CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE UNION

THE CONFEDERACY

THE DISPUTED TERRITORIES

CANADA AND ALASKA

MEXICO

THE MANIFEST DESTINED

INTRODUCTION

In 2014, Osprey Publishing stunned the military history community with the release of Steampunk Soldiers: Uniforms & Weapons from the Age of Steam. This wide-reaching collection of military artwork by Miles Vandercroft challenged many of the commonly held assumptions about warfare in the Victorian era, and, in many cases, provided the only contemporary visual evidence for specific weapons created during that time. The book went on to win the coveted Windrow Award for Military History, the Fraser Prize, and a special ‘Service to Military History’ citation from the European Society of Nineteenth-Century Warfare.

Unsurprisingly, in the months after release, Osprey received numerous letters, emails, and phone calls from people claiming to have found similar collections. This included no fewer than 37 people purporting to own other lost works by Miles Vandercroft. While most of these claims were quickly dismissed as the works of tricksters, attention-seekers, and even a couple of low-grade forgers, it still left several cases that demanded further attention. We made several trips to remote parts of Britain, and even one to the Continent to examine artwork collections. Although we saw some beautiful collections, most were obviously not created by Miles Vandercroft. Only in one case were we ever in doubt. This was a small collection of military figure drawings uncovered in Cornwall. The artwork style was similar, but there was no text accompanying the pieces. Artwork experts were brought in and, after several weeks, we concluded that, unfortunately, the works were not created by Vandercroft. So, after months of furious activity, nothing more had been discovered, and there the matter rested.

A few months later, the Osprey office received a phone call from Reginald Foster Highgate, the great-great nephew of the famous newspaper publisher. Instead of making the wild pronouncements we were by then used to hearing, Mr Highgate suggested that he might be in possession of another collection of works by Miles Vandercroft. Soon after, Mr Highgate emailed a few photos of the works in question, and two things were immediately noticeable. First, the paintings looked very similar in style to Vandercroft’s known works, and second, and more crucially, they were accompanied by written notes in a very familiar handwriting. This discovery was especially exciting as, unlike the paintings, Vandercroft’s handwriting did not appear in the book, and had never been made public.

Eagerly, we made plans to visit Mr Highgate in California, in the hopes that the collection was indeed a legitimate find. Landing in Los Angeles, we rented a car and drove to Pasadena to meet Mr Highgate face-to-face and examine the paintings. Although it would be several months before the artistic experts confirmed it, we knew right away that the collection was authentic.

Mr Highgate knew very little of the origins of the collection. He had found it in his parents’ attic after their deaths. As far as he remembered, he had never seen it before and his parents had never spoken about it. How it came into their possession will likely never be known. Because of this, Mr Highgate had no particular attachment to the collection and allowed us to take it away with an eye towards publication.

The collection you hold in your hands is essentially the same as the one that we first saw in Mr Highgate’s living room. We have cleaned up a bit of Miles Vandercroft’s wandering punctuation, and made a few assumptions where there were missing or indecipherable words but, wherever possible, we have left the text as Vandercroft wrote it. The artwork has been photographed and tidied up in a few places where time and dust have damaged it.

We hope readers will agree this new collection adds a whole new chapter to the story of Miles Vandercroft and the history of warfare in the Age of Steam. Unlike the first volume, which included illustrations of soldiers from all around the world, this collection is completely focused on those in North America. In many cases, the characters depicted blur the definition of what exactly constitutes a soldier, but this fact alone says something very important about warfare in North America at the time. This was an era that was less about governments and organized armies, and more about individual fighting men and women in a vast and often lawless land. It was a time that helped form the national characters of the United and Confederate States and gave them many of their greatest folk heroes.

It is our hope that this work will be accepted with the same enthusiasm as the original Steampunk Soldiers book. While we suspect it will be the last major collection of the works of Miles Vandercroft to appear in print, we held the same belief about the previous volume. Who knows what the future may bring or what it may uncover of the past?

Philip Smith & Joseph A. McCullough

Osprey Publishing

Oxford 2016

For all its size, resources and wealth, the Union found itself stretched thin following the armistice of 1869. To the south lay the Confederacy, an old enemy with whom peace was simply a precursor to renewed violence, while to the north sat Canada and the British Empire, an even older enemy and – in the eyes of Union politicians – the rival of the future. Internally, meanwhile, native tribes resisted efforts at relocation, labour movements agitated against the industrialists that were a cornerstone of political power, and even the eastern states saw a massive increase in lawlessness and crime as former soldiers found peacetime occupations that suited their skills.

The Union military, however, was still one of the most advanced in the world, and this gave it an equal chance in any fight. Indeed, the ability of Union forces to respond swiftly and effectively to a situation became the benchmark by which many nations would measure their own troops. To ensure that the initiative remained with its forces, the Union military developed a wide-ranging and varied espionage service, and also brought a number of civilian offices under its aegis, particularly those concerned with communication and transport.

Of course, any weapon, no matter how effective, is still only as good as the hand that wields it, and the Union wielded its military, political and industrial might with a pragmatic ruthlessness that put to shame many of the older powers of Europe. Whether it was a hephaestium strike on Indian land, a Confederate spy caught in Kansas City, an assault on a supply depot in the Dakota Territory, or the blockade of Mexican ports, the Union response would be invariably swift and decisive.

DEPUTY US MARSHAL

COLORADO TERRITORY

Ostensibly, the US Marshals are intended to provide law and order for the Union’s settlers in the Territories. Considering, however, that the Territories in which they operate are not actually part of the Union, this rather vague jurisdiction means that they frequently represent Washington as ambassadors and troubleshooters as often as they do as lawmen. Most Marshals are found in the northern Territories, but many travel further south – much to the ire of the Confederacy. While Richmond’s official policy is that US Marshals operating south of the Idaho and Dakota Territories are to be taken into custody, many local Confederate Army commanders maintain a live-and-let-live policy, quite content to have someone else – even a Northerner – enforce the law, and allow the Marshals to go about their business without obstruction.

Unlike their Southern peers in the Texas Rangers, the Marshals are responsible for equipping themselves, and their itinerant role forces them to travel light. The Deputy Marshal seen in this study is armed with a Mauser–LeMat Automatic Pistol – a versatile weapon that combines the rapid fire of an automatic pistol with the short-ranged power of the under-barrel shotgun. He also wears a Union Army-issue protective vest that, while not as sturdy as some heavier armours, has builtin plates protecting the vital organs and offers considerably improved manoeuvrability.

DEPUTY US MARSHAL

PINKERTON AGENT

CORPORATION DETAIL

Though most famous as the Presidential bodyguard, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency is not under exclusive contract to the government and has representatives across the Union (and even a few in the Confederacy, though inroads there have been limited due to the close association with the Presidency), employed by private individuals or business concerns. While careful to keep its freelance operations in line with Presidential policy, the Agency seems wise to maintain these other avenues in the face of increasingly vocal opposition to its governmental contracts and calls to prohibit such employment of private agencies.

Positions in the Agency’s New York or Washington branches are much desired and tend to attract the best and brightest, where they can make a name for themselves and, if the critics are to be believed, feather their own nests through graft. In the West, one more often finds less talented Pinkertons, as well as those being punished for drunkenness, corruption or similar offences.

In this study we see a Pinkerton operative employed on corporation detail, acting as security for a mining operation. Perhaps wisely given the current wave of labour unrest across the Union, he is heavily armed with a Colt Revolving Shotgun.

