A Promise to a Friend

By William Post

This is the story of a boy who was left by his family to travel to California while he went to school. Their son, Brady Scott, after finishing high school, entered the military academy at West Point. On the first day, he met his roommate, Colin Smith. Smith would have an influence on Brady and two other friends for the rest of their lives.

The story tells several love stories, along with the adventures, not only in the war, but before and after. It tells how a woman cast a spell on Brady and how it affected him. He had two loyal friends that helped him. They all had a special bond, having gone through four years at West Point and the four years in the violent fighting of the Civil War.

Throughout their lives, Colin Smith had a direct influence on them and others. They tell of his guidance and how it helped them. There are some graphic parts, but it reveals the inner feelings of their loves and fears. Although a short book, it is packed with love and excitement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546201830

William Post

William Post is the author of 19 novels with a variety of genres. the flagship of his novels is a trilogy starting with The Mystery of Table Mountain. Post’s descriptions of the scenery and weather makes the reader feel he is experiencing what the characters are enduring. The characters come alive as their emotions are displayed in a manner that makes the reader become part of the story. Post was reared in West Texas. He was educated at Texas A. & M. and served in the U. S. Navy. After his service, he became a surveyor for the Southern Pacific RR which took him to the wilds of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, where he immersed himself in the lore of those areas. This becomes apparent as he describes some of his experiences in his novels. Post is a professional engineer and land surveyor. Taking an early retirement as chief engineer of the Long Beach Water Dept., he moved to Northern California and started his writing career. Post is an Evangelic Christian and the thread of his beliefs can be seen throughout his novels. Post now lives in Las Vegas, NV with his extended family.

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© 2017 . All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  08/04/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0184-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-0183-0 (e)

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Contents

Chapter 1:     History Of The Scott Family

Chapter 2:     The Trip West

Chapter 3:     West Point

Chapter 4:     The Beginning Of The War

Chapter 5:     A Trip Through Ememy Lines

Chapter 6:     Helping A Friend

Chapter 7:     The Wars End

Chapter 8:     The Trip To New Mexico

Chapter 9:     The Trip To The Valley

Chapter 10:   The Arrival Of The Others

Chapter 11:   Captured

Chapter 12:   The Trip To California

Chapter 13:   Trouble Along The Trail

Chapter 14:   Getting To A New Life

Chapter 15:   Bewitched

Chapter 16:   Broken Trusts

Chapter 17:   A New Life

Chapter 18:   A Mission For The Country

Chapter 19:   The Kidnapping

Chapter 20:   To Catch Some Theives

Preface

A Promise to a Friend is an account of a young man, Brady Scott, whose best friend dies during a Civil War battle. Before his friend dies, he asks Brady to promise he will see after his sweetheart who lives in the New Mexico Territory.

You need to understand about men of this era. When they gave their word it was written in stone. I remember growing up in Texas in the late thirties and the forties. I once heard a man say, I would sooner cut off my own arm, than break my word. Those words stuck with me, as the meaning ran deep. It was almost holy. I think the ten commandments should be thought of like that, that you would rather cut off you arm than to break one of them.

Many lessons come to mind during that period. My Aunt Neal was a teacher and she told us about a boy, about ten, who stole some marbles from another boy. She told him that if he stole as a little boy, he would grow up to be a thief and would spend most of his time in prison. She said the little boy cried and said he never wanted to be a thief. It was a great lesson, and I have thought of that story many times.

Although this story tells of some of the Civil War, it is really not about it. It is about the lives of three men and how they dealt with the aftermath of the war. It scarred them deeply. They all graduated from the Military Academy at West Point, and would have probably become generals, but the war and its killing burned the thoughts of a military career from their minds. They each met women and were married. One out of obligation to a promise made. The story tells of a love that is instantaneous. It is almost a magical spell. So let me take you on their adventure.

Chapter 1

HISTORY OF THE SCOTT FAMILY

L EVI SCOTT HAD JUST turned eighteen. He had worked with his father in his surveying business since leaving a private school when he was fourteen. The four years he worked with his father were both fun and challenging to Levi. His father taught him geometry and trigonometry. Beside the mathematics necessary in his trade, Levi learned surveying law, which is essential when setting monuments, filing for ownership or testifying in court in boundary disputes or ownership.

