The Indian Civil War, Part 3: The Flight of Opothleyahola

by Troy D. Smith

The earlier installments of this series:

Part One

Part Two

Opothleyahola (pronounced Oh-POTH-lay-a-HO-la) was an Upper Creek Muscogee, born in Alabama near the end of the eighteenth century to a Creek mother and a Welch father. As a young man, probably still in his teens, he fought the Americans encroaching on his people’s lands. The Creeks were inspired by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet Tenskwatawa, to ally with the British in the War of 1812. In the course of that conflict the Creeks endured a civil war, with the traditionalist “Red Sticks” of the Upper Towns opposing the pro-American Lower Creek “White Sticks.”

 

Opothleyahola



The civil war became a war against the United States and its Indian allies, which ended when the Red Sticks were decisively defeated by forces under Andrew Jackson in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814; as a result of their loss, the Creeks were forced to cede 20 million acres of their Alabama territory to the U.S. Having fought on the losing side, the Red Sticks –including Opothleyahola –pledged an oath of loyalty to the United States as part of their surrender. It was an oath Opothleyahola took very seriously, later aiding U.S. forces against his Seminole kinsmen when called upon to do so.

Gaining renown as an orator, Opothleyahola eventually became the designated speaker for the Creek National Council. In that capacity he traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1826 to protest a treaty signed the previous year by several Lower Creek chiefs, led by William McIntosh, which gave up most of the tribe’s remaining land in Georgia and Alabama. Opothleyahola negotiated a more favorable treaty, and McIntosh was later executed by command of the Creek council for violating their directive not to sell land to the whites. Nevertheless, the handwriting was on the wall –the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830, and the Creeks were among the many tribes relocated to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma, in an exodus that would be known as the Trail of Tears. In 1837, Opothleyahola led 8,000 of his people to their new home across the Mississippi.

Civil War engulfed the Creeks once again in 1861 –this time in conjunction with a larger conflagration which swept through, not just Indian Territory, but the whole United States. Representatives of the Confederacy met with the leaders of the “Five Civilized Tribes” –Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles –urging an alliance. Those tribes were also “Southern,” after all, and some of their citizens, including Opothleyahola, were heavily invested in cotton agriculture, African slaves, and “Dixie” values.

 

John Ross



The official governments of all five tribes agreed to ally with the Confederacy –even though many of those tribes’ people favored neutrality, or even supported Union and abolition of slavery. Even Opothleyahola’s longtime ally John Ross, Principal Chief of the Cherokees, reluctantly committed his people to the Confederate cause –due to a combination of factors, including the withdrawal of Union troops from I.T. and the proximity of the Confederacy, and the fact that Confederate leaders were ready to support Ross’s political enemies if he did not side with them. The Confederacy also offered some benefits which the United States did not: Indian representation in the Confederate Congress and full recognition of Indian sovereignty.

Opothleyahola was deeply saddened at Ross’s decision, and refused to follow suit. He had pledged his loyalty to the United States and wanted no part of a rebellion against it. Soon other people from Indian Territory who did not support their leaders’ alliance with the Confederates poured into Opothleyahola’s camp –including Indians from all Five Tribes, a few from the western tribes, free blacks, and escaped slaves. Opothleyahola’s band, now numbering in the thousands, felt unsafe, surrounded as they were by pro-Confederate Indians. There was some fear that their males would be forcibly conscripted, or that they would be attacked.

 

Confederate Indian



One of the Confederate Creek officers –son of William McIntosh, whose long-ago execution Opothleyahola had approved –wrote that “It is now certain that he has combined with his party all the surrounding wild tribes and has openly declared himself the enemy of the South. Negroes are fleeing to him from all quarters—not less than 150 have left within the last three days.” Opothleyahola received word that the U.S. government promised his people sanctuary in Fort Row, Kansas, so they began their northward trek through the Cherokee Nation.

