the Parkers arrive in New Antrim, the capital of Arkansas, they learn that Crowell's bank will lend the family money to start again if the men join the Arkansas Army. Sheffield Parker and his uncle Jem enlist and undergo a rigorous training regimen. Meanwhile, Clay secretly finances an expedition, led by Robert Crittenden,, to attack Arkansas. The expedition fails, but Clay uses this failure as a lever to become the new President of the United States after James Monroe. Soon, Houston's wife, Maria, gets accidentally shot by an assassin from Georgia, who was aiming for Houston himself in retaliation for his liberal views on race. Houston and his son Andrew Jackson Houston leave for Arkansas to aid Driscol and Ross in coming war with the United States. The novel ends in 1825, with the United States going to war against Arkansas (as an AU of the real American Civil War). Meanwhile, a varied group of politicians, led by the losers in the election of 1824, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, meet to create a new political party that will both oppose and defeat Clay and work for an eventual end to slavery in all states after Clay's presidential term is finished. Historical figures appearing in the novel John Quincy Adams, U.S. Secretary of State and candidate for president in 1824, who, in this timeline, does not win the presidency and, instead, allies himself with Andrew Jackson in opposition to Henry Clay. John Brown, abolitionist who, in this timeline, settles in Arkansas and continues his fight for abolition of slavery. William Cullen Bryant, poet and journalist who, in this timeline, covers both the Crittenden expedition and the Arkansas War. John C. Calhoun, U.S. Senator and Secretary of War during the Arkansas War. While Calhoun does not appear "on-stage", his advocacy for the various freedmen exclusion acts, his disdain for the liberal racial policies of the Confederacy of the Arkansas and his desire to crush the Confederacy, and the role he plays in the election of Henry Clay to the presidency makes him one of the most important figures in the novel. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives and, in this timeline, winner of the presidency in 1824. Duwali, Cherokee chief William Henry Harrison, U.S. general, who, in this timeline, is tasked with leading an invading army into Arkansas from the east. Sam Houston, U.S. official, and, in this