In the years following the Civil War, many lives were swept up by the tide of restlessness and lawlessness. Some of those lives were changed forever, some were ruined beyond redemption, and yet others were merely snuffed out. Hickory Jack is a tale of two young lives which were changed beyond any hope of ever being the same. Andy Moore age fourteen and Ben Blue age twelve came face to face with violence and evil as boys, and they responded as men. As they grew in size and years, they also grew in the knowledge of what it took to be a man and to walk in a man’s boots. They gained the knowledge that life was hard, and fairness had never been a promise. They also learned that some men do things for no other reason than they can, and they respected no law higher than what rested in their holsters.