They were not allowed to leave peacefully. A large Confederate force followed them on Nov. 15, 1861, comprised of Creek and Cherokee regiments, with some Choctaws, as well as the 9th Texas Cavalry. The force, 1400 men strong, was commanded by a former Indian agent turned Confederate colonel, Douglas H. Cooper, who was determined to force the band to either support the Confederacy or be scattered. The refugees set fire to the prairie behind them to deny forage to their pursuers, and the flight became a running battle.

Some of the Confederate Cherokee soldiers, dismayed at being forced to fight their old comrades, deserted and joined Opothleyahola. The fugitives beat their attackers back at the Battle of Round Mountain, were defeated at Chusto-Talasah (near present-day Tulsa), and, in December, were roundly routed by the Confederates at Chustenahlah. The entire campaign was sometimes referred to later as The Trail of Blood and Ice.

One child would later recall the fighting:

The Creek Indians and the slaves with them tried to fight off them soldiers like they did before, but they get scattered around and seperated [sic] so they lose the battle. Lost their horses and wagons, and the soldiers killed lots of Creeks and Negroes, and some of the slaves were captured and carried back to their masters.... Dead all over the hills when we get away; some of the Negroes shot and wounded so bad the blood run down the saddle skirts, and some fell off their horses miles from the battle ground, and lay still on the ground.

When the band finally reached Kansas, in the dead of winter, they discovered that the U.S. government was unprepared to provide for so many refugees. They were moved to nearby Fort Belmont, most with only the clothes on their backs and no further shelter available. All told, about two thousand members of Opothleyahola’s band of nine thousand perished, either from the fighting along the way or starvation, sickness, and exposure when they arrived. Opothleyahola and his daughter were among those who died after reaching Kansas.

This was only the beginning of the bloody Civil War in Indian Territory. Many of the surviving males who had taken flight with Opothleyahola, most of them Creek or Seminole, joined all-Indian Union units called the Indian Home Guard -three regiments in all, two formed in Kansas in May and June of 1862, and the third in the Cherokee capitol of Tahlequah a month later. The 1st and 3rd regiments were composed of troops from the Five Tribes, but the 2nd Regiment was diverse: it included one company each of Kickapoo, Quapaw, Seneca, Shawnee, and Delaware, and two companies each of Osage and Cherokee. 

These Union Indian troops soon carried the fight back into their own lands. Indian Territory became a battleground of blue, gray, and red.

Troy D. Smith is a history professor at Tennessee Tech, where he teaches Native American History, Environmental History, and the U.S. West. As an author of western fiction, he is a past winner of the Peacemaker Award and two-time winner of the Spur Award. His award-winning novella Odell's Bones centers on the Civil War in Indian Territory; one Spur judge described it as "reading like a lost chapter of Lonesome Dove."  

Spur Award winner, 2001 (best paperback original, Bound for the Promise-Land)

Spur Award winner, 2017 (best short fiction, "Odell's Bones")

Peacemaker Award winner, 2011 (best short fiction- "Sin of Eli")

Spur Award finalist, 1998 (best short nonfiction, "Bigfoot Wallace- Texas-Sized Legend")

Spur Award finalist, 2001 (best first novel, Bound for the Promise-Land)

Peacemaker Award finalist, 2011 (best short fiction, "Blackwell's Run")

Peacemaker Award finalist, 2013 (best short fiction, "Christmas Comes to Freedom Hill")

Peacemaker Award finalist, 2017 (best short fiction, "Odell's Bones")

C. Vann Woodward Prize, Southern Historical Association finalist, 2012 (best dissertation, Race, Slavery and Nation in Indian Territory, 1840-1866)

PETTICOAT PATRIOTS by Tom Rizzo

Three soldiers by the names of John Evans, Albert Cashier, and Jack Williams fought for the Union Army in the US Civil War.

But there more to these enlistees than anyone knew. Despite being assigned to different regiments, they shared a common secret.

• All three enlisted. 
• All three went to war in disguise. 
• And, all three were women.

The Union and Confederate armies banned the enlistment of women to take up arms during the war so they served in other capacities. Many went to work as nurses. A few made their mark as spies.

Most kept the home fires burning while their husbands, sons, fathers, and boyfriends went off to thick of battle.

Some women, however, needed to express their patriotism in a more proactive way. 

