Rebekah Sutherland

American and Russian Alliance of 1858: the Slave Boy Who Refused to Work Rebekah Sutherland

Who was the American child that was adorned with jewels by the Russian Czaritza in 1860? How did the empty South Carolina Fort Sumter become occupied on Christmas Eve in 1861? What did the southern slaves actually say about slavery? This historical fiction explores the heretofore hidden facts about a relationship between Russia and America surrounding the time period before and after the Civil War. In 1858, after a whirlwind romantic third marriage, the southern politician from South Carolina, Francis W. Pickens, was sent to serve as the American Minister to Russia. His Texan wife, Lucy, bonded with the Russian Czar's wife to form a relationship that directly influenced history as the Civil War unfolded in the United States. Throughout the story, a lazy slave boy from Pickens' plantation grows up and accompanies the couple to Russia. The facts in the story have been documented and the sources are available in the bibliography of the book. This simple historical novel should inspire everyone to revisit the present understanding of the events that caused the Civil War, the bloodiest war fought in American history.