| abstract | - Elizabeth Biermann (born Elzhbieta Piwowska) became a camp follower after her family was murdered by mercenaries. She was then lost in a card game to a mercenary named Adam, who was gruesomely killed at the Battle of the Crapper shortly after. She'd come in contact with Gretchen Richter, and was liberated by Grantville. Upon her liberation, she joined the New United States Army, changing her name to the more Germanic "Elizabeth Biermann", a name much easier to pronounce for Americans. While she respected Gretchen Richter for founding the Committee of Correspondence, she looked to Julie Sims as her role model, admiring Sims for her skills, audacity, and ability as a sniper. Indeed, the opportunity to become a sniper like Sims was the primary reason Biermann joined the army. While she wanted retribution against the mercenaries who killed her family, she realized that she'd probably never find them, for a time, but she was prepared to make do with substitutes instead. However, Father Lawrence Mazzare counseled Elizabeth, helping to turn her away form dwelling in the past and towards planning a future for herself without vengeance. Elizabeth visited Mazzare for confession and she told him of her sins and he gave her penance. She wouldn't think along those lines again until she next picked up her rifle. In late January, 1632, Elizabeth and fellow soldier Wade Threlkeld were given a week-long assignment to keep a bonfire in a mountain pass large so that all travelers coming to Grantville would see it. Elizabeth then noticed a figure collapsed in the snow. Investigating, she found a weakened boy named Joshua Amramsohn, who had come with his family to Grantville. Joshua was separated from them. After a determined search, Elizabeth discovered his sister Drina alive and their father Moses Amramsohn dead from the cold. Two days later, Elizabeth was consoled by Wade who told her about the many immigrants, especailly the first generation, in the original timeline that traveled to the United States and the hard costs for doing this for making better lives for their children.
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