Henry Fleming

Henry Fleming was a Civil War Veteran and later President of the United States from 1897 to 1901.

## Biography

### Red Badge of Courage

Henry Fleming, born in January 29th of 1843 on New York City, was a civil war veteran, at first he was infamously known at first for shamefully having deserted his regiment during the civil war thinking it was a lost case, just to later learn about the Union´s victory. Ashamed he had ran into a nearby forest, stumbling upon injured men from battle, among them his childhood friend James Conklin.

Shocked by the death of his friend, Fleming ran into a retreating column in disarray fleeing in panic, getting hit accidentally by a rifle and getting injured. His fellow soldiers assumed this was an injury from battle.

Fleming went into battle once again at the next morning, encountering a group of confederates and proving himself a capable soldier. While looking for water for his friends, Fleming overheard his commanding officer, Colonel Buck Barnes, speaking casually about sacrificing the 304th unit.

As the unit went towards the confederacy, the flag bearer fell, thus Henry Fleming leaded the regiment against their enemies, making the confederate soldiers run away, and capturing 4 of them as prisoners. Henry would later come clean about his first injury, admitting having ran away at first, but no one disrespected him after his brave actions.

### Project S.T.E.A.M.

A few years after his actions at the civil war Henry Fleming was assigned to secure the American Embassy in London, at the opening of the Steamgate Bridge. For this task he had been given a lesser version of the armor Anthony Stark, Lord Iron had used during the 17th century. It came up useful at the end, considering aliens started attacking London. The two are then rescued by an airship called the Lady Liberty, captained by the assumed dead President Abraham Lincoln. He explains that he faked his death upon becoming a vampire, but warned that the city was under attack by aliens and conscripts the two into the strike force S.T.E.A.M. league (short for Strike Team Eliminating the Alien Menace)

After rescuing Queen Victoria, the soldiers left England and retreated to America, though they were delayed by another alien that was defeated by Lincoln on his engine known as A.B.E. (Antromorphized Battle Engine). Swinging to Boston in order to help the forces there meeting with Ishmael and recieving a call from Professor Randolph Carter Sr. (his son ironically would also research about Eldrich Abominations).

Carter says to Lincoln that the aliens weren't just after his research, but also the Necronomicon which has led to numerous discoveries that have improved technology manifold. It was kept at Miskatonic until recently and the team sets forth for its current location: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, directly under the White House. They manage to get to the White House, meeting with the heroine known as the Fox and the warrior Califa, as well as the acting president Asa Trenchard.

With the Necronomicon, Carter concludes that the source of the threat is the Great Shugguth, a creature that can perpetually create soldiers, left behind by the aliens 200 million years ago for reasons unknown. The Shugguth is buried underneath the South Pole so the team stops by Monument Valley to repair and refuel. However, their base comes under attack and they barely manage to escape with Lincoln critically injured.

When all hope seems lost, a strange light appears in the Lady Liberty, with Glynda taking them to Oz, which is also under attack, they save the current royals. The Muchnick engineers upgrade ABE so its capable of drilling through the ice in the South Pole.

Returning to Earth, they hear from General Ulysses S. Grant that half the planet has been frozen over and that they are running out of time.  Fighting through the aliens’ lair, they manage to confront the Starface and defeat it, though the Shugguth turns mad and goes on a rampage. Lincoln faces off against the great beast, but in its death throes it intends to take out the entire planet. Lincoln then self-destructs A.B.E., destroying the Shugguth but at the cost of his own life. With the planet saved, S.T.E.A.M. pays their final farewells to Lincoln, throwing a bouquet into the great chasm where he made his last stand and are joined by other airships doing the same. A post-credits sequence reveals Lincoln’s hat, but an emerald key is nearby, hinting he may have survived to another death-like situation.

### Politics

Inspired by Lincoln he later became a senator of New York city. It is unclear when Henry Fleming began to seriously prepare a run for president, but he mostly got support from the likes of Thomas Sawyer (whom had helped during the STEAM incident), as he quietly built support for a presidential bid through 1895 and early 1896. He chose George Hazard,, who came close to defeating him in the primaries, as his running mate.

