Tracy Houston

Tracy Houston was the 'diminutive' captain of Company D of the 35th Maine, who was transported to Valdennia through the Tunnel of Light.

In Rally Cry, he is described in the following way: 'Houston was only nineteen, looking even younger thanks to a shock of unruly blond hair and a cloud of freckles that covered his face. But his features were a stark contradiction to a hardened officer who had won a commission in the field for gallantry during the Wilderness campaign'. He also sported a set of thin whiskers.

Houston joined the Union army during the American Civil War on principle, wanting to aid in the fight against slavery.

In the months following their arrival in Valdennia, Houston's Company D focussed on building a sawmill for the purpose of making wooden cladding for the Yankee buildings going up at Fort Lincoln and the vicinity of Suzdal. Making use of the skills of Chuck Ferguson and privates Ivey and Olsen from his company, Houston and his men dammed a site along the Mill Stream just to the east of the fort, with the help of Bob Fletcher's men from Company B.

In a short amount of time Houston's sawmill became functional, but experienced delays as Fletcher's grain mill and John Mina's own dams further upstream took time to fill up. He also wanted Dunlevy's aid in getting tools to cut stone blocks, but Keane kept him under Mina's command.

When the regiment learned about the impending arrival of the Tugars in Rus, Houston was one of those who spoke up at an open meeting, strongly in favour of not only staying and fighting, but of dismantling the boyar system of government in the process: 'I'm an abolitionist man... I joined to fight slavery. This makes the Johnnies back home look like rock-solid Republicans. Let's smash this system to the ground, colonel, free the peasants, arm 'em, and fight!'

Following the Peasant's Revolt, Keane promoted Houston to command the 1st Division of the Suzdalian Army, under the overall command of Hans Schuder. The division took a leading role during the fighting retreat back towards Suzdal, but took heavily casualties during a night attack that flanked the army. Somewhere between this action and the retreat to Suzdal, Houston was killed.

Following his death, Keane continued to refer to the remaining units of 1st Division as 'Houston' during the Siege of Sudzal.