c.f. scott

Cerro Gordo creates an encounter with those who actually fought the war and those who were caught up in it. For Williams it is a time of heroes and scoundrels, courage and cowardice, humanity and inhumanity, love found and love lost.
Along the way, Williams encounters a cast of colorful and intriguing characters, both real and fictional. “Whispering” Charlie Spearman, Williams’ First Sergeant is a crusty old veteran prone to profanity, orneriness, and a certain lady in Miss Maggie’s Sporting House for Gentlemen in New Orleans. Ailish Finnerty, a camp follower employed as a washer woman, has an Irish name and speaks with a brogue but looks anything but Irish, finds a lover and a shocking revelation about her heritage. Rueben Isaiah Pettigrew, a mulatto of mysterious and unusual origins, bonds with Williams and saves his life not once but three times. Jane McManus Storm, a fiery New York journalist and author of the term “Manifest Destiny”carries out a secret mission behind enemy lines where no male war correspondent has dared tread. And of course, Colonel William S. Harney, the irascible, contrary, hot tempered leader of the 2nd Dragoons, but arguably the finest field commander of the war.