The Story of a Party 2.0
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Story of a Party - Chapter VI
"If ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal,engage them; if fewer, be able to evade them; if weaker, be able to avoid them."
- The Art of War, chapter III
***
From "The Marble Man: The Life of Robert E. Lee" by Henry Custis Lee
Ingersoll Press, New York City, 1971
"Throughout the fall, Lee continued to march south through Georgia. His corps commanders were given orders to leave the countryside alone if the army marched unopposed and unmolested by the civilian population, but to slash and burn where guerrillas of bushwhackers fought the army or where bridges were burned and roads obstructed [1]. This was the first demonstration of the "total war" that had developed, whereby the civilians were considered an extension of the enemy, and whereby industry and infrastructure was targeted as much as enemy armies. Using these methods, Lee was able to capture Milledgeville in early August, and Macon a week later. His army of 23,000 (as it stood at the start of the Savannah Campaign, having been reinforced from 18,000 after Shady Dale) was divided into three corps of 6,000, which marched separately, led by Jefferson C. Davis [2], Horatio G. Wright and Don Carlos Buell. They marched in roughly parallel lines southward through the state, capturing cities and attempting to cripple the Confederate industry and infrastructure. One particularly infamous move was what was dubbed by the Confederates as "Lee's necktie", which was when a group of Union soldiers removed a section of a railroad, heated it until the iron turned red, and then curved it into a spiral, rendering it useless [3]. Another was the practice of disarming all Confederate prisoners before extraditing them, as a means to cripple the already weak Confederate industry (although this was in widespread use among the Union forces by this stage in the war) [4].
By the end of August, Lee was marching south-east toward Savannah, down the Oconee River. He then encountered a Confederate army corps, the first one actually met by Lee's forces since Shady Dale, commanded by John Bell Hood. Hood, who already had a reputation for being prone to attacking too early, ordered his troops into battle outside the town of Dublin.
This battle, known as Dublin Fields to historians, opened with Hood sending his army forward quickly to strike at the heart of Lee's forces. Lee, however, precipitated this, and sent an army around to attack Hood in the flank, routing and encircling much of his forces and winning the battle quite quickly.
However, it would turn out that Hood's force would only be the start of something much bigger…"
***
Outside Savannah, Georgia
Confederacy of American States
United States (occupied)
October 11, 1861
Major General Robert Edward Lee was riding on his trusty Traveller, at the head of his army as it was marching through the Georgia countryside. He and his men had gone a long way from Chattanooga, and although it had been a hard road they were about to reach the prize of their expedition - Savannah itself.
If this city, the largest in Georgia, could be taken, the Confederates would have no way of travelling from their eastern states to the capital, and the war would basically be won.
However, there were still a few miles left, and as the experienced soldier he was, Lee knew that such a distance could be the deciding factor of a whole campaign. The army might face a burnt bridge or a road with masses of trees fallen across it, forcing them to take a longer way, or a band of bushwhackers might strike against them, forcing him to send troops back to fight them, or there might even be an attack by Confederate troops.
He was riding next to Major General Davis and his two adjutants. The two generals were discussing what the next step would be after taking Savannah.
"No, General, I think it would be best to attack Charleston," Davis said. "We need to make sure the rebels don't try to reestablish a land bridge between the two halves of their territory, and securing South Carolina would be a good way to do this."
"Well, Davis, in Chattanooga I gave McClellan my assurance that I would support his attack into Alabama to capture Montgomery," Lee replied. "The best way to do this would be to move south-west, into Florida, to try and capture Pensacola and Mobile. This would also deny the Confederates the use of two more ports."
"Is that really a wise idea, sir? We might not be able to take Florida very easily; as I hear, it's a devilishly bad country to wage war in. There are swamps everywhere, and the Seminoles still aren't entirely removed [5]."
"That's only in the far south. The north, or so I hear, is as safe as any place in Virginia. However, I do agree that it is too far away. Sidney Johnston should be able to handle it and Louisiana, if Grant's new offensive is successful…"
As the two men spoke, Lieutenant Watkins, Lee's primary adjutant, had been riding up next to him. He looked alarmed.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Watkins, what is it?" Lee replied.
"Sir, the I Corps has been engaged in battle by a rebel army near Fort Stewart. I hear casualties are quite bad. Perhaps we should move down to reinforce General Buell?"
"Yes, we should," Lee agreed. "General Davis, will you send your men into the battle?"
"Yes sir," came the reply.
"Then let us go, and make this a great day." Lee was quoting Napoleon, something he had learnt at West Point so many years ago. "Duty calls."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"The Battle of Fort Stewart was one of Lee's greatest tactical achievements. Despite being outnumbered, he nearly managed to rout Beauregard's reassembled army, sending him fleeing toward Columbus, and forcing Lee to follow him westward despite having (according to some sources) already laid out plans for a campaign to seize Charleston. The battle was an encircling move, whereby Lee managed to trick Beauregard into thinking that he only had 5,000 men at his disposal, while Jefferson C. Davis moved to attack him in the flank with nearly 8,000. This served to shock the Confederate troops into retreating, with Lee actively pursuing.
Major General Horatio Wright, meanwhile, took Savannah with only light casualties on the 15th, and his corps remained in the city to guard it from the South Carolina militia, which might attack at any moment.
Lee now marched with an almost pathetically weak force for a general of his importance, 12,000 men. William T. Sherman in Virginia had three times that number at his disposal, and Ulysses S. Grant and George McClellan both had about twice as many. However, McClellan set his Montgomery Campaign into motion as soon as he heard of Lee's victory at Fort Stewart, hoping that his attack would divert men away from Lee…"
***
From "To Live and Die in Dixie" by Willie Pearson
Duke University Press, 1946
"McClellan opted for striking down the Tallapoosa, as this would allow him a direct route to the Confederate capital. He first met with the Army of Alabama at Bowdon (Nov 16), where he managed to win, and at Woodland Stream (Nov 29), where he fought the Confederates to a standstill. The battles were delaying actions, however, as the Confederacy simply did not have enough volunteers to outfit a full army. However, P. G. T. Beauregard was recalled to Montgomery, and placed in command of the Army of Alabama. He also saw two corps reassigned from the Army of Georgia, giving Lee more or less free reign in that state.
McClellan had captured Roanoke by the start of December, when Beauregard was ready to oppose him seriously."
***
From "An Officer and Gentleman: The Life of Ulysses S. Grant" by Clifford Stevens
Jaguar Books, 1972
"Throughout the spring of 1861, Grant moved south along the Mississippi. The Battle of Memphis, in March, he engaged Bragg and Cooper both at once in Memphis, defeating Cooper but not Bragg, and sending the former general in retreat into Mississippi. By now, Burnside had rejoined Grant, Nathanael Banks having been named Missouri's first Military Governor; he was appointed to lead the army in and around Memphis as Lee pursued Cooper southward. This became the Army of the Black River, and eventually became the main force opposing Bragg in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Grant moved south to capture Vicksburg, which was the only remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi north of Baton Rouge. Cooper set up camp around the fortress a few days before Grant had managed to arrive. This started the long siege of the city, which lasted over three months before Cooper surrendered it to Union forces in early July, following his army south into Louisiana.