PINKERTON AGENT

MINE DETECTOR

1ST ENGINEER BATTALION

Though it sided officially with the Union, Missouri was claimed by both sides and was represented by two opposing state governments. Today, the states of North and South Missouri are divided by the path of the Missouri River, while Kansas City, sitting in the tri-border region between the two Missouris and the Union state of Kansas, finds itself on the front lines of the ‘cold war’ between Union and Confederacy.

With the Confederate Army holding the southern bank of the Missouri River and Union forces occupying the northern bank, neither side could make a definitive breakthrough and the theatre became a siege for both sides, the front lines dominated by huge defensive lines of trenches fortified with bunkers and protected by vast quantities of mines placed both on the banks and in the river itself. Decades on from the armistice of 1869, both sides are still at work removing the defences they spent so long constructing.

This study depicts a man of the 1st Engineer Battalion, equipped for the perilous task of mine detection and clearance. The task is highly dangerous, especially when clearance is more complex than simply withdrawing to a safe distance and detonating the mine with explosives, and volunteers for the detail receive additional ‘hazard pay’.

MINE DETECTOR

PRIVATE

5TH UNITED STATES ROCKET ARTILLERY

Although rocket artillery has a long history in warfare, it made its first appearance as part of the United States Army arsenal late in the Civil War in some of the smaller battles on the Eastern Front. Generally, these ‘live field-tests’ were seen as dismal failures with the rockets being so inaccurate that they were nearly as dangerous to their own side as they were to the enemy. Their only value seemed to be as a psychological weapon, as their high-pitch screech often proved highly unnerving to both men and horses.

When the war reached its eventual stalemate, the few rocket artillery units that were not disbanded were sent out West, serving as garrison troops in the plains forts or attached to cavalry troops. As it turned out, rockets proved a much more valuable asset in fighting against the Plains Indians than they had in open warfare. By firing over the heads of mounted Indians, the rockets have often been used to spook horses and break up attacks. There are some who say that General Custer would still be alive if he had not foolishly left his rocket artillery behind.

The artilleryman seen here is equipped with one of the smaller, man-portable rocket platforms. In practice, there is no art to aiming a rocket other than pointing it at the enemy. These rockets are attached by a cord to a hand-held detonator. By pulling back one trigger, the artilleryman locks the spool, causing the line to go taut and thus detonating the rocket. The other trigger cuts the line, allowing the rocket to fly free. This device gives the private some degree of control over the detonation point; however, if the rocket flies wildly off-course, or if the cord is burned through, there is little he can do.

PRIVATE

MAILMAN

UNITED STATES ARMY POSTAL SERVICE

Officially, the United States Army took charge of the postal service in late 1865, although it was several years before it assumed full control in all territories. In the North-East, this had little effect on day-to-day operations and mail carriers continued with their jobs as before, with no additional training, despite their new designation as ‘soldiers’. Only in the border states were mailmen required to carry firearms, and even there, according to rumour, most of these weapons went unloaded.

The situation in the West, however, was completely different. Carrying mail across the empty distances of the western states and territories had long been a dangerous job, and, before the war, most of it was done by private companies. Western mailmen needed to be tough, highly trained, and capable of independent operations in potentially hostile territory, if essential lines of communication were to be maintained.

This study depicts a long-serving member of the United States Postal Service in the West. He is dressed in the official postal uniform, including the famous mailbag. Mailmen are generally allowed to choose their own firearms, and he has gone with the LeMat ‘Doublefire’, a favourite among the various stagecoach services. Like many mailmen, he is accompanied by a dog (officially called a ‘hound’ by the army) which, judging by the armour, has been trained to attack and kill any would-be mail thieves.

MAILMAN

CORPORAL

UNITED STATES ARMY SIGNAL CORPS

In the East, the United States Army Signal Corps spends most of its time and resources maintaining the vast telegraph network and experimenting with the new wireless technology. Neither of these, however, are of practical value to signalmen in the West. These soldiers relay on older forms of communication, albeit with a modern technological flare. When in the field, the members of the Corps operate in small groups, usually of three to four men, and can often spend weeks, or occasionally even months, in high, lonely places. For these reason, officers often turn a blind eye to their sometimes less than regulation uniforms.

The corporal seen here is posing with his foot on top of the 1887 T. A. Edison Signal Box. The box was adopted by the Signal Corps after the 1883 trials conclusively proved that such devices could relay signals with a much higher degree of accuracy than the average man. The signal boxes use a code similar to modern maritime semaphore and can be set to perform up to 30 movements at a time. In order to see the flags over the great western distances, at least one member of a signal team will carry a powerful, quadruple-lensed spyglass. Finally, the team will also be equipped with a large, multifaceted mirror. This is used to alert any potential observers that a signal is about to be relayed. Alternatively, if the signal box is disabled, it is possible to use this mirror to communicate via Morse Code.

CORPORAL

MEDICAL STEWARD

UNITED STATES ARMY CAVALRY

Any United States Army Cavalry unit posted in the West is required by official regulations to include at least one medical steward for every 50 men. In practice, however, most are lucky if they have even one. Despite the large amounts of money spent on training and recruitment, the United States Army is still badly short of medical personal and most of these are posted in the East. As with most things on ‘the other side of the Mississippi’ the Western Army is forced to make do with cast-offs, left-overs, and rejects. Still, a doctor with a drinking problem or a shady past is still a doctor and generally considered better than nothing.

The man depicted here is actually a ‘Medical Steward’, which means his official posting would be in the hospital inside of a fort. In fact, this means he often becomes the de facto doctor for any cavalry unit posted to the fort that doesn’t contain any other medical personnel, and will often ride out on missions. In his hand, he holds a standard United States Army 1882 Medical Implement CA2, better known to everyone as a ‘buzz saw’ due to the fearsome noise it makes when activated. Also seen, tucked into his belt, is one of the new ‘Quick Stitch’ devices for sewing up wounds, a rather new and expensive piece of equipment to be found out West.

MEDICAL STEWARD

SPECIAL SURVEILLANCE AGENT

CULPER RING

While the Pinkertons are, without a shadow of a doubt, the Union’s most famous investigators and operatives, they are by no means the only resource of this nature that the President can command. Tucked away in a quiet suite of offices at the War Department, the Culper Ring is a small agency with a surprisingly long history.

Founded in 1778 by Benjamin Tallmadge and George Washington, the original Culper Ring was a network of spies reporting on British activities in New York during the Revolution. Today, the Ring fulfils a very similar role, carrying out surveillance on suspected Confederate and British spies, double agents, labour agitators, and other such threats across the country. Due to the breadth of their operations, the Culper Ring recruits its agents from all walks of life, regardless of race, gender or social rank, allowing them to carry out covert surveillance against practically any target.

A highly technical agency, the Culper Ring is at the forefront of many technological developments, especially communications and photography. This study depicts an agent of the Culper Ring working with a concealed and portable version of Edison’s Kinetographic Camera which can capture movement, unlike the simple static images of the regular camera.

SPECIAL SURVEILLANCE AGENT

Although its propaganda from this period presented the Confederacy as an alliance of equals, opposed to the corruption and oppression of the North, the South suffered from exactly the same political rivalries, lobbying, and graft as its neighbour. Southern states competed furiously with each other, often at the expense of the nation’s greater goals, and the technological pre-eminence of Texas’ Galveston Consortium made it as dominant a political force as any of the North’s industrialists.

Despite the fact that it was not blessed with the same abundance of hephaestium as the Union, the Confederacy remained competitive by producing simple, effective and durable equipment that was soon in high demand abroad. Remaining competitive, however, did not meet Richmond’s expectations. Although the cold war with the Union and the internal security of the nation were the cornerstones of Confederate strategy, a tertiary drive was the solidification of a place as a global power through the establishment of a Confederate Empire. With the Union distracted by wars against the native tribes and increasing unrest on the Canadian border, the Confederacy looked enviously towards Mexico and the Caribbean.

