Blue & Gray Cross Current - Paperback

by Hilary Clements (Illustrator), John J. Chilton (Author), Dan &. Suzanne Chilton (Author)

Deep in the Ozark Mountains, Current River flows clear and cold. It meets Jacks Fork in angry crosscurrents that scour an untamed channel. Dangerous and unpredictable are its waters and banks -- but never more so than in the summer of 1862. It is Civil War, and the Chilton family finds out exactly what gumption means. In the middle of the country, on the dividing edge of Northern and Southern sentiments, lines are drawn and the world they know explodes. Peace and devastation collide. Alexander Chilton has a Yankee sight trained on his head and hatred burns in his heart. The lone survivor of a Federal ambush, he joins Coleman's Regiment as a first lieutenant, but circumstances lead him to take the Confederate cause into his own hands. As a bushwhacker, he moves of his own accord and agenda. His once gallant reputation gains no favor when rumors of murder and thievery swirl. The war tightens. Brothers, cousins, and uncles continue to fall on their own land. Alexander stands in the torrent, torn between the blue eyes of Elizabeth Davis and the rough gray of his personal rebel revenge. Based on Memoirs of John J. Chilton and official records. Be captured by the wild beauty of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, today's caretaker of the farms of our ancestors. To more than a million visitors annually to the region, "Welcome to Shannon County -- stay a day or a lifetime." - Dan & Suzanne Chilton

Author Biography

Danny Lee and Suzanne Rayfield Chilton spent their childhood in Shannon County Missouri and returned in 2004 upon retirement from careers in civil engineering and information systems. With their sons, Mark and Stephen, they resided in Illinois, Tennessee, and Missouri. "Blue and Gray Cross Current" is their first novel. In 1818, their ancestors were among the first to homestead in the Ozark Mountains, a forested land of spring-fed clear waters frequented earlier by Native Americans such as Shawnee, Delaware, and Osage. Ozark National Scenic Riverways spans the former river-bottom farms along Jacks Fork and Current River. Abundant in natural beauty and wildlife, more than a million tourists visit the area each year. Visit www.blueandgraycrosscurrent.com for photographs of people and places, genealogy, and cultural heritage studies as our research continues.