Cooper moved south to Natchez, where he was again attacked by Grant's forces. Grant managed to win the battle, and he began moving south toward Baton Rouge. Here, both Cooper and Wade Hampton, whose armies had now met with each other, sent forces to engage Grant and delay his advance. He defeated most of them, but the Battle of Jackson was a victory for Cooper, who managed to halt Grant's advance.
However, Grant was able to advance quite handily anyway, reaching Baton Rouge on August 3. There he found two new allies: firstly, the Army of Texas, under Albert Sidney Johnston, who had managed to defeat Hampton and secure a route to the Mississippi, and secondly, a squadron of U. S. Navy gunboats, the assistance of which he had been requesting since May, but which had not arrived until now…"
***
From "Samuel Clemens: The Life of a True American Hero" by David Isaacs
Brown University Press, 1943
"The Abilene was one of the ships in the naval squadron that accompanied Grant in sieging Baton Rouge, and now-Lieutenant Clemens was serving as Commander Jacobs' first officer. He had distinguished himself as helmsman, knowing the Middle Mississippi like his own backyard, and was now to play a part in taking Louisiana's state capital and second largest city.
He was optimistic of the Union chances of taking the city, writing in his journal that "Gen. Grant's men are some of the finest soldiers I have ever seen, and the Confederates will be beaten quite soundly once again". As the first battle for the city began on August 11, the Abilene received orders to fire its arsenal, consisting mainly of rockets that had been mounted to the aft deck a few days earlier, into a Confederate encampment during Grant's attack, as demoralisation. Although Clemens, as many other naval officers, objected strongly to these orders, questioning the morality of shelling unprepared soldiers outside of actual battle, he seems to have carried them out quite well, as the Confederates were remarkably quick to abandon the encampment and take up defensive positions fighting Grant's onslaught. The battle ended up a victory for the Union; however, Hampton moved forces up to defend the city, not knowing that the Union had taken it, and a sort of counter-siege began, as Hampton tried to attack the city, and Grant found himself boxed in on all sides.
This was, however, when Johnston decided to act, and on the 23rd, his army moved north to oppose Hampton. The Texan soldiers fought well, and with Grant's breakout attempts adding to the mixture, the Confederate troops soon found themselves in confused retreat.
Clemens later wrote: "I can still remember the looks of the Texians running down the hills to meet Hampton's army in battle. They looked more ready, more willing to throw themselves at the Confederates than any others I have ever seen in that war. I can only imagine what the Mexicans must have felt when seeing these hordes, marching toward them just like that, at San Jacinto."
Clemens was given a brevet promotion to Lieutenant Commander for his bravery in the battle, and soon he was promoted, again by brevet, to Commander, earning in the process his first own command, the cotton-clad gunboat USS Chickamauga. He wrote: "Never in my life have I seen such a hideous vessel of any kind. They tell me it was built for the Navy, and not refitted from a civilian river boat like the Abilene had been. Thus it had almost no superstructure of any kind, except the paddle housings and a small box that housed the wheel; it looked, for lack of a better description, like a cheese-box on a raft [6]. To add to this, these, as well as the hull above the waterline, were entirely covered in large bales of cotton, which were supposed to slow small arms fire. I can only imagine that this would be a rebel construct, what with the South lacking any way of getting iron in those days."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"After the capture of Baton Rouge, Johnston's forces were able to concentrate entirely on Bragg, as Grant was left in Louisiana to oppose Cooper and Hampton, whose armies had been diminished to the point where they only constituted a single army of slightly above average strength. Johnston's men marched north along the Red River, where they found opposition from the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Arkansas, under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The first battle fought in the Red River campaign was Alexandria, on September 6. The battle was a tactical draw, but a strategic Confederate victory, since Forrest managed to hold position and keep Johnston from moving north. However, the ever-industrious Johnston attacked once again, and at Center Point he managed to send Forrest's forces retreating north.
The two sides met again at Bayou, where the Confederates managed to hold position for nearly two full days before finally yielding to the Texians. This opened Shreveport up to the Union forces, and sealed the Union victory in the campaign.
The Texian forces, by now, had nearly taken back all of Indian Country, and Johnston was able to merge his army back together, with Creek and Seminole recruits to boot, at Texarkana. As Johnston readied his forces to meet Bragg in battle, something unexpected happened…"
***
National Palace
Managua, Nicaragua
September 14, 1861
President William Walker was sitting at his desk, and thinking about his nation's possibilities. The popular rebellions had been crushed, but he did not want that to happen again, and would probably need a foreign protector to avoid it. He was certain that the United States was not to be trusted now, since it had kept none of its promises except giving him arms. The British, although they held land to the east of the country, were not to be considered, since they were all abolitionists, and to ask the Spanish for protection would be to return tyranny and colonialism to North America, and violate the Monroe Doctrine. No, there was only one power that was acceptable to Walker's interests.
He took out stationery from his desk drawer, and began writing a letter to President Quitman of the Confederacy.
***
[1] These were the same orders as Sherman gave to his corps commanders in the OTL Savannah Campaign.
[2] This is the Union general Jefferson Davis, not the OTL Confederate President Jefferson Davis. IOTL, the former Davis was recognised as a good tactician, but his public shooting of Major General William "Bull" Nelson meant that his star never quite rose. ITTL, things are different.
[3] This existed IOTL, where it was called (surprise surprise) "Sherman's necktie".
[4] There exists no formal agreement between the sides for the extradition of prisoners, but both sides generally do release them after a while anyway. However, since there is no agreement there are no rules for this, and as such the Union Army can actually do this without outcries (or at least without legal action) from the Southerners still within the government (who, although they might not support the Confederacy, still want their fellow citizens to be treated well).
[5] This was the case IOTL as well, the Seminole Removal being a pre-PoD event. Only those Seminoles that had been engaging actively in rebellion against the United States were removed, the rest staying in Florida to make up the modern-day Seminole Tribe of Florida.
[6] This was said of the USS Monitor IOTL, and I imagine these ships will be of similar configuration, only with less armour.
***
Thoughts?
"If ten times the enemy's strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal,engage them; if fewer, be able to evade them; if weaker, be able to avoid them."
- The Art of War, chapter III
***
From "The Marble Man: The Life of Robert E. Lee" by Henry Custis Lee
Ingersoll Press, New York City, 1971
"Throughout the fall, Lee continued to march south through Georgia. His corps commanders were given orders to leave the countryside alone if the army marched unopposed and unmolested by the civilian population, but to slash and burn where guerrillas of bushwhackers fought the army or where bridges were burned and roads obstructed [1]. This was the first demonstration of the "total war" that had developed, whereby the civilians were considered an extension of the enemy, and whereby industry and infrastructure was targeted as much as enemy armies. Using these methods, Lee was able to capture Milledgeville in early August, and Macon a week later. His army of 23,000 (as it stood at the start of the Savannah Campaign, having been reinforced from 18,000 after Shady Dale) was divided into three corps of 6,000, which marched separately, led by Jefferson C. Davis [2], Horatio G. Wright and Don Carlos Buell. They marched in roughly parallel lines southward through the state, capturing cities and attempting to cripple the Confederate industry and infrastructure. One particularly infamous move was what was dubbed by the Confederates as "Lee's necktie", which was when a group of Union soldiers removed a section of a railroad, heated it until the iron turned red, and then curved it into a spiral, rendering it useless [3]. Another was the practice of disarming all Confederate prisoners before extraditing them, as a means to cripple the already weak Confederate industry (although this was in widespread use among the Union forces by this stage in the war) [4].
