Name: William "Bill" or "Billy" Carson
Age: 36

[img]http://www.fest21.com/files/images/Clint_Eastwood_1.preview.jpg[/img]
Physical Appearance: Bill Carson is 72" tall (6') and weighs 180 Lbs. He has a slender build, with Sandy Brown hair and Blue-gray eyes. Bill has a scar along the left side of his head; noticeable along cheek and he's missing the left earlobe.
Clothing: Bill wars stone washed cotton Butternut colored trousers, Pale blue buttoned shirt, brown leather vest, Broad brimmed black hat with a black plume on the left side. black leather gun belt with a colt 45 revolver on his right side.

Background: Bill Carson was born and raised in Albemarle County, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley in 1843. Young Bill learned to ride a horse at age 8 and has been in the saddle ever since. As a boy he played with the young slave boys on his father's cotton plantation. Bill feels just as comfortable in the company of Negroes as he does with Caucasians.

In 1861, Bill was 18 years old and a member of a local Militia Cavalry organization. After the attack on Ft. Sumter, SC in April, twelve Cavalry Militia units organized into the Virginia 1st Cavalry at Winchester in July, 1861, under the command of Colonel James Ewell Brown Stuart. The Cavalry Regiment was under the command of General Thomas Jackson.

Bill Carson saw action at First Battle of Bull Run, and several dozen other actions until he transferred to a new organization. In January 1863, he joined the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, Partisan Rangers. The unit was organized as a Guerrilla unit under the command of John S. Mosby who had served with Bill Carson in the 1st VA Cav. Bill admired Mosby and once said he would follow the man to the four corners of the earth.

As a member of [b][i]Mosby's Rangers[/i][/b], Bill participated in the Greenback Raid and attacked Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's wagon train at Berryville as well as the famous and daring raid far inside Union lines at the Fairfax County courthouse in March 1863. Mosby's Rangers captured three high-ranking Union officers, including Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Stoughton. The story is told that Mosby found Stoughton in bed and roused him with a slap to his rear. Upon being so rudely awakened, the general shouted, "Do you know who I am?" Mosby quickly replied, "Do you know Mosby, general?" "Yes! Have you got the rascal?" "No, but he has got you!" Mosby's Rangers also captured 30 or more sentries without firing a shot. 

When the war ended, Bill didn't know what he would do for work. He spent some time in a Union Prison depot, where he contracted a bout of Yellow fever. Bill was one of the lucky ones. One in five men who got the fever died.

Bill returned to the Shenandoah Valley and his Grandfather's plantation. The old farm had been burned to the ground, his parents and grandparents were all dead and his former Negro slave friends had left the area. He did not know what to do and decided to head out west to find a new start in life.

After visiting many cities in the west, he wound up in San Antonio, TX where he worked as a farmhand for several years. After reading the notice from the Texas Rangers about the Bandidos near El Paso, Bill mounted Angus and headed West in search of adventure.



Equipment: Black Standard-bred horse, 15 hands tall named "Angus"; The pistol and Carbine mentioned below, 100' of braided hemp rope, Saddle, bit & bridle, Saddle bags, saddle blanket, sleeping blanket; saddle mounted rifle holster; 100 rounds .45 ACP and 100 rounds .45/70 carbine rounds; 2-quart aluminum canteen; hard tack; beef jerkey; $12.65 in cash; beans; 9' hunting knife; flask of whiskey and a deck of playing cards

Weapons: 
[img]http://gunsinthecauldron.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/colt_model_1873_single_action_army_cavalry_revolver_44.jpg[/img]
Single-action Colt 45 revolver and...
a Sharps 1874 Cavalry Carbine, .45/70
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Berdan_Sharps_rifle.jpg[/img]

Other: Bill Carson is Quiet, Pensive, intelligent, but undereducated. Due to his years of experience in the saddle, Bill is an excellent horseman and marskman. He is also an excellent tracker. Bill suffers from frequent nightmares about his wartime experiences. This interferes with his concentration or ability to focus. He often consumes alcohol in large quantities to help deal with his problems.