View source for Father Benedict Tanner

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Benedict Tanner entered West Point in 1858 with the dream of a life building bridges with the US Army Corps of Engineers. He was fascinated with construction from a young age, and envisioned himself someday building something great that would stand the test of time. At the academy he proved himself to be a solid, but unremarkable, student. Then in his junior year the war between the states engulfed the country, and everything changed. When he graduated, in the middle of his class, he was assigned to the cavalry and sent to the western theater. He was miserable. This was not what he wanted; something was not right. He began to drink heavily.

Then it happened. During the battle of Antietam he was hit by a minie ball, and should have been killed. However, he had been wearing a silver cross his mother had sent him, and the bullet was deflected inches from his vital organs. During his recovery he studied the bible by day and prayed at night. He had found his calling. Unfortunately, he was still haunted by his demons, and could not shake his addiction to the bottle.

After the war he immediately resigned his commission and became an itinerant preacher. He was well renowned not only for his religious fervor, but also his penchant for hard drinking. Because of this reputation, he told no one of what he saw on that night in late September on the Texas frontier.

He knew it should not exist; he knew it ''could'' not exist. And yet, there it was staring him in the face. Thinking quickly, and acting with both his cross and Walker Colt, he was able to dispatch it before any harm could come to the innocent. The next morning no trace of what he had done remained, and at first he reasoned it must have been a vision sent by Satan to trick him. But when he checked his Walker, there were two rounds missing. 

Once again he had a mission made clear to him by the forces of God. He must wage a personal war on that which should not be. The west is infested with the denizens of Satan, and he will ensure that the infestation is eradicated, come hell or high water.