By the end of August, Lee was marching south-east toward Savannah, down the Oconee River. He then encountered a Confederate army corps, the first one actually met by Lee's forces since Shady Dale, commanded by John Bell Hood. Hood, who already had a reputation for being prone to attacking too early, ordered his troops into battle outside the town of Dublin.
This battle, known as Dublin Fields to historians, opened with Hood sending his army forward quickly to strike at the heart of Lee's forces. Lee, however, precipitated this, and sent an army around to attack Hood in the flank, routing and encircling much of his forces and winning the battle quite quickly.
However, it would turn out that Hood's force would only be the start of something much bigger…"
***
Outside Savannah, Georgia
Confederacy of American States
United States (occupied)
October 11, 1861
Major General Robert Edward Lee was riding on his trusty Traveller, at the head of his army as it was marching through the Georgia countryside. He and his men had gone a long way from Chattanooga, and although it had been a hard road they were about to reach the prize of their expedition - Savannah itself.
If this city, the largest in Georgia, could be taken, the Confederates would have no way of travelling from their eastern states to the capital, and the war would basically be won.
However, there were still a few miles left, and as the experienced soldier he was, Lee knew that such a distance could be the deciding factor of a whole campaign. The army might face a burnt bridge or a road with masses of trees fallen across it, forcing them to take a longer way, or a band of bushwhackers might strike against them, forcing him to send troops back to fight them, or there might even be an attack by Confederate troops.
He was riding next to Major General Davis and his two adjutants. The two generals were discussing what the next step would be after taking Savannah.
"No, General, I think it would be best to attack Charleston," Davis said. "We need to make sure the rebels don't try to reestablish a land bridge between the two halves of their territory, and securing South Carolina would be a good way to do this."
"Well, Davis, in Chattanooga I gave McClellan my assurance that I would support his attack into Alabama to capture Montgomery," Lee replied. "The best way to do this would be to move south-west, into Florida, to try and capture Pensacola and Mobile. This would also deny the Confederates the use of two more ports."
"Is that really a wise idea, sir? We might not be able to take Florida very easily; as I hear, it's a devilishly bad country to wage war in. There are swamps everywhere, and the Seminoles still aren't entirely removed [5]."
"That's only in the far south. The north, or so I hear, is as safe as any place in Virginia. However, I do agree that it is too far away. Sidney Johnston should be able to handle it and Louisiana, if Grant's new offensive is successful…"
As the two men spoke, Lieutenant Watkins, Lee's primary adjutant, had been riding up next to him. He looked alarmed.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Watkins, what is it?" Lee replied.
"Sir, the I Corps has been engaged in battle by a rebel army near Fort Stewart. I hear casualties are quite bad. Perhaps we should move down to reinforce General Buell?"
"Yes, we should," Lee agreed. "General Davis, will you send your men into the battle?"
"Yes sir," came the reply.
"Then let us go, and make this a great day." Lee was quoting Napoleon, something he had learnt at West Point so many years ago. "Duty calls."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"The Battle of Fort Stewart was one of Lee's greatest tactical achievements. Despite being outnumbered, he nearly managed to rout Beauregard's reassembled army, sending him fleeing toward Columbus, and forcing Lee to follow him westward despite having (according to some sources) already laid out plans for a campaign to seize Charleston. The battle was an encircling move, whereby Lee managed to trick Beauregard into thinking that he only had 5,000 men at his disposal, while Jefferson C. Davis moved to attack him in the flank with nearly 8,000. This served to shock the Confederate troops into retreating, with Lee actively pursuing.
Major General Horatio Wright, meanwhile, took Savannah with only light casualties on the 15th, and his corps remained in the city to guard it from the South Carolina militia, which might attack at any moment.
Lee now marched with an almost pathetically weak force for a general of his importance, 12,000 men. William T. Sherman in Virginia had three times that number at his disposal, and Ulysses S. Grant and George McClellan both had about twice as many. However, McClellan set his Montgomery Campaign into motion as soon as he heard of Lee's victory at Fort Stewart, hoping that his attack would divert men away from Lee…"
***
From "To Live and Die in Dixie" by Willie Pearson
Duke University Press, 1946
"McClellan opted for striking down the Tallapoosa, as this would allow him a direct route to the Confederate capital. He first met with the Army of Alabama at Bowdon (Nov 16), where he managed to win, and at Woodland Stream (Nov 29), where he fought the Confederates to a standstill. The battles were delaying actions, however, as the Confederacy simply did not have enough volunteers to outfit a full army. However, P. G. T. Beauregard was recalled to Montgomery, and placed in command of the Army of Alabama. He also saw two corps reassigned from the Army of Georgia, giving Lee more or less free reign in that state.
McClellan had captured Roanoke by the start of December, when Beauregard was ready to oppose him seriously."
***
From "An Officer and Gentleman: The Life of Ulysses S. Grant" by Clifford Stevens
Jaguar Books, 1972
"Throughout the spring of 1861, Grant moved south along the Mississippi. The Battle of Memphis, in March, he engaged Bragg and Cooper both at once in Memphis, defeating Cooper but not Bragg, and sending the former general in retreat into Mississippi. By now, Burnside had rejoined Grant, Nathanael Banks having been named Missouri's first Military Governor; he was appointed to lead the army in and around Memphis as Lee pursued Cooper southward. This became the Army of the Black River, and eventually became the main force opposing Bragg in Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Grant moved south to capture Vicksburg, which was the only remaining Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi north of Baton Rouge. Cooper set up camp around the fortress a few days before Grant had managed to arrive. This started the long siege of the city, which lasted over three months before Cooper surrendered it to Union forces in early July, following his army south into Louisiana.
Cooper moved south to Natchez, where he was again attacked by Grant's forces. Grant managed to win the battle, and he began moving south toward Baton Rouge. Here, both Cooper and Wade Hampton, whose armies had now met with each other, sent forces to engage Grant and delay his advance. He defeated most of them, but the Battle of Jackson was a victory for Cooper, who managed to halt Grant's advance.
However, Grant was able to advance quite handily anyway, reaching Baton Rouge on August 3. There he found two new allies: firstly, the Army of Texas, under Albert Sidney Johnston, who had managed to defeat Hampton and secure a route to the Mississippi, and secondly, a squadron of U. S. Navy gunboats, the assistance of which he had been requesting since May, but which had not arrived until now…"
***
From "Samuel Clemens: The Life of a True American Hero" by David Isaacs
Brown University Press, 1943
"The Abilene was one of the ships in the naval squadron that accompanied Grant in sieging Baton Rouge, and now-Lieutenant Clemens was serving as Commander Jacobs' first officer. He had distinguished himself as helmsman, knowing the Middle Mississippi like his own backyard, and was now to play a part in taking Louisiana's state capital and second largest city.
