Jack ONeal left his uncle Rods sawmill on the New River in Virginia to seek adventure. Travels through the Alleghany Mountains at the beginning of the Civil War and the industrial revolution bring unexpected twists and turns as the conflict deepens. Skirmishes increased between the two conflicting political parties. Jack had friends on both sides of the New River. The northwest side of the river opposed slavery. The southeast side wanted state rights as slave owners to purchase blacks as property to meet the increasing demand for cotton. With changing times, loyalty among friends changes, both in the North and South. Jack finds himself caught up in a sweeping story of passions, hopes, and greed. He quickly learns the part he must play on both sides of the New River. Thrilling adventures of riding on raging rivers in bateaus and fledging railroads, combined with stunning backgrounds of mountain trails throughout the region, have unexpected twists and turns as the conflict deepens and the country splits. Jack meets exciting action at every turn. He encounters misfits, immigrants, armies, national leaders, and beautiful women who captivate his heart along the way.

Coppa Hembo was a fascinating historical figure. Born of a Maidu father and Washoe mother he would rise to become the primary Huuk (Chief ) for nearly 50 years over the Hill Nisenan band of the Southern Maidu, with authority over the Maidu and Washoe people living on the Divide between the forks of the Natoman (American) River. As a young man he had been attacked by a grizzly bear which he managed to kill, permanently disfigured by the mauling he was given the name Coppa Hembo (Grizzly Bear Killer). He would lead his people in battles against slave raiders but managed to keep his people out of both the First and Second Indian Wars of El Dorado County continuing to live in peace with the horde of invading miners. Coppa Hembo’s leadership included arranging for his people to be vaccinated against small pox in 1852. His reputation for wisdom and impartiality found him serving as both a judge and keeper of the peace for both Indians and non-Indians. A staunch proponent of education he arranged to help the local school system during conflicts arising from the American Civil War. He would guide his people into full integration into the American society thus saving them from being rounded up and herded onto reservations. His is not a story of tragedy but instead one of triumph for a true American Hero.

7. Haudenosaunee/Ohswekenhró:non Interventions in Settler Colonialism -- Land -- Political Difference -- Knowing -- Epilogue: Hypervisible Settler Colonial Terrains and Remembering a Haudenosaunee Future -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Daniel Haines uncovers the history of one of the most important factors in relations between these two South Asian powers -- water

A Kingdom Divided uncovers how evangelical Christians in the border states influenced debates about slavery, morality, and politics from the 1830s to the 1890s. Using little-studied events and surprising incidents from the region, April E. Holm argues that evangelicals on the border powerfully shaped the regional structure of American religion in the Civil War era. In the decades before the Civil War, the three largest evangelical denominations diverged sharply over the sinfulness of slavery. This division generated tremendous local conflict in the border region, where individual churches had to define themselves as being either northern or southern. In response, many border evangelicals drew upon the “doctrine of spirituality,” which dictated that churches should abstain from all political debate. Proponents of this doctrine defined slavery as a purely political issue, rather than a moral one, and the wartime arrival of secular authorities who demanded loyalty to the Union only intensified this commitment to “spirituality.” Holm contends that these churches’ insistence that politics and religion were separate spheres was instrumental in the development of the ideal of the nonpolitical southern church. After the Civil War, southern churches adopted both the disaffected churches from border states and their doctrine of spirituality, claiming it as their own and using it to supply a theological basis for remaining divided after the abolition of slavery. By the late nineteenth century, evangelicals were more sectionally divided than they had been at war’s end. In A Kingdom Divided, Holm provides the first analysis of the crucial role of churches in border states in shaping antebellum divisions in the major evangelical denominations, in navigating the relationship between church and the federal government, and in rewriting denominational histories to forestall reunion in the churches. Offering a new perspective on nineteenth-century sectionalism, it highlights how religion, morality, and politics interacted—often in unexpected ways—in a time of political crisis and war.

Civil War Chaplains wondered whose side God was on, and if their ministries might be in vain. They saw, on both sides, God's Spirit at work. Was the Spirit divided, was God punishing both North and South for their sins, or was there some other explanation for this seemingly endless war?