So they trimmed their hair, slipped into men's clothing, and enlisted as men. It's surprising to learn that an estimated 400 women concealed their identities so they could serve on the front lines. Others put the number at closer to a thousand. 

 

About 250 women secretly joined Confederate forces. Here are the stories of three women-soldiers:

• Mary Owens assumed the name of John Evans and spent eighteen months at war.

The reason Owens went to war was to be with her lover, William Evans, whom she had secret married in Montour, PA, over her father's objections. Soon after the war was underway, she enlisted in Company K, 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry. The accounts differ as to assignments.

One says Owens and Evans served in different divisions. Another report, however, contends they fought side-by-side until William was killed in action. Despite his death, Owens continued to battle on pretending to be Williams' brother.

The lie wasn't discovered Owens was a woman until she was seriously wounded. She was discharged and sent home to Pennsylvania. As to why she wanted to serve, Owens said, "I wanted excitement."

Owens achieved a reputation as a daring soldier and demonstrated a "nerveless performance in combat situations. . . "

Owens, who later married welsh-born coal miner Abraham Jenkins and moved to Stark County, Ohio, died around 1881. She was in her early 40s, and survived by a son, daughter, and a sister.

• Jennie Hodgers enlisted in the 95th Illinois infantry as Albert Cashier on August 6, 1862.

Her regiment, part of the Army of Tennessee, fought in over 40 conflicts, including the Siege of Vicksburg, the Battle of Nashville, and the Red River Campaign.

Hodgers, considered the shortest soldier in the regiment, spent three years in uniform until her discharge in August 1865. She was the most famous among those women who enlisted because she continued to live as a man after the war. 

Her secret emerged when, in November 1910, she was struck by a car and broke her leg. The hospital, wouldn't reveal her true gender and sent her to the Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, Illinois. 

Three years later, Hodgers was diagnosed with dementia and she was sent to a state hospital for the insane. 

That's when the staff discovered she was a woman and forced her to wear a dress. The publicity that followed surprised her former military comrades but they protested thee way she was treated.

When Hodgers died, October 10, she was buried in her uniform. The tombstone was inscribed with the name Albert Cashier. A second tombstone was added in 1970 with her real name.

• Frances Clayton enlisted in the army with her husband in the fall of 1861 and called herself Jack Williams.

The back of a photograph of Clayton, dressed as a soldier, contains handwriting saying she served in the 4th Missouri Heavy Artillery, Company 1, as well as the 13th Missouri Cavalry, Company A.

According to newspaper accounts, Clayton served along side her husband, Elmer Clayton, until 1862 when he was killed in the Battle of Stones River. The reports indicate she saw him die at a skirmish in front of her and then stepped over his body and joined other soldiers in mounting a charge against the Confederates.

Clayton, sometimes referred to as Frances Clalin, succeeded in carrying off her masquerade by assuming the persona of her comrades.

She was a tall woman with a few masculine features. She taught herself to walk "with a masculine stride" and speak in gruff voice. She also learned to swear, drink, and gamble. 

From a skill standpoint, fellow soldiers described her as an excellent swordsman. A superior described Clayton favorably when he wrote, "She stood guard, went on picket duty, in rain or storm, and fought on the field with the rest, and was considered a good fighting man."

Clayton fought in about seven more battles and sustained a wound to her hip. That's when her identity was revealed, and she was discharged. She returned to Michigan, tried to re-enlist, but was rejected.

Women involved themselves in the Civil War in a variety of ways and in muliple roles.

Taking a page from the Continental Army, some women traveled with their husbands' units, helping in a variety of ways, whether it involved carrying water to troops or helping launder clothes.

Most Civil War soldiers were farmers. Farm families, of course, had a tradition of working side-by-side, so the idea of separation didn't set well. As a result, they often traveled together. Some soldiers even refused to enlist unless their wives were allowed to join them.

Ironically, many of the wives or girlfriends could shoot as well as their partners, so their services were valuable during the war. Others helped as scouts, telegraphers, clerks, or worked in armories.
Several women achieved the rank of officer, the highest being a Union major.

