Bass Reeves was a successful deputy U.S. marshal for many years. But before that he was an enslaved person, forced to accompany his master while he fought in the Confederate army. I had never heard of Reeves, but the part of his life as a marshal interested me. Unfortunately, I should have paid more attention to the blurb for this book. It is an origin story, and the first book of a trilogy, so it begins with his childhood and his life as a slave. By the end of the book Reeves had just gained his freedom. Books 2 and 3 will have to cover the part of his life that I wanted to read about.

Since there was no bibliography, my assumption is that most of this book is fiction. I would really like to know how much of this was accurate. Often in historical fiction the author will explain how far they strayed from the facts. I wish that this author had done that. The Acknowledgements did mention “Black Gun, Silver Star” by Art T. Burton and I discovered that it is available on Audible. I will probably read that book, so I am grateful that this book pointed me towards it. The writing here wasn’t bad, and the book held my interest. The narrator of the audiobook, Midnite Michael, did a very good job. Nevertheless, I am not sure that I will continue with the series. Maybe I will decide after reading a factual account. 3.5 stars

I received free copies of the ebook and audiobook from the publisher.

Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves (Bass Reeves Trilogy #1)
by Sidney Thompson
The struggle of an individual slave at the beginning of the Civil war. As a young boy growing up with his remaining family on the plantation of his master. He had found peace and love with his youth. In the years that followed his master used him to gain esteem and financial gain from his remarkable marksmanship. Just before the beginning of the war he was taken from his home Bass, is dragged and humiliated by his master's son. His new master had a different view of slavery, violent and carnal abuse of the slaves under his protection. The Master's son uses Bass's ability to shoot to gain esteem during the Texas militia attempts to overcome the Federal troops. Bass's struggle fighting with the Southern Texas troops, Arkansas infantry and Indian brigade against the Federal troops in the south. The book remarkably describes the carnage of war, and the many losses, and gains in these violent battles. The struggle of intelligence and the projection of the white ideology for slavery is brought into question in the lulls of the battles.
The book uses language for the time, although a great resource for the classroom, the language will be a hard discussion. The author places an importance on using this vulgar term to show the times.