Just before and at the beginning of the US Civil War Indian Territory was an untamed lawless place filled with Indians, outlaws teamsters, farms, towns folks and houses of ill repute. The Five Civilized Tribes were slaveholders, but were radically different than their white counterparts. There was strict laws concerning the abuse of slaves and after seven years of servitude the slave was given his or her freedom and given the choice of being adopted by the tribe. When hostilities broke out between the North and the South the Indians joined the Confederacy and fought in the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. My family built and owned Elkhorn Tavern until the State of Arkansas bought it at "Fair market value" and donated it to the US Parks Department. I do not consider this work of historical fiction to be a war book, though set in the Civil War Era. It is more about the people that lived in those times and their way of life.