The lesson plan utilizes Surprised by Death by George Lankford, published in 2009 by Butler Center Books and distributed by the University of Arkansas Press. Students will not only study the territorial era of Arkansas but they will review the literature written during the time by an Arkansan who is a major character in Surprised by Death, a novel based on a true story. Students may also study the American literature author Washington Irving, whose book, A Tour on the Prairies, features one of the characters in Lankford’s book.