Free (Kindle) Hills of Blood by E. C. Tubb [Treasure-Hunting US Civil War Western]

[ATDrake]

Hills of Blood by the late British author E. C. Tubb (ISFDB, Wikipedia, SFE), perhaps best known for his long-running science fiction Dumarest Saga, is his vintage standalone western historical action adventure novel, this one the tale of a would-be treasure hunt involving reluctant and conflicting forces during the US Civil War, as Confederate prisoners intending to secretly seek a cache of gold make a deal with their Northern captors to get out of the prison camp in exchange for defending against the local native Comanche, upon whose territory the hidden gold is located, and slowly begin to bond in the face of shared danger, though perhaps too late to save them from succumbing to attack, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press' Pioneering imprint.

This was originally published in 1956 by John Spencer under the title Men of the West using the pseudonym Chet Lawson and was later reprinted under the title Massacre Trail using the pseudonym Chuck Adams, and yet later appeared again using the pseudonym Frank Weight as part of the reprints for Robert Hale's Black Horse Western and Ulverscroft's Linford Western Library lines, so a number of people must have really liked this tale.

Currently free @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and pretty much everywhere else Amazon sells worldwide, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program)

Description
Terrence and his men are dying…

He and his fellow Confederate soldiers have been captured by the North during the American civil war and winter is fast approaching.

As fellow prisoner, Zebe, lies dying, he reveals a world-changing secret – a hidden store of gold buried deep in the mountains.

But Terrance and his men have no way of getting to it.

That is, until the Northerners offer them a deal.

If Terrance and his fellow Southerners will help the North defend their territory from the Comanches, then they can escape the terrible conditions of the prisoner of war camp.

Little do the Northerners know that the gold is buried in the same Comanche territory.

Terrance and the other men of the South agree to the mission, intending to find the gold and bring it back to the Confederacy.

But when Northern Sergeant Gilcross saves his life, Terrence forges a close friendship with his rescuer and begins to doubt his original plan.

Distracted by their own petty squabbles, the North and South fail to see that the Comanche are quickly growing in strength.

If they are to survive, North and South must put aside their differences and face their common enemy before it is too late.

Richly authentic and full of drama, Hills of Blood is an action-packed western that is guaranteed to get your pulse racing.