Appalachia (David Bradford)

Appalachia

Leader	David Bradford
Capital	Charleston
Start Bias	Hills
Religion	Protestantism
Culture req. mod	Colonial
Civilopedia

Appalachia led by David Bradford is a custom civilization by Octoski with contributions from TPangolin, Zwei33, and RawSasquatch.

This mod requires Brave New World.

Overview[]

Appalachia[]

Native American hunter-gatherers first arrived in what is now Appalachia over 16,000 years ago. The earliest discovered site is the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Washington County, Pennsylvania which some scientists claim is pre-Clovis culture. Several other Archaic period (8000–1000 BC) archaeological sites have been identified in the region, such as the St. Albans site in West Virginia and the Icehouse Bottom site in Tennessee. In the 16th century, the de Soto and Juan Pardo expeditions explored the mountains of South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, and encountered complex agrarian societies consisting of Muskogean-speaking inhabitants. Appalachian frontiersmen have long been romanticized for their ruggedness and self-sufficiency. A typical depiction of an Appalachian pioneer involves a hunter wearing a coonskin cap and buckskin clothing, and sporting a long rifle and shoulder-strapped powder horn. Perhaps no single figure symbolizes the Appalachian pioneer more than Daniel Boone (1734–1820), a long hunter and surveyor instrumental in the early settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee. Like Boone, Appalachian pioneers moved into areas largely separated from "civilization" by high mountain ridges, and had to fend for themselves against the elements. As many of these early settlers were living on Native American lands, attacks from Native American tribes were a continuous threat until the 19th century.

In the early 19th century, the rift between the yeoman farmers of Appalachia and their wealthier lowland counterparts continued to grow, especially as the latter dominated most state legislatures. People in Appalachia began to feel slighted over what they considered unfair taxation methods and lack of state funding for improvements (especially for roads). In the northern half of the region, the lowland "elites" consisted largely of industrial and business interests, whereas in the parts of the region south of the Mason–Dixon Line, the lowland elites consisted of large-scale land-owning planters. The Whig Party, formed in the 1830s, drew widespread support from disaffected Appalachians. After Virginia voted to secede, several mountain counties in northwestern Virginia rejected the ordinance and with the help of the Union army established a separate state, admitted to the Union as West Virginia in 1863. However, half the counties included in the new state, comprising two-thirds of its territory, were secessionist and pro-Confederate. This caused great difficulty for the new Unionist state government in Wheeling, both during and after the war. A similar effort occurred in East Tennessee, but the initiative failed after Tennessee's governor ordered the Confederate army to occupy the region, forcing East Tennessee's Unionists to flee to the north or go into hiding. Both central and southern Appalachia suffered tremendous violence and turmoil during the American Civil War. While there were two major theaters of operation in the region— namely the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (and present-day West Virginia) and the Chattanooga area along the Tennessee-Georgia border— much of the violence was caused by bushwhackers and guerrilla war. The northernmost battles of the entire war were fought in Appalachia with the Battle of Buffington Island and the Battle of Salineville resulting from Morgan's Raid. Large numbers of livestock were killed (grazing was an important part of Appalachia's economy), and numerous farms were destroyed, pillaged, or neglected. The actions of both Union and Confederate armies left many inhabitants in the region resentful of government authority and suspicious of outsiders for decades after the war.

Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas in western Pennsylvania grew into one of the nation's major industrial centers, especially regarding iron and steel production. By 1900, the Chattanooga area and north Georgia and northern Alabama had experienced similar changes due to manufacturing booms in Atlanta and Birmingham at the edge of the Appalachian region. Railroad construction between the 1880s and early 20th century gave the greater nation access to the vast coalfields in central Appalachia, making the economy in that part of the region practically synonymous with coal mining. As the nationwide demand for timber skyrocketed, lumber firms turned to the virgin forests of southern Appalachia, using sawmill and logging railroad innovations to reach remote timber stands. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw the development of various regional stereotypes. Attempts by President Rutherford B. Hayes to enforce the whiskey tax in the late 1870s led to an explosion in violence between Appalachian "moonshiners" and federal "revenuers" that lasted through the Prohibition period in the 1920s. Appalachia, and especially Kentucky, became nationally known for its violent feuds, especially in the remote mountain districts. They pitted the men in extended clans against each other for decades, often using assassination and arson as weapons, along with ambushes, gunfights, and pre-arranged shootouts. The infamous Hatfield-McCoy Feud of the 19th century was the best known of these family feuds. Some of the feuds were continuations of violent local Civil War episodes.

