Poison Spring, Johnny D. Boggs
Poison Spring, Johnny D. Boggs
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Poison Spring
A Frontier Story

Author: Johnny D. Boggs

Narrator: Chris Abell

Unabridged: 6 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/01/2017

Categories: Fiction, Western

Synopsis

“That was the year we had no food.” It’s the spring of 1864, and times are hard in Washington County, Arkansas, especially for thirteen-year-old Travis Ford. He hasn’t heard from his father, a sergeant in the Second Arkansas Cavalry, in months. His mother is struggling to make ends meet on the family farm and abandoned sawmill near Poison Spring. All Travis really wants to do is to follow his passion—make up adventure stories in the style of Alexandre Dumas. But the Civil War keeps getting in his way. Since his mother hails from Illinois and has Abolitionist leanings, the Ford family—including Travis’ twin sister, Edith, and their seven-year-old brother, Baby Hugh—has few friends to turn to for help, only eccentric Miss Mary Frederick, who owns a cotton plantation down the road, and Uncle Willard Ford, a slave trader in nearby Camden. For the most part, Anna Louella Ford and her children find themselves alone, and they are about to become even more isolated.

About Johnny D. Boggs

Johnny D. Boggs has worked cattle, been bucked off horses, shot rapids in a canoe, hiked across mountains and deserts, traipsed around ghost towns, and spent hours poring over microfilm in library archives—all in the name of finding a good story. He has won nine Spur Awards, making him the all-time leader in Western Writers of America’s history.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on March 17, 2025

I like Boggs' style. He really captures the feeling for what it was like to live in the West. In this story, "the West" is Arkansas in 1864 during the Civil War. Thirteen-year-old Travis hasn't heard from his father in months. And, as he is serving in the Confederate Army, he could be dead. His fami......more

Goodreads review by Joe on January 10, 2022

This is a well-paced novel of historical fiction based on the massacre that occurred at the Battle of Poison Spring in 1864. For much of the story you're not quite sure where the story is heading, yet Boggs succeeds at keeping the reader's interest and makes this a page turner without the suspense a......more

Goodreads review by Steven on October 03, 2017

This one was kind of a let down after I've really enjoyed Johnny D. Boggs' other novels. It just felt like there was nothing happening, which probably made it more realistic. The main character, Travis Ford, was likable enough, and certainly his situation was dramatic, but I guess I just expected hi......more

Goodreads review by Jo on December 10, 2014

Though it saw few major Civil War battles, Arkansas is riven in 1864. Its residents came from both North and South, and regard each other with deep suspicion. Though Arkansas is a slave state, those slaves begin to vanish after the Emancipation Proclamation. In Camden, the family of thirteen-year old......more

Goodreads review by Candace on February 19, 2015

Poison Spring surprised me. I had not known about the infamous battle where Confederate soldiers massacred black Union troops trying to surrender. It's worth your time.......more

Quotes

“Thirteen-year-old Travis Ford views the latter days of the Civil War…Boggs brings a little-known battle to life, framing it around a moving coming-of-age story.”

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