The Sharpshooter: 1862-1864

Jurian Baecker's journey leads him from breaking horses in central Texas to heavy involvement in the fighting at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg as a member of an elite unit in the Union Army, Berdan's Sharpshooters. Over time, Jurian's recklessness becomes the maturity found among some who daily see and face death. As he makes his personal journey, Jurian, known by some as Jake Baker, finds two extraordinary women, but he can keep the love of neither. He experiences both the brutality to which war can bring men and the compassion they can maintain, even on a bloody field of battle. He also assumes the weight borne by those whose decisions may mean life or death to the men who fight beside them.