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Congaree Socialist Republic
Cassius
The hunter for the Marshlands plantation, Cassius is a secret Marxist revolutionary who becomes Chairman of the Congaree Socialist Republic during the Great War. A committed and fanatical revolutionary, Cassius is willing to burn down the entire CSA in order to better the Confederacy's blacks.
- Character Death: At the end of Breakthroughs when he's shot by Confederate soldiers.
- Cold Sniper: As the Marshlands' hunter, Cassius is a very good shot, and has ice water in his veins.
- Dirty Communists: A hardcore Marxist.
- Doomed Moral Victor: Cassius' revolution ultimately fails, but his actions help bring the Confederacy to its knees in the face of the Union onslaught. Things get even worse for African-Americans afterwards, with anti-black riots and the election of the genocidally-inclined Freedom Party, which attempts to eradicate every one of the Confederacy's black residents. Yet in the end, it's Cassius namesake, Cassius Madison who brings down the Confederacy, and the newly Re-United States grants blacks equal rights with whites.
- Enemy Mine: He doesn't harbor any particular love for the United States but he happily accepts the weapons they covertly send to help arm his rebellion.
- Evil Versus Evil: Cassius is a bad man, no doubt, but Anne Colleton and the rest of the Confederates he's up against are even worse.
- Glorious Leader: Of the Congaree Socialist Republic.
- Hanging Judge: As Chairman of the Congaree, Cassius acts as a judge at the People's Tribunals. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't vote to spare a lot of white plantation owners.
- I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: Invoked when he needs an excuse for why he disappeared from the Marshlands for several days in a row. He claims that he was out hitting on a girl at another plantation.
- Kangaroo Court: Runs People's Tribunals in which he executes white plantation owners after trials that last a few minutes.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Surprisingly yes. When Confederate troops crush the Congaree Socialist Republic, Cassius allows most of his revolutionary comrades to flee, even while he himself retreats into the marshes to carry on fighting.
- The Leader: Of the Congaree Socialist Republic.
- Manipulative Bastard: Plays Anne Colleton, Scipio, and everyone else with relative ease.
- Meaningful Name: He's named for Gaius Cassius Longinius
, one of the ringleaders of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar. It's a fitting name for a revolutionary leader, and may double as a case of Names to Run Away from Really Fast. - No Historical Figures Were Harmed: It's harder to spot than many, thanks to his skin tone and dialect, but as the charismatic leader of the Confederacy's black socialists, Cassius is the stand-in for Vladimir Lenin.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: In front of Anne Colleton and other white authority figures Cassius plays to every Confederate stereotype about brainless Negroes who can only think with their reproductive organs in order to hide just how smart he is. That he's even literate, let alone running a Communist revolution, comes as an enormous surprise to the likes of Anne.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Mass murder and threats of mass rape are not beneath Cassius.
- Scary Black Man: Absolutely terrifying in his commitment to the revolution, and a crack shot with his hunting rifle.
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Short-Lived, Big Impact: All told, he's only in three books and is never a P.O.V character but him being a leading figure in the Red Rebellion had lasting consequences all the way up through the end of the series. - Smarter Than You Look: Cassius' low-brow dialect and backwoods accent conceal a very capable intellect.
- Unholy Matrimony: With fellow revolutionary Cherry.
- Villainous Friendship: For all the doubts that the two of them have about each other, and all the mutual distrust and suspicion, Cassius does seem to consider Scipio a friend, and helps him escape the Congaree Socialist Republic at the end.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Cassius is a brutal revolutionary who has no problems disregarding The Laws and Customs of War, or killing anyone who is deviating from the revolutionary path. At the same time, he genuinely believes that the CSA's blacks (and poor whites for that matter) will be better off after his revolution.
- Where da White Women At?: Invoked and parodied. When the CSA threatens to hang every black revolutionary they get their hands on, Cassius responds by threatening to rape every white woman living in Congaree territory. The Confederates, convinced that all blacks have an innate desire to rape white women, immediately back off.
