Luke Elliott

A Young Texas Pioneer

Luke and Joshua were growing like weeds as children of the middle 1800s. Both born on Christmas Eve 1841, Luke, the son of a central Texas rancher, and Joshua, the son of the ranch foreman, developed an everlasting kinship that lasted for many years only to be disrupted later by the heartbreak of the Civil War. The boys loved the life on the Running E ranch and when not involved in their ranch responsibilities often entertained themselves by chasing foxes across the pastures, fishing in the river, or disrupting a hornet's nest high up in a tree. The two of them grew into young men as if they were blood brothers, but Luke was white and Joshua was black and the looming war began to cast differences of opinion between them. Undo