Many critics have pointed to the blockade of Mexico and the punitive expeditions against bandito raids, with their vague or controversial casus belli, as acts of international theatre, intended to show off Confederate might as much as to achieve any strategic goals. Somewhat perversely, given its drive for international recognition, the South never shied away from acts that would see it condemned on the world stage, although there were also a number of assassinations and acts of sabotage for which it never took credit, despite being frequently suspected and occasionally accused.

SERGEANT

TEXAS RANGERS

Despite the fame they enjoy across the Confederacy, a Ranger’s authority officially stops at the Texas state line. That said, most Southern states will respect the duties of a Ranger who crosses into their territory in pursuit of a felon, provided they announce their presence and purpose to an appropriate representative of the state. A few instances have seen an unannounced Ranger engaging in a shootout in another state, and drawing the attention of the local authorities. Few states see any real political hay to be made by challenging the darlings of Texas on a matter of jurisdictional infringement, but the Governor of Louisiana has reportedly promised to ‘arrest, try and, by God, incarcerate the next Ranger who causes trouble on the wrong side of the Sabine River’.

The Ranger sergeant seen in this study is armed with a pair of New Haven Arms modular Volcanic Pistols. This semi-automatic pistol is available with a range of additional components that allow it to perform more roles than are usually expected of a handgun. The Ranger here has kept one of his two pistols as standard and has converted the other into a carbine with the addition of a stock and an extended barrel with pistol-style foregrip. What it might lack in performance compared to a weapon designed for one specific role, the Volcanic makes up for in versatility and convenience – a user can convert it quickly in response to a changing tactical situation and does not need to worry about ammunition compatibility.

SERGEANT

ALAMO FORTIFIED SUIT

TEXAS RANGERS

‘One riot, one Ranger’. This phrase, only recently coined, entered almost immediately into the popular consciousness across the Confederacy, but especially in Texas, where it succinctly summarized the esteem in which the Texas Rangers are held. Although the product of good-humoured braggadocio, there is some truth behind that quote, as can be seen in this study of one of the Rangers’ Alamo Fortified Suits.

Designed by the Galveston Consortium and, like many of their projects, field-tested by the Rangers, the Alamo is a steam-powered suit that can be fitted for a number of roles. In Confederate Army service, the Alamo Fortified Suit is equipped for everything from front-line combat to engineering. Indeed, the modular design and sturdy frame of the suit allows it to be quickly repurposed in-theatre – one could quite conceivably be digging trenches on Friday and storming enemy positions on Saturday. In Ranger service, however, the Alamo is intended for police actions, chiefly riot control. Equipped with a high-pressure water cannon and piloted by a single Ranger, one Alamo is intended to be able to disperse a mob, or at least keep a riot under control until reinforcements can arrive. So far, this theory has been proven correct, and the legend of ‘one riot, one Ranger’ lives on.

ALAMO FORTIFIED SUIT

FIELD RESEARCH TEAM

THE GALVESTON CONSORTIUM

Since the Civil War, the Confederacy has made great strides towards industrialization but, surprisingly perhaps, no small amount of thanks for this development is owed to a conglomeration of Northerners! Established in 1876, the Galveston Consortium was formed by a number of businessmen, inventors, and entrepreneurs who, finding little opportunity in the North, where business was dominated by governmental contracts, bidding wars, and deals behind closed doors, looked south to the more open market of the post-bellum Confederacy. Banding together and relocating to Texas’ principal port, a number of these smaller enterprises pooled their individual resources to form a whole that could compete with the North’s dominant industrialists.

Specializing in military technology, the Galveston Consortium is now a major force in the economy and politics of the Confederacy, and perhaps the dominant force in the state of Texas. While it has field-testing arrangements in place with the Confederate Army and the Texas Rangers, some of the Consortium’s inventions are far too delicate (or far too dangerous) to be entrusted to anyone other than qualified field research teams, such as the one depicted in this study. The scientist and mechanic that form this field research team are attached to an operational Confederate unit for the purposes of testing a prototype of a Sonic Discombobulator, a sound-based weapon that causes disorientation or nausea in its targets.

FIELD RESEARCH TEAM

TROOPER

CONFEDERATE CAMEL CORPS

In the early 1850s, Jefferson Davis, newly appointed Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce, authorized the creation of the first United States Camel Corps. By 1857, more than 70 camels had been imported, mostly from Egypt, and sent to the American South. Originally stationed in San Antonio, the Camel Corps proved well-suited to traversing the long, barren road from Texas to California. Immediately prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, the Corps was moved to Benicia Arsenal in California. While this move kept it safe from the Confederacy, it made it virtually irrelevant in the early stages of the war. The Corps was officially disbanded in 1862. Some of the camels were sold off, but most either escaped or were released into the wild, and sightings of feral camels are still common today.

Jefferson Davis, however, never forgot about the unit he had helped create and, in 1867, he ordered the creation of a new Confederate Camel Corps, to be based once again in San Antonio. Although it took many years, and gave rise to great difficulty in acquiring a new stock of camels, the unit officially established its new barracks in 1874. Since that time, the Confederate Camel Corps has been a small but important part of Confederate operations west of the Mississippi. Mostly these troopers serve as caravan guards, but they also operate as scouts in the more barren desert regions.

This study depicts a standard trooper and his camel. The oversized canteen, or ‘trooper’s hump’ as it is sometimes known, is equipped with its own filtration and purification system. The trooper himself is armed with the standard issue ‘Camel variant’ of the Cimarron Border Short Rifle, which features a completely removable firing mechanism for easier cleaning in dusty conditions.

TROOPER

CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER

SS PURSUIT, GRAND CAYMAN

While there are many so-called privateers taking advantage of the blockade of Mexico and the cold war between the Confederacy and the Union, most are simply those pirates with vague allegiances to the South or whose loyalties can be temporarily bought by Confederate coin. Regardless of the depth of their loyalty to the South, most privateers are to be found operating in the Caribbean, where they prey upon their Union equivalents – the blockade runners that attempt to make it through to Mexico – and civilian vessels. As most privateers and blockade runners have no official connection to either Richmond or Washington, diplomatic incidents are uncommon, and both governments loudly condemn the scourge of piracy and look the other way.

The privateer seen in this study is from the crew of the SS Pursuit, a vessel sailing out of Mobile, Alabama, but operating out of Grand Cayman, which is conveniently close to Mexican waters and also a British territory, making it as safe a harbour as any outside the Confederacy for a privateering vessel. He is dressed in a mix of civilian and military gear, perhaps marking him out as a former Confederate serviceman, and is armed with a Winchester Boarding Carbine. This savage-looking weapon incorporates an axehead with a cut-down Winchester 1889 carbine, making it a versatile option in the chaos of a boarding action.

CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER

NIGHT RANGER

2ND CONFEDERATE SCOUT BATTALION

Officially, there is no 2nd Confederate Scout Battalion. In fact, there isn’t even a 1st Confederate Scout Battalion. Despite that, if you ask almost any Southern soldier, he will talk about a man from his regiment who went off to join the Night Rangers. Generally, these men will have been the best shot in the unit; invariably they were known as stone-hearted killers.