He was optimistic of the Union chances of taking the city, writing in his journal that "Gen. Grant's men are some of the finest soldiers I have ever seen, and the Confederates will be beaten quite soundly once again". As the first battle for the city began on August 11, the Abilene received orders to fire its arsenal, consisting mainly of rockets that had been mounted to the aft deck a few days earlier, into a Confederate encampment during Grant's attack, as demoralisation. Although Clemens, as many other naval officers, objected strongly to these orders, questioning the morality of shelling unprepared soldiers outside of actual battle, he seems to have carried them out quite well, as the Confederates were remarkably quick to abandon the encampment and take up defensive positions fighting Grant's onslaught. The battle ended up a victory for the Union; however, Hampton moved forces up to defend the city, not knowing that the Union had taken it, and a sort of counter-siege began, as Hampton tried to attack the city, and Grant found himself boxed in on all sides.
This was, however, when Johnston decided to act, and on the 23rd, his army moved north to oppose Hampton. The Texan soldiers fought well, and with Grant's breakout attempts adding to the mixture, the Confederate troops soon found themselves in confused retreat.
Clemens later wrote: "I can still remember the looks of the Texians running down the hills to meet Hampton's army in battle. They looked more ready, more willing to throw themselves at the Confederates than any others I have ever seen in that war. I can only imagine what the Mexicans must have felt when seeing these hordes, marching toward them just like that, at San Jacinto."
Clemens was given a brevet promotion to Lieutenant Commander for his bravery in the battle, and soon he was promoted, again by brevet, to Commander, earning in the process his first own command, the cotton-clad gunboat USS Chickamauga. He wrote: "Never in my life have I seen such a hideous vessel of any kind. They tell me it was built for the Navy, and not refitted from a civilian river boat like the Abilene had been. Thus it had almost no superstructure of any kind, except the paddle housings and a small box that housed the wheel; it looked, for lack of a better description, like a cheese-box on a raft [6]. To add to this, these, as well as the hull above the waterline, were entirely covered in large bales of cotton, which were supposed to slow small arms fire. I can only imagine that this would be a rebel construct, what with the South lacking any way of getting iron in those days."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"After the capture of Baton Rouge, Johnston's forces were able to concentrate entirely on Bragg, as Grant was left in Louisiana to oppose Cooper and Hampton, whose armies had been diminished to the point where they only constituted a single army of slightly above average strength. Johnston's men marched north along the Red River, where they found opposition from the Cavalry Corps of the Army of Arkansas, under Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The first battle fought in the Red River campaign was Alexandria, on September 6. The battle was a tactical draw, but a strategic Confederate victory, since Forrest managed to hold position and keep Johnston from moving north. However, the ever-industrious Johnston attacked once again, and at Center Point he managed to send Forrest's forces retreating north.
The two sides met again at Bayou, where the Confederates managed to hold position for nearly two full days before finally yielding to the Texians. This opened Shreveport up to the Union forces, and sealed the Union victory in the campaign.
The Texian forces, by now, had nearly taken back all of Indian Country, and Johnston was able to merge his army back together, with Creek and Seminole recruits to boot, at Texarkana. As Johnston readied his forces to meet Bragg in battle, something unexpected happened…"
***
National Palace
Managua, Nicaragua
September 14, 1861
President William Walker was sitting at his desk, and thinking about his nation's possibilities. The popular rebellions had been crushed, but he did not want that to happen again, and would probably need a foreign protector to avoid it. He was certain that the United States was not to be trusted now, since it had kept none of its promises except giving him arms. The British, although they held land to the east of the country, were not to be considered, since they were all abolitionists, and to ask the Spanish for protection would be to return tyranny and colonialism to North America, and violate the Monroe Doctrine. No, there was only one power that was acceptable to Walker's interests.
He took out stationery from his desk drawer, and began writing a letter to President Quitman of the Confederacy.
***
[1] These were the same orders as Sherman gave to his corps commanders in the OTL Savannah Campaign.
[2] This is the Union general Jefferson Davis, not the OTL Confederate President Jefferson Davis. IOTL, the former Davis was recognised as a good tactician, but his public shooting of Major General William "Bull" Nelson meant that his star never quite rose. ITTL, things are different.
[3] This existed IOTL, where it was called (surprise surprise) "Sherman's necktie".
[4] There exists no formal agreement between the sides for the extradition of prisoners, but both sides generally do release them after a while anyway. However, since there is no agreement there are no rules for this, and as such the Union Army can actually do this without outcries (or at least without legal action) from the Southerners still within the government (who, although they might not support the Confederacy, still want their fellow citizens to be treated well).
[5] This was the case IOTL as well, the Seminole Removal being a pre-PoD event. Only those Seminoles that had been engaging actively in rebellion against the United States were removed, the rest staying in Florida to make up the modern-day Seminole Tribe of Florida.
[6] This was said of the USS Monitor IOTL, and I imagine these ships will be of similar configuration, only with less armour.
***
Thoughts?
Things seem to be really going downhill for the Confederates. ATL Lee is doing OTL Sherman's job...almost to the letter, Grant, is well, being Grant. McClellan is more confidant??...
The future is being mapped out i think. Possible Presidential candidates for the future include Lee, McClellan, Grant, Clemens and maybe ASJ. Lincoln, maybe, but it depends on popularity, which Lee will certainly have.
Also, It seems that with William Walkers attempt to aid the confederacy, i am going to guess that this war will either become a Pan-American war, between several of the mid-American states and the USA and CSA - OR - Nicaragua becomes a soon-to-be Confederate stronghold after the war.
The future is being mapped out i think. Possible Presidential candidates for the future include Lee, McClellan, Grant, Clemens and maybe ASJ. Lincoln, maybe, but it depends on popularity, which Lee will certainly have.
Also, It seems that with William Walkers attempt to aid the confederacy, i am going to guess that this war will either become a Pan-American war, between several of the mid-American states and the USA and CSA - OR - Nicaragua becomes a soon-to-be Confederate stronghold after the war.
Indeed; the war will be over by the next election.
It seems to make sense, given the circumstances; Atlanta was captured, and so Lee would probably march his army through Georgia in a similar way as Sherman did IOTL.
I find it rather impressive that a store clerk with almost no military experience came to be President within ten years of signing up for military service.
McClellan is more confidant?? ...
Well, the army did extremely well after he showed up; that is what happens when you outnumber the enemy almost two to one, but it would probably still serve to incease his confidence somewhat compared to IOTL, where his only major engagement was the Seven Days Battles, which he lost big time.
Well, Clemens is still only a lieutenant in his permanent rank, and he hasn't as of yet done anything particularly remarkable to earn him national fame. He's certainly not going to be President after this war. As for Lincoln, I'm contemplating making him the Republican primary elder statesman, similar to Henry Clay for the Whigs. Or perhaps Chief Justice. I'm probably not going to make him President, but he will be very well-known.
Well, I'll tell you this much; the CSA won't survive even there, and the US isn't going to involve itself with the affairs of states that are unrelated to the matter.
Sweet!
True. And fate still seems to be giving Lee luck in any universe that he is in.
You and i have similar respect for this man, it seems. A TL making his presidency respectable would be interesting.
Well, it seems that Clemens and Lincoln have bright futures ahead of them. Even if Lincoln does not get the presidency, he would still look good in the Chief Justice position.
Interesting. Well, i would like to see how this William Walker Nicaragua-Confederate States scheme turns out.
