December 7, 1941: The Giants Awaken

From the moment of its birth, the Republic of Ansdale has seen itself as the Lord and Protector of the Pacific. The first step toward that end was the creation of The Pacific Alliance, a loose alliance of nations within the Pacific Ocean. This in turn led to a treaty with the Kingdom of Hawaii. Lieutenant-Commander Rachel Semmes led the Alliance from her cabin aboard the R.N.S. Prince Maksutov until King David Kalakua and the Hawaiian Parliament granted permission to place a Headquarters on Hawaiian Soil.

The first test of the Alliance occurred during the Pineapple War of 1893-95. The Republic passed the test but the verdict on the alliance is unclear. The other members: Russia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Australia, China and Tahiti all remained out of the conflict, saying it was an internal matter. The Republic fended off an invasion by the United States at the urging of American Business Interests. Queen Liliuokalani remained as monarch under the protection of the Republic until her death in 1917. Relations with the United States improved in time and a Joint Use Agreement with the United States came about at the end of World War One. The Pacific Command of both Nations was Headquartered at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor. While the U.S. Casualties have been documented, nothing is known of the effect upon the Republic. Because the Republic has often relied upon Guerrilla     tactics it was slow in building a standing navy. As a result, when the day that will live in infamy dawned the greatest casualties to the Republic were airplanes (The RAAF) and buildings.  The pirate fleet (RNS Submarines)

were on patrol and untouched.

The Republic will always be grateful for the sacrifice borne by the United States at the outset of WWII while the republic raced to build a Force to assist the allies. The joint force effort was a point of honor and will not be forgotten.

#NaNoWriMo Update

Well, sort of. Though I am not officially participating in the month long Novel Writing Competition, I am always trying to get this story completed. The first "Chapter" of the Republic of Ansdale Chronicles is just about finished. I think I have looked at it long enough. Only one major edit has happened under my eyes, a prologue chapter was put in and after reworking it several times, it just seemed to be a drag, so it was removed. Other than that, nothing. Now I am soliciting help. I admit to knowing nothing about writing a book, just the story. I have heard about beta readers and I have had the pleasure of being one for Jade Kerrion. Anyone who has been through it who would care to fill me in on the process, I would greatly appreciate it. I know it's not as simple as uploading my manuscript to Smashwords. Even they want an artistic cover, something I am not talented to do. (Stick figures are as good as it gets here). That is it for now. I really need to get back to things here, but The Night Beat Demands.

Four Peas to Creating an Authentic Alternative History: Preparation

We have come to the end of our series. If you haven't been following the series from the start here are links to Premise, Probability, and Possibilities. We now move on to our fourth Pea, what I like to call:

P#4: Preparation

I can hear you scream, "what was I doing during the previous three steps?" That was preparing your premise to make a story. Now comes the fun part (at least for me) researching your characters. I have created little who's who bios for just about every fictional character I have created. I know when they were born, where, where they were educated, who they married, how many children they have, who were their classmates, etc. While this may seem an exercise in absolute tedium, there is a point. Without doing this step your Alt-Hi will become Sci-Fi. Not in the sense of the typical definition of the genre, but because your character will seem an outside "alien" observer to the events you describe instead of being able to seamlessly interact with their surroundings. 

Why do you have to do this? You are changing the outcome of one premise, but your character must still be believable within the "correct" timeline. In the case of my story, the key character, John Lee Anderson, is the brother of Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter, went to West Point at the Same time as Grant, served with him in the Mexican War, and during post war assignments in the South, married a distant cousin of Jefferson Davis and retired from active service, and is the father of three sons and one daughter, all of whom have followed their father into military service, to the great disappointment of their mother. Called back into service and assigned to the "Northern reaches of the Nebraska Territory" by President Pierce, he sees his responsibility to the people of the Western States and Territories as outweighing his duty to Washington. That is the bare bones type of research that I do, and I put it into a nice bio that looks like this. (For space concerns I have not done John Lee Anderson but Kenneth Mark Bassett, a supporting character.)

