West By Rail

'I've known Paul my whole life,' he answered with a wry grin. The Civil War ended in 1865. Five years later, people in both the North and the South are still dealing with the loss of family, friends, and livelihood. The cost was high, and the scars the survivors carry are not always easy to see. Reuben Williams and his sister, Beth, live in Columbus, Georgia. Beth loves to visit the small cemetery there. Reuben thinks she spends too much time with the dead, but those visits give Beth a sense of peace. She does not know why she is drawn to the grave of Sergeant Paul Rankin. An unexplained feeling of sadness came over her the first time she read his marker. Now she visits his grave every week. She talks to him and to all the young men buried there as she searches the new stones for the name of her younger brother who never came home. Join the Williams as they try to move past the war and ride the rails west.