This is a novel about Bleeding Kansas from 1854 to 1856. It is based on true stories of real people during the Bleeding Kansas era and how they changed history. Caleb May and his family were among the first white families to settle in the Kansas Territory after it was opened for white settlement in May 1854. The Mays were against slavery and settled in a very proslavery area of Kansas. Caleb joined the Kansas Legion, a secret Free-State militia that fought to keep Kansas free. He fights with the help of his son William, his loyal wife Maggie, and his friends against the wealthy and powerful proslavery leaders, David Atchison, Dr. John Stringfellow, and Charley Dunn.
President Franklin Pierce and his appointee Chief Justice Samuel Lecompte of the Kansas Supreme Court were proslavery Democrats. Their position, and the position of the Democratic Party, was that proslavery and free states could exist side-by-side peacefully. The newer Free-Soil, Free-State, and Republican Parties wanted to eliminate slavery everywhere, the President called them the parties of war. Kansas was thrust into the middle of this debate because the new Kansas-Nebraska law, the law that created the Kansas Territory, allowed the Kansas settlers to vote to make Kansas free or slave.
But who was allowed to vote? Missouri was a slave state, if someone came into Kansas to vote on election day from Missouri, could they vote? How was he different from someone who came into Kansas from Massachusetts a week before and staked a legitimate claim? Which votes were illegal, which were legal?
The novel takes the reader through the fight from both sides. Would Kansas be free or slave?
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Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1: The Move to Kansas
Caleb Returns
Caleb and Maggie May
Preparing to move
Staking the claim
Building the cabin
Moving the family
Chapter 2: Charley Dunn
Billy Cody
Dunn’s new job
Chapter 3: Atchison
Reverend Starr
November 1854
The vote
Chapter 4: Pardee Butler
The Squatter Sovereign
Meeting Pardee Butler
Crossing Missouri
March 1855
June 1855
Pardee’s Sermon
Governor Andrew Reeder
The election aftermath
Charles Robinson
A Special Election
President Pierce
One man can do little
Sam and Caroline Moore
Chapter 5: Pardee’s trip
This is a memorable day
Big Springs
The Topeka Convention
Jim
Pardee’s family
Judge Tutt presiding
The Quilting Bee
A Cold Winter
The Topeka Constitution
Easton
Dunn investigates
January 1856
Blockade!
Retribution
Dr. Stringfellow
Chapter 6: Prepare for War
Atchison
Pardee
The Ladies
Bitter cold
Chapter 7: Walker
The Battle
Blue Tail
Governor Shannon
An impasse
Shannon acts
Jefferson Davis
Colonel Sumner
Chapter 8: Spring, 1856
Sam Wood, Esq
The legal case
Justice Lecompte
Jail
Slaves in jail
Lecompte’s Plan
Escape!
A feast in Easton
Dunn’s posse
Bill Phillips
Chapter 9: War
Dunn and Atchison Plan
Old Sacramento
The attack
Maggie
Afterword
Pardee Butler’s Obituary
A Testimonial to Caleb May
Bibliography
Mengenai Pengarang
Andy May is a writer, blogger, and author. He enjoys golf and traveling in his spare time. He retired from a 42-year career in petrophysics in 2016. He is also an editor for the popular climate change blog Wattsupwiththat.com where he has published numerous posts. He is the author of five books and the author or co-author of eight peer-reviewed papers on various geological, engineering and petrophysical topics. His personal blog is andymaypetrophysicist.com.
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