The Invaders: Book One of Conveyance

Richard Bryan of Mt. Lebanon, Louisiana was the consummate idealist. He had a forward-looking outlook. Slavery was an anachronism. In 1856, five years before the war, he offered emancipation to all 97 on his plantation, hired a teacher, deeded land, shared profits, and encouraged entrepreneurs.

The Civil War devastated the South, but the war never reached his home. When Union occupiers arrived in Mt. Lebanon a decade later, they were astounded to find Bryan's experiment fully implemented. F...