Just for a full word document with illustrations you can take the next month off writing this TL if you need it
Best of luck with the research!
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
Just for a full word document with illustrations you can take the next month off writing this TL if you need it
Best of luck with the research!
No Scheina - I have an odd collection for Mexico inc to name a few:
Maximilian and Carlotta by Gene Smith
Maximilian's Lieutenant by Ernst Pitner
A Black Corps d'Elite by Richard Hogg and Peter Hill
Just for a full word document with illustrations you can take the next month off writing this TL if you need it
Best of luck with the research!
Ha! No rest for the wicked! Bear in mind it is still an editor's work in progress.
TFSmith121
Banned
Interesting ...
Interesting ...
Looking forward to see what you've cooked up.
Best,
Interesting ...
Looking forward to see what you've cooked up.
Best,
I am off on holiday for a week and a half in France. I will be out of contact but doing a lot of writing the old fashioned way in the French Alps. My next post will be on Mexico and my future plans for chapters are below but if there is anything else you would like to see or know please shout up!
The Great Exodus Part II - The Blue Eyed Prophet and the Promised Land
Lincoln at Peace - The Path through a Second Term
An Abyssinian Adventure
The Bloody Blue Election of 1868
Lincoln at Peace - The Path through a Second Term
An Abyssinian Adventure
The Bloody Blue Election of 1868
I realize that little of this is going to come to fruition, but I haven't seen much speculation as to what the strongly hinted cult that Stonewall Jackson founds is going to look like. Since it's going to be in TKI's next update I figured that it might be worthwhile to speculate. Obviously I don't expect any confirmation or denial how much, if any, of the below is going to be true. It won't concern itself so much with smaller details of what the cult is going to be like, but rather their worldview.
Pardon if it all sounds somewhat BioShock Infinite.
The Blue-Eyed Prophet's new branch of Christianity is likely to adopt a sort of city on the hill' approach to things. The United States of America will be seen as literally ordained by God - the Founding Fathers were divinely inspired men who sought to establish Eden on earth. But, rather than viewing the Puritan-descended North as the source of the nation's moral strength, it will instead adopt the South in its place. It was in the South, where men tilled fields and grew rich off of the fruit of their own labor (a lie, of course, given the would-be aristocracy that dominated its politics and economic life but these are former rebels even further radicalized by TTL's events...), that brought out the best, godliest men and women. The North at one time was virtuous too, but as time passed, it fell by the wayside and began to sin. Banking and industrial interests, combined with 'false' religion that promoted abolitionism, ruined the moral fiber of Northerners.
That bit about anti-slavery activism is important because it ties into another central concept I see forming about African-Americans: it really runs with the whole 'children of Ham' idea. If southern whites were meant to be God's chosen children in America, then southern blacks are seen as evil. So long as they were kept in chains, it was alright, because they knew their place but it was all a test that, at times, southern whites failed at, such as the 'sin' of miscegenation. Abolitionism is seen retrospectively as literally being the devil's work and a big reason how they justify their forced exodus. With the election of the, to use BioShock Infinite's term for the man, Great Apostate (Lincoln), it sealed the United States' fall into depravity and immorality.
It's been generally hinted at that the United States ITTL will be highly militarized as the years go by, even more so than in our world, but it will also be a somewhat overall better place for minorities. Given that the United States seemingly becomes an active imperial power - or actively aids imperial powers, such as the upcoming joint venture with the British in Abyssinia - this will likely make the melting pot of the country include even more far flung peoples of the globe (whether or not they immigrate or become U.S. citizens from annexation is sort of irrelevant). This will be seen as a further sign of the country sliding into decadence and straying from God's will. The resolution of this sinfulness will be that the Blue-Eyed Prophet's followers see the descendants of the Gray Exiles in a literal 'the South will rise again!' scenario - they'll return home once more, sort of like the Israelites with Canaan, and restore the United States to how it should be.
