Memory Switching

by R.W. Alexander

Bucky Culp thrashed in his bunk beset by hideous, staring faces with stringy hair, tree bark skin, and deadly dangling tongues. Baying frightfully, these Falsefaces darted back and forth at a dizzying pace. The more they howled, the higher Buckys temperature soared. Only the tender care of his Bucktail squad could cure him of the fever that killed more Civil War soldiers than bullets.

The last year of Sergeant Culps enlistment was his hardest yet. After deserting the army to marry his darling Sarah, Culp barely misses being shot by a firing squad. Upon returning to the Bucktails, he watches his pal Hosea Curtis brutally pummeled by a professional boxer. Embroiled in the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House Campaigns keeps Culp in harms way until the day hes mustered out of service.

But the greatest test of Buckys character awaited him at Sarahs place in Sharpsburg, Maryland. The way he handled this personal crisis is further testament to the fine fighting spirit instilled in him by the legendary 42nd Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Bucktails Last Call ends with Sergeant Culps greatest display of bravery.

157 pages, Paperback

First published March 19, 2007