Scipio
The butler at the Marshlands plantation, Scipio can talk like an educated white man. More or less against his will, he is dragged into Cassius' Red revolution, and acts as their face in dealings with the Confederacy. In the aftermath of the collapse of the Congaree Socialist Republic, he finds himself on the run.
- Action Survivor: (Until he isn't, at least.) Especially during the Red Revolution, Scipio is drawn into a lot of dangerous situations — none of them by his own choice. He has no aspirations to heroism, using his wits and skills simply to get out of these situations alive.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Dies in a Freedom Party gas chamber.
- Guile Hero: repeatedly uses his upper-class white man's voice to survive or get the upper hand on his enemies. When he's reluctantly dragged into one of the many black Marxist uprisings in World War I, he becomes the 'face' of the Congaree Socialist Republic, because his accent and erudition deeply unsettle the various white officers he negotiates with occasionally. Later, after he's escaped to Georgia, and is living under a new name, during the various anti-black riots that break out during the Great Depression, he uses his education to convince a white rioter that he's one of the leaders of the pogrom. The rioter even calls him 'sir.' The reason for this is that, in the CSA, accent is closely tied to class, and so, while his skin says that he's barely better than a slave, his accent says he's a Senator.
- Heroic Neutral: Most of his actions are simply to survive and/or protect his family
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Scipio never wanted to be part of the socialist revolution, and went along with it only because it was clear they were taking over the area and would kill him if he protested. He always has a very realistic view of what's going to happen to the revolution, and is the first to counsel retreat or surrender when it's clear that they've failed.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: From his first introduction, Scipio is shown to be adept at 'code-switching'. He frequently uses this to his advantage, using a black Congaree accent and feigning lack of understanding when he needs to convince white characters that he's unimportant, and adopting erudite, upper-class speech patterns when he wants to be seen as a person of consequence.
- Only Sane Man: The only reason Anne Colleton spares him after his involvement in the black Marxist uprising is because Scipio did his best to restrain Cassius' excesses. He is also the Only Sane Man in the sense that he seems to be the only member of his revolutionary cell who makes a realistic assessment of its chances for success.(Which would be somewhere between slim and none.)
- The Smart Guy: The brains of the Congaree Socialist Republic, however reluctant a participant he was in it.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.
- Too Clever by Half: Remarked on by most white people who really get to know him.
- Villainous Friendship: Scipio is hardly villainous, but Cassius certainly is. The two of them have serious issues with one another, Scipio disliking Cassius' revolutionary dogmatism and brutality, and Cassius doubting Scipio's loyalty to the cause. Yet in the end the two of them are friends, and Scipio ultimately names his son after his old revolutionary comrade.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: As in the case of Cincinnatus, this happens to him a lot. Jerry Dover notes that if Scipio were a white man, he'd probably be a lawyer or a Congressman.
Other Characters
Cassius Madison
Scipio's son, whom he names for his old revolutionary comrade. He manages to dodge the gas chambers and join a guerilla band led by Gracchus. During In At The Death, he is the one who ultimately kills Jake Featherston.
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: He and Clarence Potter express these sentiments about one another during their single meeting.
- The Cynic: Just being a black in the CSA will make a cynic out of you, but after living through the genocide, Cassius has few, if any, illusions left.
- Dead Guy Junior: A rather sarcastic one too, given the rocky relationship between Scipio and the original Cassius.
- Deadpan Snarker: Cassius inherited his father's (and his namesake's) penchant for sarcastic commentary.
- Hollywood Atheist: Played with. Cassius was already leaning towards atheism when his family was captured in a church and sent to a death camp convincing him that god cannot possibly be real.
- Meaningful Name: In-universe. Like the man he was named for, he takes up arms against his white Confederate oppressors, and ultimately finishes the original Cassius' job, bringing down the CSA with a single shot.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Named for the leader of the African-American revolutionary movement, though he himself doesn't necessarily know it.
- La Résistance: As part of Gracchus' revolutionary band.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Easily one of the most sympathetic characters, in fact, given all that's happened to him.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Even people who don't like blacks will open doors for the kid who killed Jake Featherston.
- You Killed My Father: Shoots Jake Featherston for having his family murdered.