Considering the secrecy which surrounds the battalion, it comes as little surprise that the Night Rangers are blamed for a whole host of unsolved crimes, including the kidnapping of Senator (former Secretary of War) Edwin Stanton in 1873, the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881, and the attempted assassination of Frederick Douglas in 1884. The Mexican government blames the unit for a series of political assassinations during the turbulent political year of 1872; while the government of France has unofficially blamed them for several attacks during the construction of the Panama Canal. True or false, the fact remains that the Confederacy appears to have a small unit of specially trained killers and is willing to send them wherever they are deemed necessary.

The soldier depicted here is constructed from a detailed description by a Confederate who claims to have worked with the Night Rangers on several occasions. He wears a typical Confederate uniform, but lacks any specific unit designations or markings. On night missions, which are typical for the unit, he would be equipped with a black cloak and starlight goggles. He carries a single-shot, Canadian-manufactured, Ottawa longrifle equipped with its own starlight sight.

NIGHT RANGER

BOMBARDIER

CONFEDERATE AERONAUTICS CORPS

For reasons not entirely clear, neither the Union nor Confederacy have ever developed large military dirigibles like those seen in Europe. Instead, they have concentrated on small, two- to four-man ships mainly used for reconnaissance and occasional raids. Both countries keep the majority of their fleets in the Eastern theatre, to form the first line of air defence, should the other side decide to launch a concerted attack.

The soldier depicted here is the bombardier of the Virginia’s Revenge II, one of three Confederate airships based in Texas. It is named after the famous ship that was destroyed during the successful bombing of the White House in 1864 (the first airship to successfully attack an enemy capital).

The most important piece of equipment carried by any bombardier is a compass, as their main task on any voyage is navigation. Only when the craft is within sight of its target, do they switch their focus to the dropping of explosives. This bombardier carries several ‘three-stick bombs’, meaning each bomb has an explosive capability equal to three sticks of dynamite. The ship will carry as many as 20 more such bombs as well as a pair of Winchester rifles for the crew.

BOMBARDIER

SERGEANT

7TH CONFEDERATE ENGINEERS, WESTERN HEPHAESTIUM RECOVERY UNIT

As their name implies, the soldiers of the Western Hephaestium Recovery Unit are tasked with the safe recovery, storage, and recycling of any hephaestium found west of the Mississippi River. In practice, they generally have two distinct mission types. The first is to take control of any reported hephaestium strikes and then to successfully mine them. In practice, this is comparatively rare – very little hephaestium actually fell in the territory claimed by the Southern states. More to the point, and despite the large rewards offered by the Confederate government for reporting such strikes, prospectors who do discover these rare sites can make a significantly larger amount of money by digging it up themselves and selling it on the open market. This means that the unit spends most of its time on its secondary mission, recovering hephaestium from weapons, vehicles, and assorted other equipment lost in the territory.

As the large number of one-handed hephaestium prospectors signifies, dealing with the raw element is a dangerous business and trying to remove hephaestium from damaged equipment is potentially even more deadly. As such, the members of the unit who actually handle the volatile element are equipped with heavily padded armour suits and a variety of specialist tools in an effort to minimize the danger. Despite this, it is still considered one of the more hazardous jobs in the Confederate Army, and men who wear the ‘gorilla suits’ are given bonus pay equal to those units that are actually in combat.

SERGEANT

Conflicts between the native tribes and European, later American, settlers had been a common occurrence for as long as the two groups had interacted. The Civil War, however, was more immediate and all-consuming for most Americans, Northern and Southern, than any number of skirmishes on the fringes of their nations.

With the Armistice of 1869, however, the Union and the Confederacy turned their gaze once more to the natural resources of the lands to the west. Just as before the Civil War, both Richmond and Washington authorized the removal of tribes from their lands, pushing them further west or relocating them to reservations under governmental or military supervision. Often, subsequent discoveries of gold, silver or, most importantly of all, hephaestium, if not just simple desire for land, would lead to further relocations or the reduction in size of an existing reservation.

Inevitably, in the face of such impositions, many tribes fought back. For some, this was simply armed resistance, and the Union and Confederate militaries struck back against such risings with swift and brutal punitive expeditions. With traditional tactics proving ineffective against the modern weaponry of the American militaries, other tribes forged alliances, both with each other, such as the Lakota and Cheyenne in the Dakota Territory, and also with the Confederacy or Union, following the old adage that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’.

With larger forces taking the field, and modern supplies and tactics becoming increasingly available, conflicts against the Union or Confederate militaries gradually became much less one-sided. Unable or unwilling to accept the possibility that ‘savages’ could halt the advance of a modern technological society, both Richmond and Washington focused on accusing each other of being behind various native risings – a shortsightedness that, if anything, allowed groups such as the Lakota and the Five Tribes Confederation to make even further gains.

CHIRICAHUA APACHE

ARIZONA TERRITORY

Living in lands claimed by both Mexico and the Confederacy, the Chiricahua Apache breed hardy and stubborn warriors who, from a very early age, learn to survive, hunt, and fight in the harsh territory of the South-West. While the Apache value bravery, they do not, unlike many of the Plains tribes, hold reckless daring in high regard. Rather, their warfare is one of stealth, caution, and endurance – an Apache warrior can run some 70 miles a day, conceal himself in almost any terrain with which he is familiar, and live off the land.

These skills lend themselves quite naturally to the guerrilla war many Chiricahua are fighting against the two nations that make frequent forays into their ancestral lands. Few in number and considerably out-gunned, the Chiricahua know that they cannot win a stand-up fight, so instead they lure Mexican and Confederate patrols into ambushes and carry out hit-and-run raids, striking then disappearing amongst the canyons, mesas, and deserts they call home.

Recently, the Chiricahua have been seen carrying increasingly modern armament and, almost inevitably, Confederate suspicions fall on the Union as the most likely beneficiary of any Apache rebellion. This study depicts a Chiricahua warrior armed with such a weapon – a Springfield Trapdoor RG. Designed to fire rifle grenades as well as the standard cartridge, it is ideally suited to the Chiricahua’s guerrilla war as it packs considerable punch into a relatively lightweight and portable package.

CHIRICAHUA APACHE

LAKOTA WARRIOR

DAKOTA TERRITORY

In the 1870s, reports of a great deposit of hephaestium in the sacred Black Hills attracted the attention of prospectors and government surveyors. When considerable deposits of both hephaestium and gold were discovered, it sparked a rush that brought thousands into the land, and hostilities with the natives were almost inevitable. The Lakota and Cheyenne are foremost amongst the northern tribes in causing trouble for the Union, and have enjoyed far more success than many in the North’s military may have expected. Inevitably, Washington points a finger at the Confederacy, accusing them of supplying arms to the Lakota, much as Richmond suspects the Union of arming the southern tribes.

Whatever truth lies behind the Union’s claims of Southern conspiracies, they are, in part at least, a smokescreen to distract from the simple truth that the campaign against the Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and their allies is not going as well as the government claims. Led by canny war chiefs, the natives have been striking at Union Army depots and garrisons, weakening the military forces opposing them while simultaneously arming themselves with looted modern equipment. This study shows a warrior of the Lakota and clearly shows just how effective this tactic has been – he wears a Union cavalry jacket, a bandolier of used rifle or machine-gun shells worn in the style of the traditional hairpipe breastplate, and carries a Burgess lever-action rifle that has been customized with brass tacks and a shortened barrel for ease of use on horseback.

