Shortline railroads (pg. 28): For a time, as railroads expanded across the country, there were many separate short lines of track, linking farms to the cities, or city to city. It was only as the 1870s went on and the large railroad companies began to establish a monopoly that they bought out these private shortlines and consolidated the tracks into the major railroad routes.

Abilene (pg. 28): Abilene became the first cowtown in 1867 when the Kansas Pacific Railroad reached it. An Illinois livestock dealer, Joseph McCoy, was the first to see the potential for shipping cattle from Abilene and advertised it extensively. This led to the city becoming the first booming cattle shipping point, shipping the cattle that were driven up from Texas to cities around the country.

Henry Ward Beecher (pg. 57): member of an important New England family, Abolitionist, writer, speaker, and Congregationalist minister, Henry Ward Beecher was most of the famous figures in Civil War and post-Civil War America. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was one of Henry Ward’s sisters. For an overview of the entire family, see here.

Battle of the Wilderness, Bull Run, Andersonville (pg. 75): see Book 1 History

Lee’s House and Arlington National Cemetery (pg. 74): for a thorough account of the Lee’s house and how it became a part of Arlington National Cemetery see here.

Victoria Woodhull (pg. 122): a prominent activist for women’s suffrage, free love, and a psychic financial adviser to Cornelius Vanderbilt, she was the first women to run for president of the United States in 1872, supported by the Equal Rights Party, trade unionists, women’s suffragists, and socialists.

Sand Creek Massacre: On November 29, 1864 United States soldiers of the Colorado militia led by Colonel John Chivington attacked and killed at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, women and children included, at Sand Creek, Colorado Territory. The Indians had already surrendered and were peacefully staying in their camp at the time of the attack. Chivington and probably a good number of other the soldiers as well were partially intoxicated at the time of the attack,  and after the massacre the soldiers brutally mutilated the dead. Although their detestable actions were well known, they were never disciplined for their atrocious behavior.

Orphan Trains (pg. 133): In New York City, thirty thousand orphaned children or children whose parents could not care for them, lived on the streets. The Children’s Aid Society, founded by Charles Loring Brace, tried to help these children find homes, including through the orphan train system that sent the children West on the rails to be adopted by farming families across the frontier. An estimated 250,000 children rode the orphan trains from 1854 until they were discontinued in 1929.

Walt Whitman – Song of the Banner at Daybreak (pg. 178): full text available here.

Reconstruction South (pg. 183 and others): From 1865 until 1877 was a time of Federal occupation of the former Confederate states of the South, including the Federal army, the Freedman’s Bureau that helped the former slaves to find land, jobs, and safety, and for a time, ensuring the election of officials who were loyal to the Union and respected the rights of the freedmen.

Jay Cooke & Company (pg. 220): Known as “the financier of the Civil War,” Jay Cooke had largely orchestrated the loans and financial policy of the Union during the Civil War, helping them to successfully win against the Confederacy. After the war, Cooke began investing in coal and iron mining, life insurance, and railroads, specifically the Northern Pacific transcontinental railroad. Over-investment led to his company’s collapse on September 19, 1873, causing many banks and brokerage houses to fail and plunging the economic life of the country into financial panic.

Jesse James (pg. 241): see Book 2 History

Fire-eaters and Radicals (pg. 326): Fire-eaters were the radical Southerners who early favored secession from the Union. The Radicals were the Northerners who advocated full civil rights for African Americans.