Cincinnatus Driver
A driver for a Confederate company, Cincinnatus becomes involved with both the Confederate and Red undergrounds during the Union occupation of Kentucky, before ultimately deciding that his alleigance lies with the United States.
- Badass Driver: From the beginning. He eventually becomes a Union auxiliary, driving supply trucks for the US Army.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: During the early parts of the series, where he plays the CS underground, the Red rebels, and the Union against each other.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Of a sort. During the Great War novels, he considers the USA to be slightly better than the CSA, but still rotates between working for them, the CSA, and the Reds, mostly just trying to stay alive. However he firmly settles on face during WWII, when he signs up with the American Army for the express purpose of crushing the CSA.
- Odd Friendship: With Apicus and Lucullus Wood, whose politics he disdains, but is friends with nonetheless.
- Parents as People: Tries his best to be a good father to Achilles and Amanda, despite his lack of education and the demands of first his job and then the war.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: From American Front to In At The Death.
- Took a Level in Badass: Not at first, but as the series progresses he takes immense levels in it.
- Too Clever by Half: The opinion of most of the racists who meet him.
- You Are a Credit to Your Race: Gets hit with this a lot by white characters.
Canadians
Canadian Resistance
Arthur McGregor
A Canadian farmer who lives with his family in Rosenfeld, Manitoba. A Canadian patriot who opposes the American incursion into, and eventual occupation of, his homeland, Arthur nonetheless unwillingly cooperates with the Yanks until they shoot his son, Alexander, for sabotage. Then he embarks on a desperate quest for revenge.
- Berserk Button: Do not suggest his son may actually have been guilty of the deeds for which he was executed.
- Create Your Own Villain: Arthur turns from a farmer, determined to stay out of the conflict, to a committed terrorist and saboteur when the occupying forces accuse his son of blowing up a train and execute him. Arthur is certain that his son was innocent, and was executed for being friends with the wrong people. It's never entirely clear whether that's true or not.
- Grenade Hot Potato: Ends up playing this with Custer. Loses.
- La Résistance: A one-man version of after his son is executed by the U.S. occupying forces on charges of sabatoge. At least until he plays Grenade Hot Potato with Custer.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Let's just say he pays for his actions in a very, very appropriate way.
- Papa Wolf: Arthur hated the occupying Americans from the start, but insisted that his family take no part in the fighting, in hopes of keeping them safe. When his son is accused of attacking a troop train and executed, he begins to wage a one-man guerilla war against the American forces.
- Revenge Before Reason: His driving motivation for most of his story arc.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: Operates more like a true member of La Résistance than a terrorist, targeting only US military personnel (he doesn't even attack Canadian collaborators, due to his first attack, in which he intended to kill an American officer and collaborator, going horribly wrong and killing the collaborator's innocent son, who was the same age as his own executed son) and seeking to limit the damage he inflicts. And what father, given the means, wouldn't seek to avenge the death of his son at the hands of foreign soldiers?
Mary McGregor Pomeroy
Younger daughter of Arthur McGregor, Mary is just as ardent a Canadian patriot as her father, and just as eager for revenge on the Yankees who killed her brother and father. She takes up her father's methods, and learns from his mistakes. Unlike her father, who did his best to strike military targets (and thus was more akin to a soldier, and retained considerable sympathy), Mary is essentially a terrorist and targets anyone, including Jonathan Moss' Canadian wife and child. Also unlike her father, she is ultimately captured and executed.
- I Am Not My Father: Invoked. Mary's first line of defense, when she's suspected in various bombings, is to try to persuade authorities that this is the case, and that she's being persecuted because of her parentage. It's complete BS, of course; the only way in which she's not like her father is that she's a lot more ruthless.
- Ignored Epiphany: When she learns that her bomb killed Dorothy Moss, a very young child, Mary questions whether what she did was wrong. Don't worry, she gets over it in less than half a page.
- More Deadly Than the Male: She is more patient, more methodical, and generally more effective than her father in their shared cause. That said, Mary prefers murdering innocents to targeting soldiers, and thus avoids the high security surrounding American military installations in Canada.