LAKOTA WARRIOR

SERGEANT

1ST CHOCTAW BRIGADE

Originally from east of the Mississippi, five tribes, dubbed the ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ – the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee – were relocated to the Indian Territory in the 1830s. All five tribes were caught up in the madness of the Civil War, some siding with the Union with whom they had treaties, and others with the Confederacy with whom they felt a cultural connection. Individuals from the tribes fought for both North and South, while others engaged in small-scale civil wars against rival partisans. At the end of the Civil War, worn down by conflict, the councils of these five tribes realized that, while they were weak individually, together they could be strong. Thus was formed the Five Tribes Confederation.

Although the pre-Civil War United States government had legally established itself as the suzerain of the autonomous tribes, several treaties had been signed with the Confederacy. So, while neither Richmond nor Washington is happy about the emergence of an independent nation, they cannot afford to move against it for fear of driving it into the arms of their rival and potentially igniting another devastating civil war. The Confederation’s neutrality, and its borders with both the Union and the Confederacy, have also made it the continent’s preeminent marketplace – banned or restricted goods are sent to both North and South, and money pours in.

While many tribes and individuals have adopted the technology to which the Union and Confederacy have introduced them, the Five Tribes have positively embraced it, bringing in foreign instructors and equipment to build a small, but modern, army. This sergeant of the 1st Choctaw Brigade is armed with a Danish-made Rasmussen 1885 light machine gun, a rapid-fire weapon based on the venerable Gatling gun.

SERGEANT

NEZ PERCÉ HOLDOUT

IDAHO TERRITORY

Although all the Indian tribes have seen the encroachment of Europeans onto their lands, it is the northern tribes who have witnessed it on a truly industrial scale. With the richest hephaestium strikes up towards Canada, the Dakota, Idaho, Montana, and Washington Territories have seen a massive influx of prospectors, surveyors, and miners, not to mention the railroads built to support this industry. In the Idaho Territory, the Nez Percé fell especially foul of the hephaestium rush, having the bounds of their reservations moved and reduced with each new strike discovered. While many argued for peace, a few hardliners took action and began to strike back against the settlers. With so much hephaestium at stake, the Union Army quickly took the field, engaging in several skirmishes before trapping the bulk of the Nez Percé force and crushing it in the battle of Blodgett Canyon.

While the majority of the Nez Percé people now live on their reservation with close watch kept by Union forces, many of the survivors of Blodgett Canyon continue their war, travelling individually or in small groups, striking at targets of opportunity, joining the battles of other tribes or selling their renowned skills as marksmen and riders to employers who ask few questions.

In this study, a holdout, wrapped up against the cold in a Hudson’s Bay blanket capote, is armed with weapons ancient and modern – a traditional bow with stone-tipped arrows, and a Krag-Jørgensen carbine fitted with a Civil War-era scope.

NEZ PERCÉ HOLDOUT

SKY HAWK

HUALAPAI TRIBE

The Indians of the Hualapai tribe lay claim to a large territory bordering the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. In English their name means ‘people of the high trees’, a name derived from the vast stretches of tall pine forests which cover their land.

Although the Hualapai have never officially come into conflict with either the Union or the Confederacy, they have nonetheless become famous back East because of their unique band of warriors known as the Sky Hawks. This is what the Eastern newspapers call them, anyway. I have tried to learn the Hualapai name, but every time I have asked the question, I have been given a different answer. These warriors construct suits out of pinewood and animal skin which allow them to fly. To do this, they either climb to the top of one of their high trees or launch themselves off the edge of a canyon. Many people claim these warriors are really just ‘gliding’, but as they seem just as capable of going up as down once in the air, the distinction is, at best, unclear.

Despite the lurid stories told about these warriors, they are not capable of firing guns, or, much less, bows and arrows, while in the air, for it is necessary for them to keep their arms outstretched while flying. In fact, they are primarily scouts and not front-line combatants. Still, such intelligence gathering capability must make the Hualapai a fearsome enemy for anyone who attempts to attack them on their own land.

SKY HAWK

Alaska, second only to Siberia in terms of Russia’s hephaestium supply, was transformed from a largely forgotten backwater into a stronghold of industrial and scientific research. Due to the importance that St Petersburg placed on this single province, Alaska also became one of the most heavily militarized regions on the planet, comparable to the Mason–Dixon Line or the Franco-German border. Within their administrative districts, Russian military commanders wielded absolute power, and several effectively established their own petty kingdoms, lining their pockets in the name of the Tsar. For the most part, as long as order and the hephaestium quotas were maintained, St Petersburg proved willing to overlook such activities. Indeed, the leeway afforded to the Alaskan commanders seemed to attract precisely the kind of ruthless officer such a vital region demanded, and kept those same officers out of more visible positions where their ruthlessness might have become an embarrassment.

Similarly, Canada rapidly became the British Empire’s most vital territory. Unlike Alaska, however, the Empire forces in Canada were stretched thin across a huge territory, and along borders with two rival, occasionally hostile, nations. To the west, the Great Game against Russia continued as it had for decades, while to the south the Union proved to be just as wily a foe, probing the Canadian frontier with a regularity that led to numerous border skirmishes and diplomatic incidents.

Not all of Canada’s problems came from without, however. Unrest from Fenian and Métis rebels occupied the military just as much as the activities of its neighbours, and large numbers of troops were redeployed to Canada from other provinces of the Empire. Ironically, although the rebel movements in Canada enjoyed only limited success, the rebellions in South Africa, New Zealand, and India might have achieved nothing without them.

GAS GRENADIER TEAM

4TH EAST SIBERIAN RIFLES

The veteran 4th East Siberian Rifles have traded one cold land for another, and provide a tough, experienced core for the Russian Army’s presence in Alaska. The regiment has a reputation for hard fighting and hard drinking, with – as a regimental joke goes – as many citations for bravery as it has men in the stockade. Perhaps surprisingly, given this reputation, the 4th East Siberian Rifles are also well-respected by the local population – even those who would love nothing more than to see Russia withdraw from the region. They generally pay their way, respect property, and usually only get into fights amongst themselves or with men from other Russian units.

The distance at which the Alaskan garrisons operate from the Main Staff of the Imperial Russian Army in St Petersburg gives local commanders considerable independence, and many line their pockets by supplying their men to private enterprises for field tests of locally designed hephaestium armaments. It is in this sometimes unpleasant situation that many of the 4th East Siberian Rifles find themselves. In this study we see a two-man gas grenadier team equipped with a compressed-air launcher that fires shells containing a range of gases. The Russian military is undoubtedly the world leader in the field of gas warfare, and is constantly looking for the refinement of existing formulae and the concoction of new ones, making it a very profitable field of research.

GAS GRENADIER TEAM

SERGEANT

NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE

In the same way that the Texas Rangers are held up as paragons of Southern values, the men of the North-West Mounted Police are lauded as Canadian heroes in newspapers and dime novels alike. Recruited from the best of hundreds of candidates from the military and local constabularies, the ‘Mounties’ are, if the stories are to be believed, all expert trackers, crack shots, and unfailingly honest patriots. What is undeniably true is that they are incredibly comfortable in the vast wilderness that makes up much of the North-West Territories. With the military maintaining posts along the borders of the country, law and order in the interior is largely the responsibility of the North-West Mounted Police and, while patrols are sent throughout the Territories to show a presence, maintain the traditionally good relationships with the native populations, and hunt down fugitives, many men are stationed in the boom towns that have sprung up around major hephaestium strikes.

Most patrols will include only one or two mounted policemen – their numbers are small and their territory is vast, and while the horse is still the preferred option, experiments with other ‘mounts’ have been carried out. This study shows one of those experiments in use – a tracked multi-terrain vehicle. While it may not have the speed or instincts of a horse, such a design is not without its benefits. The hephaestium used to fuel the steam-powered machine is lighter and easier to transport than horse feed and the vehicle is capable of carrying more weight, cutting down on the frequency of resupply and allowing for longer patrols.

