Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

In "Coal Black Horse", Robey Childs is a fourteen-year-old young man living with his mother Hettie Childs on a remove family farm in hill country. They live in what is probably today known as West Virginia. The novel opens on the specific date of 10 May 1863. The Childs farm is located high up on a flat area on top of a hill or mountain that is removed and isolated. The nearest neighbors live on other hilltops some distance away. The closest town is tiny—one general store and one blacksmith—and is about a six or eight hour horse ride away. Robey's father has gone off to war, having joined the Union Forces fighting against secession. Robey has remained home to work the farm and take care of his mother. When Hettie awakes on 10 May 1863 she declares that she has...