It is a common misconception that Jim Lane was an abolitionist. Lane was a die-hard democrat who had voted for the Kansas-Nebraska Act. When he came to Kansas, it was his intention to become the leader of the free-state democrats. Almost overnight however, he became a “radical” republican. Prior to the war, I do not think Lane gave a damn about the black man. As the war progressed he freed slaves and was the first to enlist blacks into the Union army. In my humble opinion however, this had more to do with bringing the south to her knees rather than any sympathy for blacks. At the end of the war Lane reverted to his former ways and became a conservative, voting in support of President Johnson. It would take a skilled biographer to figure the guy out. Moonlight goes from democrat to republican and back to democrat in his lifetime. I think Moonlight was probably against slavery early on. It would be interesting though to see what he thought of full suffrage for African Americans. I know he had some pretty nasty things to say about the Irish.