For This Land

by Kate McMullan

  In 1857, there was a U.S. presidential election. Franklin Pierce was not reelected. He was not even nominated by his own party to run for president.

  Kansas became a state in 1861. It did not allow slavery.

  The author would like to thank her editors, Beth S. Levine, for her thoughtful comments, Lisa Sandell, for finding the right title, and Jean Marzollo, for her biblical scholarship. She would especially like to thank Judith M. Sweets of the Watkins Community Museum of History for her wonderful research, her great sensitivity to the requirements of this project, and for introducing the author to the works of Kansas Territory pioneers Louisa Prentiss Simpson, author of “Grandmother’s Letters,” and Anna Smith Irvin, author of “Memories of Early Days in Kansas.”

  Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following:

  Cover portrait by Glen Harrington.

  Ferrying voters, North Wind Picture Archives.

  Border Ruffians invading, North Wind Picture Archives.

  Destruction of the Free State Hotel, the Kansas State Historical Society.

  Kate McMullan says, “In the fifth grade, my friends and I discovered what we called the ‘orange books.’ They were biographies, with bright orange covers, of important people in American history: Sacagawea, Ben Franklin, Molly Pitcher, and many more. We all read them. At recess we talked about Dolley Madison’s dinner parties and whether Pocahontas truly loved John Smith. The ‘orange books’ brought history alive for us.

  “I loved reading the letters and diaries of the pioneers who settled in K.T. Here were stories of real people — everyday people — like us. These pioneers included so many strange and unexpected details in the writing. A bed cord really was used to raise the flag on Blue Mound. Old Sacramento, the Free-State Militia cannon, really was stolen by the Ruffians and dressed in women’s clothing to hide it. My aim in writing this diary was to see if I could put nine-year-old Meg Wells into some of these pioneer stories in hopes of bringing history to life for today’s readers.”

  Kate McMullan is the author of award-winning picture books including I Stink!, I’m Dirty!, I’m Mighty!, and I’m Fast!, illustrated by her husband, the noted artist Jim McMullan. She has also written the Fluffy the Classroom Guinea Pig books; the chapter-book series Dragon Slayers’ Academy; and for older readers, Myth-O-Mania, a series of the Greek myths as narrated by Hades. Kate and Jim live in Sag Harbor, New York, with a pair of French bulldogs, Toby and Pinkie.

  Corey’s Underground Railroad Diaries

  by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

  Elizabeth’s Jamestown Colony Diaries

  by Patricia Hermes

  Hope’s Revolutionary War Diaries

  by Kristianna Gregory

  Joshua’s Oregon Trail Diaries

  by Patricia Hermes

  Meg’s Prairie Diaries

  by Kate McMullan

  Virginia’s Civil War Diaries

  by Mary Pope Osborne

  While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Margaret Cora Wells is a fictional character, created by the author, and her diary is a work of fiction.

  Copyright © 2003 by Kate McMullan

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, MY AMERICA, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McMullan, Kate.

  For This Land / by Kate McMullan

  p. cm. — (My America. McMullan, Kate. Meg’s diary; bk. 2)

  Summary: Meg records in her diary the events from July to November of 1856, when her family is reunited and must face challenges from fires to pro-slavery border ruffians who are trying to take over Kansas Territory.

  ISBN 0-439-37059-0; 0-439-37060-4 (pbk.)

  [1. Frontier and pioneer life — Kansas — Fiction. 2. Diaries — Fiction. 3. Kansas — History — 1854–1861 — Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series

  PZ7.M2295 En 2003

  [Fic] — 21 2002026942

  CIP AC

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  First edition, May 2003

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-62977-5

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.