Jefferson Pinkard

From Turtledove

Jefferson Pinkard (d. 1945) was a veteran of the Great War, a staunch member of the Freedom Party, and an architect of the Population Reduction in the Confederacy during the Second Great War.

Pinkard was a steelworker at the beginning of the Great War. He and his wife, Emily, lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He was not drafted until 1915 because of his important work for the wartime cause. During the war he was first assigned to fighting against the Red Rebellion in southern Georgia. He helped put down the short-lived rebellion there and then was moved to fight in western Texas.

Some time after the move he was able to take leave and get home to an unexpected Emily. When he came home he found that his wife committing adultery with his best friend. Even though he dealt with the situation calmly their marriage would never be the same. He ended up finishing the war in western Texas.

Once he came back he was able to return to his job and hold on to it throughout the postwar inflation that ocurred throughout the CSA. During this time he also discovered the Freedom Party after listening to Jake Featherston speak in Birmingham. He became an avid supporter of the Party and as he continued to support it, his marriage continued to deteriorate. He and his wife began to argue more and he began to assault her and once he even raped her. Finally, after he found her cheating on him once again he threw her out of the house. After this his support for the Party became even more vociferous and he became a strongman in the Party.

Pinkard was at the rally where Wade Hampton V was assassinated. He stayed with the Party even as others abandoned it in droves. He joined the regiment of Freedom Party volunteers who supported the Hapsburg emperors of Mexico during the Mexican Civil War. His most valuable experience in Mexico was his time as the head of a prisoner of war camp. He learned valuable lessons in the set-up and the efficient organization of such camps.

Upon returning to the C.S., Pinkard was fired by the company he worked for. He was able to get a job in a prison due to his previous experience at the POW camp. He stayed at the prison for a while and was as dedicated to the Party as ever. After Featherston was elected he was put in charge of a prison camp in Louisiana. The camp housed many supposed black rebels and political prisoners. He rose in the Party ranks as he worked more at the camp and he also began the Population Reduction at Ferdinand Koenig's orders.

He developed new ways of killing the prisoners and he also steadily rose through the ranks of the Party. He was soon put in charge of a new and larger camp, Camp Determination in west Texas near the town of Snyder. He also married the widow of a camp guard, Edith Blades. But as the Second Great War continued, his camp was threatened by the US force driving towards nearby Lubbock.

The US force continued its advance into Texas after the fall of Lubbock in the spring of 1943. In the meantime, the "population reductions" (i.e. mass murders) started falling as US air strikes knocked out the rail lines leading toward Determination while destroying Snyder. Pinkard sited a location for a new camp 20 miles north of the city of Houston near the town of Humble. He moved his family into this safer location as work finished on Camp Humble.

As Abner Dowling liberated Camp Determination, Pinkard oversaw the construction his new camp, with the latest "improvement" - a crematorium to both "get rid of the bodies" and "get rid of the evidence". However, such improvements weren't as satisfactory as he'd hoped. The crematorium malfunctioned, sending greasy black smoke and occasional human remains high into the air. Indeed, the only bright spot during Pinkard's stay at Camp Humble, was the birth of his son Raymond.

With increasing Confederate defeats, the state of Texas seceded from the CSA and proclaimed itself an independent republic yet again, negotiating a separate armistice with the USA. One requirement of the U.S.-Texas armistice was the surrender of all Camp Humble officials, Pinkard included.

Refusing to believe that he had done anything wrong, Pinkard was a nearly impossible client to defend as he was put on trial for crimes against humanity, as his attorney, Jonathan Moss, soon discovered. Despite Moss' best efforts, Pinkard, along with his second-in-command Vern Green and Camp Dependable commandant (and Pinkard's former second-in-command there) Mercer Scott were both convicted for their immediate role in the Population Reduction and sentenced to death by hanging. In addition, both Saul Goldman and Ferdinand Koenig were also hanged for their indirect command roles.