The Graham Ranch Legacy Series

John Graham grows up on a rocky, cactus-infested ranch on the Texas Frontier located far west of settlements on the Colorado River. 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. Along with his friend Carlos, whose father works for the Graham Ranch, and Sammy, the orphaned son of escaped slaves, he takes on the responsibilities of running and defending the family homestead against marauding Comanche and the outlaw band of renegade Jonas Barnes. After the war, Banes uses forged papers to join the carpet-bag government, inflates taxes, and threatens foreclosure on the ranch. Graham raises money by selling a herd of mustangs to a dishonest officer of the Juaristas, a rebel faction in Old Mexico fighting Emperor Maximillian. He dodges U.S. And French army patrols and rescues Carlos from conscription into the Mexican revolutionary forces. With the ranch safe and Barnes in prison, they join a cattle drive, but Sammy is captured by Comanche and Carlos' father is killed. In Abilene, John meets the love of his life, Christina, but before he can return to the ranch and tell his parents, the escaped Barnes murders his mother and father and burns his home. A vengeance trail takes Graham on a tour as law enforcement officer through Fort Worth Hell's Half Acre and Abilene, Kansas. Christina demands he choose between her hand in marriage or pursuit of the murderer, and rewards him with cozy home and baby boy.

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.