Crossfire in the Street
by D.L. Rogers
Publication Date: June 7th 2018
Paperback & eBook
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . CROSSFIRE IN THE STREETS Lone Jack 1862 . . . In school you read about the war that divided a country, its states, its people, its family, but here you get to see up close and personal the devastation brought to one family's front door. You feel every bit of the pain, sorrow, elation, wonder, curiosity of each of this family's members. You almost feel as if you are right there experiencing the drama as it unfolds. These lives were never the same and the journey they went through was long and hard.
Rogers put together a well-written, historical drama, that lets you as the reader feel part of that moment in time. You were a part of the family that faced so much and lost just as much. The Green family did not ask for the war to come to there part of the country. They did not ask to be a part of the destruction, but they did not just sit by and let it all pass them. They became a part of it all. In more ways than any of them would have imagined before it all happened. Rogers' gave good well-rounded characters and the vividery of the battle was like a movie running across my brain.
I had one historical encounter that made an impression.
BLURB
The Civil War yielded many bloody battles and the Battle at Lone Jack was among the worst. Fought across a sixty-foot strip of dusty road, brothers fought brothers, neighbors fought neighbors, cousins fought cousins, and the blood of horses and men ran together in the street under the blistering August sun. The Green family tried to keep from being caught up in the war headed for their doorstep, but their efforts were lost—even before the Yankees came to town. In their youthful exuberance and ignorance, sixteen and fifteen year old Hank and Jesse sneak into town to watch the battle—and find more trouble than they bargained for. Pete, the oldest brother, joins the Rebels and fights to save his life—and that of his brothers. Cora, the oldest daughter on the cusp of becoming a woman, loves a boy who runs off to fight with the Federals—and breaks her heart.
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Excerpt from - CROSSFIRE IN THE STREET: Lone Jack 1862
Chapter Five
“That’s not fair! You had a head start!” Jesse swam up beside his brother, waiting at the edge of the pond. “You cheated!”
“I did not. I got a better start than you did and I’m a better swimmer than you,” Hank said.
“Are not! I swim just as good as you when you don’t cheat!”
“You sound like a girl, Jess. Try harder next time.”
Jesse was on him in a heartbeat. “Take it back!” Jesse and Hank rolled on the pond bank, arms and legs flying.
For the first time, Hank had trouble getting his brother off him. Jesse’d caught up with him in size and, if truth be told, he had more bulk than Hank. Jesse looked more like the older brother these days than Hank did.
“All right, all right! I take it back. Just get off me.”
The boys rolled to their backs, eyes closed, breathing hard. When Hank opened his eyes he was looking up at four men on horseback. He scurried to his feet. Jesse did the same.
“Easy boys.” One of the men waved a pistol in their direction.
Hank thought his heart would fly right out of his chest.
“Hank?” Jesse’s voice squeaked. He sounded like the boy he was.
“It’ll be all right, Jess.” Hank smoothed his hair and looked through the sun’s glare at the men. “You got no cause to hold a gun on us, mister.”
“Holster it, Evans.” Another rider prodded his horse forward.
“The man holstered his gun. Hank and Jesse stared up at the four men.
“We ain’t done nothin’. We even finished our chores before we came to the pond.” Jesse’s youth was evident in the crack and pitch of his voice.
The men chuckled, but it didn’t ease Hank’s fear. “He’s right. We should be on our way home. Our Pa is gonna be worried about us. Come on Jess.” Hank started forward, but the man moved his horse in front of him.
“Not so fast.” The man sat in the saddle studying the two boys. “How old are you two?”
Jesse turned to Hank with wide, frightened eyes. Hank answered for both of them. “I’m sixteen last month and Jesse is fifteen.”
“Sixteen, you say?”
Hank’s back went up. “Yes sir.” He knew more than one sixteen year old boy had been whisked off to war against their will. The possibility of that happening scared him to death.
“You know how to handle a rifle?” the man asked.
“Of course, what boy in these parts doesn’t?”
“Exactly, what boy in these parts doesn’t?” The men chuckled again before the rider asked, “You a Rebel?”
“Sir?” Hank’s body sang with warning.
“Are you a Rebel—or a Yank?” he repeated, as though talking to a dim-witted child.
“I don’t know what I am, Sir. I’m just a kid. I don’t know much about what’s goin’ on in the war,” Hank lied. He was as much a Rebel as his Pa.
