A Cumberland Vendetta

The Stetsons and the Lewallens had come to the Cumberland as friends but lived as enemies for almost fifty years. After the Civil War they were still neighbors and still irascible foes. The war had supplied them both with defenses which demonstrated an hereditary loathing for human life and an appetite for unrestraint. Even though peace had been tolerated for many years, one day, in an ambush, Old Jasper Lewallen killed Rome Stetson's father. Rome's Uncle Rufe escaped to the West, and the Stetsons had no leader.