Prologue
A muster of moths : the Forty-third Congress of the United States
Charge at New Market Heights : debate in the House of Representatives
Purblind child of darkness : Sumner's civil rights bill passes the Senate
The deadest corpse : no exit in the House
Horace Redfield's journey : the long hot summer of 1874
The shirt of Nessus : elections in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia
Quintessence of abominations : elections in Tennessee and Alabama
Carry the news to Hiram : elections in Florida and Louisiana
Greeley's ghost : elections in Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, Maryland
Taliaferro's ghost : border states and the north
Suffer the little white children : vox populi reconsidered
If ruin comes from this : a House decided
Dear Tom's deception : birth of the civil rights act
De pervisions, josiar : civil rights dawn
Epilogue : then and now.