Forged in Fire (A Jubal Cain Western Book 1)

"Jubal Cain burns to go west and see the Rocky Mountains before the pioneers and their wagon trains streaming by his home drive away the last of the wilderness. Maude Cooper is the only person who might change his mind. He's too young to fight, but he's good with horses and a blacksmith's hammer and tongs, so when the Civil War comes, they take him anyway. Maude says she'll wait, but she's young, and the fighting drags on for four long years. Gibbons joined the Confederate Army on the run, and he doesn't plan to stay. Before he goes, he wants to teach young Jubal a lesson…and if it's the last the boy ever learns, all the better. Good with a bow, and learning to fight with a six-shooter and rifle, Jubal battles to survive long enough to chase at least one of his dreams." — from back cover.