Aftermath

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>In 1856 five years before the Civil War Richard Bryan freed his slaves educated them deeded land and shared profits.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>At war's end Yankees wanted to use his success to promote their own agenda. He refused and they turned on him.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>The era of Reconstruction quickly became a brutal nightmare for those who refused demands to join the political party favored by the Northern conquerors.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Once the Reconstruction era ended the family's vast acreage had been reduced by punitive taxes to a mere fraction of its pre-war size. Ongoing day-to-day survival still required difficult and now oftentimes legally questionable decisions.</span></p>