Haycox, Ernest
Books (6)
A Battle Piece
On the eve of the Battle of Long Island, a weary New England sergeant finds himself marching beside proud Maryland troops divided by region, class, and temperament but bound for the same brutal test. As dawn breaks, suspicion and bravado give way to the chaos of one of the Revolution’s earliest major clashes. Ernest Haycox turns a single engagement into a vivid study of courage, prejudice, and hard-won fellowship under fire. This powerful historical short story captures the human cost and shared spirit at the birth of the American nation.
Trial By Fire
On the morning of June 17, 1775, Dr. Isaac Brent—a staunch Tory physician in colonial New England—rides toward the widow Potter's home, unaware that history is unfolding on Breed's Hill. When he discovers that his patriot neighbors have fortified the heights above Charlestown, he dismisses their rebellion as the folly of agitators. But as British redcoats storm the redoubt and the doctor tends the wounded amid smoke and carnage, he confronts a truth that shatters his loyalties: men do not fight and die with such conviction for anything less than a just cause. By sunset, the battle has baptized him anew—no longer a king's man, but a servant of the revolution.
A Military Interlude
In the brutal winter encampment at Valley Forge, a battle-worn sergeant struggles between private duty and public honor as hunger, cold, and disillusion test the Continental Army’s resolve. Set against the hardships of the American Revolution, this tense historical tale explores conscience, sacrifice, and the fragile line between rebellion and loyalty. Ernest Haycox delivers a stark, atmospheric portrait of endurance under pressure, where one soldier’s choices carry the weight of a nation in the making.
A Municipal Feud
When drifter Joe Breedlove rides into Big Elk to settle old business, his cantankerous partner Indigo Bowers wanders into the rival town of Jingle Bell — and, true to form, stumbles headlong into a feud that has been simmering for thirty years. What begins as a simple bar-room standoff quickly unravels into range war, a rustling conspiracy, and a peace banquet destined to end in flying furniture and gunsmoke. Dry-witted and sharply observed, this tale of two mismatched frontier drifters captures the absurdity of small-town pride, the limits of diplomacy, and the stubborn resilience of human nature.
Bound South
Joe Breedlove, a solitary cowboy drifting south through the rugged frontier, stumbles into Canyon—a lawless town with a violent reputation. In less than an hour, he befriends a fiery outlaw on the run, rescues a rancher from ruin at a card table, and outwits a corrupt sheriff in a tense standoff. A classic Western tale of honor, quick thinking, and the unexpected bonds formed between wanderers on the lonely trail.
Bully McGrane
In the hard-edged frontier town of Pistol Gap, life burns fast—worked hard, played harder, and ended without warning. When miner-turned-rider Tud Drury returns with a heavy stake and a plan to start clean, the town’s brutal marshal and a trio of dangerous men begin to close in. Drawn to the seamy glow of the Pride of the Hills and the promise of escape, Tud and the woman he won’t abandon must navigate a night where power writes the law and mercy is never guaranteed. A tense Western tale of redemption, devotion, and survival at the ragged edge of the hills.