IT1800s

1812 – War of 1812 begins as Congress declares war on England in attempt to force changes to laws harmful to U. S. Shipping. Parliament, unaware of the declaration, suspends those laws.

1813 – First appearance of The Gentleman, assisting Andrew Jackson’s fight in the south.

1816 – The Gentleman interferes with the Underground Railroad, but is unable to stop its operation.

1819 – The Gentleman recaptures 20 runaway slaves from the Underground Railroad.

1823 – The Gentleman is killed in a slave uprising. Slave escapes increase. 1828 – The Tariff of Abominations are passed, severely hurting the southern economy.

1831 – Nat Turner’s slave rebellion results in the deaths of 20 whites and 40 blacks.

1837 – Elijah Lovejoy, publisher of abolitionist newspaper The Observer, is attacked and nearly killed. He describes his defender as a ‘woman of unsurpassed beauty and ferocity’. Later recognised as the first appearance of Lady Liberty II.

1839 – Slave rebellion aboard Spanish ship Amistad. Ex-slaves are sent back to Africa. Lady Liberty II protects an Underground Railroad house until all within can leave. She is denounced by southern landowners, and supported by abolitionists and freed slaves.

1844 – The Puritan appears in Illinois, protecting several people and making sermons. Later that year, his appearance helps to calm a mob in Carthage, preventing the murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, but the Mormons are still driven out of Illinois. Joseph Smith later dies en route to Utah.

1847 – Frederick Douglass begins publishing abolitionist newspaper in New York. His first issue has an interview with Lady Liberty II, in which she scathingly attacks slavery.

1850 – Compromise of 1850, strengthening the Fugitive Slave Law in exchange for California’s admission into the union as a free state, is attacked by both Frederick Douglass and Lady Liberty II.

1854 – Demonstrations erupt in Boston upon arrest of fugitive slave Anthony Burns. Lady Liberty II is one of the leaders of the demonstrations.

1860 – South Carolina secedes from the union over unwillingness to accept Abraham Lincoln as President – ostensibly due to his support for economic policies hurtful to the South.

1861 – After the secession of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana, the Confederate States of America are formed. Virginia joins later, with Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. Lincoln suspends Habeas Corpus in parts of the union. Lady LIberty II initially supports the CSA's right to Secede – though remaining very outspoken against slavery – publicly damning Lincoln for suspending habeas corpus.

1862 – After the CSA passes the Conscription Act for Confederacy, Lady Liberty II withdraws what support she'd given. She continues to withhold her support from the Union as well, and newspapers supporting Lincoln (Whether willingly or not) pillory her in the press. 1863 – Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the Confederacy, but not in loyal slave states. Lady Liberty II attacks this policy, demanding that – if he’s going to free the slaves, it should be all of them – but due to his control of the press, isn’t heard by many. The Union wins Battle of Gettysburg by a very narrow margin. Difficulty is blamed on Southern spies.

1864 – Lady Liberty II is taken into custody by Northern Troops as she attempts to speak to war protesters.

1865 – Sherman completes his march to the sea, though he suffers heavy casualties among his officer corps to snipers until he hides them entirely inside his army. One sniper is caught outside Atlanta and hanged. Legends arise almost overnight of ‘Greycloak’ and the damage he did to Sherman’s forces. Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox court house. Rumours begin to surface of spying efforts by both sides, limited to code names; Temperance, Liberty Belle, Minuteman and The Gentleman.

1866 – Andrew Johnson pardons Lady LIberty II after Lincoln’s death, and she’s released from prison. Her legendary beauty ravaged by her stay in prison, she drops out of sight entirely. Ku Klux Klan begins operation in Tennessee, opposed by Liberty Belle, acting openly.

1868 – The KKK, having spread throughout the south, cause trouble for Union military police. Liberty Belle, having failed to stop them at the start, begins lecturing against them wherever she goes. In late 1868, she’s ambushed by a large group of KKK members and slaughtered in the street.

1870 – Enforcement Act allows for Federal intervention against Ku Klux Klan. Several raids are lead by Temperance or Minuteman.

1871 – Anti-Chinese riot in Los Angeles results in more than 30 deaths. Nearly half those deaths are attributed to a Chinese team – male and female – who call themselves Swan and Tiger.

1873 – Swan and Tiger prevent another riot without losing a single life. Anti-Chinese vigilantes find out who Tiger and Swan are, and abduct Swan off the street, though they leave several dead behind. Tiger begins killing almost indiscriminately as he looks for her. Swan escapes from her captors by killing the entire gang.

1874 – Swan and Tiger drop out of sight. Occasionally, anti-chinese vigilantes are found dead in their style, but neither is ever seen again.

1875 – Minuteman is ambushed by KKK and captured. Several days later, a flayed body, purportedly his, is found in a nearby town.

1877 – Anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco. The riots are far more brutal than anyone would expect. Some of the rioters are recognised as coming from Los Angeles.

1880 – Temperence speaks out against the Women’s Temperance League (formed in 1874) as they begin claiming that she’s with them. After a great deal of wrangling, she openly retires her use of the name, stating ‘the Women’s League is giving Temperance a bad name.’

1885 – The Gentleman goes public, revealing not only his name, but his participation in the KKK and the names of everyone in his command. The reason for this revelation is never discovered, as he is killed several weeks later – though not soon enough to prevent prosecution for virtually all of his command.

1892 – Homestead Strike against Carnegie Steel. Pinkerton Detectives called in to break strike. A riot breaks out, but is quelled by a large black man calling himself John Henry. Six people die.

1896 – Klondike Gold Rush begins in Alaska. Gold claims are largely protected by a mountain man and his trained Kodiak.

As a follow up note to what I posted on the front page, let me note that the Civil War is always a hot point for many people. While there are minor differences in the Meta-Storm universe, one constant remains, a constant in most wars. Neither side covered themselves in glory. I think we can all agree that the CSA would not have been a good place to live for just about anybody, and be very glad that slavery was abolished. I'll leave it at that.