Sam is in charge of taking the horse home.

This is a sequel to The Return of Sam Rache. According to legend, the Far West's captain, Captain Grant Marsh, ordered a fortune in gold bullion buried to make room for the wounded soldiers and boiler fuel for the trip downstream to Ft. Lincoln. Before he could return, the river rose and wiped out all the landmarks he used to mark the spot. When Sam was tasked with burying the gold, he made two maps, one using distant landmarks and the other nearby trees and stones. Now, with the nearby landmarks gone, he is the only one who can find the treasure. In Fort Hays, Kansas, he marries a young nurse assigned to the Sixth Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers. She is kidnapped from the wedding and held for ransom by three outlaws wanting the gold. Sam, a black man, and his two friends, one white and one Hispanic, ride to bring Sarah back.