The Riflemen

About the Book

The Riflemen, in one way, is a love story about two boys, Jake Garrett and Johnny Grubbs and their childhood sweethearts. They meet their wives in the first grade, who are identical twin. The story takes Jake and Johnny through the horrific Civil War. Their stories tell some of the historical parts of the war and shows much of the struggles each boy endures during the war.

After the war, they come home to find their parents have disappeared and their ranches in the hands of a ruthless cattle baron, Gardner Ware and his wife Emma, who frame them for murder.

Not able to clear their name they are on the run. They do marry their childhood sweethearts and their new struggle is shared with them. The go to Wyoming where they make a grubstake by guarding payrolls for the mines. This leads to collecting a large reward for bringing down a gang of train robbers and collecting the bounty. Only knowing ranching they use the money to buy land along the Yuba River in California so they can sell cattle and mules to the miners.

About the Author

William Post is the author of 19 novels of a variety of genres. Many are westerns, as is this book, The Riflemen. Post was reared in West Texas, educated at Texas A. & M. and served in the U. S. Navy. After his service he became a surveyor for the Southern Pacific Railroad. This took him to the wilds of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California where he learned the lore of those areas. This can be seen in many of his westerns of those areas. Post is a student of both World Wars and the Civil War and generated several novels from those conflicts. His wife was born in Germany and after visiting there, he wrote several novels with Germany as the central setting.

Post is a professional civil engineer, licensed in the state of California. He took an early retirement and started his writing career. He is an evangelical Christian and this thread can be seen through the fabric of his novels. He now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and extended family.