Given cosmopolitan Mexico, I'm not quite sure how that fits in with the idea that it's a 'promised land' or how they're comfortable serving a monarchy but I could see them perhaps rejecting republics that aren't the old U.S. out of principle that a functional kingdom is better than a form of government that's fallen to ruin. The racism that's inherent in the cult will keep away potential converts among much of the native Mexican population (and even then, I don't see many Cuban or Brazilian Gray Exiles caring much for it given how Mexico-centric it is, especially as the years go by) but it will be allowed to live in its formative years as it's sort of a bulwark that Maximilian can use to try to have his way with the rigid Catholic hierarchy he has to deal with. Just as someone mentioned before, he'll probably be eager to have white immigrants to the country as a way to solve the headache of trying to appease so many different, bickering groups but historians will likely later see this as making a deal with the devil, especially the anti-Jackson cult ones, made worse by the fact that his very tenuously held together empire might not survive.
Pardon if it all sounds somewhat BioShock Infinite.
The Blue-Eyed Prophet's new branch of Christianity is likely to adopt a sort of city on the hill' approach to things. The United States of America will be seen as literally ordained by God - the Founding Fathers were divinely inspired men who sought to establish Eden on earth. But, rather than viewing the Puritan-descended North as the source of the nation's moral strength, it will instead adopt the South in its place. It was in the South, where men tilled fields and grew rich off of the fruit of their own labor (a lie, of course, given the would-be aristocracy that dominated its politics and economic life but these are former rebels even further radicalized by TTL's events...), that brought out the best, godliest men and women. The North at one time was virtuous too, but as time passed, it fell by the wayside and began to sin. Banking and industrial interests, combined with 'false' religion that promoted abolitionism, ruined the moral fiber of Northerners.
That bit about anti-slavery activism is important because it ties into another central concept I see forming about African-Americans: it really runs with the whole 'children of Ham' idea. If southern whites were meant to be God's chosen children in America, then southern blacks are seen as evil. So long as they were kept in chains, it was alright, because they knew their place but it was all a test that, at times, southern whites failed at, such as the 'sin' of miscegenation. Abolitionism is seen retrospectively as literally being the devil's work and a big reason how they justify their forced exodus. With the election of the, to use BioShock Infinite's term for the man, Great Apostate (Lincoln), it sealed the United States' fall into depravity and immorality.
It's been generally hinted at that the United States ITTL will be highly militarized as the years go by, even more so than in our world, but it will also be a somewhat overall better place for minorities. Given that the United States seemingly becomes an active imperial power - or actively aids imperial powers, such as the upcoming joint venture with the British in Abyssinia - this will likely make the melting pot of the country include even more far flung peoples of the globe (whether or not they immigrate or become U.S. citizens from annexation is sort of irrelevant). This will be seen as a further sign of the country sliding into decadence and straying from God's will. The resolution of this sinfulness will be that the Blue-Eyed Prophet's followers see the descendants of the Gray Exiles in a literal 'the South will rise again!' scenario - they'll return home once more, sort of like the Israelites with Canaan, and restore the United States to how it should be.
Given cosmopolitan Mexico, I'm not quite sure how that fits in with the idea that it's a 'promised land' or how they're comfortable serving a monarchy but I could see them perhaps rejecting republics that aren't the old U.S. out of principle that a functional kingdom is better than a form of government that's fallen to ruin. The racism that's inherent in the cult will keep away potential converts among much of the native Mexican population (and even then, I don't see many Cuban or Brazilian Gray Exiles caring much for it given how Mexico-centric it is, especially as the years go by) but it will be allowed to live in its formative years as it's sort of a bulwark that Maximilian can use to try to have his way with the rigid Catholic hierarchy he has to deal with. Just as someone mentioned before, he'll probably be eager to have white immigrants to the country as a way to solve the headache of trying to appease so many different, bickering groups but historians will likely later see this as making a deal with the devil, especially the anti-Jackson cult ones, made worse by the fact that his very tenuously held together empire might not survive.