Story of a Party - Chapter VII
***
DISCLAIMER: This chapter partly deals with race relations in the South, a very delicate subject indeed. I would like to point out that I'm only trying to depict the situation accurately, and that any bias or racism that comes through is due to either how harsh the situation really was, or a fault on my own part. The views of the characters portrayed do not necessarily match my own in any aspect whatsoever.
***
"I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man."
- Frederick Douglass
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"By the start of 1862, Major General Beauregard had reinforced his army sufficiently to be able to seriously oppose McClellan. He had at his disposal 23,000 men, including 5,000 cavalry, and with this force he planned to strike at McClellan's roughly equally strong army, saving the Confederate capital from the Union forces. McClellan, for his part, was becoming increasingly worried about this, and as such he decided that the best direction from which to attack the capital was all at once, shocking Beauregard into humiliating defeat. This would lead to the capture of Montgomery and, hopefully, the end of war.
However, as always in war, neither of these plans worked out as planned. As McClellan sent a scouting party forth to examine the defences of the capital (which were largely non-existent), Beauregard rode out with five thousand men to oppose it. The battle, now known as Blue Ridge, was a Confederate victory, but Beauregard took a bullet to his leg, and was relieved of command. He was replaced by James Longstreet, one of his corps commanders, who had distinguished himself in offensive action during the Nashville Campaign. Longstreet found out about McClellan's plan, and made sure to post detachments all around the city. This led to the decisive battle being replaced by a series of smaller engagements, which spanned over eight days in January (Jan 11-19), and have become known as the Eight Days' Battles.
The Eight Days' Battles were a dismal Union failure. The aggressive Longstreet proved more prone to attacking, and a better strategist, than Beauregard, and as such McClellan was taken aback completely by the defeats. The failure to take the Confederate capital did much to harm McClellan's reputation, as well as his self-confidence (which had never been particularly high), and earned him nothing but coldness from Washington. This was only further aggravated when, on the 23rd, he was relieved of command himself, and replaced by James B. McPherson.
The new commander did not plan on giving the Southerners any leeway, and as the Army of the Ohio retreated from Montgomery he ordered the bridges burnt, the roads blocked, the crops ignited, and the slaves freed throughout. This was total war at its cruellest, and the freedmen who now crowded Alabama, and were opposed by as near as possible everyone in the Confederacy, including the armed militia, sent only one message: rebellion."
***
Meadowlawn Plantation
Lowndes County, Alabama
February 2, 1862
Cassius and his gang were working outside, freezing nearly to the point of getting cramp. They were working almost naked in the 45-degree [1] cold, as opposed to the white man on horseback who was supervising them. He was really named Jacob Stephens, and was one of Marse Thomas's workmen; however, due to his manners, most of the slaves simply called him Whippin' Jake. Not that they ever said that when he was around, anyway.
"Just WHAT do you think you're doing back there?"
Oh hell. Old Timothy had sat down to rest again, and had fallen asleep. And now Whippin' Jake would give him hell for it. Cassius felt some sympathy for him; he was old and frail, after all, and he couldn't work for very long without resting. Most other supervisors would probably let him, too, but Jake was always harsh with the slaves.
"Well, my back hurts after all the cotton-pickin', and …"
"If you damn niggers think that's going to be an excuse to stop working you're gravely mistaken. Now get moving or I'll whip your sorry ass all the way into the eternal fire of damnation!"
"But…"
"What part of 'now get moving' don't you understand!? MOVE!"
Whippin' Jake took out his whip, and smattered it against the ground very threateningly. Now Old Timothy moved very quickly, in fear for his life should Jake ever catch him sleeping again.
Now, however, there came something unexpected. The unmistakeable sound of gunfire was heard across the fields, and as Cassius looked behind him to see what had happened, he found that the supervisor had taken one bullet to the head and two to the chest, and his horse was running in panic. Out of the forest there came four black men dressed in long blue coats, and carrying rifles and knives. They ran quickly through the cotton fields to the gang of slaves, who, frightened nearly out of their wits as they all were, had began picking cotton again.
One of the armed men began reading from a letter.
"We've come to capture this plantation by order of General McPherson, Army of the Ohio. The ownership of the black man by the white man is a thing of the past. Join us in the final struggle against the rebels and traitors, and you will all be set free."
"What does 'dis all mean?" someone asked.
"It means y'all ain't gonna be slaves anymore, if you'll come with me an' my boys. We's come to o'erthrow 'de master of 'dis here plantation."
"But the white men…" someone complained, "…they's all told us that we ain't got nothin' against 'dem. We's the inferior race, they's said."
"That's nothin' but lies. Y'all can fight, hurt and kill the white man same's he can you. It was we who shot your supervisor just now, and y'all could do so 'swell if you gave your mind to it. This is the time for action! Will y'all come and fight for freedom's sake?"
Cheers rose through the gang as the man finished talking, and his men started taking knives and pistols out of various pockets in their coats. Cassius found himself in luck, being given one of the few new handguns the men carried with them [2]. One of the men showed him how to operate it, and they were off.
***
From "40 acres and a Mule: The History of the Freedmen" by Jephthah Dayton
University of Alabama Press, 1957
"In retreating from Montgomery, McPherson may have opened the biggest can of termites of the entire war. Longstreet, who might otherwise have successfully driven McPherson back all the way to Chattanooga, found himself constantly having to send back detachments into the Black Belt counties to deal with the slave revolts. However, as the Bible teaches us, "everything begins with the Word", and in this case the word was 'freedom'. With runaway slaves running rampage across the countryside armed with Union Army weaponry, massacring planters and their white employees, and setting more slaves free all the time, the militia and the Army detachments soon became overwhelmed. However, it was mainly west of Montgomery that the rebellion was in full strength, and so on February 21, Longstreet saw adequate to move north again, and face McClellan."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"Longstreet and McPherson met in battle directly for the first time at Talladega Forest, on March 7. The Union leadership opted to withdraw almost half of the army from the battlefield just prior to the outbreak of fighting, to make Longstreet think he was facing a weaker enemy. The remaining forces would then counterattack the Confederates in the middle of the battle, overwhelming them. Longstreet, for his part, already knew from intelligence reports that the Union Army had more men in the area, and so presumably expected the counterattack. However, the Union strategy still carried them through, and the battle was a victory."
***
From "An Officer and Gentleman: The Life of Ulysses S. Grant" by Clifford Stevens
Jaguar Books, 1972
"After the capture of Baton Rouge, Grant managed to take New Orleans and most of the Mississippi Delta without much opposition. He now stayed in Louisiana for a time to fortify the region and make sure that the Confederates did not take it back.
Meanwhile, Johnston and his Texians were marching through Arkansas, fighting Bragg's army wherever they were to be found. The Battle of Arkadelphia, fought on the 19th of December, was a victory for Bragg, setting the Texian forces back somewhat. It was at this time that Bragg struck northward.
Ambrose Burnside, at this time, was guarding Memphis, but his subordinates in the Army of the Black River were making constant inroads into Arkansas, attempting to capture land from the Confederates and free the slaves there. In particular, Francis Preston Blair and his cavalry were pushing far into Arkansas; Bragg realised the potential threat to his operations this posed, and immediately sent most of his army north to deal with it.
