1824: The Arkansas War

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1824: The Arkansas War
Author Eric Flint
Country United States
Language English
Series Trail of Glory series
Genre(s) Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey
Publication date November 28, 2006
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 427 (hardback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-345-46569-5 (hardback edition)
Preceded by 1812: The Rivers of War

1824: The Arkansas War is a 2006 alternate history novel by American writer Eric Flint.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The story, takes place in 1824–25, ten years after 1812: The Rivers of War. The United States, under the influence of Sam Houston, the Commissioner for Indian Affairs, has signed a treaty with the southern Indian tribes, establishing a Confederacy of chiefdoms in the territory that in our time line is composed of the State of Arkansas west of the Red River, and the State of Oklahoma without the Panhandle, roughly the boundaries of the historical Arkansas Territory.

Shortly thereafter, in Louisiana, Henry Crowell, a free black man and one of the officers of the Iron Battalion who won the Battle of New Orleans, offended the local Creole leadership by courting a Creole woman. Slave-catchers waylaid Crowell and castrated him. In revenge, the Iron Battalion mobilized and destroyed the homes of the Creole leadership, then smashed the Louisiana militia who came after them to suppress "servile rebellion". (This is referred to later as the "Algiers incident".) Shortly afterwards, Crowell and the Iron Battalion moved to Arkansas.

The easternmost chiefdom, Arkansas, is ruled by Patrick Driscoll, the "Laird". Arkansas has banned slavery, and has become a magnet for freedmen throughout the United States, who are forced to leave Northern states. Under the influence of Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, states pass Freedmen Exclusion Acts, compelling free blacks to quit their territory.

As the book begins, one such family, the Parker family, leaves Baltimore, Maryland, after the head of the household is killed by a mob of whites. They are stopped on the Ohio River by slave-catchers, who plan to take them before a partial judge, have them declared runaway slaves, and sold. However, before the slave-catchers can haul the Parkers away, a party of abolitionists led by John Brown and his brother Solomon Brown intervenes.

When the Parkers arrive in New Antrim, the capital of Arkansas, they learn that Crowell's bank will loan the family money to start again if the men join the Arkansas Army. Sheffield Parker and his uncle Jem enlist and undergo a rigorous training regimen.

In the United States, Henry Clay secretly finances a filibustering expedition to be led by Robert Crittenden to attack Arkansas. The expedition fails, but Clay uses this failure as a lever to become the next president of Monroe. His opponents, led by Andrew Jackson and John Adams, however, are planning to take the presidency from him the following term. Meanwhile, Sam Houston's wife Maria gets accidentally shot by an impromptu assassin from Virginia, and he and his son Andy Jackson leave for Arkansas to aid Driscol and Ross against the upcoming war with the US.

The novel ends in 1825, as USA goes to war with Arkansas (as an AU of the real history American Civil War), and Quincy, Jackson, and other political opponents of Henry Clay plan to have slavery end in the US when Clay's presidential term is finished.

Flag of the Arkansas Army
Flag of the Arkansas Army

[edit] Themes

  • As in other Flint's novels, 1824: The Arkansas War is heavily centred around American democracy and equality for all men. In this particular novel, Eric Flint is attacking the historical event of American exploitation of Blacks, as well as Native Aborigines.

[edit] Historical Figures Appearing in the Novel

[edit] External links