Bassett, Kenneth Mark
b. May 11, 1831 Portland, ME. Graduates from U.S. Military Academy, 1851. Stationed at Fort Kent, ME on Border Patrol 1851-1855. Assigned to command of Brigadier General John Lee Anderson in Nebraska, 1855. Commissioned Captain, 1855. Chief of Police, Upper Nebraska Territory, 1855-61. m. Kimberly Ann Chase, March 21, 1858. Commander Military District Number Five, Wyoming, Dakota Territory, 1861. Commander of Camp Teton (1861-63) and Fort Shoshone (1863-1889). Commissioned Major, 1862. Founder of Territorial Police, 1870. Commissioned Major, Republican Army, 1875. Second Colonel, 1878. Colonel, 1880. Governor of Wyoming (1893-1905). d. Tuesday June 13, 1922 Cheyenne, WY.

I think you can see that, by creating a "life" for your character, you have also created a purpose for his existence in your story (other than a story needs a character). If you do all these steps, you are now in possession of a premise that will survive not only one story, but even being turned into a multi-novel series. You can now begin to write.

Four Peas to Creating an Authentic Alternative History: Possibilities

My second grade teacher, Miss Kennealy, had a favorite saying: "It's a possibility". Unfortunately following that advice can lead to some pretty weak premises. I am proposing a variation on that advice, and that is the third pea.

P#3: Possibilities

We could also call this, how many links are in your chain of events (or chain reaction). Unless you are interested in writing a very short story, you should try to have your premise create as many new possibilities as possible. Among the possibilities opened up by my original premise.

1. The obvious one: The initial story of the events leading up to the war, character backrounds, etc.
2. Without the States West of The Mississippi River being counted, certain election results will be altered

• The "Stolen Election" of 1876. Hayes (R) v Tilden (D). Hayes had 185 Electoral Votes. Tilden 184. They each needed 186 to win, but Tilden had won the popular vote by 260,000. The creation of The Republic of Ansdale removed 12 States and 76 Electoral Votes, 29 from Tilden but 49 from Hayes. With a new requirement of 148 Tilden got 155 and Hayes 138. And Tilden's Popular Vote Lead held up.
• Using a benchmark that both candidates needed to be born in a State, Territory or Possession East of The Mississippi River after the year 1875 (this only affected elections after 1928, before then all the candidates would have met the rule). The elections of 1952, 1956, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1996 would be thrown out because both candidates were ineligible. So Watergate never happened (Nixon born in CA), LBJ wasn't elected (b.TX), and Nobody Liked Ike (also a Texan)
• The Democrat Party was declared ineligible by that benchmark for the elections of 1948, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012. No birther, but Hawaii is West of The Mississippi. The Clinton Presidency also never happened, Bill having been born in Arkansas, which is part of the Republic. This also has the added what if "What if another President had accepted Libya's offer of Osama Bin Laden. Would 9/11 have never happened." But in a case of misery loves company, George W. Bush could still have been President, as his birthplace was in Connecticut. Reagan as well, as he was born in Illinois. Though Hillary Clinton is also from Illinois, since she made her fame on Bill's coattails, and he would never be President. No Hillary Presidency either.
• Republicans also had their chances at the White House altered, but mostly through correcting their mistakes. John McCain could have been eligible. My research on Canal Zone thinks he may, however, since Arizona was in the Republic, it wouldn't have meant anything, since that is how he ran, Senator from Arizona. Herbert Hoover was born in Iowa, which was part of the Republic, so did he cause the Great Depression. Probably not. Bob Dole (KS) and Gerald Ford (NE) would also have been ineligible, thus destroying the chances of Saturday Night Live for becoming a household name.

