Eli “The Colonel” McCullough

As the patriarch of the McCullough family, Eli has lived a very colorful life. He was born the same day that the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed. In his early teens, his family became the victims of the Commanche Indians. While his father was away helping a neighbor look for his stolen horses, a band of Indians came to their Texas homestead and killed and raped his mother and sister. They took Eli and his brother Martin captive but later killed Martin because he refused to eat. Eli lived with the Indians for three years before he was returned to civilization in trade for the price the American government agreed to pay for returned captives.

For a while, Eli bounces around, making trouble for himself and others until he is caught having an affair with the wife of a rich judge. He is saved...