Smoking Springs

“Ain’t gonna die,” Judah Ward repeats over and over. The surgeons want to amputate his festering, wounded foot. He’s been shot in the shoulder by one of his own officers. Then too, his skull is ravaged by shrapnel. Frostbite and sheer exhaustion plague even the healthiest of these Confederate soldiers after their invasion of New Mexico Territory has been ingloriously halted at Glorieta Pass and they forge a hasty retreat out of this rugged wilderness.

“Ain’t going back to Texas,” Judah also...