Sabers West

At war's end, Guy Dubose -- owning no skill except soldiering -- joined up with the U.S. Army, donning the same Yankee blue he'd been lining up in his rifle sights for the last five bloody years. Quartered with society's lowliest at Fort Linden, the unreconstructed Rebel found himself in a whole other kind of shooting match, this time on the wild Texas frontier. But fighting was fighting, be his opponent Bluebelly or Redskin, and where the gunsmoke was the thickest was where Guy DuBose aimed to be.For Fort Linden's commander, Captain Gordon Blackburn, however, the lives of a few insignificant Johnny Rebs was a small price to pay for a seat behind a Washington desk. Either Sergeant DuBose and his misfits would earn their Captain a hero's reputation -- or they'd end up watering down the Texas dust with their blood! Patrick E. Andrews was born in Oklahoma in 1936 into a family of pioneers who participated in its growth from the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory to statehood. His father's family were homesteaders and his mother's cattle ranchers. Consequently, he is among the last generation of American writers who had contacts with those people from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Patrick's wife Julie says he both speaks and writes with an Oklahoma accent.He is an ex-paratrooper, having served in the 82nd Airborne Division in the active army and the 12th Special Forces Group in the army reserves. Patrick began his writing career after leaving the army. He and his better half presently reside in southern California. He has a son Bill, who is an ex-paratrooper and a probation officer, and two grandchildren. Risking their lives to make the frontier a safer place for settlers, the cavalry became heroic figures to many, and the promise of action and excitement generated by the sight of army blue still continues today. Patrick E. Andrews captures the hardships of life on the frontier for ... The Long-Knives.