My Writings

In the early 1860s Ester May Echols dreamed. She wanted the life like her father once lived, fighting a good fight, freedom for all, military respect, and the love of a good woman. He’d been an avid reader of poetry, a music man, and a soldier before he passed away in a hard winter. He taught her important truths, none steering her wrong in all her 18 years; poetry has a bite, music saves lives, sometimes you have to fight, and true love is never wrong. But the most important was to always care for his Bella, the military bugle that was his and his father’s before him. After recovering his pilfered beloved bugle from the greedy town merchant, she enlisted as Private Emmit Echols, a bugle boy for the 4th Regiment Virginia Cavalry for the North. She learned to soldier, make new friends and bitter enemies, and play her bugle. Having an attraction toward her Captain, one Rosco Woolman, was a shock until she discovered his secret. For a moment, they were Soldiers In Arms fighting together during the Civil War, but would they be more?