SERGEANT

PRIVATE

ROYAL REGIMENT OF TORONTO VOLUNTEERS

Although it is officially a militia regiment, the Royal Regiment of Toronto Volunteers has seen as much combat as any of the regular troops stationed in Canada, serving with distinction against Fenian invasions, native risings, and border skirmishes against both Russian and Union troops. While the regiment’s early fame came from its frequent skirmishes with the Fenians, it is on the border with Russian Alaska that the Toronto Volunteers have been kept busiest in recent years. Even though the Tsar and the Empire are not officially at war, recent years have seen a huge increase in the number of border clashes and patrols finding themselves ‘lost’ on the wrong side of the border. Between the Russian Army’s tendency to shoot first and then ask questions and the Empire’s inclination that Russian belligerence lies at the heart of every situation, it is unsurprising that both sides are building up their military presences along the border.

This study depicts a private infantryman of the Royal Regiment of Toronto Volunteers on the Alaskan border, bundled up against the weather and heavily equipped for a prolonged patrol. He is armed with a Lee-Metford Carbine, a shortened version of the venerable rifle, which is well-suited to the rugged and varied terrain across which the Toronto Volunteers may be deployed. This individual has opted to use the extended magazine available to the Lee-Metford, which offers an edge in a prolonged firefight and illustrates just how tense the situation on the border has become.

PRIVATE

MEDVED FUGITIVE

BRITISH COLUMBIA

Far from the strongholds of rival nations and surrounded by some of the most inhospitable terrain on Earth, many Russian military facilities are to be found in the Alaskan wilderness. Alaska is also rich in hephaestium and so, rather than suffering the delays inherent to shipping resources to Russia’s industries in Europe, many hephaestium operations are based locally. While most Russian bases in Alaska are overt, and are either industrial or scientific facilities, or barracks and border posts intended to garrison the region, there are rumours of isolated goroda-prizraki (‘ghost towns’). These secret facilities are supposedly run by the Russian Army and focus on the more sinister applications of hephaestium’s chemical properties.

Every once in a while, stories arise of escapees from one of these ghost towns. These tales are usually propaganda-driven, and end with the poor victim either being recaptured by the despicable Russians, taken in by a brave, conscience-driven Alaskan family, or rescued by the scarlet-coated men of the North-West Mounted Police. A few, however, lend themselves more to the lurid realms of the dime novel or penny dreadful, and tell of escapees fleeing into the wilderness, more animal than man. These stories play into the native legends of Ts’emekwes, skoocooms, and sásq’ets – hairy wild men that live in forests and caves. This study, compiled from a number of eyewitness accounts, brings to mind the Tsar’s medveds, offering a rational explanation for the ‘monster’ sightings and lending credence to the ghost town rumours.

MEDVED FUGITIVE

MÉTIS REBEL

DISTRICT OF SASKATCHEWAN

Russia and the Union are not the only threats faced by the Canadian government, nor are the Fenians the only rebel force that strikes and melts away. In the more western regions of the country, the staunchly independent Métis people have for some time been opposing the increasing influx of Canadian settlers and the governmental control that accompanies it. As with any cause, there are the ‘doves’ who pursue peaceful means, sending delegations to petition to the government and even the Queen herself, and there are the ‘hawks’ who favour more aggressive action with the aim of forcing Ottawa to accede to their demands. Since the recognition of the independent Métis government by the Union, the hawks have carried out a number of assassinations, raids, and bombings from Winnipeg to Québec, as much to prove their relevance to the semi-legitimized doves as to brutalize the Canadian government into submission.

The Métis hawks are received with sympathy and no small amount of support from such diverse groups as the Fenians and native tribes with similar grievances, the former being particularly important as a reliable source of arms, safe-houses, and, should a hawk need to hide out for a time, routes across the border into the Union. This study depicts a Métis rebel equipped for some nefarious operation with a Nagant-Dolne Revolver and a Russian-made grenade. The Nagant-Dolne combines a six-shot revolver with a folding bayonet and a knuckleduster and, unlike most revolvers, features a gas-seal system that allows it to be suppressed, making it ideal for an assassin.

MÉTIS REBEL

As a nation, Mexico came late to the hephaestium age. Invaded in 1861 by the French-backed forces of the Austrian prince who would declare himself Emperor Maximilian I, Mexico found itself embroiled in a long civil war between the modern armies of the Second Mexican Empire and the republican resistance under Benito Juárez, whose main international support came from a Union focused on its own civil strife. Although the Republicans maintained an active opposition to Maximilian’s forces, the modern, hephaestium-powered weapons that the French and Imperial forces could use to their advantage carried the day in battle after battle.

With the end of the open hostilities of American Civil War in 1869, however, the Union brought pressure to bear on France, Maximilian’s chief supporter. Choosing Franco-Union relations over his ambitions in Mexico, Napoleon III withdrew his troops. With the French forces gone, and the Union supplying arms, the Republicans soon swept away the remaining Imperial forces, capturing and executing Maximilian in 1872.

With the assistance of the Union, the new Mexican Republic turned towards modernization. The Confederacy, meanwhile, did not relish the presence of a strong Unionallied Mexico, and the Baton Rouge Incident, in which Mexican and Confederate ships engaged in a brief exchange of fire, provided the excuse to initiate a blockade of Mexican ports. Unwilling to commit to a military intervention on behalf of their ally and, perhaps attracted by the prospect of the Confederacy having another enemy on its borders, the Union limited its opposition to political condemnation and an increase, albeit sub rosa, in the supply of arms and equipment to Mexico.

Tensions remained high between Mexico and the Confederacy into the 20th century, with back-and-forth raids and punitive expeditions across the Rio Grande, before the devastation of the battle of the Straits of Yucatán in 1908 forced both nations to the negotiating table.

PRIVATE

SAN PATRICIO BATTALION

The San Patricio – Saint Patrick – Battalion was a unit of immigrants, many of whom had deserted from the United States military, that fought for Mexico in the Mexican– American War of 1846–48. Comprised chiefly of Irishmen, but including citizens from a number of nations, the unit lasted until the end of the war, when the Mexican military disbanded the battalion. Today, however, with Mexico lagging behind its northern neighbours in the technological stakes, it has reformed the San Patricios in an effort to attract trained engineers and military specialists from the Confederacy and the Union. Emphasizing a shared Catholic faith, and offering high wages, the Mexican Army has succeeded in attracting a number of soldiers. While they are ostensibly a front-line unit, the San Patricios are, in truth, too valuable to risk in combat and most often serve as advisors, instructors, and propaganda.

In this study we see a private of the San Patricio Battalion demonstrating the operation of a Maxim-designed, Springfield Armory-made Ulysses heavy machine gun. Despite the weapon’s age, it is rugged and reliable, which is just as well, as equipment of this scale commands a high price and cannot easily be replaced – it must be smuggled past Confederate privateers by one of the Union’s blockade runners as the land routes are too well-guarded.

PRIVATE

SOLDADO

MEXICAN INFANTRY

As one would expect, the Mexican Army is sorely under-equipped compared to the armed forces of the Confederacy to the north and of the wealthy Empire of Brazil to the south. While Mexico does depend heavily on the Union to supply it with more modern technology (though still usually obsolete in the eyes of the Union), it is not without its own domestic arms industry. The Fusil Automático Mondragón Modelo 1890, commonly known as the Mondragón Automatic Rifle or FAMM-90, is one of the few success stories that the Mexican military claims in the field of modern weapons development. Designed by a Mexican artillery officer and originally produced under licence in Switzerland, the FAMM-90 is today produced in vast quantities in a number of factories, mostly in the state of Oaxaca.