1. (3) The Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand) would have been a joint Republic of Ansdale/Native American effort to open up a second front in the Civil War.
2. (4) The Life of the Kingdom of Hawaii would have been extended beyond its traditional end because Queen Liliuokalani would not have been overthrown.
3. (5) The attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941) would have been on ships docked at the King Kamehameha Naval Base of the Republican Navy, which had United States Ships there as part of a joint operations lease agreement. Two nations were thus drawn into the conflict, not just one.
4. (6) The assassination of JFK in Dallas, TX by Lee Harvey Oswald, a known Russian agent, would have been a Soviet attempt to start a U.S.A.-R.O.A. war during JFK's friendship tour of the Republic of Ansdale

I think you get the idea. One decision creates almost unlimited possibilities. If you have passed through step three without your original premise being reduced to ashes, congratulations. If you haven't, go over it again until you find a premise that can stand the test. Once you do, you are ready for the "final" step.

Four Peas to Create An Authentic Alternative History: Probability

In my first post I discussed the Premise of a story as it pertains to its ultimate success, especially when it comes to the genre of Alternative History or Historical Fiction. We now move on to part two

P#: Probability

If The Premise is the "What If?" question, then the Probability of your Alt-Hi is best defined by the "Who Cares?" question. Why do you need a "Who Cares?" question? Because the number of what if questions is infinite. To borrow a Sci-Fi construct, every possible choice results in an alternate universe where that choice has been made. Now I like this theory because it means that somewhere out there there is a version of myself that married his high school sweetheart. Of course, there is a reality where we never met. Now for the sake of time I limited the possible choices to three, but regardless, in the scheme of a novel, all three choices are equally boring and would get a response of who cares.

Now what is the point of my example? Simply put, while any decision in history could have had another possible outcome, unless that outcome can grab even the authors interest, certainly your reader wont come along for the ride. Now the Sci-Fi writer doesn't have to worry about probability. In some cases, the more fanciful the premise, the better. With an Alt-Hi, one of the cornerstones of the genre is HISTORY, as in "Could this actually have happened?". 

Still, it has to be fresh. In matters of American History, one of the most overused premises is "What if The South had won the war?" Unfortunately for readers, the answer is almost always "slavery is still around". The problem with this is that the rise of technology even at the time had made slave labor just about obsolete, so that if war had not intervened, the peculiar institution might have died off within ten years. Even so, the continuation of Southern Slavery is most likely the weakest premises to focus on. because its probability is very low.
 
In the case of my original premise, you have to ask, at any time in "the Old West", did conditions arise that would have created a "Spark" that lit the fuse of civil war like happened at Fort Sumter. In my researching of the premise, I found a number of conditions that would make my premise probable.

1. At the outbreak of the Civil War, many frontier posts were either abandoned or had their troop numbers severely downgraded and the troops sent South to assist the War, leaving the settlers to face the Natives on their own. Approximately 10 years later, with "Reconstruction" coming to an end, those same troops returned, in true Mighty Mouse style ("Here I come to save the day..."), hoping that the settlers would be grateful for their "protection".
2. By virtue of the Treaty of Purchase in 1867, the People of Alaska (native Russians and Aleut) were entitled to "The enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of Citizens of The United States" if they remained there THREE YEARS (1870). In fact, Alaska had not even the most basic of Civil Law and was a true example of the Wild, Wild, West until 1884.
3. The Western States of Arkansas, Louisiana Texas and Missouri had all been participants in the Civil War, and the first three were subjected to the punishment called "reconstruction" which was instituted in response to Lincoln's assassination and birthed the Klan. These states were chafing under the military yoke and could have been spoiling for another fight.
4. The first war had reached into the West with more than just membership in the Confederacy. There were battles at  Palmito Hill, TX (May 12-13, 1865) ; Pea Ridge, AR (March 7, 1862);  Sabine Pass, TX (September 9, 1863); Valverde, NM (February 20-21, 1862); Glorietta Pass, NM (March 26-28, 1862) and Lawrence, KS (August 21, 1863). War had touched the west enough to raise the possibility of an insurrection, but not enough to convince them of its horrors.

