The Great War: Walk in Hell
Chapter One
George Enos looked across the Mississippi toward Illinois. The river
was wide, but not wide enough to let him forget it was only a river.
Here in St. Louis, he was, beyond any possible doubt, in the middle
of the continent.
That felt very strange to him. He'd lived his whole life, all
twenty-nine years of it, in Boston, and gone out fishing on the
Atlantic ever since he was old enough to run a razor over his
cheeks. He'd kept right on going out to fish, even after the USA
went to war with the Confederate States and Canada: all part of the
worldwide war with Germany and Austria battling England, France, and
Russia while pro-British Argentina fought U.S. allies Chile and
Paraguay in South America and every ocean turned into a battle zone.
If a Confederate commerce raider hadn't intercepted the steam
trawler Ripple and sunk it, George knew he'd still be a fisherman
today. But he and the rest of the crew had been captured, and, being
civilian detainees rather than prisoners of war, eventually
exchanged for similar Confederates in U.S. hands. He had joined the
Navy then, partly in hopes of revenge, partly to keep from being
conscripted into the Army and sent off to fight in the trenches.
They'd even let ... read full excerpt from: The Great War: Walk in Hell ebook
