The History of the Land Pirates of the Natchez Trace
Omschrijving
The years just before 1880 until about 1885 are considered the "outlaw years." Lawlessness developed a law of its own and planned an empire. Operating along the Natchez Trace, an overland trading and postal-rider route that in places was barely a trail, the outlaws preyed upon the traffic along this line. Their plans were laid in the dives under the bluffs of the river towns--Natchez and Vicksburg and as far south as New Orleans.One gang of outlaws under John Murrell even threatened national stability for a time in his plot to steal slaves and organize insurrection, in order to disorganize the government and establish his own state.Robert M. Coates has built his research on this little-known period of American history into a vividly told, unified story, which restores the outlaw to his prominent place in the frontier during a critical period in American history, without making outlaws into heroes.