I think these four examples are sufficient evidence to overcome the who cares response and establish the probability of the premise. Will that be enough for my story, or for yours for that matter. That is dependent on the third pea.

Four Peas to Creating an Authentic Alternative History: Premise

I have decided to expand and update a post that I originally wrote for The Undeveloped Story, which has been inactive since 2012. Since most of my new readers have never seen this post, I thought it would be a good idea to pull it out of mothballs, rework it, and expand it.

History has always been a passion of mine. In high school I never got lower than a B- when it came to world history, and when American History came around, my worst wound up being only an A-. Needless to say, If you have any love for the subject, and possibly if you are of a certain mindset, you will come to a time when you will read some historical account and then "What if X happened instead" will pop into your head.

It was probably during some boring class like English (I know, how can it be boring if you're a writer. I know enough to write, but don't ask me to diagram a sentence to save my life) that one such What if popped into my head. "What if we never learned the lessons of The Civil War, and a mere ten years later it happened again, this time in the American West." Thus the seeds of an Alternative History (Alt-Hi) were born, and to one degree or another, I have continued to refine the story from then on. 

There are four peas (P's) you need to master in order to create an authentic historical fiction: Premise, Probability, Possibilities, and Preparation. While every part is important, sometimes you can lose the race at the starting line. It can all come apart at the premise, where the question is always, what if.

P#1: Premise

I have already told you the premise of the story I have been refining over the years. Here is it reworked another way.

It has been said that those who fail to learn from history are destined to repeat it. What if, ten years after the conclusion of the Civil War, the United states found itself facing a similar conflict, but this time in the West?

What separates the Alt-Hi from Sci-Fi, is that, while both genre's begin with the What if question, The Alternative History is limited to the inventions and conditions of the timeline they are reconstructing. (For example, Let's say Lincoln doesn't get assassinated. We can't have him saved by being teleported out of the theatre just before Booth fires. We could have him blocked by another patron until the moment is unfavorable.) There are an unlimited number of premises. 

A faulty premise will only be fatal if you stick with it. As you work your way through the peas, you may find that your original premise was horribly flawed and should be abandoned. However, the benefit of the process is that a better premise may arise from the ashes that will stand up to the demands of the story.

So you think you have a good premise. Will it make it into a story? Not unless it makes it through another Pea.

Character Interview: Rachel Semmes

Sometimes you just have to take one for the team. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. We are interviewing Rachel Semmes today, and as things go we were forced to conduct our interview on the Island of Oahu, in the Kingdom of Hawaii. I know, the trials we must endure.

One of the trials is that we had to do the interview at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, instead of, say, Diamond Head. It has also taken us six years to get the interview, the result of red tape at the public affairs office. That has been a blessing in disguise. I was all set to interview Lieutenant-Commander Rachel Semmes, Captain of The R.N.S. Prince Maksutov and architect of the Pacific Alliance. However, my interview today is in the office of the Commanding Officer of PACCOM, Rear Admiral Rachel Semmes. And while a bunch of you will be shocked that there is a woman in this high position here in the year 1881, I'll have to revive some of you when I tell you that she is not yet thirty. And while a rear admiral is the equivalent of a one or two star general, and I have already interviewed a three star in General John Lee Anderson, it always sounds much cooler to be Admiral.

