Nice chapter. Nice to see a young Teddy Roosevelt in action. Keep up the good work.
Proving once again that "overkill" has no place in the American vocabulary.Surrounded by Buffalo soldiers, Frank James cried out for mercy and seemed about to receive it when one of the men shouted, "My god, that's Frank James!"
Beyond being arguably the most famous bank robber in the nation, Frank James was also held to be a member of the infamous Quantrill's Raiders who had murdered 200 men and boy abolitionists in Lawrence, Kansas in the dying days of the Civil War.
Immediately, the Buffalo soldiers raised their weapons again and fired 147 more bullets into the man's body.
They only did one thing wrong, they stopped shooting.Immediately, the Buffalo soldiers raised their weapons again and fired 147 more bullets into the man's body.
What is this word you speak of?Proving once again that "overkill" has no place in the American vocabulary.
South Carolina and Georgia need to grow up and face the facts. They lost!
I predict South Carolina will be the last to rejoin. During this time period the state was majority black, so I imagine the white population will continue to do everything they can to suppress the black vote for as long as they can. The moment they don’t they lose control of the state.South Carolina and Georgia need to grow up and face the facts. They lost!
I love the idea of P.T. Barnum becoming an animal conservationist.December, 1882
Guajira Peninsula
After nearly two years of tension and threats, President Blanco of Venezuela finally dispatched forces to push the Colombian squatters from the Guajira Peninsula. As the conflict escalated from border conflict to outright war, the local Indian population which had resisted European domination for 400 years would be largely wiped out or displaced.
As both Venezuela and Colombia had convulsed in Civil War over the past decade, the two armies would prove poorly prepared for war.
Colombia had only recently reorganized into a more central nation. It would prove problematic as the effectively decentralized and autonomous states would prove resistant in many cases to that unification. This would leave Colombia weakened in the face of aggression by Venezuela. President Nunez, unlike most of his predecessors, was not a former General and instead opted to ask support from abroad, namely using his leverage with America and Britain recently gained with the commencement of the Colombian Canal.
Amarillo, Camancheria
Three decades prior, in 1852, huckster P.T. Barnum would visit the Durban in the Cape Colony in his travels (the region now part of the Boer Republic) and witness a local 14 year old girl "Riding" (poorly) a Cape Zebra, also known as a Quagga.
Since then, white settlers had hunted the beasts to extinction. However, Barnum had envisioned a trick-riding show born upon the odd-looking animals and arranged for 44 females and 20 males to be transported to America where he prepared a breeding program. It soon became obvious that the animals would NOT be easily tamed. However, proliferating American zoos may like a breeding pair so Barnum would spent decades breeding the animals methodically to enhance the bloodline, even arranging to ship the last 8 known animals in Southern Africa to America to spice up the blood in 1878. By this point, there were only a few other Quaggas in the world, all in zoos and none breeding.
Barnum owned large properties in Montana and Camancheria where he raised, among other animals, including Plains Buffalo, Capybaras, Sumatran and Javan Rhinos and Komodo Dragons (in a specially created ravine formed into a animal pit) with the intent of someday adding them to his shows. In the meantime, he used the convenient presence of nearby railroad lines to create the first "Open Air Animal Attraction" which would be visited by tens of thousands of paying tourists per year. He would pronounce his stock the "last of these animals in existence" though only the Quagga would meet that description as this time.
By 1883, his herd of Quagga had reached over 360. His herds of Plains Buffalo in Camancheria and Montana were also among the largest in North America and would be primarily responsible for reestablishing the animals in the national parks proliferating through the nation. Barnum would actually hire local tribesmen to tend to the animals. Their presence would lend to the "authenticity" of the experience though it would lead to problems when Barnum's ranch manager fell behind on pay and the Indians would effectively go on strike, refusing to go to work. This led to several dozens buffalo and, much worse, over half a dozen Komodo Dragons escaping the "preserve".