Artistic License History / Dickinson

• The real Emily had chestnut red hair, not dark brown.
• In "'Faith' is a fine invention", a solar eclipse, the Churchwell-Cullom fight, and Ben's death take place in quick succession, when they were months apart historically (May 24, June 20, and March 24, respectively).
• The historical Ben Newton was a married man and correspondent of Emily, not the unmarried, Ambiguously Bi love interest.
• The series began in 1852-3, while the Republican Party gets mentioned. It wouldn't come into being until 1854.
• While there's speculation Emily indeed had feelings for Sue it's not confirmed, nor that they were returned if so, and certainly an affair between them hasn't been shown.
• Austin is drafted, talking with a friend about hiring someone else to impersonate him so that he can escape. However, that would be unnecessary, as you could hire a replacement to serve in your stead legally-many rich men did this, to great resentment by men from a poorer background, and was a cause of the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots.

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