Caleb Martin
Period 4
November 6, 2012
What happened the next day was particularly odd. One of our forward scouts positioned on Interstate 20 towards Shreveport hurried into town with a delighted look on his face. He reported to the high school band director turned Longview Head of Commerce Director Sanks with a message of urgency. When told the news, Sanks ran into his office and supposedly was on the phone with President Pierce of the Texas Union himself. The rumor around town was that first contact had been made with a "major player" from Shreveport. Their caravan had been stopped on I-20 by the guard and was awaiting clearance to pass into town. The caravan numbered 29 semi-truck trailers being pulled by Brahmin. As to what was in the trailers was a mystery. The group stuck on the Interstate kept shouting that they brought gifts from a land even wealthier than ours. This caused the people in town to go berserk thinking that the caravan had things that were lost forever. Old Man Johnson thought that the caravan had his children and wife inside even though they had died during their trip to Boston when the bombs fell. These were no ordinary traders though.
Sanks finally let them through and they proceeded on South Street with much fanfare. As they trudged through the potholed roads they were tossing free cans of food out of generosity to the refugees and gypsies who were crawling out of their tents along the street. They even had a marching band following them, whom Sanks criticized their marching style. The procession turned onto Green Street and stopped in downtown. They set up a makeshift stage and asked for everyone to congregate here in one hour for a very special announcement. The apparent leader Mr. Montgomery strolled into the State of Longview Capitol Building asking to see the Governor who was meeting with the President in Dallas. While the Governor was away Sanks was in charge and so he was to represent the whole State of Longview and for that matter the entire Texas Union. It was noon and the presentation started. Nearly the whole state was in attendance flooding all of downtown. Mr. Montgomery stood on the stage with a megaphone and claimed that the Confederate States of America had been reborn and again controlled the American South. Montgomery claimed that on behalf of the CSA these gifts were a gesture of goodwill and future cooperation as neighbors. The unloading of tractor-trailers had begun. The first 4 trailers were filled with cotton and looming machines to process it. Everyone's clothes were falling apart so it was a godsend. Two trailers were filled to the brim with cartons of cigarettes and every alcohol imaginable. The alcoholics and smokers were thrilled as they were reeling from withdrawals. Another trailer was filled was filled with various medicines and medical devices. Me and other Good Shepard doctors were happy as exotic viruses were being brought in from where ever the traders, refugees, and gypsies were hailing from. Two trailers were filled with cans of food and hogs. The other twenty trailers were a shocker. The first opened and out walked people actual people! 23 black people walked out all chained up. The other nineteen trailers let out the captive blacks and the lot totaled 387. They merged into a long line and proceeded towards the stage. Montgomery proclaimed that these were fresh slaves from Shreveport and there was to be an auction later tonight. I was in shock from the CSA visit. The Brahmin farmers were all headed to the auction to purchase farm hands and I was disgusted. I never thought in a million years that our land would revert to one of the cruelest practices in human history, slavery. I thought that more townspeople would be against slavery but it was the talk of the town. Many revered the Confederates as gods. The farmers and ranchers wanted slaves to help in the fields, the traders saw the slaves as an economic gold mine, and the shopkeepers wanted slaves to do all their tedious work. But none were more excited than Sanks who thought that trade with the Confederates would truly turn Longview as the economic powerhouse of the Texas Union. Of course the Governor never authorized or even saw the CSA deal even go down and slavery was outlawed in all 13 states of the Texas Union by the President himself. When the Governor came back, things would get interesting.