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I rather thought Jackson might go the other way - a St Paul on the road to Damascus type conversion: the cause was unjust; contaminated as it was by slavery; only God turning his back on the southern people could their defeat hav e so total; now is this new country the exiles must remake themselves without slavery and with a renewed commitment to doing God's will blah blah etc etc.
I'd like to see him take on some of the fire-breathing, slavery justifying pulpit demagoges (spell check clearly not working)!
I'd like to see him take on some of the fire-breathing, slavery justifying pulpit demagoges (spell check clearly not working)!
If it seems like a long time between updates it because of work, holiday and learning about 19th Century Mexican history from scratch (which is a real joy actually).
One of you is very near the mark...now which one...?
One of you is very near the mark...now which one...?
This is evil, bloody EVIL teasing TKI!
But it is good to know that you are still here.
But it is good to know that you are still here.
Indeed it is, glad to have you around and active, KI.
Next post up tomorrow!!! Viva Mexico!
You are en evil tease.
Looking forward to some more on Mexican Confederados.
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Eight The Great Exodus Part II - The Blue Eyed Prophet and the Promised Land
Chapter One Hundred and Forty Eight
The Great Exodus Part II - The Blue Eyed Prophet and the Promised Land
The Great Exodus Part II - The Blue Eyed Prophet and the Promised Land
From “Viva Magruder! – The Early Days of the Anglo Community in Mexico” by D. Foster Wilkins
University of Vancouver 1985
“The largest settlement was Carlotta (the exilados grise always spelt the Empress’ name with two “l”s), which had been a town originally known as Cordoba. Given the number of American exiles during the first two years further settlements were established at Coatepec (now known to history as Coat’n’peg), and Tres Valles (Three Valleys). Significant exile communities could also been found in Mexico City, Tampico, Veracruz (at the right season – it was many years before the pioneering work of Doctor Holliday eased the threat of the “yellowjack”), and Tuxpan…
The formal project was conceived by Commodore Matthew Fontaine Maury. As a result of his work for the Confederate States navy and his implication in the death of General McClellan, Commodore Maury had been proscribed and was thus unable to return home to Virginia. Maury, then an internationally famous oceanographer and naval expert, was a friend of Emperor Maximilian of long standing. He had been awarded a medal by the then Austrian Archduke before the Civil War. Maximilian had been head of the Austrian Navy and was attracted to Maury’s reputation as a great naval expert…
Founding Father of the Carlotta Colony
Maury’s proposal gave form to the amorphous idea the Emperor had formed about the Confederate exiles then flowing into Mexico. The concept of rewarding Confederates (and anyone else for that matter) for military service in the cause of the Empire had been discussed but not resolved. Maury’s suggestion was that veterans and their families be rewarded with land grants. The Crown had ample land held over from the Republican government’s confiscation of Church land which the Emperor was not minded to return. The proposal was later expanded to reward skilled immigrants as well as veterans…
The Emperor also cast his net beyond the gray exiles and eagerly sought soldiers and settlers from Austria, Belgium and France, as part of his strategy to rebuild and Europeanize Mexico…
Maury foresaw a network of planned settlements primarily in the rich agricultural lands west of Veracruz. Given the huge numbers of exiles beginning to descend on Mexico by land and sea, a bureaucracy was necessary to manage the settlement. Maximilian’s government had neither the funds nor the manpower to properly staff it. Instead Commodore Maury was appointed Imperial Commissioner of Immigration and he assembled his own staff from former Confederates who worked, largely for a pittance, on the promise of the pick of the land grants…”
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“When we inspected the troops at Nuevo Laredo I did not think much of General Shelby’s Texan Legion. They lacked the soldierly bearing of the fine men who had served under General Magruder’s command in the Army of the Mississippi. Nonetheless Governor Vidaurri spoke very highly of them. It seems the fact that even many of the enlisted men, Texans mostly, can pass themselves in Spanish lifts them head and shoulders above the French enlisted man in Mexican eyes. In any event General Shelby had quickly reclaimed a swath of border territory for Governor Vidaurri and the Emperor…
