Author’s Note

Most of the Pony Express incidents recorded—including the breakfast incident—are true, as are all the names of the riders mentioned. Nearly all California personalities, politicians, and issues are likewise factual, and the positions, facts, and details represented, as far as can be determined, are historically accurate. Along with other sources, the following books were very helpful in researching early California history, the Pony Express, the election of 1860, and the early Civil War period:

Bartlett, Ruhl, John C. Fremont and the Republican Party

Hittell, Theodore, History of California

Lewis, Oscar, San Francisco: Mission to Metropolis

McAfee, Ward, California’s Railroad Era 1850–1911

Nichols, Roy, The Stakes of Power 1845–1977

Reinfeld, Fred, Pony Express

Rolle, Andrew, California, A History

Roske, Ralph, Everyman’s Eden, A History of California

Williams, Harry, The Union Sundered

Williams, Harry, The Union Restored

In addition: “The Mexican War and the Facts Behind It” by Patrick Phillips, and issue #33 of Christian History magazine on “The Untold Story of Christianity and the Civil War.”

For all of these, as well as to Sandy Bean for the creation of Edie, the author expresses his deepest gratitude.