A
Hero’s Motivation
Why
would a man with a successful career as the town’s only attorney decide to run
for sheriff? That’s the question I asked myself when I created Travis
Whitfield, the hero of A Stolen Heart.
The answer wasn’t difficult to find. All I had to do was consider what was
happening in Texas while Travis was growing up. T.R. Fehrenbach’s Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans
provided some fascinating details.
Though
Travis was too young to have served in the War Between the States, there’s no
doubt that its aftermath shaped him. It wasn’t only his father’s bitterness at
having lost the war…and a leg at Gettysburg. Even more importantly, Travis saw
the excesses of the Carpetbagger regime and the problems that occurred during
E.J. Davis’s term as governor of the Lone Star State.
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| Image courtesy of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission |
If
you’re not a Texan, you may not have heard of Edmund J. Davis, so I’d like to
share a bit of history with you. When Davis set his sights on being elected
governor in 1869, he and his cronies were so determined that he would be victorious
that they did everything they could—legal and not so legal—to ensure it. Some
voting registrars summarily rejected not only men who’d fought for the
Confederacy but also Unionists who didn’t agree with the Carpetbaggers. By
keeping so many men from voting, Davis had a better chance of winning.
But
he didn’t stop there. The Army, which was controlled by the Carpetbaggers,
supervised the polling and was quick to shut down any polling place where
someone protested. As if that weren’t enough, in one county the registrar fled,
taking the list of voters with him so that no one could vote. In another, the
votes were counted by only one man— a Davis supporter, naturally. After all
that, it was hardly a surprise that he won.
As
soon as he took office, Davis began to exercise his power through the passage
of the Militia Bill, which gave the government the power to declare martial law
at any time. The Enabling Act allowed the governor to appoint almost every
official in the state, leading—as you might expect—to corruption. The Printing
Bill established a state press, which helped control the spread of information.
And then there was the creation of the State Police. Not only were a number of former
criminals appointed to the police force, but the State Police were authorized
to act as secret agents, which was not a common practice at the time. Contrary
to prior law, the State Police were also allowed to take prisoners from one
county to another to stand trial, presumably so they could control the outcome
of the trial.
As
you can imagine, all this led to abuses of power, something an intelligent and
impressionable young man would abhor. Having seen what could happen when the
wrong people controlled the police, Travis was determined that that would not
happen in his town. And so he ran for sheriff.
As
for E.J. Davis, he was defeated in the election of 1873 but tried to have the
results overthrown. When that attempt was unsuccessful, he refused to leave the
governor’s office and petitioned President Grant for troops to support him. That
request was denied. Ultimately, Davis left the building but kept the key,
forcing the new governor to have the door to his new office broken down. Davis’s
reign was over but not forgotten, at least not by my hero.
About A
Stolen Heart:
The
future she dreamed of is gone. But perhaps a better one awaits . . .
From
afar, Cimarron Creek seems like an idyllic town tucked in the Texas Hill
Country. But when former schoolteacher Lydia Crawford steps onto its dusty
streets in 1880, she finds a town with a deep-seated resentment of
Northerners—like her. Lydia won’t let that get her down, though. All will be
well when she’s reunited with her fiancé.
But
when she discovers he has disappeared—and that he left behind a pregnant
wife—Lydia is at a loss about what to do next. The handsome sheriff urges her
to trust him, but can she trust anyone in this town where secrets are as
prevalent as bluebonnets in spring?
Bestselling
author Amanda Cabot invites you into Texas’s storied past to experience
adventure, mystery—and love.
Purchase Links:
About Amanda:
Amanda Cabot is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels including the Texas Dreams trilogy, the Westward Winds series, the Texas Crossroad trilogy, and Christmas Roses. A former director of Information Technology, she has written everything from technical books and articles for IT professionals to mysteries for teenagers and romances for all ages. Amanda is delighted to now be a fulltime writer of Christian romances, living happily ever after with her husband in Wyoming.
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This sounds like a great story. Thanks for sharing! Loved the history about E.J. Davis. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteWere you surprised by all the shenanigans, Sally? I certainly was!
DeleteSally -- I'm glad you enjoyed the story, even though it wasn't the finest part of Texas's history.
DeleteWelcome, Amanda! Thank you for sharing such a great post!
ReplyDeleteDelia -- Thanks so much for inviting me to be part of your blog. It was fun sharing a bit of history, even though it wasn't the happiest of stories.
DeleteThanks for the history. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that political abuses occurred back in the good ol days, just like modern times. What a fascinating backdrop for Travis!
ReplyDeleteYou've heard the story of the more things change, the more they stay the same. That was one of the things I thought when I read about this period in Texas history.
DeleteI wouldn't have liked to live under Davis' reign. That could inspire a ton of motivation. Thanks for the blog. Cheers
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly motivation for Travis.
DeleteYikes says it all!
ReplyDelete