Jesse stood silent. His eyes darted between his brother and the men, his face white as paste.
“What do you think?” one of the men asked the apparent leader. “They’re both still snot-nosed and wet behind the ears.”
Hank wanted to yell that he wasn’t, but decided keeping his mouth shut was the better part of valor today.
“Yes they are still snot-nosed and wet behind the ears.” Pete emerged from the bushes behind the men with his hands raised.
Four guns turned on Pete as he walked toward his younger brothers. “You don’t want these boys.” The look he gave Hank told him to keep his mouth shut and let him do the talking.
“I’m not armed. I’m their older brother, Peter Green. I’m eighteen years old and, if you’ll let these two boys go,” he said with extra emphasis on the word boys, “I’ll go with you.”
“No!” Hank shouted. “You can’t!”
“Pete, no!” Jesse yelled.
“You’ll come with us willingly if we let these two go?” the apparent leader asked.
“Yes sir. I was thinking of joining up anyway and these boys are too young. If I go, they’ll be needed even more at our farm. If you take both of them I don’t know what my Pa would do. With harvest coming up, well…” He raised his chin and stood his ground.
“We could take all three of you if we wanted to,” one of the other men challenged.
“I suppose you could, but I’m betting your honor won’t allow that. I’ll willingly go with you if let these two go home. I’d bet you’d rather have one willing man than two unwilling boys.”
Hank was ready to protest until Pete glared at him in a way that told him to keep his mouth shut.
The leader dismounted and strode toward Pete. He held out his hand. “You got a deal. Welcome to the army of the Confederate States of America.”
***
Hank and Jesse busted through the cabin door. “They took him, Pa! They took him!” the boys shouted at the same time.
Artie had returned only minutes earlier. He hugged them as soon as they were inside. He was so happy to see them. It took him a moment to realize what they’d shouted. Fear tore through him. “Who got took?”
“Pete! They took Pete!” Hank said.
Jesse, standing inside the door, looked like a scared boy.
“They took him at the pond, Pa.” Hank gulped in deep breaths.
Artie suddenly had a hard time breathing himself.
Anne came through the door with an armful of laundry. “Thank goodness, you boys are back! You rode in like your pants were on fire and didn’t even take care of the horses,” she chastised.
She took one look at them and asked, “What’s happened?”
“Sit down, Anne.” Artie tried to lead her to the table, but she shrugged him off. Clean laundry floated to the floor.
“I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what’s going on!”
Margie charged into the house, also carrying a bundle of laundry. “What’s going on?”
Eddie and Mabel ran in behind Margie. “Why is everyone shouting?” Eddie asked.
“Everybody just be quiet a minute.” Artie ushered his family to the table. “Sit down and we’ll figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out, Sir,” Hank said. “Pete’s gone. They took him.”
“Who took Pete?” Margie’s face was stricken with fear. She looked at Hank then Jesse and then her father. “Who took Pete?” she shrieked when no one answered. “And where’s Cora?”
“Calm down, Margie. I’m right here.” Cora stomped into the cabin, brushing dust from her skirt. Spotting the boys she ran to them and hugged them. “You’re here and you’re safe! Thank goodness. Who found you? Where were you?” She scanned the room. “Where’s Pete?”
“Sit down. Everyone just sit down. Now!” Artie commanded. His tone brooked no argument.
The family sat in their usual seats, with one glaring exception. Once they were all seated, Artie said to Hank, “All right, tell me exactly what happened.”
“Me and Jesse were at the south pond swimming. We were done checking the fence and stock, Pa, honest we were. It was so hot we needed to cool off so…”
“Get on with what happened to Pete, Hank.”
“Yes sir. Jesse and I were catching our breath on the bank. When we opened our eyes, there they were.”
“Who?”
“Riders. Four of them. They drew on us, Pa.”
Who dared draw a gun on his children? Artie tamped down his rage. “What happened next?”
“They asked how old we were and if we could shoot a rifle.”
Artie knew where this was going. Those men were considering taking Hank and Jesse—until Pete showed up. “And then?”
“Pete come out of the bushes, his hands up and telling those boys they didn’t want us cause we were snot-nosed and wet behind the ears.”
Hank sounded incensed, but Artie knew Pete had done it to save them from being taken. “Go on.”
“Well, Pete said he’d go with them if they let us go home.”
Anne whimpered beside her husband and Cora sucked in a deep breath. Everyone else remained quiet.
