[2] Wales achieves notoriety after the American Civil War ends, due to his refusal to surrender to the victorious Northern army and his deadly reputation as a gunman.
He is extremely skilled with his guns and occasionally uses tricks (such as pretending to surrender with a white flag or shooting the pilot's rope on a river ferry) to thwart his enemies.
Of Scottish and Welsh descent, Wales is a farmer in the early days of the Civil War, living and working on his Missouri farm with his young son and wife while trying to stay out of the conflict.
A band of Confederate guerrillas led by "Bloody" Bill Anderson rides past his farm on their way north to Kansas to fight for the Confederacy, and Wales joins them without hesitation.
Josey embarks on a trek to Texas, meeting and becoming friends with several people on the way, including a woman named Laura Lee, with whom he becomes romantically involved.