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Big River Cutter T C Cutter

In the fall of 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, fifteen-year old Edward Perkins gets into serious trouble at home in southern Missouri. Haunted with guilt and saddled by an uncontrollable temper, he flees home and family. His flight takes him north along the same path Lewis and Clark had blazed some 55 years earlier: up the big and wide Missouri river and then westward. Along the way Ed meets a handful of memorable characters in his quixotic and youthful quest for wealth. About two years after his departure, Ed and a close friend sign up as U. S. Cavalry volunteers. They are subsequently involved in the Bear River Massacre. The massacre is now considered the most horrific slaughter of native Americans in American history, surpassing both Sand Creek and Wounded Knee for sheer brutality. His friendships and adventures, the gruesome Bear River Massacre, and his love for a woman he befriended back in St. Joseph, MO. help to define his later life as co-owner of a mine in the Utah Territory where he eventually comes to terms with his violent self.