A megalomaniac millionaire seizes power with the help of fake news and a foreign power. Thinking today’s Trump? Think again. Think the amazing true story of William Tell Coleman, who overthrew San Francisco’s democratically-elected government in a bid to found a slave-holding Pacific coast empire. Only Judge Ned McGowan stood in his way... Deadwood meets Game of Thrones in this incredible true story based on the book by Don Hauka.

SYNOPSIS:

In 1856, business tycoon William Tell Coleman seized control of San Francisco and used thousands of European mercenaries to extend his rule over most of California. He smashed the Democrats, lynching their party workers from the windows of his warehouse fortress dubbed “Fort Gunnybags.” The State Governor cravenly gave him a free hand to commit murder and insurrection. And while publically a devout Baptist, privately he and his Vigilante Committee took over saloons and brothels to fund their new state.

Coleman used the cash to fund his real goal: “The Bear Flag Republic,” a new, slave-holding Pacific Empire stretching from Alaska to Panama. Helped by a bribed press, Coleman defeated soon-to-be heroes like William Tecumseh Sherman and had a stranglehold on the state. The only man standing in his way was Judge Ned McGowan, charismatic boss of the California Democratic Party machine. But Ned was not about to put his head in a noose without a fight.

This is the true, untold story of Coleman’s conspiracy break up the United States on the eve of the Civil War: a death-struggle between a would-be messianic president and the only man who can stop him.