By the 1950s, poor farming techniques and the loss of jobs to mechanization in the mining industry had left much of central and southern Appalachia poverty-stricken. The lack of jobs also led to widespread difficulties with outmigration. Beginning in the 1930s, federal agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority began investing in the Appalachian region. Sociologists such as James Brown and Cratis Williams and authors such as Harry Caudill and Michael Harrington brought attention to the region's plight in the 1960s, prompting Congress to create the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1965. The commission's efforts helped to stem the tide of outmigration and diversify the region's economies. Although there have been drastic improvements in the region's economic conditions since the commission's founding, the ARC still listed 82 counties as "distressed" in 2010, with nearly half of them in Kentucky. Religion in Appalachia is characterized by a sense of independence and a distrust of religious hierarchies, both rooted in the evangelical tendencies of the region's pioneers, many of whom had been influenced by the "New Light" movement in England. The Appalachian dialect is a dialect of Midland American English known as the Southern Midland dialect, and is spoken primarily in central and southern Appalachia. Appalachian music is one of the best-known manifestations of Appalachian culture. Traditional Appalachian music is derived primarily from the English and Scottish ballad tradition and Irish and Scottish fiddle music. African-American blues musicians played a significant role in developing the instrumental aspects of Appalachian music, most notably with the introduction of the five-stringed banjo— one of the region's iconic symbols— in the late 18th century. Another instrument known in Appalachian culture was the Appalachian dulcimer which, in a practical way, is a guitar shaped instrument laid on its side with a flat bottom and the strings are plucked in a manner to make alternating notes.

David Bradford[]

By 1794, Bradford had become a prominent figure in the Whiskey Rebellion, an insurrection that was caused, in part, by the lack of federal courts (which necessitated trips to Philadelphia for trial), large numbers of absentee landlords, conflicts with American Indians, and, most importantly, the high excise tax on whiskey. President George Washington ordered 13,000 troops to the Washington, Pennsylvania area as the first test of the power of the new government. When the militias arrived in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, they began arresting suspected rebels. Among those who had warrants out for their arrest was Bradford. The legend of David Bradford's escape to Lousiana has become a staple example of Appalachian style folklore. David Bradford was pardoned by John Adams for his actions in the Whiskey Rebellion.

Dawn of Man[]

Tidings upon you, David Bradford, Deputy Attorney General of Washington County and champion of the Whiskey Rebellion. Your struggle against the United States was among the first homegrown rebellions in the nation's short history, and with that helped to define the culture of the mythic and unique Appalachian reigion of the Eastern U.S. Through centuries of isolation, Appalachian folklore, music and mining came to propel the United States through the Industrial revolution and beyond. From Georgia in the south to Maine in the north, the epic Appalachian Trial has become symbolic of rugged outdoor adventure and frontiersmanship. Bluegrass music and Moonshining have carried over and evolved from their European and African-American roots, inspiring the individualist spirit that helped define the youthful America in its preliminary years. O courageous Rebel, your people turn to you to once more to throw off the shackles of a tyrannical government. Will you see to it that no unfair tax burdens the freeman so they may live in liberty and prosperity? Will you carve another culture from these legendary hills? Can you build a civilization that will stand the test of time?

Introduction: Greetings, welcome to Appalachia.

Introduction: How do you do? Why don't you stay and have a drink?

Introduction: Salutations, newcomer. Welcome to the rugged frontier.

Defeat: We shall live free, or die trying.

Defeat: The flame of liberty will continue to burn brightly despite your wicked ways.

Defeat: I may make haste to freer lands, but mark my words, I shall return!

Strategy[]

Unique Attributes[]

Appalachia (David Bradford)
Bluegrass Spirit Each source of Iron, Coal, and Copper in the empire provides +2 Culture and double the quantity.
Longrifle (Musketman) Has a 1 tile Ranged attack along with a weaker Melee attack than the standing Musketman. +2 Movement in Hills.
Moonshine Still Available at Metal Casting. Must be built on a Hill or near a source of Fresh Water. No 2 Moonshine Stills may be adjacent to one another. +1 Gold and +1 Production. +2 Culture and +2 Gold upon discovery of Railroad.