Name: Carlton Davis
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Height: 5'11
Weight: 195 lbs
Handedness: Right
Birthplace/Origin: Plantation in South Carolina
Description: Carlton is a tall well built young black man. He has dark brown eyes and short black hair. He wears a trail hat, with a shirt and trousers, covered with chaps, and boots with spurs. His hands are usually gloved.


Background: Carlton was born on a plantation in South Carolina. He worked in the fields, and was lucky that he was strong as the work was hard. He carries the scar of a brand of a an X on his inner arm, the plantation owner wanted them all to know who they belonged to. His mother worked in the house and heard enough news to hear when they had all been freed. Taking her children (Carlton's older brother Jesse, and his little sister, Joy) she made a run for the North. They didn't get far before they knew they were being chased. Carlton was only eight, but that night lives with him. His mother managed to get them into a boat on the river before the hunting dogs caught up to her. She was savaged in front of their eyes as the boat drifted away. His sister screamed for her mother, and fell overboard and sank, Jesse jumped into to save her. He hasn't seen any of his family since as the boat drifted away downstream. He saw bodies struggling in the water, so hopes his brother and sister survived. He intends to try and find them. He hard a rumour that a brother and sister with X brands had been seen in Mad Mesa and came to check it out.

After the boat drifted away, he was lost in tears, until eventually he sobbed himself to sleep. By chance he was found by a union patrol when the boat hit the bank, who took him back to their unit. Their Officer, Dwight Johnson Jnr took him on as an officers assistant, getting him to clean his saddle and boots, but also teaching him - how to shoot, how to stalk game and not be seen, how to ride, but not to hunt. Dwight was a naturalist who studied animals, and what he knew he taught to Carlton. He taught Carlton to read and write some, and encouraged him to carry out his own investigations into the natural world. They would often discuss what Carlton found when he was out and about on a chore, and noticed a new plant, usually bringing back a sample of the plant if he could. Carltons sketches were a bit poorer, so he often used to press the flowers or leaves into his book. Over the years, though, some samples had been lost, and all that remained was what he had written in his unsteady writing.

After the war, Dwight went back east, he offered to take Carlton with him, but Carlton wanted to try and find his family. Dwight gave him his field note book on animals, and Carlton treasures it and the sketches in it, sometimes trying to add his own poor versions. He managed to get work with his skills with a mountain man, who helped him become a hunter - something he sometimes feels is a betrayal of what Dwight taught him. But he needed to eat and live, and by hunting he could earn money to do that, or just feed himself. He has been living that way ever since, trying to make his way back home, but inevitably not getting far before he needed to work again, or hared off after another rumour about his family. Like he has just done again.