Luciano de Herrera was born 1832, fourteen years before the U.S. Army marched into the territory and claimed it for the U.S. under the Manifest Destiny belief. Luciano realized that changes were coming, he felt that the laws of the frontier no longer applied. Americano law would now govern the territory. When Luciano caught his wife of two years in bed with another man, he faced a difficult decision. With a gun drawn ready to kill the intruder, his friend Chato stopped him. He spared the man's life and spared himself life in an Americano jail. This action set off a series of events that would bring great misfortune to Luciano and his family. For the rest of his life he struggled to maintain hsi sense of honor. In Timely Conquest Jerry tells the story of his great-grandfathers, Luciano and Jesus as they adapt to life under U.S. control. They fight in the Civil War here in New Mexico's Glorieta Pass, they experience love and loss in a fascinating snapshot of a time in the American West.