January, 1854
Guadalajara
General Robert E. Lee wondered just how many times the city of Guadalajara would switch hands throughout this war. It had already been three and, reportedly, the enemy was preparing another charge with fresh troops. Lee’s “reinforcements” included 1000 Californians and perhaps arms for another 3000 Mexicans (if an adequate number could be recruited). Having retaken the Mexican capital, Lee’s new task was to try to defend it.
Colonel Ulysses Grant had organized the new California Regiment prior to his promotion. Lee had never met the man before but recalled the fellow had left the service years ago to go into private business in Indiana or Illinois or some such place but had returned to the uniform when the rebellion commenced. Lee was still uncertain of the man’s capacity as he’d heard rumors of liquor having an influence over the officer. Upon arrival, Lee and Grant were both surprised to find Grant had been promoted to Brigadier under Lee who had been promoted to Major General, somewhat belatedly. Colonel William Sherman would take Grant’s place at the head of the California Regiment.
Indeed, the United States had expended more men seizing control of the anarchic “nations” of Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango and Vizcaya. Oh, the majority of the territory wasn’t under active control but the majority of the territory of these lands were barren and lifeless, so no terrible loss. The important thing is that the United States controlled the larger cities and ports. That was adequate. Relatively little resistance had occurred as yet as the United States army was not intent on attempting to tax the locals. Indeed, some were quite thrilled with the fact that no one was attempting to bleed them dry. Lee knew the impoverished place was unlikely to provide much in the way of resources anyway and were lightly populated bits of desert and mountain. The hard currency offered by the Americans was well received and cattle and other goods were miraculously provided even in lands devastated by civil wars as one local leader attempted to ascend to the level of potentate.
Reportedly, these states had been deemed “protectorates” as long as the current state of war exists. Lee had no idea what that meant. If America was trying to annex those half a million people and barren desert, why not just say so?
As it was, Lee was preparing to defend Guadalajara again, having pushed the Spanish back almost to his original defensive line. The Mexicans were pleased, having not enjoyed even the brief occupation of their capital. Evidently, the Spanish were not honorable conquerors. Hundreds of local Mexicans, hereto neutral, joined the American cause.
An so the war continued, half of the Republic of Mexico conquered, the capital existing only under the protection of the American Army. Lee had hoped some semblance of government might be reinstated if only so he might have someone to negotiate terms of supply. Unfortunately, there were no elections planned and three or four local dignitaries claimed to rule the nation. Two of them set up competing “Presidencies” adjacent one another in large downtown haciendas. Lee’s fears of more civil war was dispelled when he realized that absolutely no one, no one at all, even pretended to care about these self-proclaimed leaders. Those Mexicans in arms were entirely supplied by the American army and were more interested in fighting the Spanish than politics.
Lee supposed it was the best he could hope for.
What the Virginian did not realize was that the Spanish had come up with a creative plan. Three thousand Imperial troops, mainly Chileans and Peruvians, arrived off the coast of Mexico, well behind American lines. Already defending what was left of the Republic from the east and south, now Lee faced an invasion from the small seaports of western Mexico.
By the end of January, Lee ordered the newly promoted Brigadier General Grant west with 2500 men to deal with the incursion. This left Lee dangerously exposed in Guadalajara.
Washington DC
While the hills of Washington DC were heavily defended, they were hardly insurmountable cliffs. As the Union vice slowly throttled the nominal capital of two nations, it became painfully evident that the city could not be defended as the perimeter contracted.
Though President James Bonham had long vowed to hold the city, his generals were unanimous in their views that it was utterly indefensible. The stronger Union nation was expanding its grip on the Potomac and the lonely outpost to the north would sooner or later be cut off, leaving the defending garrison stranded.
Finally, Bonham bowed to reality and ordered the city evacuated, while it was still possible.
Over the course of several weeks, the commandant rowed thousands of men across the Potomac at night, leaving the city undermanned, even as additional boats could be constructed for the final push across the river. This, of course, could not go unnoticed even if numerous deserters and spies had not reported the truth.
General Scott, at President Seward’s prodding, finally acted and ordered a general assault upon the city defenses. Casualties were high as the Federals had spent the better part of a year digging trenches and redoubts but the lack of manpower allowed the Union troops to break some previously powerful lines. The Federals had foreseen this and built up multiple lines, slowly retreating to the inner reaches of the fortifications, leaving the charred and damaged city to the Union.
On the final night of January, the Federals sought to escape en masse, abandoning valuable equipment in hopes of saving the men. They were caught by surprise when Union warships emerged, not from the Chesapeake but from the inner reaches of the Potomac. The Union Navy had armed and armored several river steamers and sailed them east at the proper time, cutting off the rickety Federal boats. Finding themselves cut off, the Federals surrendered after a three day bombardment of their quarter mile final redoubt along the Potomac.
10,000 Federals, roughly 1/3rd of the original garrison surrendered. It was a public relations victory for the north as the capital was retaken, the largest haul of prisoners gathered and any foreign powers interested in the conflict would not fail to notice that yet another portion of the Federal States of America had fallen to the greater power. Bonham’s amateurish emissaries to Britain and France singularly failed to entice those nations into recognizing the FSA, which the President hoped would eventually lead to intervention or at least unrestricted trade and supply of war materials. For the time being, most supplies from Europe would arrive via the middle-man of Spain, a rather inefficient purveyor of anything.
Though many (on both sides) had anticipated the war would last only weeks, it had been nearly a year. The United States had reconquered Maryland, Washington DC, half of Virginia, half of Tennessee, parts of North Carolina and most of Louisiana. However, the Confederate Armies remained in the fight and often from defensible positions as the battle in the western states of Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana would prove.
20 miles north of Baton Rouge
General Hooker was getting mighty tired of P.T. Beauregard. The man’s forces seemed to be everywhere, outmaneuvering his own lumbering light infantry and cavalry. Beauregard’s subordinates, Wheat and Forest, were heads and shoulders above Hooker’s counterparts. Finally, in desperation, Hooker summoned Richard Taylor and his Louisiana Loyalist Irregulars across the Mississippi. He had not wanted to use men of dubious loyalty (as many viewed them) against their own kith and kin but Hooker knew that the 25,000 men he’d led across the Mississippi to conquer Baton Rouge were in danger of encirclement if something was not done.
Taylor, the son of the martyred Zachary Taylor, had settled in Louisiana years prior and entered the gentry. It could not be easy to turn against his home and Hooker did not want the man to face an uneasy situation. But Taylor proved his worth quickly. A “gentleman officer” with no real training, Richard Taylor was a quick study, the son and nephew of distinguished Generals. Better, he knew the territory well and quickly proved indispensable.