- Pursuing Parental Perils: She takes up her father's one-man terror campaign against the U.S. conquest of Canada.
- Revenge Before Reason: Like father, like daughter.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: And how! Becomes a terrorist to continue her father's resistance. Becomes a martyr for the Canadian rebels in World War II.
- Turn Out Like Her Father: Maude McGregor tries in vain to dissuade Mary from following in Arthur's footsteps.
- Would Hurt a Child: If that child is American — or half-American.
- Unsympathetic P.O.V.: Like Roger Kimball, Mary is horrifyingly evil, despite, again, her crimes being paltry compared to those of far more sympathetic characters. Even the fact of her relatively normal home life, with a husband and child, does little to temper her evil, as almost every one of her entries involves her carrying out, plotting, or mentally cackling about the prospect of slaughtering innocents with explosives.
Others
Lucien Galtier
A Quebecois farmer who lives with his family near the small town of Riviere-du-Loup. He is initially opposed to the American occupation of Canada, but becomes reconciled to the Americans when his daughter marries one.
- Bilingual Bonus / Foreign Cuss Word / Precision F-Strike: Provides the reader with a thorough grounding in French Canadian profanity over the course of the series.
- Les Collaborateurs: A very ambiguous example. Galtier hates the American occupiers, but never takes any real action for or against them, even after they seize his crops and seize part of his land to build a field hospital. Eventually, his daughter falls in love with an American doctor, and Galtier gives his blessing for them to get married. He notes several times how odd it is that he hates the Americans less and less, and how conflicted he feels about it.
- Down on the Farm: Galtier is never seen outside the context of the day-to-day business of his farm and family.
- The Everyman: Moreso than most other characters, as he's never directly involved in the fighting but nonetheless has his life turned upside down by its consequences.
- May–December Romance: Leads to his Out with a Bang.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Some of the best (and funniest) dialogue in the series takes place within the context of Lucien's one-sided conversations with his draft horse on the way to and from market.
- Really Gets Around: But at least he waited until after his wife had died.
- Silver Fox: Implied.
- Sympathetic P.O.V.: The most sympathetic of the Canadian characters (although he's no longer Canadian at the end). Generally friendly and the only POV character who hurts or betrays no one (other than himself) in the entire series!
Wilf Rokeby
Postmaster in Rosenfeld, Manitoba; conduit for rumors and information spread by everyone (both Canadians and occupation troops) in town.
- Bury Your Gays: One of only a couple of characters who are even hinted at as being gay in the entire series, although it's never outright stated and his portrayal is mainly through the eyes of the McGregors, who have their own biases concerning him. Ends up in prison after Mary McGregor sets him up as working for the resistance. As he is not a young man—Rokeby was ready to retire when this took place—and the occupation forces are not known for being gentle, his ultimate fate does not appear kind, though it takes place off-page.
- Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Informed Arthur McGregor of the location of the officer who killed his son, allowing McGregor to exact revenge. Only later does McGregor realize that Rokeby may be sending information on him to the occupation as well. Mary also suspects Rokeby of working for the occupation when he cautions her on continuing her father's activities.
- Gone Horribly Right: Mary plants evidence in Rokeby's post office that implicates him as part of a resistance cell. In fact, Rokeby was loyal to the occupation and reveals information that leads to Mary's eventual capture even though he was imprisoned himself on other charges.
- The Quisling: Although he was postmaster when Canada was still independent, the McGregors suspect him of being one to keep his job. They're right.
Laura Secord Moss
A Canadian farmer living in Berlin, Ontario, and widow of a pilot shot down in the First Great War. After a very contentious courtship, remarries with Jonathan Moss.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Moss
- Les Collaborateurs: Certainly from the standpoint of Mary McGregor despite being a descendant of the Real Life Canadian patriot of the same name.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Stated to be supporting a large number of feral cats on her farm. As she is widowed and isolated on her homestead, this appears to be the trajectory Laura's headed on when Jonathan meets her.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Although more fire than ice.
- Down on the Farm: Where Jonathan first encounters her.