The Confederate force that opposed Burnside was commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, a skilled cavalry commander whose first principle was "to get there firstest with the mostest", and who would make a name for himself before the war was over. Forrest advanced along a broad front, an unexpected tactic from a cavalry officer's side; as such, Burnside didn't expect this strategy, and went west with his army to attack, leaving only one corps in Memphis to defend it.
The battle broke out at Searcy, north of Little Rock, on January 5. Forrest used his cavalry to the fullest, attacking the Union lines before they were ready to fight and catching Burnside by surprise. The infantry then closer in from all sides on the Union army, and might well have succeeded in capturing Burnside's entire army, if Forrest had not greatly underestimated its strength and ability. The Army of the Black River managed to hold off the advancing Confederates, but as they could still not win due to being unprepared and caught in a state of shock, they managed to beat an organised retreat north, into the hills of the Ozark Plateau. Forrest responded to this, and sent his forces chasing after Burnside.
However, in the Ozarks, just as in Appalachia, the population was largely Unionist, since slavery was of little economic consequence there. As such, the Confederate forces pursuing Burnside found themselves faced by a "second army" of bushwhackers and guerrillas, striking against them wherever they were on a scale unseen since the Savannah Campaign. This weakened Forrest's army significantly, but did not stop his march north. Instead, it only strengthened his resolve, as the Confederate army started burning bridges and faring down buildings all across the Ozarks.
They continued this chase well into Missouri, as the Union army continuously fought delaying battles while preparing to fight back the Confederates. The decisive battle was fought near Mountain Grove on February 24, and Burnside managed to use the terrain to his favour and defeat Forrest's forces. This had two effects of importance to the Union; firstly, Burnside and Johnston now had Bragg and Forrest more or less encircled, and could easily surround them completely and defeat them in battle; and secondly, the war-weary Unionists in the Ozarks, tired both of the Confederacy and of their state governments, who both tended to ignore them in favour of more populated regions of their states, organised a convention at Springfield, Missouri, to discuss forming a new state and rejoining the Union, in the mould of Vandalia …"
***
From "The Birth of States" by Millard Donelson
Fremont Press, Albany, New York, 1999
"The Springfield Convention was greatly similar to the Wheeling Convention in that the delegates gathered under the auspices of a Union general, in this case Francis Preston Blair. The delegates also almost unanimously approved countersecession, and eventually agreed upon borders for the new state. It would comprise a rough quadrilateral, with its western and eastern borders those of the preexisting states, and its northern and southern borders being the parallels of Festus, Missouri and Osceola, Arkansas, respectively.
The name of the new state was an issue over which there was quite some debating. Some preferred the name Ozark, after the main geographic formation, while many of the Missourians favoured South Missouri, something the Arkansawyers would never go along with. Other names that won at least some favour included Arkansouri, Misskansas, Fremont, Washington, and White. In the end, the state was named Osage, for the Indian tribe who had inhabited the area before European settlement, and for a river in its far north.
A constitution was drafted at the convention, Springfield being selected as the state capital owing to its established status and relatively central location, and after a vote in Congress the new state of Osage was admitted into the Union on April 4…"
***
[1] Fahrenheit. This is, according to Wikipedia, fairly average temperature for Alabama in winter, and equals about 15 degrees centigrade.
[2] This is an Army-issue Remington M1858 revolver, which, apart from some slight superficial differences, is largely the same weapon as OTL.
***
Thoughts?
***
DISCLAIMER: This chapter partly deals with race relations in the South, a very delicate subject indeed. I would like to point out that I'm only trying to depict the situation accurately, and that any bias or racism that comes through is due to either how harsh the situation really was, or a fault on my own part. The views of the characters portrayed do not necessarily match my own in any aspect whatsoever.
***
"I breathe, and lo! the chattel becomes a man."
- Frederick Douglass
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"By the start of 1862, Major General Beauregard had reinforced his army sufficiently to be able to seriously oppose McClellan. He had at his disposal 23,000 men, including 5,000 cavalry, and with this force he planned to strike at McClellan's roughly equally strong army, saving the Confederate capital from the Union forces. McClellan, for his part, was becoming increasingly worried about this, and as such he decided that the best direction from which to attack the capital was all at once, shocking Beauregard into humiliating defeat. This would lead to the capture of Montgomery and, hopefully, the end of war.
However, as always in war, neither of these plans worked out as planned. As McClellan sent a scouting party forth to examine the defences of the capital (which were largely non-existent), Beauregard rode out with five thousand men to oppose it. The battle, now known as Blue Ridge, was a Confederate victory, but Beauregard took a bullet to his leg, and was relieved of command. He was replaced by James Longstreet, one of his corps commanders, who had distinguished himself in offensive action during the Nashville Campaign. Longstreet found out about McClellan's plan, and made sure to post detachments all around the city. This led to the decisive battle being replaced by a series of smaller engagements, which spanned over eight days in January (Jan 11-19), and have become known as the Eight Days' Battles.
The Eight Days' Battles were a dismal Union failure. The aggressive Longstreet proved more prone to attacking, and a better strategist, than Beauregard, and as such McClellan was taken aback completely by the defeats. The failure to take the Confederate capital did much to harm McClellan's reputation, as well as his self-confidence (which had never been particularly high), and earned him nothing but coldness from Washington. This was only further aggravated when, on the 23rd, he was relieved of command himself, and replaced by James B. McPherson.
The new commander did not plan on giving the Southerners any leeway, and as the Army of the Ohio retreated from Montgomery he ordered the bridges burnt, the roads blocked, the crops ignited, and the slaves freed throughout. This was total war at its cruellest, and the freedmen who now crowded Alabama, and were opposed by as near as possible everyone in the Confederacy, including the armed militia, sent only one message: rebellion."
***
Meadowlawn Plantation
Lowndes County, Alabama
February 2, 1862
Cassius and his gang were working outside, freezing nearly to the point of getting cramp. They were working almost naked in the 45-degree [1] cold, as opposed to the white man on horseback who was supervising them. He was really named Jacob Stephens, and was one of Marse Thomas's workmen; however, due to his manners, most of the slaves simply called him Whippin' Jake. Not that they ever said that when he was around, anyway.
"Just WHAT do you think you're doing back there?"
Oh hell. Old Timothy had sat down to rest again, and had fallen asleep. And now Whippin' Jake would give him hell for it. Cassius felt some sympathy for him; he was old and frail, after all, and he couldn't work for very long without resting. Most other supervisors would probably let him, too, but Jake was always harsh with the slaves.
"Well, my back hurts after all the cotton-pickin', and …"
"If you damn niggers think that's going to be an excuse to stop working you're gravely mistaken. Now get moving or I'll whip your sorry ass all the way into the eternal fire of damnation!"
"But…"
"What part of 'now get moving' don't you understand!? MOVE!"
Whippin' Jake took out his whip, and smattered it against the ground very threateningly. Now Old Timothy moved very quickly, in fear for his life should Jake ever catch him sleeping again.
Now, however, there came something unexpected. The unmistakeable sound of gunfire was heard across the fields, and as Cassius looked behind him to see what had happened, he found that the supervisor had taken one bullet to the head and two to the chest, and his horse was running in panic. Out of the forest there came four black men dressed in long blue coats, and carrying rifles and knives. They ran quickly through the cotton fields to the gang of slaves, who, frightened nearly out of their wits as they all were, had began picking cotton again.
