The Invitation

On March 20, 1854, approximately fifty-three men gathered at the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin.

They had come together in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act — a bill that threatened to allow slavery to spread into new western territories.

Alvan E. Bovay called the meeting. Five men — Bovay, Amos Loper, Abram Thomas, Jehdeiah Bowen, and Jacob Woodruff — were chosen to organize a new party. Bovay proposed the name: Republican.

This game uses documented historical figures alongside dramatized composites. Each person is labeled by confidence level in your journal.

John & Eliza Wright — Ceresco Township

The 1850 Federal Census of Ceresco Township records John Wright, age 27, farmer, $500 in real estate, born New York; wife Eliza Wright, age 26, born New York. (PEDRICK: Wright, John.pdf)

Dennis Wright Akin — Ripon Druggist

Documented in the PEDRICK archive. Born Richmond, Ontario Co., NY, 1820; came to Wisconsin 1848; Ripon druggist, Assessor, City Treasurer. (Akin, Dennis_Wright.pdf)

Alvan E. Bovay (1818–1903)

A Ripon lawyer and Ripon College founder who organized the February 28 and March 20, 1854 meetings and proposed the Republican name.

The Committee of Five

At the March 20 meeting, Bovay, Loper, Thomas, Bowen, and Woodruff were chosen to organize the new party.

Joshua Glover — March 11, 1854

Nine days before the Ripon meeting, thousands in Milwaukee freed Joshua Glover from federal custody — an event that galvanized Wisconsin abolitionists.

Your goal: Earn an invitation to the Little White Schoolhouse meeting tonight.

• Explore the map — Click pins on the historic Ripon lithograph.
• Talk to people — New questions appear as you learn more. Revisit NPCs for different topics.
• Gather clues — Historical knowledge unlocks new dialogue and locations.
• Build trust — Ask carefully. Blunt questions raise suspicion.
• Time passes — Every two moves advances the day toward sundown.