The Devil's Cottonfield
by SamHaiNe

It's like no other place to call home.
What was once an abandoned military district then repossessed by those insurgents (runaways) the few formerly enslaved who took up arms against their captors.
Those Maroons then turned it into a small colony, a middle passage on the way south to the Seminole lands and freedom. During the Gullah Wars it was a strategic point for the transport of goods and munitions.
Then the big War started and the settlement was stuck in the middle. North and South each engaged in skirmishes for the land as well allegiance and compliance of its residents. Both sides falling short when combating the guerilla tactics of the outlaw Maroons and a small number of natives including the Lumbee.
Finally, the war ended and the North was victorious. The South was in shambles and reconstruction around the corner. And once again, pressure was placed on the colony for allegiance - They refused.
An economy grew and then a few dozen displaced indigenous peoples, mountain folk & disenchanted rebels started moving in.. It became a city state within the country… a home for criminals and outcasts. Surviving in the American way; with criminality and ingenuity and maintaining its anonymity with federal blackmail.
Now it's an aged city of aches, spasms and splintered bones beneath the flesh of concrete, steel and glass. A simple economy of blue collar sweat built upon the still existing skeleton of contraband, vice and organized crime.

The air is thick and the meals sometimes scraps. The night is deep and the victories small. The skyline is deceitful and the grift is treacherous. You can find your way if you make it and still lose yourself on the betting table. She's a woman with curves and bloodstained motives. She has a thousand stories and a dozen sighs.
You will make decisions and become what you are: workers, servers, merchants, criminals or less.
This is home. This is the American dream.
In a brutal savage world there is only one rule - "survive at any cost".
This is HAINESVILLE.