"Arise From the Dust": Novel 1 Synopsis

Fraudulently forced into the Union army while traveling to England as a peaceful missionary, Myscal Taylor is a curious man. He is a 32 year old frontiersman experienced in the harsh life on the western edge of the Rockies. Adept with firearms, he is a phenomenal shot with a Sharps rifle or six gun. A man of Southern heritage, he despises the fiery politics of the North and South.

Safe in the remote Utah settlements, he has thought little of the War or its deadly course. Torn from his destination in England, now he is uniformed and trained to kill Rebel soldiers as a substitute recruit for a nation that despises him and his people.

Assigned to the hard-fighting 20th Indiana Regiment, Myscal learns the fundamentals of infantry drill at Camp Tippecanoe in Indiana. There, he experiences ruthless punishment for attempting to desert. He wins a long distance shooting contest against a tough Sharpshooter sergeant who becomes his friend. Later, he recovers dying and injured Union veterans from a horrifying train collision. He encounters a dear friend in a POW Confederate Camp during his while on his journey to Virginia on a hurtling troop train.

During these last months of 1863, Myscal descends further into the world of hard men in a violent cause.