• CG: Admiral Semmes, thank you for the interview. Would you mind introducing yourself to my readers.
• RS: I would be glad to. My name is Rachel Semmes, I'm twenty-eight years old and have been in the Republican Navy for the past six years. Mobile born and bred. And I am the favorite niece of my Uncle Rafe.
• CG: There is so much to follow up here. First of all, Uncle Rafe?
• RS: That would be Admiral Raphael Semmes, commander of the C.S.S. Alabama during the last war.
• CG: I guess Naval greatness is in the blood.
• RS: Our initials are both RS, so that's something as well. Honestly, until I was given command of the Prince Maksutov I never commanded any more than a rowboat.
• CG: That would seem to lead to the next question. From civilian to Admiral in six years. Was everyone in the Republican Navy afraid of your uncle.
• RS: I wish. Most of them never heard of him. There aren't many naval historians in the West. I owe most of my success to the Pacific Alliance. 
• CG: So no great Naval Battles to speak of?
• RS: I didn't say that. The Reciprocity Treaty of 1875 got The United States in the door with the Hawaiian Government, and then war broke out. And now we wanted to establish a base there, and have refueling rights. We knew that Grant wanted to establish a base there, and we needed to get there first. The Prince Maksutov held her ground against a better armed American Ship, and when they broke off to regroup we pulled out our ace. We had a handful of torpedoes. 
• CG: A torpedo. How did that work.
• RS: It wasn't easy. You have to put them in the water and launch them manually, so we had to set out the lifeboats. The federals thought we were abandoning ship and so never reacted until it was too late.
• CG: The press probably had a great time reporting that.
• RS: Yes, we were a bunch of pirates who launched a cowardly attack on an innocent party. Massacre and all that. But the end result is, Hawaii is ours.
• CG: And the Pacific Alliance?
• RS: There are four members at present. Us, Hawaii, Russia and New Zealand. We have entertained a Russian Vessel but that is the extent of their aid. I think we are still on our own. I will not be holding my breath for a Russian Fleet.
• CG: Have you gotten any advice from your uncle.
• RS: After I got my command I asked his advice. He said do not seek a fight. The federals will find me soon enough. But if I am forced to fight do not spare any cannon. It is better to go down to the sea in defeat than to surrender.
• CG: With the war and all the activity with the alliance, have you had any chance at having a personal life.
• RS: Prime Minister Davis eldest son, James, has recently begun courting me in earnest. He is a nice man, but I am still not sure if it is proper.
• CG: Is he your subordinate?
• RS: Everyone is your subordinate when you're the admiral. He is not directly, though. He is a clerk, not in active operations. He is the same age as I, so that helps somewhat.
• CG: You said you were mobile born and bred. Was your home like Sauf Asir.
• RS: I wish. I wasn't born into such riches.
• CG: One last thing. Since you are Minister of The Navy, are there anything new in the war effort going on?
• RS: I will give your readers a scoop. The engineers over at Fort Bering are working on perfecting the idea of an armed submersible craft. Now that we have working torpedoes the time seems right. There will be no repeat of a Hunley Disaster.
• CG: Minister Semmes, I thank you for your time.

The Grand Tour: The Pacific Alliance

With the War just beginning our grand tour is going to take a bit of a detour. And to a land of a bit warmer weather. 

It takes allies to win a war. From the moment the first shot was fired at Fort Leavenworth it was obvious that the new Republic was in over its head. To win the war all that was needed would be to outlast the resolve of the United States. To win the peace they would have to destroy the East's will to fight.

The path to victory in both respects is charted by Rachel Semmes, the niece of Raphael Semmes, Captain of the C.S.S. Alabama. The path is called The Pacific Alliance.

The Capital of the Pacific Alliance was the Kingdom of Hawaii from its founding through the Pineapple War. Once the war was won by the Republic and Hawaii and Queen Liliuokalani's reign was secured, the capital was integrated with Republican government functions at Reno. From 1893 to 1941 only PACCOM was centered at Pearl Harbor Naval Base. In addition to The Republic of Ansdale and The Kingdom of Hawaii, charter members of the alliance included New Zealand, Canada and Russia. As the alliance grew, new members joined, including Australia, China and Japan.

The prime doctrine of the alliance is mutual defense and aid of fellow members, though all members also agree to provide.

1. Open Ports of Call for member nations, especially to provide safe haven during times of war and other periods of instability.
2. Reciprocity concerning Letters of Marque and Reprisal for all member nations, and the establishing of maritime or admiralty courts in every major port.
3. Diplomatic exchange among the member nations.

The three requirements benefit the Republic almost exclusively, however, they alone, with some small help from Russia bear the military side of the agreement. There is no Hawaiian or New Zealand navy at present.