One of the armed men began reading from a letter.
"We've come to capture this plantation by order of General McPherson, Army of the Ohio. The ownership of the black man by the white man is a thing of the past. Join us in the final struggle against the rebels and traitors, and you will all be set free."
"What does 'dis all mean?" someone asked.
"It means y'all ain't gonna be slaves anymore, if you'll come with me an' my boys. We's come to o'erthrow 'de master of 'dis here plantation."
"But the white men…" someone complained, "…they's all told us that we ain't got nothin' against 'dem. We's the inferior race, they's said."
"That's nothin' but lies. Y'all can fight, hurt and kill the white man same's he can you. It was we who shot your supervisor just now, and y'all could do so 'swell if you gave your mind to it. This is the time for action! Will y'all come and fight for freedom's sake?"
Cheers rose through the gang as the man finished talking, and his men started taking knives and pistols out of various pockets in their coats. Cassius found himself in luck, being given one of the few new handguns the men carried with them [2]. One of the men showed him how to operate it, and they were off.
***
From "40 acres and a Mule: The History of the Freedmen" by Jephthah Dayton
University of Alabama Press, 1957
"In retreating from Montgomery, McPherson may have opened the biggest can of termites of the entire war. Longstreet, who might otherwise have successfully driven McPherson back all the way to Chattanooga, found himself constantly having to send back detachments into the Black Belt counties to deal with the slave revolts. However, as the Bible teaches us, "everything begins with the Word", and in this case the word was 'freedom'. With runaway slaves running rampage across the countryside armed with Union Army weaponry, massacring planters and their white employees, and setting more slaves free all the time, the militia and the Army detachments soon became overwhelmed. However, it was mainly west of Montgomery that the rebellion was in full strength, and so on February 21, Longstreet saw adequate to move north again, and face McClellan."
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"Longstreet and McPherson met in battle directly for the first time at Talladega Forest, on March 7. The Union leadership opted to withdraw almost half of the army from the battlefield just prior to the outbreak of fighting, to make Longstreet think he was facing a weaker enemy. The remaining forces would then counterattack the Confederates in the middle of the battle, overwhelming them. Longstreet, for his part, already knew from intelligence reports that the Union Army had more men in the area, and so presumably expected the counterattack. However, the Union strategy still carried them through, and the battle was a victory."
***
From "An Officer and Gentleman: The Life of Ulysses S. Grant" by Clifford Stevens
Jaguar Books, 1972
"After the capture of Baton Rouge, Grant managed to take New Orleans and most of the Mississippi Delta without much opposition. He now stayed in Louisiana for a time to fortify the region and make sure that the Confederates did not take it back.
Meanwhile, Johnston and his Texians were marching through Arkansas, fighting Bragg's army wherever they were to be found. The Battle of Arkadelphia, fought on the 19th of December, was a victory for Bragg, setting the Texian forces back somewhat. It was at this time that Bragg struck northward.
Ambrose Burnside, at this time, was guarding Memphis, but his subordinates in the Army of the Black River were making constant inroads into Arkansas, attempting to capture land from the Confederates and free the slaves there. In particular, Francis Preston Blair and his cavalry were pushing far into Arkansas; Bragg realised the potential threat to his operations this posed, and immediately sent most of his army north to deal with it.
The Confederate force that opposed Burnside was commanded by Nathan Bedford Forrest, a skilled cavalry commander whose first principle was "to get there firstest with the mostest", and who would make a name for himself before the war was over. Forrest advanced along a broad front, an unexpected tactic from a cavalry officer's side; as such, Burnside didn't expect this strategy, and went west with his army to attack, leaving only one corps in Memphis to defend it.
The battle broke out at Searcy, north of Little Rock, on January 5. Forrest used his cavalry to the fullest, attacking the Union lines before they were ready to fight and catching Burnside by surprise. The infantry then closer in from all sides on the Union army, and might well have succeeded in capturing Burnside's entire army, if Forrest had not greatly underestimated its strength and ability. The Army of the Black River managed to hold off the advancing Confederates, but as they could still not win due to being unprepared and caught in a state of shock, they managed to beat an organised retreat north, into the hills of the Ozark Plateau. Forrest responded to this, and sent his forces chasing after Burnside.
However, in the Ozarks, just as in Appalachia, the population was largely Unionist, since slavery was of little economic consequence there. As such, the Confederate forces pursuing Burnside found themselves faced by a "second army" of bushwhackers and guerrillas, striking against them wherever they were on a scale unseen since the Savannah Campaign. This weakened Forrest's army significantly, but did not stop his march north. Instead, it only strengthened his resolve, as the Confederate army started burning bridges and faring down buildings all across the Ozarks.
They continued this chase well into Missouri, as the Union army continuously fought delaying battles while preparing to fight back the Confederates. The decisive battle was fought near Mountain Grove on February 24, and Burnside managed to use the terrain to his favour and defeat Forrest's forces. This had two effects of importance to the Union; firstly, Burnside and Johnston now had Bragg and Forrest more or less encircled, and could easily surround them completely and defeat them in battle; and secondly, the war-weary Unionists in the Ozarks, tired both of the Confederacy and of their state governments, who both tended to ignore them in favour of more populated regions of their states, organised a convention at Springfield, Missouri, to discuss forming a new state and rejoining the Union, in the mould of Vandalia …"
***
From "The Birth of States" by Millard Donelson
Fremont Press, Albany, New York, 1999
"The Springfield Convention was greatly similar to the Wheeling Convention in that the delegates gathered under the auspices of a Union general, in this case Francis Preston Blair. The delegates also almost unanimously approved countersecession, and eventually agreed upon borders for the new state. It would comprise a rough quadrilateral, with its western and eastern borders those of the preexisting states, and its northern and southern borders being the parallels of Festus, Missouri and Osceola, Arkansas, respectively.
The name of the new state was an issue over which there was quite some debating. Some preferred the name Ozark, after the main geographic formation, while many of the Missourians favoured South Missouri, something the Arkansawyers would never go along with. Other names that won at least some favour included Arkansouri, Misskansas, Fremont, Washington, and White. In the end, the state was named Osage, for the Indian tribe who had inhabited the area before European settlement, and for a river in its far north.
A constitution was drafted at the convention, Springfield being selected as the state capital owing to its established status and relatively central location, and after a vote in Congress the new state of Osage was admitted into the Union on April 4…"
***
[1] Fahrenheit. This is, according to Wikipedia, fairly average temperature for Alabama in winter, and equals about 15 degrees centigrade.
[2] This is an Army-issue Remington M1858 revolver, which, apart from some slight superficial differences, is largely the same weapon as OTL.
***
Thoughts?
Wow great update! a unionist bulwark in the south... this is really unexpected, I haven't actually seen one of these ideas being implemented in a civil war timeline before. Great stuff
So the southern-half of missouri did a west-virginia? Am i reading that right?
Anyway. Slave revolts in the South During the Civil War. Reckon that would probably have made that more awesome in OTL. Really good to see it here.
Anyway. Slave revolts in the South During the Civil War. Reckon that would probably have made that more awesome in OTL. Really good to see it here.
