Bitter Trail

A teamster battles desperadoes and deadly drought amid the Civil War in a novel by the seven-time Spur Award winner and "wonderful storyteller" (The Oklahoman).

Teamster Frio Wheeler's wagons haul cotton from Texas to Mexico. Sounds like a peaceable enterprise. The problem is that the Civil War is raging throughout the South, and Wheeler's cotton is to be sold for gold—gold used to buy guns and ammunition for the Confederate army.


And, added to his balky mules, the broiling heat, and the killing drought of the Mexican desert, Wheeler has even more serious matters to contend with: His wagons are attacked, his cotton bales are burned, he is captured and tortured by bandidos in league with Union sympathizers, and he is betrayed by his best friend—his former partner and brother of the woman he loves . . .


"One of the best of a new breed of Western writers who have driven the genre into new territory." —The New York Times

"Elmer Kelton is an authentic American voice." —John Jakes, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Homeland