“Why didn’t they take all three of you?” He knew full well many a young boy had been pressed into service against their will.
“One of them men asked Pete that same thing. Pete said he believed their honor would keep ‘em from it. Said they didn’t want us young ‘uns and why take two that didn’t want to go, when they could take one that was older and wouldn’t fight ‘em,” Hank answered.
Artie took a deep breath to keep from screaming his rage. His son was gone. Taken. Where to, he had no idea. Now he knew how Mrs. Pierce felt—completely helpless.
“Pa? We have to get him back,” Cora said. “We have to.”
“Which way did they go?” Artie asked Hank.
“Headed south, heard ‘em say they were goin’ to join up with Colonel Cockrell, coming this way from down south.”
Artie jumped to his feet. “Come on, boys, they’re not taking my son and getting away with it.”
Hank and Jesse got to their feet, but with less enthusiasm than their father. Cora jumped up, too. “You’re not going without me.”
Anne leaped up and grabbed her husband’s arm. “What are you going to do?”
“Find them—and bring my son back.”
She held tight.
“What?”
His wife led him across the room. “I’m as upset about them taking Pete as you are, but think about everything that’s at stake. If you ride out of here to bring Pete back, what will keep them from taking you, as well? Or Hank or Jesse this time? Something could happen to Cora if she rides with you.”
“Are you asking me to leave it go?”
“I don’t know what I’m asking. All I know is that there are three other people in this household they could take, and I couldn’t bear to lose all of you. Pete was considering joining up anyway. He’s a man full grown now. He made a choice. He traded himself to make sure the boys were left alone. It wouldn’t be a very good choice if you or the boys got taken anyway.”
“But, Anne, I have to do something. I can’t just let them ride off with my son!”
“Like they did with Solomon Pierce? No one raced to help Mrs. Pierce get her husband back and no one is going to help us.”
“How can you be so calm about this,” Artie asked his wife.
“Calm? You think I’m calm? I want to hit someone. I want to tear their eyes out for taking Pete, but I’m also aware of the fact that I have three other sons, two of whom are old enough to be whisked away just like he was—without a choice. And you could be taken, too. Where would that leave us?”
“I’m too old. They don’t want me.”
“The hell they don’t!” Her curse drew wide-eyed stares from the children and her husband. “Solomon Pierce is older than you and they took him easy enough!”
“Pa?” Hank called from across the room.
“What is it?”
“Pa, Pete knew you’d want to follow him. Before they lit out he told us to tell you not to. He said it was his choice to go with them, just like you talked about the night before.”
Artie’s chin dropped to his chest. “I told him it was his choice, but after we talked about it, he said he was going to think on it a while longer and decide later.” Artie picked up a cup from the counter and threw it against the wall. It exploded into a hundred pieces. “I guess he doesn’t have to decide anymore, does he?”
Author Info
Although born in New Jersey of parents from New Jersey and Tennessee, it was just a matter of time before Diane's "southern" blood revealed itself. And reveal itself it did, in a passion for all things western and related to the Civil War. Having learned a great deal in her research since her historical journey began, especially in the midwest, Diane has attempted to portray both the west and the war from numerous points-of-view, which is not always the same history as what has been previously portrayed--or taught. As a kid, Diane played Cowboys and Indians more than she did Barbie, and as she got older, she and her cousin (whose parents were reversed) gave themselves the moniker of "Yebels." The question of what it would have been like during the Civil War years, when friends and family fought on opposite sides of the war, festered inside Diane until she answered her own question in the form of the novels she writes of the west and Civil War, where everyday people, regardless of what "side" they were on, when faced with difficult situations, rose to the challenge, and survived. Now living south of Kansas City, Missouri, on fourteen acres of property, when Diane's not writing or marketing, she enjoys sitting on her front porch, reading when she can or just watching her horses in the pasture and multitude of cats in the yard. When she does venture into town, it's to work at a lawfirm on the Plaza, or visit her two children and five grandchildren.
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Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, November 5
Review at Pursuing Stacie (Elizabeth's War)
Tuesday, November 6
Interview at Passages to the Past
Wednesday, November 7
Excerpt at T's Stuff
Feature at Maiden of the Pages
Review & Excerpt at The Book Junkie Reads (Crossfire in the Street)
Thursday, November 15
Feature at CelticLady's Reviews
Review at The Book Junkie Reads (Elizabeth's War)
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