Part One, Chapters 6-10 Summary

In Chapter 6, posted in the frontier city of Los Angeles, Captain Hancock is made aware that there is trouble brewing. He is told that if Abraham Lincoln wins the presidential election then civil war is all but certain. The territory of California was only recently taken from Mexico by the U.S. in the Mexican war twenty years earlier. Now the native population of Spaniards and Mexicans are threatening rebellion, taking advantage of the turmoil in the east. As the only soldier in charge of a supply post filled with weapons and supplies enough for a small army, Hancock locks himself in for the night, but receives unexpected help from the the friends he has made in town. As morning arrives, so does a regiment of U.S. infantry to serve as stronger protection for the post...