In 1863 the Civil War was mainly fought by outsiders.  But there were some Newgaters who fought for the Union proudly.  Many did their duty to win the war and were never known because they didn’t want attention brought to the city.  Even historians are in the dark about something Newgaters call the Dixie Diversion Attempt. 

Lee was trying to bring the war to the North in Pennsylvania.  His comrades along the Mississippi were being pounded by Grant and his men in Vicksburg.  But one man, Colonel Ambrose Tucker from New Orleans, wanted to strike into the heart of the North since his beloved city was under Union control.  He couldn’t even send letters to his wife and children in the city, so they didn’t know how he was doing.  But if he could achieve his symbolic victory in the North, his family and the rest of the Confederacy would rejoice. 

Colonel Tucker and a force of 150 men struck out from Canada and traveled overland with the goal of reaching Buffalo, New York to take the city.  He was confident he had the right number of men to overcome resistance and seize the city.  But if they failed, those who remained could take boats to cross into Canada.  Desperate men needed to do desperate acts. 

Between Canada and Buffalo stood Newgate, New York.  He thought that it would offer little trouble.  He had some of his men cut the telegraph lines to isolate the town from the rest of the world.  What the colonel didn’t realize was that the lines were basically dead and only there for show.  But their cutting signaled to the communications center that people were tampering with the lines. 

Drom Janvuous and his six men of the Newgate Police Department and their robots and androids were alerted and went into action.  They didn’t know if the town was surrounded, so Drom assigned a man and his synthetics to check out the situation and take appropriate action in different directions.  To speed them on their way they used the town’s city teleportation system.  It consumed a lot of energy.  But if the situation was as serious as Drom feared it was, speed would be vital. 

Febris Manx and his two synthetics transported to the main telegraph pole and saw the cut lines lying on the ground.  They pulled out their multi-mode pistols and rifles and scanned the area to see if they could spot the vandals.