* * * 

Civil War Reenacting: Hardtack and Johnny Cakes

By Matthew Pizzolato

Preserved hardtack from U.S. Civil War,
Wentworth Museum, Pensacola, Florida.

Hardtack has been around for several thousand years. The ancient Romans ate it and it has been a common form of sustenance on ships. Sometimes its referred to as sea biscuit or ship's bread. It is made of flour and water, sometimes with a little salt or sugar added. An added benefit is that it lasts for a really long time. At the onset of the Civil War, hardtack rationed to the soldiers was left over from the Mexican-American War, fifteen years earlier. In fact, hardtack from the Civil War still exists today.

Soldiers of the American Civil War had more colorful names for the cracker, such as: sheet iron, worm castles, teeth dullers and molar breakers. None of them were very fond of it, but in a lot of cases it was all that kept them from starving. 

Johnny Cakes were the Confederate equivalent of hardtack. Because of the Union blockade, flour was not readily available in the South and corn meal was substituted. 

This first hand account of the delicacy known as hardtack was taken from HARDTACK AND COFFEE published in 1887 by John D. Billings, a Union veteran who served in the 10th Massachusetts Volunteer Artillery Battery of the Army of the Potomac.

What was hardtack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I have in my possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments, and ten in others; but there were usually enough for those who wanted more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious, yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry. When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers’ wrath, it was due to one of three conditions: first, they may have been so hard that they could not be bitten; it then required a very strong blow of the fist to break them; the second condition was when they were moldy or wet, as sometimes happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers: the third condition was when from storage they had become infested with maggots.

When the bread was moldy or moist, it was thrown away and made good at the next drawing, so that the men were not the losers; but in the case of its being infested with the weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; but hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when traversed by insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, no one could tell the difference between it and hardtack that was untenanted. It was no uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee swimming with weevils, after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come out of the fragments only to drown; but they were easily skimmed off, and left no distinctive flavor behind.

Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested to learn of the styles in which this particular article was served up by the soldiers. Of course, many of them were eaten just as they were received — hardtack plain; then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, giving the “hardtack and coffee.”

Probably more were eaten in this way than in any other, for they thus frequently furnished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many of the soldiers, partly through a slight taste for the business but more from force of circumstances, became in their way and opinion experts in the art of cooking the greatest variety of dishes with the smallest amount of capital.

Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other thickening. For this purpose they served very well. Some crumbed them in cold water, then fried the crumbs in the juice and fat of meat. A dish akin to this one which was said to make the hair curl, and certainly was indigestible enough to satisfy the cravings of the most ambitious dyspeptic, was prepared by soaking hardtack in cold water, then frying them brown in pork fat, salting to taste. Another name for this dish was skillygalee. Some liked them toasted, either to crumb in coffee, or if a sutler was at hand whom they could patronize, to butter. The toasting generally took place from the end of a split stick.

Then they worked into milk-toast made of condensed milk at seventy-five cents a can; but only a recruit with a big bounty, or an old vet, the child of wealthy parents, or a reenlisted man did much in that way. A few who succeeded by hook or by crook in saving up a portion of their sugar ration spread it upon hardtack. And so in various ways the ingenuity of the men was taxed to make this plainest and commonest, yet most serviceable of army food, to do duty in every conceivable combination.

Out of the goodness of my heart, I've provided a modern recipe for hardtack that I got from the Arkansas History Hub website should you like to try this exquisite Civil War cuisine. There's also a recipe there for making Johnny Cakes, if'n you're interested.

2 cups flour
½ to ¾ cup water
Salt (5-6 pinches)
Mixing bowl
Rolling pin
Cookie Sheet
Fork

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add all dry ingredients into the mixing bowl, and then add wet ingredients. Mix all ingredients together. Use extra flour if necessary to make sure the dough is no longer sticky. However, be careful not to make the dough too dry. If you add too much flour, add slightly more water.
3. Knead the dough until it is easy to work with.
4. Spread the dough onto the ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Use the rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangular shape. Hardtack was around a half inch thick, so don’t worry about making the dough thin.
6. Bake the dough for 30 minutes.
7. Take the dough out of the oven and cut it into large squares (around 3 inches by 3 inches). Use a fork to poke 16 to 20 holes into each square.
8. Flip the squares and return to the oven for 30 more minutes.
9. Allow the hardtack to completely cool inside the oven. Be careful when biting into a cracker, as they do get very hard when completely cool.

