Redfield Proctor and the Division of Rutland by Linda GoodspeedNothing in Redfield Proctor's early life suggested greatness. He almost died in the Civil War. He squandered a small inheritance. He disliked farming and practicing law. In 1869, a scheming woman, anxious to get rid of her dead husband's business partner, enlisted Proctor's help in gaining control of a small, bankrupt marble mill at Sutherland Falls, Vermont. Proctor turned that mill into the largest marble operation in the world. He founded a political dynasty that elected four Proctors governor. He handpicked a President, and was named a cabinet secretary. As a U.S. Senator. He helped push the country into a bloody war with Spain. But perhaps his greatest legacy is Washington, D.C., itself, with its many marble monuments and buildings.
To get to the national stage, however, Proctor had to divide a town.
Redfield Proctor and the Division of Rutland is a delightfully engaging historical novel about one of America's little-known giants of the Gilded Age, and the passions and ruthless ambition that characterized that time.
Redfield Proctor and the Division of Rutland (History Press, 2011): $19.99