As seen in this study of a soldado, or private infantryman, armed with a FAMM-90, however, the success story claimed by the Mexican government is somewhat short of the truth. The component quality of the FAMM-90 leaves a lot to be desired, and the infantryman here has been forced to customize his weapon with a barrel from what looks like a Russian rifle (and was therefore probably originally designed for a 7.62mm round, rather than the 6.5mm of the FAMM-90) and to bind much of it together with wire. Despite or, perhaps, because of the need for these field customizations, the rifle has jammed and is proving difficult to fix.

SOLDADO

BANDITO

NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO

It is somewhat ironic that some of the most advanced weapons in the Mexican arsenal are to be found in the hands of the infamous banditos – the outlaws and brigands that plague the border regions of California, Texas, and the Arizona and New Mexico Territories. Supported by the Mexican government in much the same way as the Confederacy’s privateers, banditos are rewarded for capturing examples of advanced military technology – a practice that has earned them the particular ire of the Galveston Consortium, whose facilities are frequently the targets of raids.

The bandito seen in this study is a typical example of a self-appointed bandit chief, and no doubt bears a colourful name – ‘El Lobo’ or ‘El Diablo’ or somesuch – like so many of his ilk. He is heavily armed with both a sawn-off scattergun and an unidentified flamethrower pistol. The latter is, most likely, a trophy taken in a raid into the Confederacy, and could therefore very well be a prototype weapon designed by the Galveston Consortium.

Given the increasingly bold raids being carried out by bandito gangs against the Confederacy and the Territories over which it claims jurisdiction, not to mention the calls for action from the aggrieved and highly influential Consortium, an increased military presence along the border – if not a punitive expedition into Mexico itself – seems almost inevitable.

BANDITO

TENIENTE

1ST NAVAL BRIGADE, ‘LOS TIBURONES’

The 1st Naval Brigade represents the elite of the Mexican military and has, in the short time it has been operational, made a name for itself as a ruthless and efficient unit, more than earning its nickname of Los Tiburones – The Sharks. Candidates for the 1st Naval Brigade are selected exclusively from the top graduates of the Colegio Militar’s naval facility in Veracruz, and will then undergo a gruelling training programme directed by German military advisors. Over the course of the training, the candidates will be whittled down until only the very best remain – one recruit in 20 will typically pass the course, producing a tight-knit unit with a remarkably high esprit de corps.

Equipped with the best equipment available to the Mexican military, Los Tiburones specialize in naval landings and amphibious operations. Inevitably, they frequently find themselves pitted against Confederate privateers in the Caribbean, and have provided the spearhead for assaults against a number of ports harbouring pirate vessels. The 1st Naval Brigade has also carried out a number of naval ambushes, manning a civilian vessel and luring a privateer crew into range before springing the trap and cutting them down with ruthless short-range fire. The Tiburón seen in this study is a junior officer in the unit, but will already be a veteran of numerous missions. He is equipped with the standard armament of the Brigade, brandishing a German-made Mauser assault carbine with built-in suppressor.

TENIENTE

There was no shortage of reasons for heading towards the frontier. Chief amongst them, however, was wealth. Land, cattle, gold, and, above all, hephaestium offered the chance of wealth and success to all, no matter their nationality, social standing or prospects, and thousands flocked west seeking the lucky strike that would set them up for life.

Of course, where someone finds wealth, another will be there to take it from him, whether by fair means or foul. Gamblers, frauds, and criminals of all types headed west in droves, hoping to lose themselves in the isolation and lawlessness of the frontier or else to profit from the wealth being uncovered by hardworking settlers and prospectors.

Many settlers sought peace and quiet following the war. Commonly, that war would be the Civil War, but it was by no means the only one. Wars in Europe and the rest of the world produced many exiles and immigrants who travelled to America for freedom from their own conflicts or escape from hostile regimes. The frontier, however, was not the peaceful utopia they may have hoped for. Former soldiers, gunslingers, mercenaries, and killers revelled in the freedom of the frontier, where they could use their skills in service to no higher cause than themselves; native tribes fought back against the loss of their traditional lands; and ranchers and mining operations waged open war over water rights and land deeds.

For some, the frontier did provide the wealth it promised. For many more, however, it offered only hardship and violence.

GUNSLINGER

TUCSON, ARIZONA TERRITORY

Following the Civil War, a great number of men on both sides were left with injuries that prevented them from finding gainful employment or a skill-set that was ill-suited for anything other than warfare. Furthermore, many lacked the temperament for civilian life – where they had excelled as soldiers, they were now liabilities as civilians. Many of these men drifted west, where the law was absent or, at least, less rigorously enforced, seeking what employment they could find. Some settled into hard but honest lives as cowboys, ranchers, and farmers, but many sought quick money as bandits or guns-for-hire.

In this study, we see any example of the latter – a gunslinger who has not been deterred from his life by the loss of an arm. Rather, he has outfitted himself with a custom steam-powered quick-draw rig. Needing only to press a button located on his belt buckle to draw and fire two single-shot pistols, this gunman is focused on the ‘art’ of the speed-draw. While the limitations inherent to only being able to hit a target directly in front of you are evident, the cost of such a custom rig suggests that he has enjoyed considerable success in his chosen profession.

GUNSLINGER

BOUNTY HUNTER

ABILENE, TEXAS

In the West, the coverage of law and order is, at best, sparse or, at worst, non-existent. The itinerant lawmen of the US Marshals and the Texas Rangers are stretched thin, and the locally elected town marshals and sheriffs are all too often lacking in ability or inclination to uphold the law on their own. This void has given rise to an ever-increasing number of bounty hunters willing to enforce the law by tracking down criminals in exchange for a reward.

So profitable can this line of work be that many soldiers or lawmen have traded their meagre salaries for the freedom and increased income offered by the bounty system. Such an individual can be seen in this study. Once a member of the 10th United States Cavalry, and still displaying some of the trappings of that former career, this bounty hunter is armed with a Gilleland Net Carbine – the last in a series of multi-barrelled firearm designs developed by the eponymous Georgian inventor, and the only one ever to be reliable enough to enter production. It is worth noting that the Gilleland Net Carbine is designed to capture rather than kill – most bounty hunters are not so concerned about bringing in fugitives alive.

BOUNTY HUNTER

CAPTAIN

NORTON’S GUARDS

Though dominated by the wealthy mining and shipping industries, both of which had turned swiftly to the exploitation of the West Coast’s abundant hephaestium resources, San Francisco was a hotbed of labour unrest, directed against both the bosses and the Chinese workers brought in as a cheap workforce. Inevitably, the Confederacy, Great Britain, Russia, and Japan were held to be behind one group or another, and accusations of conspiracy and treason were abundant.

In the face of this rising tide of mob rule, Joshua Norton, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, did more to hold together the city of San Francisco than any elected official or labour leader. Loved by workers and businessmen’s associations alike, Norton’s whimsy and eccentricity (the ungenerous might call it insanity) provided common ground for otherwise violently opposed factions. One story even tells of how he single-handedly shamed an anti-Chinese mob into dispersing.

Though now sadly deceased, Norton’s legacy lives on in Norton’s Guards, a civilian militia that acts as a self-appointed police force, holding to Norton’s stance that every citizen should have ‘that protection of person and property which he is entitled’. Here we see a captain of Norton’s Guards, dressed in typically garish uniform, and armed with the non-lethal Franklin Baton – a device that stores the static electricity produced by the user’s actions, and can release it to deliver a short, sharp shock to its target.

