The Last Rebel

"The Last Rebel" by Joseph A. Altsheler is a historical fiction novel that explores the lingering impact of the American Civil War. It tells the story of Arthur West, a lost New Yorker in the Kentucky mountains, who stumbles upon Colonel John Greene Hetherill, a Confederate soldier deeply rooted in the past. The story is set against the backdrop of a society grappling with the aftermath of the war and the clash between Northern and Southern ideologies. West's accidental entanglement with the colonel's life leads him to Fort Defiance, where he witnesses firsthand the unwavering loyalty to lost causes and the colonel's internal struggles, his relationship with his daughter Grace, creating tensions and revealing the changing landscape of American ideals, ultimately culminating in a dramatic court-martial that will alter their lives forever.