Governor and later Minister of Finance Santiago Vidaurri
The message that General Magruder impressed upon General Shelby, which was ever on his lips, was to treat the Mexicans generously. The French could go home. We were home, such as it was, and must behave in Mexico as the very best of house guests…
Following Marshal Bazaine’s success in the South at Oaxaca in February, we were delighted to hear in May of the victory of Shelby’s forces over the Juaristas at Vallecillo and the opening of the road to Monterrey…”
From “The Great Exodus Re-examined” by William H. Sugarbrook
Carlotta 1951
“The arrival of General Magruder at the Imperial Court caused a great stir. The Confederate cause was lost and here was a mighty cavalier bereft of home and purpose. It was not long before the Emperor realized that John B. Magruder was a kindred soul. Magruder’s courtly ways appealed to the Emperor…
The appointment of General Magruder to the Imperial service was inevitable…”
From "The Mexican Adventure through American Eyes" by David Hofstedder
LUS 1996
“I firmly hold it was the Empress, and not the Emperor, who saw the merit in General Magruder. I heard her say on more than one occasion that General Magruder serves the Empire, while Marshal Bazaine believes the Empire serves him!” Princess zu Salm-Salm…
“I find the Empress a revelation: she is very clever and practical. Indeed she is all business” John B. Magruder…
John B. Magruder as he appeared before the Imperial Court
With French victories, in the south at Oaxaca in February and in the west at Guaymas in March [1865], the Empire of Mexico finally appeared to be getting stronger. A case for its success could finally be made. Money was flowing from Europe. The United States appeared distracted by the occupation of its Southern States and the business of proscription. The victory of Vidaurri’s grey legionaries at Vallecillo and the recapture of Monterrey in May enhanced the sense that momentum was finally building behind the Empire…
To make up for the lack of carbines Shelby outfitted some of his cavalry with surplus French lances
It is easy to underestimate the popularity of Emperor Maximilian. Yet courting popularity seemed to be his primary purpose…
“He practiced twirling a lariat; at the bullfighting he wore a sombrero and shouted along with the crowd. The conservatives who made up Mexican society were shocked. The French gaped. I was firmly of the view that he had all the makings of a six term congressman or, if such a thing existed, a monarch of the people.” William Mahone.
“Even the liberals tell each other it is impossible to dislike him. I was riding with him, not long after Mallory and I reached Mexico City. He took a turn to walking his horse. A man’s hat, captured by the wind, blow past. The Emperor caught it as it flew by. He winked at me and then smiled as he handed it back to the man. The man, a noted liberal I learned after, yelled “Viva el Emperador”. The liberals here, though not yet monarchists, are surely Maximilianists” John H. Reagan…”
From “The Great Exodus Re-examined” by William H. Sugarbrook
Carlotta 1951
“Perhaps the two greatest gifts the first wave of exiles offered the Mexican Empire were Spanish speaking teachers and Bilingual Newspapers…
Many did not wish to take up arms again in the service of foreign crown. Yet a living must be made. With no land grants for non-combatants (at least until the end of 1866 and the enacting of the new Imperial Property laws) many exiles needed to find employment with some urgency. Not all were farmers or craftsmen. Not all were plantation owners who had squirreled money away in foreign accounts and investments. Yet many were educated men who spoke and wrote some Spanish. Many Texans and more than a few veterans of the Mexican-American War eked out a living as teachers in the small towns and larger villages of central Mexico…
The more ambitious set up newspapers: in Carlotta; in Mexico City; in Veracruz; and in Tampico. Samuel Read Anderson, with only a few dollars in his pocket, set up the first printing press in Carlotta. “Before a foot of earth was tilled or a nail hammered into a board we exiles had an inked stained rag in circulation” (William Mahone). It would become an important tradition for the local teacher, in many cases an impoverished former rebel, to read from a newspaper once a week to the Indians of his town or village…”
From “Viva Magruder! – The Early Days of the Anglo Community in Mexico” by D. Foster Wilkins
University of Vancouver 1985
“The former Confederates admired “Max” and the Indians loved him. Where before though the Indians had not acted on that love the truth and legends propounded by the Confederate news sheets began to shore up support for the new Emperor…