Despite its diverse membership, the alliance survives. There have been challenges however. The Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in its expulsion from the alliance, however, it was readmitted when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor Naval Base, at the time jointly manned by the Republic of Ansdale and The United States of America and followed it up with an invasion of China and Australia. Japan was expelled at that time and was not readmitted until sometime after the wars end.

Next time we will talk with the architect of the Pacific Alliance, Rachel Semmes.

The Grand Tour: Kansas

Let The Bleeding Resume. Our next tour stop is a State born of war. I'm speaking of Kansas. It's not often that a State gets the word "bleeding" affixed to it. It started before the first Civil War. You, know, the North South one, not the current East West one. The lightning rod for the conflict was voter fraud. As the region known as Kansas was about to be organized into a Territory border ruffians from Missouri flooded over the border. When you've got 1,500 registered voters and 6,000 votes cast, somethings wrong, and only a blind man could fail to see it. The Blind man in question was Franklin Pierce, the President of the United States. He Was a Democrat, The Slave owners were 90+% Democrat. As far as he was considered, the election was legal.

The outrage was immediate, and so was the response from the abolitionists. Even the Church was mobilized, most notable among them Henry Ward Beecher, who shipped crates of Sharps Rifles to anti-slavery emigrants that were labeled as Bibles. Well, it says The Word is like a two edged sword, so...

In this case the weapons of our warfare were quite carnal, and things all centered on a town called Lawrence. The town, which was settled by free staters, has been sacked three times

• May 21, 1856 - Border ruffians from Missouri burn the Free State Hotel, 2 newspaper offices and houses and businesses
• August 21, 1863 - William Quantrill burn the town and kill 183 men and boys, as young as fourteen.
• July 10, 1875 - Captain Leah Marie Quantrill of the 1st Republican Cavalry burns several buildings, most of them wrecks already, in a show of resolve and gains the surrender of the town.

Actually, the third one would barely Qualify as a sack, if not for the last name of the Captain. Quantrill. As in, the daughter, though illegitimate, of WCQ, the butcher of Lawrence.

This time, however, the Governor of Kansas was a supporter of the Cause, and so the allegiance of the State was never in doubt. The real problem was Leavenworth, and that had been neutralized a few days before.

The sides have been drawn. Things are about to get very interesting.

The Grand Tour: Missouri

Welcome back everyone as we re-launch the Welcome To The Republic blog. To old and new readers, I encourage you to experience the tour from the beginning. Our tour so far: Alaska, Nevada, Iowa, Texas, Wyoming, Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, and Nebraska.

Our tour stop today is Missouri. Enjoy.

"The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend". Sometimes in the cause of freedom it seems like you have to make a deal with the devil. Such was the case with Missouri. The second of the Confederate States to join the cause of The West. True, in the first conflict the State was officially loyal to the Union, yet Southern sympathies were strong, and Governor Clairborne F. Jackson created a Confederate Government in Neosho.

Unconventional was the watchword in Missouri then and now. The field of battle in Missouri was that of the Guerrilla, and names such as William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and others have secured their place in Missouri Lore. In the lore of the West, allegiances are strange. Quantrill's daughter leads a new Raiders, aided by her second in command Katherine Anderson. The press has had a field day.

And then there is the James Gang. Frank and Jesse James bank and train robberies would make them Criminals to the United States, but to the Republic, for the moment at least, they are allies. The former Confederates strike out at mainly "Republican" targets, yet they are the allies of the "New Republican Party" of which most of the Ansdale High Command have become part of. As long as the gang behaves, they may remain useful. Once the war is over, they will be dealt with.

Fate intervened with the James Gang, and the Republic was spared the embarrassment. Midway through the war. Jesse was killed by one of his own and Frank "retired" without any charges being pursued against him. And the Republic won, so maybe it wasn't a deal with the devil after all.