I have tried some homemade hardtack at the reenactments and it is every bit as hard as described. It's much easier to eat by breaking it up into pieces first, using the butt of a gun or an axe. Proceed at your own risk.

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He is a member of Western Fictioneers and his work can be found in the Wolf Creek series as well as his own publications, THE WANTED MAN, OUTLAW and TWO OF A KIND. 

He is the Editor-in-Chief of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western. He can be contacted through Twitter @mattpizzolato or via his website: 

www.matthew-pizzolato.com

Mission of Vengeance By Tom Rizzo

The sniper concealed himself in dense foliage on a bluff high above the Tennessee River, waiting for the Union patrol below to draw closer.

A warm breeze washed across his tanned, but aging face as he ran his hand along the smooth maple stock of the .50-caliber rifle, resting it on the limb of a tree.

Modified to his own requirements, the seventeen-pound weapon could end the life of a Bluecoat as far away as 500-yards.

This was the last place Jack Hinson wanted, or expected, to find himself.

A prosperous plantation owner near Dover, Tennessee, Hinson tried to remain neutral in a conflict his neighbors called the War of Northern Aggression.

Even though he owned slaves, Hinson opposed secession. 

Early in the war, he had even befriended Union Gen. US Grant.

But then, everything changed.

One horrific, agonizing event transformed a nearly 60-year old quiet tobacco farmer into a feared Confederate avenger.

In the autumn of 1862, two of Hinson's sons - George and John - went into the woods to hunt, and became the hunted.

When a patrol of the Fifth Iowa discovered the young men armed with rifles, they were arrested, and branded as Confederate guerrillas, known as bushwhackers.

Their denials went unheeded. They were lashed to a tree, executed by firing squad, and then beheaded.

The patrol made its way to the Hinson plantation where they summoned the family outside. Jack Hinson could only stare in shock and disbelief as Federal troops mounted the decapitated heads of his sons on the gate-posts to his home.

Following a tortuous period of mourning, Hinson realized there was only one way to deal with his grief.

He had already buried his sons, ages  17 and 22. He decided to free his slaves before the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. Then, he moved members of his family to west Tennessee, where he thought they'd be safer.

The next priority involved the design and  manufacture of a specially crafted sniper rifle--one he could fire with deadly accuracy.

When it was ready, so was he.

Gun-in-hand, the expert marksman and savvy woodsman began waging a withering, personal, one-man war of vengeance on Union troops. 

Hinson held the upper hand because of his familiarity with the terrain, the river channels, the hills, and the valleys. Much of his wrath was focused on the Bluecoat cavalrymen of the Fifth Iowa Cavalry Regiment that executed his sons.

Hinson moved with the silence of a shadow, avoiding detection, springing ambushes at will, and disappearing among the tall ash and black oak trees to kill another day.

Any soldier within half-mile of Jack Hinson's gunsight - whether on land, in transports, or gunboats along the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers - was a potential casualty.

According to Tom McKenney, in his book, Jack Hinson’s One-Man War, A Civil War Sniper, Hinson likely killed more than a hundred Union soldiers, mariners, and officers mostly along the Tennessee River in Benton and Stewart counties. The actual rifle, however, bore thirty-six notchces.

Hinson also served as a guide for  Nathan Bedford Forrest for an attack on the Union supply center at Johnsonville, Tennessee.

In the meantime, the war had claimed yet another member of Hinson's family. His third son, Robert, was killed in combat on September 18, 1863, while leading a band of partisans in the Between-the-Rivers region.

Every effort to capture Old Man Hinson, as he was called, failed, despite the Union assigning infantry and cavalry troops from several regiments to track him down.

Hinson succeeded in evading all attempts to stop him, even a specially equipped amphibious force of marines.

