AS ALWAYS, there are no words to express my thanks to the many authors who wrote the factual books on Texas: the lifestyle, the history, and the problems during the American Civil War. Without such research, no writer would be able to even start on such a project as I have undertaken.
I am indebted, also, to my editor, Karen Grove of Harcourt, for her understanding of what I was trying to do, for her input and her patience and her respect for my work. And to my agent, Rosalie Siegel, likewise for her patience and her hand-holding, and sometimes for just listening, which has become, of late, one of the most important chores of literary agents.