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| "The Lincoln Train" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byMaureen F. McHugh | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Alternate Tyrants Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction |
| Publication type | Magazine |
| Publication date | April 1995 |
"The Lincoln Train" is analternate historyshort story published byMaureen F. McHugh, published in April 1995.[1] It is collected in volume 31 of theNebula Awards anthologies, inAlternate Tyrants (1997), and inBest of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005).
The story follows Clara Corbett, a teen-aged girl fromMississippi who is beingforcibly removed from her home following the end of theAmerican Civil War. Clara is from a slave-owning family, and is boarding the train with her mother when the latter suddenly dies. Travelling alone, Clara is approached by Elizabeth Loudon, and they travel together toSt. Louis. Clara initially fears that Elizabeth is anadventuress who will kidnap her and take her to parts unknown, but she is aQuaker and a member of anUnderground Railroad network that rescues people in Clara's situation. Clara journeys with her, her final destination being her sister Julia's home inTennessee. As she tries to offer help to the Quakers, however, Elizabeth grows cold and rebuffs her, stating that "there are no slavers in [their] ranks."
Thepoint of divergence occurs on April 14, 1865, whenJohn Wilkes Booth's bulletfails to killAbraham Lincoln, but renders him avegetable, and incapable of governing the nation.Secretary of StateWilliam H. Seward is widely believed to be the true national policy maker. Seward instigates a harsh policy of removing all Southerners who had ownedslaves to the western territories in a neo-Trail of Tears, where many of them are left to die of starvation and disease. The brevity of the story, and the limit of its narrative viewpoint to one young girl in a remote province, do not allow thisalternate history to be examined in any great depth.
In her letter accompanying the story in volume 31 of theNebula Awards collection, Maureen McHugh states that she originally intended to write a story from Lincoln's perspective, but after reading his speeches and letters, felt incapable of "capturing the man on paper," and so kept him "offstage."
"Train" won the 1996Hugo Award for Best Short Story and the 1996Locus Award. It was also nominated for the 1996Nebula Award for Best Short Story.[2]
Several references are made toOklahoma Territory, but no such entity existed until 1890. The territories that existed in the setting of the story at the time were theIndian Territory and theUnorganized Territory.
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