When war is experienced only as a chapter in history, a segment on the evening news, or a political argument waged by well-paid pundits from the comfort of a padded recliner, it is not real.

Only when you lose someone you love does the insanity of it cut through the fa ade of "the greater good," or "heroic sacrifice.In this book, we attempt to introduce characters who will live in the reader's mind so that both their joy and despair will feel real.

The history of indentured servitude on these shores actually precedes the introduction of slavery and began to grow during the decade following the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1607.

The American South would develop the largest need for indentured labor with the introduction of tobacco as the main cash crop. The conditions of indenture evolved from total control of the indentured person by the Leasing Company to sale of contracts by Shipping Agents to land owners.

Most indentured workers did not survive their indenture period. Those who did, received only their freedom after paying an additional fee.

Some landowners were farsighted enough to offer a parcel of land at the end of the indenture period. This enlightened self-interest was an investment in the growth of the land owner's work force, guaranteed economic growth of the community, and continued income from shared crops.

The following pages chronicle the story of one young man who came to North Carolina in 1830 with nothing but a contract of indenture and belief in his ability to create a better life for himself.

What happens to him and the family he builds in that place is based loosely on a Pressley family legend. The story is told of three brothers who chose different paths during the American Civil War and what became of the one who defied his family and friends to join the Union Army.