John Douglas Taylor was born in Sparta, Tennessee in 1819 to an overprotective, wealthy Irish family. From his childhood on a Tennessee plantation to his adventures in the newly-formed Republic of Texas-and later to his time as a riverboat captain on the Mississippi-this romantic dreamer's journey is told through dozens of transcribed letters dating from 1843 to 1875. His family's letters, journals, and other historical documents provide the foundation for this true, semi-biographical tale of life along the southern waters...and the shining thread running through Taylor's life is the Grey-Blue water of the Old South, particularly its rivers, from the Cumberland to the Mississippi to the Brazos. The Grey-Blue water is both an enemy and a friend to Taylor. It takes away a beloved brother and a grandfather before he is old enough to understand the concept of death. It serves as an escape route from his rural childhood to a young adulthood filled with danger and adventure. It lures him to an eventful life aboard the picturesque steamboats that transport people and cargo from South to North and back again. The Grey-Blue water becomes his livelihood...but at times the water threatens to become his financial undoing. Taylor and his family are eyewitnesses to major developments in the nation's history, as new states are added and old traditions, including slavery, are done away with. They see the country torn apart by war, but then they witness how the scars of war begin the healing process as their grief and bitterness are washed by the often-turbulent Grey-Blue water. One man's journey of self-discovery and great opportunity ultimately lead the self-proclaimed adventurer to love, calamity...and eventually to the appreciation of a nation at war.