MO ROSLYN-Stagecoach from Junction City, Kansas

          Junction City is so named due to its position at the confluence of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers, which forms the Kansas River.

          Originally, the site was intended for a city that Andrew J. Mead of New York planned in 1854. The Cincinnati-Manhattan Company of “Free Staters” connected to the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company planned for a community to be called Manhattan. Unfortunately, when the steamship Hartford delivered the immigrants, it could not reach the site because of low water on the Kansas River. The Free Staters settled eight miles east in what today is Manhattan, Kansas.

          The city that did develop went by several names before local farmers in the region renamed it Junction City and formally incorporated it in 1859. It did not have the same colorful history as its nearby neighbor, Lawrence, Kansas, possibly because of close proximity (four miles) to a major military institution, Fort Riley.

          In addition to Junction City enjoying a certain amount of commerce due to its proximity to the fort, in its early years, it became an agricultural region with settlers pouring in and buying land.

Junction City, Kansas

          Junction City became a stage stop for the Kansas Stage Company line as early as 1860. In September 1865, David Butterfield of the Butterfield Overland Despatch (no, that is not a typo on Despatch) also established a station in Junction City for his line. The two companies served some of the same communities along the Smoky Hill Trail, but the Butterfield Overland Despatch continued west beyond the Kansas Stage Line all the way to Denver, Colorado. 

          (Butterfield is a well-known name when it comes to stagecoach companies. However, there is no relationship between David Butterfield who started the B.O.D. in Kansas and John Butterfield who ran the Butterfield Overland Mail Company from St. Louis, Missouri south through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Territories, and California in the 1850s until he lost the mail contract for that route at the start of the American Civil War.)

          In Mail Order Roslyn, Roslyn came to Junction City to marry a man she knew not at all except from a letter. While she waits for him, she visits the livery close to where she is staying. There she meets a man who plays an ongoing role in the story. This man was also a minor character in my last book, Hannah’s Handkerchief. When it is time to leave Junction City, Roslyn boards a stagecoach on the Butterfield Overland Despatch to travel to her next destination.

          For a chance to win one of two prizes—first prize, a $10 Amazon gift card; second prize, two Zina Abbott ebooks of the winner’s choice—complete the Rafflecopter below no later than Friday, May 1, 2020. The answer to one of the questions on the Rafflecopter is found in this blog post. To find yesterday’s post, CLICK HERE. Return tomorrow for another post with another answer.

BONUS POINTS: For an extra five points on the rafflecopter, name or describe in ten words or less a minor character in Hannah’s Handkerchief that might be the man Roslyn meets in the Junction City livery.

          Mail Order Roslyn is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not yet sharing the book description. (See bonus points section above.) It is scheduled to be published later this week. When it is available, I will notify my readers through my newsletter and this blog, plus the Mail-Order Bride Romance Readers group on Facebook.

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A Rafflecopter Giveaway

         

MAIL ORDER ROSLYN—Stagecoach from Lawrence, Kansas

          Located in eastern Kansas between the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers, Lawrence was founded in May 1854 by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. It was named for Amos Adams Lawrence, a Republican abolitionist originally from Massachusetts, who offered financial aid and support for the settlement. With its abolitionist leanings, Lawrence was site of several conflicts prior to the American Civil War. 

          On August 21, 1863, Lawrence was attacked and destroyed by William Quantrill and hundreds of his irregular Confederate raiders. The town was targeted because of its long-time support of abolition and its reputation as a center for the Jayhawkers (also known as “Red-legs” because of the red leggings the men wore) who were free-state militia and vigilante groups led by Gen. James Lane. Jayhawkers, whose reputation was on par with the Confederate-supporting bushwhackers, were known for attacking plantations in pro-slavery Missouri’s western counties.  

          Quantrill himself said that his motivation for the attack was "to plunder, and destroy the town in retaliation for Osceola." Osceola was attacked by the Jayhawkers in 1861. Led by Senator James H. Lane. Osceola was plundered and nine men were executed.

          Charles L Robinson, the first Governor of Kansas and an eyewitness to the raid on Lawrence, also characterized the attack as an act of vengeance: "Before this raid the entire border counties of Missouri had experienced more terrible outrages than ever the Quantrill raid at Lawrence... There was no burning of feet and torture by hanging in Lawrence as there was in Missouri, neither were women and children outraged."

          One of the objectives of Quantrill’s raid was to capture James Lane who was by then a Brigadier General in the Union Army. The raiders did not find Lane who hid during the attack—some sources claim in a cornfield, others in a ditch. However, the raiders did burn most of the houses and businesses in Lawrence. Between 150 and 200 civilian men and boys were rounded up and murdered.

1867 Massachusetts St., Lawrence, Kansas

          Mail Order Roslyn is set in 1866 after the Civil War. Although none of the story takes place in Lawrence, Kansas, some of the characters—active in the story or part of the backstory—were affected by Quantrill’s raid. Roslyn had been living in Lawrence, Kansas when she first boarded the Kansas Stage Company stagecoach prior to the beginning of the story.

          For a chance to win one of two prizes—first prize, a $10 Amazon gift card; second prize, two Zina Abbott ebooks of the winner’s choice—complete the Rafflecopter below no later than Friday, May 1, 2020. The answer to one of the questions on the Rafflecopter is found in this blog post. Return tomorrow for another post with another answer for the Rafflecopter.

          Mail Order Roslyn is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not yet sharing the book description. It is scheduled to be published later this week. When it is available, I will notify my readers through my newsletter and this blog, plus the Mail-Order Brides Romance Readers group on Facebook.

Click on link:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(Starts 4/29/20)

 

Saturday Snippet: Taking the Fight Closer to Them

The following snippet is taken from 

Hannah's Handkerchief 

Book 24 in the series, 

Lockets and Lace

          “Yes, we’re dismantling our role in the Salina Stockade, but it's not because the threat from the hostiles has ended. We are taking the fight closer to them. Fort Ellsworth is only the first fort to the west that is planned. There will be one or two others in Kansas, just on the Smoky Hill Trail alone. Forts Riley and Ellsworth are both close to the Santa Fe Trail in the eastern part of the state. Troopers can cut south on the smaller trails to meet any native resistance there. Then, on the Santa Fe Trail, there is Fort Zarah at the big bend of the Arkansas River and, farther on, Fort Larned. After that is Bent’s old fort in Colorado Territory.” He paused. “I hope I’m not boring you. If so, I apologize.”

          Hannah shook her head. “No. I know where you’re talking about as far as the rivers and mountains. Except for when we’ve been in the middle of an Indian scare, until this past year, I attended school in Salina, even when Miss Thatcher held classes in a house in town. Mama taught us all reading, writing, and basic ciphering at home, of course, and German, since she came from a German-speaking family. What our teacher did was have me help the younger children in exchange for loaning me books of higher learning on history and geography.

[Upon the advice of one of my advance readers, I added a map of the forts that were named in this book to the front of any future downloads. Since those who bought Hannah's Handkerchief on preorder or immediately after publication did not get the map, here it is: ]

Hannah's Handkerchief is now available for sale or for no additional cost with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. To view the book description and purchase link, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

All seven of the Lockets & Lace books for 2020 have been released.

My next book, Mail Order Roslyn, Book 9 in the series, Widows, Brides & Secret Babies, is due out at the end of this coming week. It is not on preorder, and there is a reason I am not sharing the book description yet. Join the fun leading up to this book's release by visiting this blog this Monday, April 27th.