Thread: Forbidden Desires ( loneiysong & CrimsonMaster )

The American Civil War, also less commonly known as the War Between the States, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America, also known as the Confederacy. Led by Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy fought for its independence from the United States. The U.S. federal government was supported by twenty mostly Northern free states in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five slave states that became known as the border states. These twenty five states, referred to as the Union, had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. After four years of bloody, devastating warfare, mostly within the Southern states. The Confederacy surrendered and slavery was outlawed everywhere in the nation. In the presidential election of 1860, the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, had campaigned against the expansion of slavery beyond the states in which it already existed. The Republicans were strong advocates of nationalism and in their 1860 platform explicitly denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason. After a Republican victory, but before the new administration took office on March 4, 1861, seven cotton states declared their secession and joined together to form the Confederate States of America. Both the outgoing administration of President James Buchanan and the incoming administration rejected the legality of secession, considering it rebellion. The other eight slave states rejected calls for secession at this point. No country in the world recognized the Confederacy. Hostilities began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate forces attacked a U.S. military installation at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. Lincoln responded by calling for a volunteer army from each state to recapture federal property. This led to declarations of secession by four more slave states. Both sides raised armies as the Union seized control of the border states early in the war and established a naval blockade that virtually ended cotton sales on which the South depended for its wealth, and blocked most imports. Land warfare in the East was inconclusive in 186162, as the Confederacy beat back Union efforts to capture its capital, Richmond, Virginia. In September 1862, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made ending slavery in the South a war goal, and dissuaded the British from intervening. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee won battles in Virginia, but in 1863 his northward advance was turned back with heavy casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg. To the west, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River after their capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi by Union General Ulysses S. Grant, thereby splitting the Confederacy in two. Thomas Harper left West Point as a young handsome 2nd Lieutenant. He joined the 6th United States cavalry and was assigned to company C at the start of the war in 1861. His father is a wealthy business man in his hometown of Boston. Thomas joined the military academy at west point at the age of 18 in the year 1854. He is the oldest of 3 children, he has a sister Rachel who is 18 and a brother Daniel who is 17, his mother Martha, father Joseph and the family still live in Boston. Thomas had a girl who he was going to marry, but she died of scarlet fever in 1862. Thomas was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in 1862 and after the battle of Gettysburg in 1863 he was promoted to Captain of company C in the 4th United States Cavalry. The 6th US Cavalry was transferred from the Army of the Potomac to the Army of the Cumberland in late 1863 just before the Battles for Chattanooga. During these battles the Colonel of the 6th US Cavalry and his second in command were killed leaving Thomas in command of the entire Cavalry unit. Although Thomas was only 27 years old when he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in December of 1863 taking full command of the 6th US Cavalry which continued to head south then moved into Georgia. During the early years of the war, the south seemed unbeatable. That all changed during 1863. The Union finally found commanders who could not only fight, but win as well. Among these commanders was Colonel Thomas Harper. The 6th US Cavalry under Thomas's command became known for it's ability to fight and win battles. Thomas was heralded in northern papers as a hero. Images of him riding his black stallion Shadow into battle trilled school boys all over the north. While most of the north viewed Thomas as a hero, most of the southern people saw him as a villain. However, these people's view began to change when some of their own soldiers turned against them. A disgraced southern Officer named Major Bartholomew Bart Tyler, better known as Butcher Bart began raiding southern farms and plantations. Major Tyler had been arrested for actions unbecoming an officer. He some of his men stood accused of raping a number of young women from a town in Georgia during 1864. Tyler was on his way to prison when some of his men freed him. Now free, Tyler his men began terrorizing the country sides. They had become outlaws stealing whatever they wanted. Tyler never forgot Colonel Clayton Smith and his son Captain James Smith. They were the ones who brought charges against Tyler for rape. And it was they who Tyler held responsible for his military career ending. It took Tyler some months of avoiding both the Union Confederate Armies which were looking for him and his men, before he finally found Colonel Smith's daughter. Tyler his men kept a close eye on the doings at the Smith Plantation over a few days. They had found Colonel Smith's daughter had been spending a lot of time with a young black slave. Tyler found it funny that Colonel Smith's only daughter was a nigger's whore. Well, Tyler decided that she would pay for her father's sins against him. If Colonel Smith's daughter enjoyed being a whore, she'd service Tyler his men.