ABSTRACT

A young man decides to enlist in the Colorado National Guard in 1913. Tensions continue to heighten between striking coal miners and management. Company executives require striking miners to vacate their company-owned homes. Displaced families establish a tent city near Trinidad, Colorado. A confrontation escalates into a shoot-out and fire that cause the deaths of two women and 11 children. This event is known as the Ludlow Massacre (April 20, 1914). The main character immediately resigns from the military and suffers reoccurring nightmares, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Months later he and his wife travel to Pennsylvania to participate in her sister’s wedding. Relatives take them to numerous conflict sites, including battle grounds in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Lexington, Massachusetts. These trigger new nightmares which gradually subside over the years as their life together continues to reflect her nurturing support.