The First Confederate Civil War directly followed the Cotton Revolution within the Confederate States of America. The goals of the revolution came as the Confederacy finally ratified the Treaty of Southampton with the Americans, ending the bloody Great War with their historical northern foe of the United States. Decreased food production was the initial driving force, with hundreds of thousands of hungry women smashing store fronts in search of bread. CSA President Woodrow Wilson sent in the army to crush the uprising, led by General Herbert Hoover, who enthusiastically took part in the 1917 December Richmond Massacre. This outraged many left leaning groups within the country and alienated the President from the moderate wings of the ruling Democratic Party.
The January Revolution as it was known, forced Wilson to accept several revisions to the strong position of President, sharing more power with the oft-neglected Confederate Congress. This revolution was initially headed by Opposition Minister Hellen Keller, whose sign language speeches in Congress confused those not familiar, though the common people got a kick out of the translated pages in the newspapers. She called for a limited working day, increased rights for women in the forum of property and voting. The liberal Whig Party, however, delayed the actions of the new Congress. Feeling frustrated at this, she rallied a militia to march against the opposition leaders, who fled in a panic. Now forming the official opposition into a more minor role and constructing the ruling government into a coalition of pacifists, socialists, war-communists and pro-union suffragettes, she called for early elections in April of 1918.
Wilson immediately had soldiers arrest the members of the assembly and defiantly declared he would rule by executive order. This outraged both the left leaning communist factions and those hoisting high the banners of "State's Rights". One of the most notable was Ellison D. Smith, who had often rode to Richmond with barrels of cotton and waved the flag of white supremacy. This earned him the nickname of "Cotton Ed." While in the position as Wilson's purported successor, he would be an influential minister which pushed for the succession of South Carolina.
While South Carolina raised a fit, the first succession from the so called "White Alliance" came from former Tennessee Lt. Governor John Issac Cox, who rallied a few of his religious friends and declared the Free Independent State of Franklin. Initially only broken away to fight alongside the Whites, Cox became disillusioned with the cause as Ellison D. Smith howled for more than 100,000 volunteers to crush the uprising. Franklin indirectly would encourage a slew of secessionist attempts, with Andrew Johnson's grandson taking the helm of Grand Tailor of Tennessee, in competition with both the militant actions of Franklin and the left leaning General Assembly of Tennessee. Neighboring Kentucky also got embroiled in Tennessee politics, initially backing Cox before he rebelled against the Whites, forcing Kentucky to send in forces in support of White militias.
The cases of California and Texas are two case studies of opportunistic politics. In California, armed sailors at San Francisco ousted the Confederate Governor and installed moderate communist Hiram Johnson as Chairman of the Sailor's Congress. The Sailors Congress quickly fell apart in a few months before prominent Californian socialite, pioneer woman and famed Indian fighter Annie Oakley conducted a defenestration of Johnson from a two story building. While he would survive, California would no longer be friendly to the reds, fighting then alongside the White Forces in campaigns throughout left leaning communes declared within the state and attacking communist strongholds held by young revolutionary Barry Goldwater in the Phoenix Commune. Oakley lost power with numerous "Bear Republican" conservatives that pushed for a monarchy. These found support and financial backing from Georgia senator Thomas E. Watson, hoisting his wife as Queen of the Kingdom of California. California would remain an Independent state, fighting bitterly against both Mormon incursions and socialist revolutionaries throughout Sacramento and Los Angles.
Texas was a case of Director Thomas M. Campbell weighing his options and throwing in the oil, men and material of his state when he thought it best. Forced to deal with uprisings by both Fergusons and the reluctantly left leaning Sam Rayburn, he would call for help by switching to the Whites for more armored beasts before turning around and fighting both sides. The Whites were fooled three times and when the third back stab occurred in 1927, John Sharp Williams refused a penny more for Texas. You'd think being betrayed once was enough, but he was forgiving to give Texas a second chance in 1922. While the DPRT, RST and Lone Star Republic only controlled about 25 to 35% of Texas at any point, the Kingdom was ill equipped for fighting two fronts, so Campbell would make up in ceremonies, three different ceremonies to vow to fight to the death for the Whites... only to then have the Whites die in Texas and kept his Texas Rangers in reserve to stab the Whites in the back at an opportune moment. Don't feel too bad for Campbell, he ends up dying in a car crash when the driver misread a minefield sign in February of 1930.
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