Joe Horton

That got me to thinking. What if Beacher remembered my name was Horton, not Tolbert? And, what would he do if he found out I had shot my superior officer and deserted the Army? I was probably reported missing in the Indian fight and presumed dead. A lot of them fort Captains left missing men on their pay roster and collected the wages themselves. They considered it as their retirement fund. They'd just give the pay master a nice raise and if he didn't want to, they'd just reassign him to the next Indian raid.