Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead.

In May before the July which was Gettysburg, Hettie Childs sends her 14 year-old son, Robey, to find his father and bring him home. He travels with a coal black horse that has seen battles and the ways of men. This is a picture of war seen through the eyes of a boy. This is a funeral dirge sung by broken women, wounded men and scarred children. This is a journey from innocence to knowing, the journey we all must make to become who we'll become. Robert Olmstead paints an honest, though not overly brutal picture of war and its effect on a people -- not just their soldiers. Robey decides early in his journey, "If it's war we're fighting, war is surely winning."

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