Reconstruction era removed civilian governments in the South, and placed the former Confederacy under the rule of the U.S. Army. The army conducted new elections in which the freed slaves could vote, while whites who had held leading positions under the Confederacy were temporarily denied the vote and were not permitted to run for office. In ten states, coalitions of freedmen, recent black and white arrivals from the North (carpetbaggers), and white Southerners who supported Reconstruction (scalawags) cooperated to form Republican biracial state governments. They introduced various reconstruction programs including: funding public schools, establishing charitable institutions, raising taxes, and funding public improvements
A Warning to the Curious the narrator and Long are moved by Paxton's story and decide to help him return the crown. During their successful mission both men have some appreciation of being under surveillance by a supernatural presence. The next day the narrator and Long are to meet Paxton for a walk but discover him gone; a servant states that she saw Paxton running towards the beach having heard his friends call for him. The two men set off after Paxton onto the beach where a thick sea mist descends making visibility poor. The two men come across Paxton's body, he has met a