The conflict between North and South rages on long after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. In south Georgia locals clash with a big northern-owned lumber company over land and timber rights. Ejectment suits are filed, and “squatters” lose their homes and in some cases their lives. A saw mill superintendent is murdered in his home. The Satilla County sheriff must bring the killer or killers to justice. Other combatants include the cold blooded assassin, the superintendent’s beautiful blond widow who carries a gun and knows how to use it, the new superintendent who stirs up more violence and bloodshed, a prominent landowner who resists an ejectment suit, and a river raftsman who works both sides. These characters and others in alternating voices tell this story of struggle, love, greed, and change. Oscar Patton’s Satilla County novels are informed by history and based on true stories.