The year was 1839 and a war with Mexico was brewing. The commanding general for the United States was Winfield Scott. Planning for the invasion of Mexico, General Scott knew he would need a surveyor to set the route and layout encampments from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. He contacted Levi’s father, as he was a seond cousin of General Scott. Winfield asked him to join the expedition. Scott offered his son, Levi, to go in his place on the expedition.

Levi’s father said, My son, Levi, is as qualified as I am for this expedition, and has much younger legs, Winfield.

After further negotiations, Levi was commissioned a lieutenant, and was off with the army for Vera Cruz, Mexico.

A young Indian, named David Canilaka was put with Levi as his aide. David was a Navajo Indian, and had been sent to an eastern school to be educated. A missionary had taken an interest in David, and could see his intellect. He talked David’s father into letting him go East, so he could come back and help educate the tribe. His father saw the wisdom of this, and let David go.

David had just finished school when he was inducted into the army. The army was looking for men who were versed in Spanish and a few Indian dialects. General Scott had searched for such a man, and David’s name came up. David had no choice in the matter, but took his induction into the army as just another adventure. David had a pleasing personality and impeccable manners.

Levi had an instant like for David, and they became good friends. Levi had not been taught the inequality between an enlisted man and an officer, and showed no class difference between David and himself.

In Vera Cruz, Levi was assigned to a young captain named Robert E. Lee. Captain Lee’s assignment was to go ahead of the troops, and find the best route for the coming march to Mexico City. He had Levi and David place markers where the army should travel. They had maps, but improved them as they traveled.

Several days later they came to a mountain pass. Lee instinctively knew this would be where they would confront Santa Ana and his forces. The three discussed it at night and Lee said, We must find a place higher than the pass where we can place our artillery. We can easily defeat the enemy if we can hold the high ground, and neutralize them with our artillery.

The three worked diligently finding a place best suited for the cannons, then developed a route to them. They also needed to find a place to provide the men with quarters and their mess. They found such a place, and then a route to it, so the cannons could be pulled up the slope and into place. Levi and David marked the route and laid out everything on a map. They then returned to Vera Cruz. Engineers were sent with Lee, Levi and David when they returned. They built trails to set the artillery in place.

Just as Lee predicted, the pass was where Santa Ana planned to stop the Americans and ambush them. His plan would have worked, but he knew nothing of the artillery Lee had in place. Lee’s cannons routed the Mexican Army. It was then easy to proceed to Mexico City.

The fighting became intense as the Mexicans were fighting for their capitol. A bad thing happened in Mexico City, though. David could hear a cannon ball coming their way, and he leaped onto Levi, and brought him to the ground. David suffered the worst injuries, but both David and Levi were wounded. They were taken back to Vera Cruz where they would be shipped home with many others who were wounded.

Their ship was to stop in Houston, Texas. During their voyage, David asked Levi to take him to his home near Santa Fe. David said, I may not survive my wounds, Levi. My father and mother will want to lay me to rest.

Levi knew it would be an arduous trip, but could not deny David’s request. He thought David could be right about his dying, and knew he must take David to his parents.

Levi talked to the captain of the ship, and told him the circumstances. The captain agreed. They left the ship when they reached a port near Houston.

Levi obtained maps of Texas and the New Mexico Territory. After talking to two men, who had made the trip to Santa Fe, he decided on a route. His next chore was to buy a buggy that would give David the most comfortable travel.

Levi found a woman who had advertised her surrey in the paper. David called on her, and found the surrey had a top cover. It had been customized by her husband, as he had been a salesman and had taken long trips. He had fixed the front seat so it would lay down and join the backseat to make a bed. A curtain from the roof on both sides could be pulled down as did a curtain rolled up in the front and back. The Carriage could then be enclosed at night in inclement weather. The surrey also had a large boot to carry their provisions.

After buying their provisions, they were on their way. Most of the time David laid on the back seat, and Levi drove at a pace that was the easiest on David. The trails were good as were their horses. They covered about twenty-five miles each day.

It was springtime, and although the nights were cold, the carriage kept them warm and comfortable.

Along the way David told how his father and his brothers were hunters. They loved to go into the mountains and hunt deer. It was not just the hunting, the brothers loved to explore the country within the mountain range that was between Santa Fe and to the east to a small village named Las Vegas.