The Emperor and Empress knew that the future of Mexico was bound up with the Indian masses in the countryside. They did everything they could to improve the Indian peasants lot and thus word of the new monarch’s commitment to the people spread: Maxmilian reduced the amount of money Indians could be obliged to owe; he outlawed the notion that debts could be passed from father to son; he forbade excessively long working days; and he abolished the alcalde’s recourse to corporal punishment…”
From "The Mexican Adventure through American Eyes" by David Hofstedder
LUS 1996
“It is known that the Emperor, in the romantic tradition of Shakespeare’s King Hal, goes incognito amongst his people. Of the many tales told to the Emperor one was reported to him of the enslavement of Indian peasants within Mexico City itself. Unable to get a straight answer from the noblemen of the Court, the Emperor resolved to go out himself into the City to test the truth of the reports. Finding the door to the bakery in question locked and the proprietor unwilling to open the door to a cloaked figure unwilling to give his name, the Emperor sent for the Palatine Guard under Count Karl Bombelles. The Austrian troops broke down the door to discover a veritable hell on earth. An underground furnace filled with fumes. A dozen chained peasants were freed at once…” A story from an edition of the January 1866 Carlotta Register that was widely re-printed and circulated…
Count Karl de Bombelles, Commandant of the Palatine Guards
From “I Rode With Prince John” by Colonel Ambrosio José Gonzales
Carlotta 1885
“The state of Michoacán lies within 100 miles of Mexico City. Its proximity to the capital combined with its heavy forests, mountainous terrain and difficult weather made it ideal for Juarista operations. The state's rebellious population was at that time sympathetic to the Juarista cause. The Emperor found it unacceptable to have Juarista troops operating so close to the capital without opposition. It was clearly important, both strategically and politically, that our forces quell Juarista activity in Michoacán to prevent teach the rebels a lesson…
On June 15, 1865, General Magruder had 500 Belgians occupy Tacámbaro. Shortly thereafter Juarista General Nicolas Regules was lured into attacking the Belgians with between 2,500 and 3,000 rebel soldiers. I was there as liaison between General Magruder and Baron van der Smissen of the Belgian contingent…
Surrounded from all sides, the Belgians held out for five hours. When General Regules had committed all his forces to the assault, General Magruder deployed his troops: a battalion of Imperial Americans under Colonel Reuben Walker, one of French voltigeurs, the remaining Belgian troops and two regiments of Mexican cavalry. The Juaristas were routed. The deployment of the cavalry caused huge numbers to surrender. General Regules himself was taken, another victim of General Magruder’s mastery of the art of deception in war…
Come Fall General Magruder had pacified Michoacán. The campaigns there did the Imperial Americans and indeed the Imperial Belgians much credit. It also did much to embolden the Mexicans in the Imperial service who up til then had not always been foremost to the fray…”
Colonel Baron Van Der Smissen and the uniforms of the Imperial Belgians
From "The Mexican Adventure through American Eyes" by David Hofstedder
LUS 1996
“Come the spring of 1866 only Chihuahua and Sonora remained unequivocally under President Juarez’s control, with elements of Coahuila, Sinaloa and Durango. For those with Juarez intelligence on events and resistance elsewhere in the country was hard to come by…
The resurgent Viduarri was using General Shelby’s troops well. Deploying Mexican conscripts along the border to avoid angering the United States forces now in control of Texas, the Texan Legion, French Foreign Legionaries and Lancers and most frighteningly (for the rebels) Colonel Charles Lupin’s Contra-Guerrillas were waging an ever increasingly aggressive fight in Coahuila and Durango…
One further unit in the Mexican service left General Jo Shelby and most other former Confederates in the Imperial Service lost for words: The 'Ottoman Auxiliary Battalion' made up of primarily Sudanese troops under Egyptian officers and commanded by Captain Mohammed Almaz. The Auxiliary Battalion was transferred from Veracruz to guard the supply route between Monterrey and Saltillo. The sight of armed negros under officers of "various shades" (William MacRae) drove home the fact to the exiles that slavery was already illegal in Mexico and the south could not be remade here in Northern Mexico...