CAPTAIN

BUFFALO HUNTER

DAKOTA TERRITORY

The dwindling buffalo herds are a crucial part of life for many of the native tribes that occupy the Territories, and they are masters at using almost every single part of the creatures they hunt. American hunters, however, are less thrifty, and will usually just take the valuable skins to sell to traders back East, leaving the rest to rot. Needless to say, this policy only stokes the resentment of the Indians, and the governments in both Washington and Richmond have so far proven reluctant to curtail the buffalo hunters’ excesses. Such is the unrest, in fact, that many buffalo hunters have signed on as scouts and trackers for the Union and Confederate militaries, preferring to take a smaller number of skins while accompanied by heavily armed soldiers rather than larger hauls at the cost of operating alone in regions swarming with hostile war-parties.

The buffalo hunter depicted in this study is one of those also serving with the 7th United States Cavalry in one of its punitive expeditions against the Sioux in the Dakota Territory. He is armed with a much-used Sharps Heavy 70 – the principal rifle of the buffalo hunter, and an evolution of the esteemed Big 50 – that has been modified with a shooting stand and windspeed gauge.

BUFFALO HUNTER

RANCHER

NEW MEXICO TERRITORY

Ranching in the Territories is big business. Both the Union and the Confederate militaries have a huge demand for beef, and pay top dollar for good quality cattle in good time. With such wealth at stake, it is unsurprising that the lives of ranchers are not simple. On top of the rigours of a cattle drive across great swathes of the country, there is always the threat of attack from rival ranchers, monopolistic cattle barons, Indians, and banditos, to name but a few. Rustling, whether by rival cattlemen or independent gangs, is a particular source of conflict in the lives of ranchers, especially out in the Territories where proof of ownership is more commonly determined by whoever has the most guns backing up their claims. Feuds between ranchers or factions of allied ranchers can come to resemble small-scale civil wars – quite literally in those cases where rivalries are defined by allegiances to North and South. What may start with drunken brawls between rival gangs of ranch hands can easily escalate into tit-for-tat raids on herds, and culminate in murders, revenge killings, and ambushes.

Life in the Territories is tough and breeds hardy and determined men and women. This study shows one such – a rancher armed and ready to defend her herd from predators and rivals alike. She carries a scoped Winchester pump-action rifle and sports an unidentified pistol in her gun belt.

RANCHER

LAND IRONCLAD

CARROLL MINING CO.

The Confederate land ironclads that halted the Union advance and turned the tide of the war proved to be as iconic as they were effective. Armies across the world jumped on the concept and soon armoured warfare was a dominant force in military strategy. While early land ironclads were hulking brutes, slow and heavily armoured, more modern designs have been refined with lightweight hephaestium-alloy armours and more efficient fuels, and offer a relatively speedy option for reconnaissance and patrol operations. Land ironclads, especially these newer, faster designs, have also been adopted by the civilian market, and are often used as armoured transports by various business concerns. With the Confederacy and the Union authorities stretched thin in the Territories, the threat of attack from Indians, banditos, labour agitators, and road agents is all too real, especially when transporting hephaestium, gold, silver or a company payroll.

This study shows a land ironclad, one of the old Union Mercury-class patrol models, belonging to the Carroll Mining Co. of San Francisco, California. In addition to improved armour plating, it has also received a turret-mounted Gatling gun for extra firepower. While it can easily accommodate additional men, this Mercury boasts a crew of four – a driver, a guard (and back-up driver), a gunner and a loader – all of whom will be armed to the teeth.

LAND IRONCLAD

TONG HIGHBINDER

SAN FRANCISCO

With the California Gold Rush in 1849, men, women and children of all nationalities and from all walks of life flocked to America, and the discovery of hephaestium sparked a second wave in the 1860s. Often unable to speak English, immigrants tended to stick together, establishing their own little communities, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the Chinatowns that sprang up around Chinese communities. Isolated by language and subject to persecution by both ‘native’ Americans and other immigrants seeking an outlet for their own resentments, the Chinatowns were fertile ground for both prey and recruits for the criminal gangs – the Tongs – that had come from China with the immigrants.

Within the Chinatowns, the Tongs control all criminal enterprises: gambling, opium, thievery, extortion, smuggling, murder-for-hire, and slavery. Authorities are bribed or blackmailed into cooperation, simply don’t care what happens in Chinatown, or know better than to waste time opposing the Tongs, whose brutal – and public – examples ensure silence.

Indeed, the only real threat to a Tong is another Tong, and wars between rival groups over business interests or perceived slights are bloody and frequent. Also known as hatchet men, the highbinders are the Tongs’ footsoldiers and enforcers. This study, a composite of known Tong members and items recovered by the San Francisco police force following one of the Tong Wars of the 1880s, shows a typical highbinder wearing a chainmail-lined shirt, and armed with a hatchet and a Chinese-made copy of a Peabody pistol.

TONG HIGHBINDER

ROYAL GUARDSMAN

INDEPENDENT KINGDOM OF JEFFERSON

Right in the middle of the border between California and Oregon is a small region known to the locals as the Independent Kingdom of Jefferson. Established in 1885 by the charismatic Southern missionary Daniel Danson, the ‘country’ is now ruled by his son, David Danson (King David I). So far, the United States has made no official response to these claims of independence, but, considering the political situation, it is unlikely that the status quo will long continue. With a population of less than 2,000, spread over a region about the size of New Hampshire, it is hard to see how the kingdom could really defend itself when the United States Army finally comes to take back control.

Regardless of its numbers, the kingdom does possess at least one, highly-trained and well-equipped unit in the form of its Royal Guard. These men, who are mostly former Union Soldiers, are well paid, housed in luxury (by Western standards anyway) and at least appear completely loyal to their ruler.

The soldier depicted here is wearing the standard uniform of the guardsmen, an outfit that seems more concerned with appearance than practicality. His ‘royal halberd’ is actually a slightly modified ‘dynamite spear’, a weapon tested briefly by the United States Navy for boarding actions before being discarded as being too dangerous to the user. He is also equipped with a Czech-made Venditti pistol. How the kingdom came by enough of these pistols to equip all of their royal guardsman is a question the United States government would probably like answered.

ROYAL GUARDSMAN

AUTHORS

Philip Smith is a lifelong history enthusiast, and has carried his interest through an undergraduate degree at Lincoln College, Oxford, and into his career as an editor, where he specializes in military history and tabletop wargaming. Born in Derby, he now lives and works in Oxford.

Joseph A. McCullough is the author of several non-fiction books including A Pocket History of Ireland, Zombies: A Hunter’s Guide, and Dragonslayers: From Beowulf to St. George. In addition, his fantasy short stories have appeared in various books and magazines such as Black Gate, Lords of Swords, and Adventure Mystery Tales. He is also the creator of the wargame Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City, and co-wrote The Grey Mountains, a supplement for the Middle-Earth Role-Playing Game.

His continued ramblings can be read at:
http://therenaissancetroll.blogspot.co.uk/

ILLUSTRATOR

Mark Stacey was born in Manchester in 1964 and has been a freelance illustrator since 1987. He has a lifelong interest in all periods of history, particularly military history, and has specialized in this area throughout his career. He now lives and works in Cornwall.

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Osprey Publishing,
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© 2016 Phil Smith and Joseph A McCullough

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Print ISBN: 978-1-4728-1510-1

PDF e-book ISBN: 978-1-4728-1511-8

EPUB e-book ISBN: 978-1-4728-1512-5

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