Prairie Dog, Another Western

By Burr Cook

A western novelette about a young man going west from Illinois following the Civil War and after getting in trouble with the law. He meets his idol, Wild Bill Hickok along with Calamity Jane in Abilene, Kansas. He marries a saloon worker and plays a lot of poker and engages in gunfighting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312479319

Book preview

Prairie Dog, Another Western

Prairie Dog, Another Western

Copyright 2014 Burr Cook

All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-312-47931-9

Chapter 1 The Great War

I lived on a farm in Illinois about a mile from the Ferguson place. Moe Ferguson was my best friend throughout our school years during which time a great war between the states took place. We didn’t graduate. We turned 16 about a month apart and joined the Union army in 65. The war was nearly over.

We only got in the action for a little over a month and wound up in General Grant’s army advancing on Richmond. Moe was always good with guns. He had always enjoyed turkey shoots and other kinds of shooting competitions which he often won. Around our homes west of Homer, Illinois we hunted wild turkeys and deer. We shot many coyote and prairie dogs. I saw Moe shoot three rebel soldiers that we encountered in the woods. Rifles were scarce at that time and were single shot. We had brought our own weapons. Moe had a concealed a Colts revolver in his jacket which he used before the rebels even knew what was happening.

Moe claimed to have killed 6 Confederate soldiers but I only witnessed the three. I have no reason to doubt that he had done it. He was quite capable. I did witness the killing of one other which I never spoke of while Moe was still alive because it was a Union soldier; a Second Lieutenant who was trying to take away Moe’s revolver. The officer said that it was a very good quality gun and they were extremely difficult to come by and therefore only officers were allowed to have one of them. Moe explained that he had brought the gun from home and had saved for almost a year to buy it. He said This weapon has saved my life a dozen or more times already and I’m not about to part with it. A struggle ensued during which the officer was shot. I was never sure weather the shooting was intentional or if the gun accidentally fired during the fight but I do know for sure that the soldier would never have gotten Moe’s gun without killing him. Moe made me promise to never tell anyone about the incident. He didn’t have to ask since I would never have told while he was still alive.

General Grant was a good guy. After General Lee surrendered at Richmond Grant allowed the Confederate soldiers to keep their guns and horses. He said they would need them to survive the trip home and after they got there. We were a little worried about the guns but they did no more shooting after the surrender.

Before long we found ourselves back on the farm and life resumed as it was before. Moe and I helped our families