“Poor Juarez now lives backed up against our border. He has come to rest in the sleepy border town of Paso del Norte. He can go no further” General Joseph Hooker reporting to General Philip Kearny…
“Advised by the republican governor of the state of Chihuahua to flee to the United States Juarez said “Don Luis, no one knows this state better than you. Show me the highest, most inaccessible and driest mountain, and I will go there to the top of it and die there of hunger and thirst wrapped up in the flag of our republic…” (Charles Dana, a fervent opponent of the Lincoln policy of inaction on Mexico, who visited Juarez in 1866)
From “The Blue Eyed Prophet of War” by Robert Lee Thomas
Carlotta Press 1906
“The tone of acceptance and reconciliation that Thomas Jackson had adopted in Fort Delaware was no passing fancy. It was emblematic of a prolonged period of reflection undertaken during almost 18 months imprisonment…
Upon the official pronouncement of his proscription Mr. Jackson was transported to the passenger ship S.S. Belleisle. His wife Mary and four year old daughter Julia awaited him onboard. Their destination was the Mexican port of Veracruz…
Mary Jackson and daughter Julia
Having graciously but firmly refused service in the army of Emperor Maximilian Mr. Jackson was provided with a generous grant of land near Three Valleys. The former teacher and soldier now took up farming or rather the cultivation of lemon, lines and the occasional pineapple. It was considered something of a tradition for veterans who served under Stonewall Jackson to seek out his farm (he never called it a plantation) and purchase some lemonade…
Towards the end of 1867 he wrote what became a widely publicized letter to his sister, Laura Arnold of Beverley West Virginia, as part of their on-going reconciliation which had begun with correspondence exchanged between them while he languished in his northern imprisonment…
“…I do not declare myself any great expert on the cultivation of fruit but I do know a good lemon and it would be a great sin to let this land and this new opportunity go to waste due to any lack of ambition or effort. I am much given to reflection on this opportunity for a new beginning…
As you once where given to notice I have not usually written much nor indeed much of consequence, it being contrary to my nature. Given now the great distance between us and my sincere belief that you above all will understand what I have come to believe I have sought in these letters to remedy my former failing…
Reconciled as I am to our loss I have given myself over to this place, our new beginning. Yet the long days of my imprisonment and my contemplations there remain with me. I fought for Virginia and knowing all that I do I cannot even now conceive of doing other than I did. Yet I have been forced to consider the possibility that Virginia’s cause was neither right nor godly. There were those imprisoned with me who believed most firmly that our cause was irretrievably blackened with the sin of slavery. Long have I prayed on the question as you suggested. I never had strong views on slavery and ever sought to avoid a consideration of the question. Perhaps that is the greatest sin of all. I fear I have played the Levite to my fellow and always passed the other way…
The terrible revelation which is now mine is that the institution of slavery was and is wrong and I fear deeply sinful. No nation built upon the chains of others can long survive. Once I accepted this truth it became clear to me why He had turned from us and our country…
I have been truly moved by President Lincoln’s grace and mercy. His guiding hand is to be seen quite clearly in the mercy shown us by a great man with better reason than any to hate those who he calls rebels. The cost of such mercy is to be everlasting exiles from the land of our birth. So be it. We must strive harder to serve His will. I view my exile to this land, not as a punishment, but as an opportunity to start anew. To covenant with Him afresh and to reaffirm our commitment to do his will…
If the bloodshed is to have meaning for those of us in exiles it behoves us to seek it out. I propose to commit myself to exhort others to consider our fate, as I have done, and to find solace in a new purpose in His service…”
Laura Arnold circulated the letter in the hope of sparing the Jacksons’ limited estate from confiscation and in the wider hope of promoting reconciliation between North and South. Whatever the public reaction in the North, and it was muted, it did provoke a storm both in the Old South and amongst the exiles in Mexico…