During a hunt, they came upon a valley. It had but one entrance, and that was from the south. The valley had a narrow opening, then opened up to over a half-mile wide. It went back nearly a mile to a sheer cliff, nearly eight-hundred feet in height.

The valley went to a shelf against the cliff that was about thirty feet above the valley floor. It was flat over a hundred fifty feet until it reached the sheer cliff. The cliff had a giant pockmark that went back into the cliff some forty feet. It made a perfect campsite as there was a spring that spouted out from the mountain that cut down into the valley creating a year-round creek. It seemed a great place to live, and with the flat valley, they could grow grain and vegetables. They envisioned running a few cows and horses.

Near the flat place abutting the cliff was a stand of pine trees. The stand covered an area of about three acres. It was close to the shelf area giving them a good supply of wood for their fires.

After much talk they decided to move their families to this location. David was just ten years old when they moved. A year later, a missionary found the valley and stayed with the brothers and their families for a few months. That is where he met David. He was impressed with his intellect, because David learned the English language very quickly. The missionary talked David’s father into allowing David to travel with him back East to be educated. David’s father saw this as something that would greatly aid them, so he assented to David going with the missionary.

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When they arrived in Santa Fe, David was much better, and was nearly healed from his wounds.

After David had told him about the valley, Levi thought about the valley’s ownership. He knew how devious white men could be when it came to Indians. After getting supplies, he asked the clerk if there were a government land office in Santa Fe. The clerk pointed out the building, and they pulled over to it.

The clerk at the land office had a map of the trail that led east to Las Vegas. It showed a Spanish Land Grant that covered miles. Levi bought a copy of the map and took it with them.

They traveled on to the valley. Levi put in features of the terrain on the map as they traveled, so he could later locate the valley on his map.

Levi told David what he planned to do. He said, I want to locate your valley and monument it, so no white man could claim it. David saw the wisdom of this.

After meeting David’s kin and visiting a day with them, Levi and David set out to locate the Spanish Land Grant. Just west of the valley along the north edge of the trail between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, they found a monument. According to his map, this was the southeast corner of the Land Grant. By using his map, Levi traced the east side of the Land Grant. It was beyond the hills that ran along the west side of the valley. Levi was relieved that the valley was beyond the Land Grant. They traced the east side of the grant and found intermediate monuments of the grant that lead them north.

Levi had purchased one inch iron pins that could be used to mark the valley area. They set monuments all along the west side showing the common boundary between the land grant and the property Levi wanted to claim. They had to scale the mountain north of the valley and monument it also. Then they came down the east side of the valley beyond the hills to the trail between Santa Fe and Las Vegas.

Levi had paced the distance between his monuments, and now could draw them on his map. He showed the terrain, so the valley could clearly be seen and plotted on the government maps.

After a week they had the valley monumental, so Levi said his goodbyes, and left for Santa Fe. He went by the new land office, and filed his claim. The government wanted people to file on the land as they could then generate a tax base. There was no fee for the land if the owners paid the tax for a year. Levi filed the map of the valley under the name of The Scott Land Company, and paid the first year’s property tax.

Levi had made several friends while in boarding school. They kept up with one another writing once a month. He added their names as officers in his company. He gave his father’s address as the headquarters, where the tax assessor could send the bill for property taxes.

The four boys now kept in touch and shared their experience since leaving the boarding school. The boys included Albert Linton, whose father was a mining engineer. Albert had followed him into that industry. There was Roy Miller, whose father was a carpenter. He had also followed his father into the building industry. The last was Alan Geer, whose father was a farmer and Alan became a farmer, also.

Two months after filing his map, Levi finally arrived home. His father was very glad to see him. Levi was soon working with his father.

Levi met a young woman named Sara Jennings. She was a gentle woman with beautiful skin and hair. They fell in love and married. They soon had a baby boy that they called Brady. Brady was a smart child, and looked like his mother as he had her dark hair and creamy skin.

Eleven years after Levi’s return, America went into a deep recession. Work seemed to just dry up. Levi had read avidly about California before the recession, and had longed to go there. He had saved a substantial amount of money, and decided to make the trip to California. His father told him it might be the best, as surveying work had about dried up.

Months before he left, Levi wrote his three friends, and told them about his decision to go west. They all wrote back and said they wanted