WI Josiah Gorgas had remained loyal to the Union?

Anaxagoras

Banned
What if Josiah Gorgas, Chief of Ordnance for the Confederacy during the Civil War, had remained loyal to the Union in 1861? He was a Pennsylvanian, after all.

Gorgas performed logistical miracles in establishing arsenals and ironworks throughout the Confederacy during the war and planned a critical role in managing government-owned blockade runners to bring in badly needed supplies. I don't think anyone else likely to have the position could have done nearly as well as he did. Without Gorgas, it wouldn't surprise me if the war ends months, if not a year or more, earlier than it did IOTL.

Thoughts?
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Tougher for the confeds, certainly;

JE Johnston? He had been QMG in the US Army.

Bragg was an artilleryman, of course; maybe him as CSA chief of ordnance?

Best,
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Well, presumably JE Johnston would do a better job as QM than

Far too high ranking for such a post. Gorgas was a colonel until late 1864.



Maybe. That might well have been the best use the Confederacy could have made of Bragg's talents. No one denies that he was a good administrator, after all.


Well, presumably JE Johnston would do a better job as Commissary General than Northrop; combine the CG Department with QM and give it to JE Johnston (leave Northrop as a deputy, I suppose, to make Davis happy), and make Bragg the chief of ordnance with Gorgas his deputy.

Does the rebellion do better or worse in the field?

Best,
 
Funny, just yesterday we were talking about this very PoD in our BCoF discussion. James McPherson actually goes so far as to say that Josiah Gorgas, along with Issac M St John and George W Rains, "were unsung heroes of the Confederate War effort". And considering St John was actually serving in the field until 1862 OTL, I think we can say he's unlikely to replace him when the Confederacy would really need a match.

OTL, starting around the Summer of 1862, the CSA did not lack for ordnance; so I think the question here effectively is, supposing they had? What if the Confederacy suffered from similar lack of ammunition in 1862 that they did in 1861? My guess is, Richmond would have probably fallen that year (likely due to a more successful Peninsular Campaign, with McClellan getting the glory he expected). Of course, if that had happened, then likely Lincoln would not have felt compelled to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and the butterflies from there would be truly massive.
 
A good PoD for this could actually be Josiah Gorgas doesn't marry Amelia Gayle, daughter of a former Alabama governor, in 1853. Then he likely wouldn't have the connections to rise so far in the CSA (even if he still decides to defect for some reason).
 
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