James Longstreet endorsed every word, calling Thomas Jackson “wiser, humbler and more honorable in defeat than any man I have known in victory”. William Mahone put a different spin on the defeat “I agree slavery is a curse. The negro is a curse. We are better off in Mexico without them. Let every man profit from the sweat of his own brow and be done with it.” Others like Wigfall and O’Neal called Jackson a traitor and Black Republican…
James D. Convers' painting "Jackson Looks Inwards"
Initially mortified at the publication of his correspondence Mr. Jackson was nonetheless quick to defend his views when challenged. On March 8, 1868 he spoke at the invitation of Rev. Joseph R. Wilson at Three Valleys Presbyterian Church to explain his views. What began as a lecture to be given by rote from pre-learned notes swiftly became a prayer meeting as the Holy Spirit worked through Thomas Jackson. Exhorting the crowd, now a congregation, to give thanks for their transportation to this promised land, Mr. Jackson called upon them to commit their lives to building a new Eden in Mexico in service of the 'One Who Made Us All'. The Third Great Awakening had arrived in Mexico and its prophet was a blue-eyed lemon farmer who had survived and been transformed by his dark night of the soul…”
An "Imperial American" addresses a mounted French Truco
From “Viva Magruder! – The Early Days of the Anglo Community in Mexico” by D. Foster Wilkins
University of Vancouver 1985
“While Governor Viduarri, Generals Magruder, Shelby and Tomas Mejia scored victories in the North and West, the bulk of French troops were becoming bogged down in the south trying to pin down and defeat an army under General Porfirio Diaz. While the net drew ever tighter around Juarez during 1866 the French and the Republicans traded victories in the south…
In a calculated risk that infuriated the Imperial Government and ensured General Shelby’s ultimate dismissal from the Imperial service, he had directed a Texan cavalry battalion to slip across the Mexican border to attack Paso del Norte from the north. President Juarez had few troops in the town itself and the attack quickly became a rout…
On February 3 1867 the body of Benito Juarez was brought before Governor Vidaurri at Chihuahua by Contra-guerrillas. American observers were horrified at the state of the body, but all acknowledged that the Juarista rebellion could not continue without Juarez himself. Little did they account for Porfirio Diaz…”
From "The Reconstruction Era" by Michael Baylor
Grosvenor 2006
“The question was whether the Emperor’s Grand Scheme would work in practice – a volatile mix of monarchists versus republicans; catholics versus protestants; conservatives versus liberals; Mexicans versus foreigners; Native Indians versus Hispanic Grandees. Maximilian’s support was a divided as his opposition had been…”
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I have only skimmed the surface of Mexico for the moment. The reaction of the Church to Max's policies and the largely Protestant exiles will be important. The country is still broke. The French still want their pound of flesh. Also the rebellion ain't over. However Max has now bought some more time in which to bed his regime in...
Now who can mock up a bottle of Stonewall Lemonade? I am going to make it a real Mexican titan in the soft drinks market!
Now who can mock up a bottle of Stonewall Lemonade? I am going to make it a real Mexican titan in the soft drinks market!
TFSmith121
Banned
Entertaining, and an interesting mix of reality and
Entertains, and an interesting mix of reality and fiction.
Interesting hints of what may come.
Nicely done.
Best,
Entertains, and an interesting mix of reality and fiction.
Interesting hints of what may come.
Nicely done.
Best,
A regime this beautiful must be allowed to survive! The uniforms! Magnificent.
Now I await the conservative backlash against Max & Co particular from the Church which wants its land back, state intolerance of Protestants, and a general clamp down on the ordinary decent folk having a say in government.
Now I await the conservative backlash against Max & Co particular from the Church which wants its land back, state intolerance of Protestants, and a general clamp down on the ordinary decent folk having a say in government.