At late 1896, he faced against the democratic candidate, a populist lawyer from Nebraska, Matthew Harrison Brady. With his eloquence and youthful energy his major assets in the race, Brady decided on a whistle-stop political tour by train on an unprecedented scale. Instead of going to the people, Fleming would remain at home in New York and allow the people to come to him. Fleming made himself available to the public every day except Sunday, receiving delegations from the front porch of his home. The railroads subsidized the visitors with low excursion rates. Once there, they crowded close to the front porch—from which they surreptitiously whittled souvenirs—as their spokesman addressed Fleming. The candidate then responded, speaking on campaign issues in a speech molded to suit the interest of the delegation. The speeches were carefully scripted to avoid extemporaneous remarks; even the spokesman's remarks were approved by Fleming or a representative. Most Democratic newspapers refused to support Bryan, the major exception being the New York Journal, controlled by William Randolph Hearst, a rival of Charles Foster Kane whose fortune was based on silver mines

The 1896 presidential election is often seen as a realigning election, in which Fleming's view of a stronger central government building American industry through protective tariffs and a dollar based on gold triumphed. The voting patterns established then displaced the near-deadlock the major parties had seen since the Civil War; the Republican dominance begun then would continue until 1932, another realigning election with the ascent of Craig Stanley

### Presidency

He was known as an energetic and bold President who launched the Spanish-American War in search of glory for his country. Fleming was aided by his Vice President, fellow Civil War Veteran George Hazard. However, the effects of the Panic of 1893 resulted in significant domestic unrest. During the war, Fleming suppressed a black nationalist insurrection led by Bernard Belgrave to establish an independent African-American nation in Texas. The Spanish Navy attacked New York City; and convinced the Japanese to attack Hawaii, recently annexed by the U.S. Fleming repelled both invasions and forced Spain and Japan to sue for peace.

However, San Francisco was damaged by Japanese attack. By winning the war, America annexed Puerto Rico and the Philippines, while establishing itself as a world power. Fleming also supported Thomas Edison's invasion of Mars following the Martian invasion of Britain. In 1899, the Boxer Rebellion, with the support of the Chinese government, launched a global uprising against Western imperialism. With the aid of Chinese expatriates, the Chinese government occupied California and Oregon. Additionally black nationalists allied with the Chinese seized control of the Caribbean and launched a failed attack on Florida. However, Chinese supply lines were vastly overextended, and thus the uprisings were defeated by the European powers and Japan, though this would lead to the secession of the Floating City of Columbia.

In 1899, anarchist uprisings in Chicago and New York occurred due to the ongoing Depression which resulted in over 400 deaths. On the last day of the 19th century, the United Societies of Africans, Mulattos, Quadroons, and Octoroons (AMQUO), a group of Belgrave devotees, launched a violent revolution against white society. The rebellion was suppressed, and the insurgents fled into the countryside and were exterminated.

In 1900, Fleming and his running mate Theodore Roosevelt would win an easy re-election against Matthew Harrison Brady. Soon after his second inauguration on March 4, 1901, he and his wife undertook a six-week tour of the nation. Traveling mostly by rail, the Flemings were to travel through the South to the Southwest, and then up the Pacific coast and east again, to conclude with a visit on June 13, 1901, to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. However, the First Lady fell ill in California, causing her husband to limit his public events and cancel a series of speeches he had planned to give urging trade reciprocity. He also postponed the visit to the fair until September, planning a month in Washington and two in New York before the Buffalo visit.

On September 5, the President delivered his address at the fairgrounds, before a crowd of some 50,000 people. In his final speech, Fleming urged reciprocity treaties with other nations to assure American manufacturers access to foreign markets. He intended the speech as a keynote to his plans for a second term. One man in the crowd, later revealed to be an agent of an organization called The Council of Nine, hoped to assassinate Fleming. He had managed to get close to the presidential podium, but did not fire, uncertain of hitting his target. He would later get another chance Temple of Music on the Exposition grounds, where the President was to meet the public. The assassin concealed his gun in a handkerchief, and, when he reached the head of the line, shot Fleming twice in the abdomen. The assassin's name was never known, but oftenly used the alias of “Shelly DeKiller”

At 2:15 a.m. on September 14, President Fleming died. Theodore Roosevelt had rushed back to Buffalo and took the oath of office as president. The assassin known as Shelly DeKiller would later be killed himself, which frustrated Roosevelt whom wanted to bring him to justice after his friend's death.