Missouri was a Godsend. It gave the Republic control of the Mississippi and Missouri (Ansdale) Rivers as well as the Metropolitan area of St. Louis, which would provide much needed revenues to the war effort. And this time there would be no divided loyalties. There was no U.S. Government in exile, and a United House stood, and so did the Republic.

From the time Missouri joined the cause there was literally no turning back. Within a month Washington would declare war. Freedom always has a price.

The Grand Tour: The War Begins

Anybody who thought things would be different this time was naive. Events have caught up with our tour. Dreams for a peaceful separation are dashed. The Republic is at war.

Ten Independent Republics, as they style themselves, make up the new nation. While gaps exist, the border stretches from the River to the sea, and from Canada to Mexico. 

One thing can thwart the dream. Fort Leavenworth. While it isn't the most powerful fort in the West, Fort Ansdale is that, it is the most powerful fort loyal to Washington. That makes it a inviting target, and one which will not go unnoticed. 

Plans for a bombardment of Leavenworth  have been underway since Independence and the timing is important. July 5,1875. Forts Shoshone and Pawnee furnish artillery, including a Gatling gun, which cuts down Union Infantry with ease. Ironclads from Ansdale seal the river, and the main assault comes from "Quantrill's Raiders". After a three day engagement Lieutenant-General Nelson A. Miles surrenders the fort. There can be no retreat. Victory or Death.

The Grand Tour: Nebraska

"To the northern portions of the Nebraska Territory." So begins the adventure that birthed the Republic of Ansdale, for Dakota was originally Nebraska, at least until Dakota Territory was created in 1861. Nebraska could be called the father of territories, for not only Dakota, but Montana, Idaho and Wyoming were created from it.

With those ties existing between General Anderson and Nebraska, it is not surprising that Nebraska became the right hand of the Republic. From the beginning the territory became one of Anderson's most reliable supporters. At the start of the War of Southern Independence in 1861, General Anderson made his first move in consolidating his power in the west when he established Fort Pawnee on the Platte River. Though it was assisted by Fort Shoshone, Fort Pawnee was the site from which Fort Leavenworth was successfully bombarded.

Actually, the choice of Pawnee to launch western independence should not be surprising to anyone familiar with the history of the Republic. From its founding, and for the first sixteen years of its existence, it was commanded by Major Gary White, a member of the original Dakota Expedition, a member of the Corps of Engineers, and the architect of Fort Ansdale.

Major White would get his chance to command his crown jewel, but not before Fort Pawnee would host the Trial of The Century. The trial of Jefferson Columbus Davis on charges of Crimes against The Republic,  and for permitting a reign of terror in Alaska. Even by Republican admission the trial was nothing more than a show, for General Davis was merely a pawn. The real criminal was the United States Congress, which had failed to create even the most basic of civil laws for Alaska. But you can't put Congress on Trial. No, for the United States Congress to be "found guilty" the Republic of Ansdale must win the war, and there was far more than reasonable doubt as to that verdict.

The trial proceeded, newspapers on both sides of the river covered the events, the United States was embarrassed, and General Davis was found guilty. His sentence was to be exiled from the Republic, back to The United States "on pain of death" should he return. Like everything else, it was an empty threat. General Davis died on November 30, 1879, never setting foot on Republican Soil again.

As to Nebraska, it's loyalty was never in doubt. Fort Pawnee was the only fort of major importance in the whole state. When it became obvious that the West would pursue its independence then Governor Silas Garber immediately supported the move. In a sort of closing of the loop Governor John Milton Thayer was elected as Governor of The State in order to usher in final independence. At the beginning of the conflict in 1875 he was the Governor of Wyoming Territory. The War began at Fort Shoshone in Wyoming in 1875 and a symbolic peace treaty was signed at Fort Pawnee twelve years later. The war, and history, had come full circle.

And so have I...Welcome back to The Republic, folks. This blog, though just a baby, has required an extended nap time as I worked on the WENC Night Beat, which is much more demanding. Don't worry, your visas have been extended. Enjoy the stay.