24 March
General McClellan inspects the militia armouries of the State of Illinois, noting that the head of the War Department (a Lincoln selection, of course) has not been getting weapons to the armouries as fast as he could and that it seems as though the old pre-war policy of dumping the worst weapons on the state miltia has been kept up.
While there, he also discusses a few things with local politicians over dinner and makes a speech. The speech is relatively unpracticed, but it contains a number of key points.
1) An army and a navy sufficient for defence is adequate for a nation, formed on a well-organized militia with a substantial regular corps.
2) The Republicans screwed us over totally with the war with England, and managed to get the Republic into two concurrent wars and lose them both.
3) I would have won the war in 1862 if Lincoln hadn't gotten us into a mess with Britain, and if my Peninsular Campaign had had full support.
4) A revenge war with Britain, or a war with the South, would be costly and unnecessary.
5) I would rather have no slavery than slavery, but rather have legal slavery than illegal abolition.
6) If slavery is an economic mistake, it will die out; if it is an economic boon, it will thrive; if no law is placed to impede or promote it, slavery will do as well as it should in the Republic.
The truth of some of these is worth questioning, but the whole is a persuasive combination and one which the local Democrats agree would work fairly well across the whole country.
25 March
McClellan inspects the Illinois militia.
Their drill is somewhat lacking, and when he requests that some men demonstrate target practice they prove unable to aim past 100 yards or so even if armed with rifles; this he considers another major problem, making the note that a large but ill-trained army is no more effective and much more costly in lives than a smaller and better trained one.
26 March
Date for Dybbol assault is set, as being the last day of March. The rate of firing actually decreases slightly for the Prussian artillery, to ensure that more of the guns will be available for the final bombardment immediately before the assault - they have proven more able to temporarily disable Danish heavy guns than to permanently put them out of commission.
27 March
The Dictator is launched in New York City.
She rides a little low in the water, but not as badly as the Casco debacle (it is estimated she will have 16" of freeboard in standard load conditions, an improvement over the Cascos which would have been underwater), and will be fitted out over the next year.
29 March
A battle takes place to the northwest of Dybbol, as the Prussian I Corps repel an attack by a Danish division. A notable feature of the engagement is the Danish use of grenades, which is executed with sufficient skill to draw admiring comments from the Prussian defenders (and to make a composite brigade fall back, before the embrasures are swept with Dreyse fire from the reserve battalions.)
Based on this battle, the decision is made to step up the Dybbol attack by one day.
30 March
Battle of Dybbol.
The Prussian forward positions are about four hundred metres from the Danish ones, and the calculation of the staff is that this will take about five minutes to cross with the last hundred yards at the double-quickstep. As five minutes is considered too long to maintain surprise, instead the artillery opens fire at maximum rate thirty seconds after the assault steps off.
Rather than repeat the three-phase assault that was successful at the Dannevirke, here a two-phase assault is employed with a substantial reserve ready for exploitation. The first line have bayonets fixed and their rifles loaded, but are under strict orders not to open fire until they reach the fortifications ("touched them with your bayonets" is the language used) and the second line are to go to ground and return fire when the enemy is visible and within range. This second line also includes a number of jaegers from German states who rely on longer ranged infantry rifles than the Dreyse, making them a formidable enemy.
The result is a frightful muddle for the Danish defenders, who are under a combination of bombardment from heavy artillery (including some guns firing at extreme range across the inlet) and - as the assault progresses - rifle fire at quite close range, while also dealing with bayonet-armed infantry charging at them and even loud music in German (including what sounds like the British Royal Anthem) coming from a Prussian advance position.
To add insult to injury, all the German cavalry squadrons are charging the parapets as well - even if they are having trouble, they are still a scary-looking threat which must be honoured and it eats up precious time to ward them off.
While the assault is taking place, a land-naval battle is also commencing. The Niels Juel has steam up, and begins to pull the Frederick VI into position to rake the assaulting Prussian forces, but comes under fire from the guns to the south of the inlet - and, as the Prussian infantry reach the parapet, all the other heavy artillery switch to the sea section of the battle as well. The gunners are inexperienced at aiming at moving targets, but nevertheless the two Danish ships become the centre of a forest of shellbursts (every Prussian gun is firing at or near maximum rate, though this has already caused more than one jam) and before long Niels Juel has taken mobility damage - and the Frederick VI is on fire.
Signalling from the shore, de Meza insists that the two wooden ships fall back - this is a job for the ironclad, which is now available. He also sends in his reserves to the struggle over one of the revetments, where the Prussians have gained the parapet but not yet consolidated their position and are still relatively few in number.
The Rolf Krake slides past the listing Frederick VI and opens fire, each of her guns producing a terrific amount of noise and smoke (though the impact is not much compared to what Frederick VI could achieve) and this heartens the Danish defenders - until, that is, the Prussian trump-card makes itself known in the form of two 24-lbers specially selected as the ones in the best condition, moved overnight into the band enclosure and held in reserve until now. These fire steel rounds with a 2lb overcharge at a range of a little over 200 yards, and the resultant penetration of Rolf Krake's side (though achieved only due to a combination of cold weather reducing the armour efficiency and the guns being fired at a dangerous overcharge) causes the ironclad's commander to panic and retreat - having felt himself invulnerable, the sudden proof this is not the case is too much under the conditions (all the other Prussian heavy guns are firing on him as well, and any of the shells could be an armour piercing round in his mind).
With Rolf Krake goes the Danish morale, and the Prussian capture of the redoubt is no longer in doubt.
The Danish situation is punctuated later in the day when the Frederick VI, burning and abandoned, suddenly explodes as the flames reach her magazines.
31 March
Faced with a German threat to the island of Als, and with evidence that a crossing to this island can successfully be covered (and thus that theoretically all of Jutland, Als and Odense could be taken) the Danish parliament - and king - sue for peace, accepting the German Confederation's latest offer.
With this acceptance, the Danes are required to pay an indemnity (which is fairly small, all things considered) and the Danish Union renounces all claims on Holstein - that is, the inheritance laws of Schleiswig and Holstein both are followed, thus splitting the two duchies apart.
This violates the London Protocol, but most in Germany feel this is an acceptable result.
1 April
The British Parliament determines that the peace terms in the "Holstein War" are acceptable to Great Britain as they currently stand.
