The white rose of Memphis

"Here is a story of the Mississippi River South in its great days of the steamboat era, by one of its most distinguished citizens. Colonel Falkner, great-grandfather of William Faulkner, Nobel-prize novelist of our time, was a plantation owner, railroad builder, Civil War hero, writer and founder of schools. The White Rose of Memphis, first published in 1881, was the Gone with the Wind of that period; edition after edition kept appearing until about the time of World War I, when it went out of print; since then it has been unobtainable and legendary." -- publishers's description.