According to the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle, Captain Jack Hinson died at his home on White Oak Creek on April 28, 1874. He was 67.

For the most part, he remained invisible in the history of sniper warfare.

Civil War Reenacting: Gettysburg

By Matthew Pizzolato

Perhaps the most pivotal battle in American military history is the Battle of Gettysburg. It defined the outcome of the War. Its effects have resonated throughout history and are felt even today. 

The first notable reenactment also took place at Gettysburg and the participants were War Veterans. The Great Reunion of 1913 marked the 50^th Anniversary of the battle and more than 50,000 Union and Confederate veterans participated.

The Chief Surgeon of the event was quoted as saying that, "Never before in the world's history had so great a number of men advanced in years been assembled under field conditions." Most of the men were in their seventies and eighties, and some were more than 100 years old.

It was not an actual battle reenactment like the modern reenactments we have today. Instead, the Confederate Veterans walked the path of Pickett's charge and were greeted with handshakes by the Union Veterans.

President Woodrow Wilson addressed the gathering on July 4^th, 1913.   

“These venerable men crowding here to this famous field have set us a great example of devotion and utter sacrifice. They were willing to die that the people might live. But their task is done. Their day is turned into evening," Wilson said. "They look to us to perfect what they established. Their work is handed to us, to be done in another way but not in another spirit. Our day is not over; it is upon us in full tide."

Modern civil war reenacting is believed to have begun during the Centennial Commemoration activities that lasted from 1961 – 1965 and has evolved over the years into what it is today.  

Regardless of the fun and enjoyment we have at the reenactments, the primary reason that we do what we do is to honor those men, our ancestors, who fought and died and suffered for their beliefs, regardless of the side they fought on.

This year marks the 150^th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.



Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He writes Western fiction featuring his antihero character, Wesley Quaid, that can be found in his story collection, The Wanted Man and the novella Outlaw. 

Matthew is the editor and webmaster of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western and can be contacted via his personal website or on Twitter @mattpizzolato. 

Civil War Reenacting: Cooking

By Matthew Pizzolato

During the War, soldiers didn't always have access to the best of foods.  They ate what they could and were happy to get anything edible. 

The main fare of a Union soldier was hardtack.  It was made from flour, salt and water in Northern factories and distributed among the armies.  The issues the soldiers had with hardtack wasn't its longevity. In fact, there is hardtack that was made during the civil war that is still around today.

The problem with hardtack was that soldiers often broke their teeth trying to eat it.  Nicknames for the vile stuff ranged from sheet-iron crackers to teeth-dullers.  It was also called worm castles because weevils and maggots sometimes took up residence in it. 

Since it was just about impossible to eat, soldiers broke it up with their rifle butts or softened it in their coffee or in grease from other foods.

The main sustenance of the Confederate army was cornmeal.  They used it in making Cush, which was beef and cornmeal fried with bacon grease, when they had beef and bacon grease. When they didn't, they made Johnny cakes, a concoction of cornmeal and wheat flour mixed in hot water or sometimes fried in animal fat.

Because of Union blockades, coffee beans weren't available in the South, so soldiers made their coffee from things like burnt corn, chicory, potatoes or even goober peas. Don't know what goober peas are? They even made a song about them, but that's a story for another blog.

In reenacting, we are much more fortunate than the soldiers to which we are paying tribute in that we aren't lacking for food. 

We still do all of our cooking using cast iron skillets and Dutch ovens, but our foods are a bit more extravagant. In the mornings, we fry bacon or sausage and then scramble eggs in a cast iron skillet. 

For other meals, we cook pork chops or chicken breasts on iron grates.  There is something about food cooked over an open flame that just makes it taste better.  Some of us bake cakes or make cobblers in Dutch ovens.  There's all kinds of great foods to eat.  At a reenactment, we don't go hungry.

Matthew Pizzolato's short stories have been published online and in print. He writes Western fiction featuring his antihero character, Wesley Quaid, that can be found in his story collection, The Wanted Man and the novella Outlaw.  

Matthew is the editor and webmaster of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western and can be contacted via his personal website or on Twitter @mattpizzolato.