The Boy Settlers

Loosely based upon Brooks's own experience of moving from Dixon, Illinois to the Kansas Territory in 1857, the book takes place just before the outset of the Civil War - during the period that was known as 'Bleeding Kansas' (a term that described a brief period of violence within the area over whether Kansas would enter statehood as a free or slave state). Settlers who were both for and against slavery flocked to the Territory in an effort to influence the decision to meet their own desired ends - at times using corrupt, coercive, or even violent means to make certain that the vote for or against slave-statehood leaned in their desired end's favor. To make things even more convoluted, two disparate governments - with separate constitutions - existed alongside one another as well. This often led to situations of one city or another being a bastion of one way of thought, while another - often nearby - was for the opposing viewpoint. The migrant Illinoisans at the center of the work (brothers-in-law, Mr. Howell & Mr. Bryant, and their sons Sandy & Charlie Howell and Oscar Bryant) understand full-well what they're getting themselves into. And - as vociferous anti-slavery advocates - they refuse to be cowed by pro-slavery ne'er-do-wells. They choose to stake out a homestead near Fort Riley, Kansas, and it is from here that the tales of their (and their neighbors) struggles, adventures, and triumphs begin to spool out in earnest. Native Americans, bison, political and social intrigue, and a great deal of historical insight are all present and accounted for in an intimate look at a slice of historic life during the protracted founding of what would ultimately become the United States of America.