Alert eyes scanned the wooded acres of the Holland Purchase ahead. Tiny animals rustled in the dry leaves. The air held the crisp atmosphere of autumn, which puffed in little gusts around the rut-scarred path. The woodland overflowed with the reverberations of falling trees and the acrid aroma of hardwood smoke rose from blackened woods. Men were subduing the land as sturdy oxen ploughed through the wood-littered fields, turning the richness of decay and ashes back into the soil. Spring planting would find this ground sown with seeds of wheat, barley, corn, and flax. However, it was autumn yet, and the orchards held the season's harvest amid their sturdy young branches.     

In places, forest trunks had been pulled out then moved in line for use as stump fences. Some remnants were burned, while others were left to weaken with rot, so future efforts could pry them from their grasp on the earth. Hemlock trees and white pine gripped the soil with shallow roots; other trees with deeper root systems would be easily pulled over with a working team during next October's labor. The itinerant merchant with the smoky gray eyes had been traveling for a score of days. Fatigue plagued his muscles, while harsh winds and a harsh existence had mapped his countenance. His wagon held balms, elixirs, and nostrums, each prepared as someone's favorite remedy. His sales outside of Alabama, which had been a state for 15 years, were running at a loss this trip. He had left Mobile with vague concerns about his journey; however, the trip was almost finished. Rochesterville and Canada were not far ahead of his northbound ponies.

The early years of the 1830s had brought vast unrest within the youthful country: the northern states with their issues of personal freedom, in opposition to the southern states' thoughts on the economic philosophy of slavery. The northern abolitionist and the southern plantation owners were deeply dividing the nation--laborers against gentleman, kin against family, neighbor against compatriot. The questions of civil liberty and humanity meant northern folks mistrusted southern visitors, and the division lines over slavery were drawn with economic and moral fences, amplifying tensions and frequently exposing hostility.