Wow great update! a unionist bulwark in the south... this is really unexpected, I haven't actually seen one of these ideas being implemented in a civil war timeline before. Great stuff
Thank you. Indeed, this will mean that any hopes of retaking Missouri for the Confederacy will be doomed from the beginning, and even something like Price's Raid would be extremely difficult to pull through between the gunboats in Cairo and Paducah, the Union army in Memphis and Cape Girardeau, and the Unionist state in the Ozarks.
The southern half of Missouri and the far north of Arkansas (including Jonesboro and Fayetteville), yes. I imagine this would have happened if Missouri had seceded; the Ozarks were quite anti-Confederate IOTL, and all of the sympathisers were in the north, creating something of a geopolitical paradox.
Yes. This will, of course, mean that the freedmen have more support and sympathy in the North (since they actually helped free themselves significantly), and will be more meaningful politically. It will also mean that the planter aristocracy will come crashing down spectacularly if the revolts succeed (which they probably won't).
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Story of a Party - Chapter VIII
***
From "William Walker: A Biography" by Joseph Martin
Hiedler Publishing, Idaho, Shoshone, 1966
"After defeating the rebels within Nicaragua, Walker sought to strengthen his ties with the CSA in the hopes that they would win the war and eventually annex his nation. However, the letter he sent to President Quitman in Montgomery was answered very inconclusively by the Confederate leadership. Quitman never referred to any country at any point in the letter; he wrote in the beginning that "the prosperity of our two nations are of paramount importance", and later that "our nation would undoubtedly benefit from stronger ties with yours", but also that "of primary concern to our nation at the moment is to defeat our enemies [the Union]; relations with other nations in the area are an issue to settle once the current crisis is over." In total, there was not a word throughout the letter that could be regarded as though Quitman wanted to annex Nicaragua, but neither was there one which seemed to indicate opposition to it.
Walker found himself in a predicament no different than he had been in before writing to Quitman. The Confederacy would not even sell him arms, since what little manufacturing they had needed desperately to be used for the Confederate Army. The only power that might help Walker had thus turned its back, and he found himself with a restive population, hostile relations with all neighbouring nations, even worse relations with the United States, a Confederacy that was fluctuating between sympathy and apathy, and few men among the military who were loyal to him. The situation was a powderkeg waiting to blow, and that blow came in March of 1862, as three Union gunboats approached San Juan del Sur…"
***
Granada
Republic of Nicaragua
March 12, 1862
Captain Abel Franks looked through his telescope as the USS Itasca neared the Nicaraguan capital. This was not much to look at, he thought to himself. He had certainly not expected anything on the scale of Washington, D. C., but this half-burned-down shantytown was hardly what you could call the capital of any nation. Walker must be in a really bad state if he had nowhere better to base his operation. There was not even a building in sight that could function as a capitol. It would be interesting to see where he was hiding; he was hiding, Franks had no doubt on that. The little slime did not even have the support of more than a few of his own army men, and they were all patrolling the streets. However, Franks was sure they'd find him eventually.
***
Granada
Republic of Nicaragua
March 13, 1862
William Walker awoke with a jolt, and as he did so he heard gunfire outside the building. Goddamn, he thought, the federals have found me. Now there will be hell to pay for trying to join the Confederacy.
A loud voice could be heard outside. "Mr. Walker, we know you're in there. Come out unarmed, and we won't open fire."
"Alright, I'm coming." Walker realised that the game was lost; he might as well throw in the towel and live to die another day, as opposed to being shot on the spot.
***
County Court, San Diego County
Colorado Territory [1], United States
April 3, 1862
"Mr. William Walker, you have been found guilty of high treason against the United States, by willingly providing aid and comfort to persons engaging in armed rebellion against *United States government authority. The punishment for these charges is death by firing squad, to be carried out at dawn three days from now."
Now it is all over, Walker thought as the judge spoke on. Here, no one cared if he died. He should have escaped to the Confederacy while he had the chance.
***
From "William Walker: A Biography"*by Joseph Martin
Hiedler Publishing, Idaho, Shoshone, 1966
"After the execution of Walker on American soil, the Nicaraguan leadership was given a choice of resuming their business as an independent state or to be annexed into the United States. The Nicaraguans, who were tired of war and of civil unrest, decided that if they came under American protection, then perhaps stability would come easier. As such, they asked Congress for annexation, a measure which, although unpopular with many anti-imperialists in Congress, was nevertheless approved, the Territory of Nicaragua being established on April 30…"
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"After his defeat at Hanover Courthouse [2] in November of 1861, Sherman decided to try a different approach: to move half of his army west into the Piedmont, and use it to strike against Johnston from two sides. McClellan's ill-fated Montgomery Campaign, however, had taught him that splitting his forces into too many parts and attacking directly was a strategy not to be tested, and so he opted to send the detached army group across the James River west of Richmond, coming around to attack Petersburg, one of few remaining industrial centres still in Confederate hands, and the main entry point into the Richmond area by rail. This would sever the city from supply, and isolate Johnston from the possibility of retreat before being attacked.
The second army, which was commanded by John Sedgwick, managed to cross the James River easily enough, only to find that Johnston had anticipated his strategy and surrounded the two cities of Richmond and Petersburg, along with the railway line linking them, with entrenched soldiers and artillery. The Union forces found themselves facing a major obstacle to attacking Richmond and Petersburg, and eventually had to build corresponding ramifications within a few hundred yards of the Confederate lines. The Virginia front was settling into a whole new kind of warfare."
***
From "To Live and Die in Dixie" by Willie Pearson
Duke University Press, 1946
"After the retreat of McPherson from Montgomery and the stalling of the front after Talladega Forest, the Montgomery Campaign ended, and Longstreet and McPherson both planned new offensives. McPherson wanted to drive on the Confederate capital once again, and eventually try to free it, and Longstreet planned a drive on Atlanta to retake the major rail hub of the Deep South. However, neither plan had anticipated the arrival of another factor, named Robert Edward Lee.
Lee, who had been attacking what remained of the Army of Georgia throughout the winter, was now advancing on Mobile and Pensacola with 11,000 men. He was finding himself increasingly cornered, and had to use guerrilla tactics more and more to avoid attracting a large-scale attack against him. However, in the battle that followed, he had the help of a naval squadron, commanded by David Glasgow Farragut, who had been sent by Grant from New Orleans with the same objectives as Lee: to take Mobile and Pensacola."
***
From "Samuel Clemens: The Life of a True American Hero"*by David Isaacs
Brown University Press, 1943
"Clemens' ship was one of the many from the Mississippi River Squadron that accompanied Farragut at Pensacola. The Chickamauga fought with distinction, passing the Confederate mines laid out in the triangle between the Forts Barrangas, Pickens and McRee. Clemens said of the battle that "the Star-Spangled Banner's first verse was and is the best description of what we felt that day" (ed. note: the Star-Spangled Banner is a patriotic hymn that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For the text he referred to, see the appendix). Out of the twenty-four ships that took part in the blockade, eighteen survived, and the Chickamauga was one of them. Clemens earned national fame when, as he faced torpedoes launched from Confederate ships anchored in the bay, he was the only ship commander who didn't hesitate to move forward anyway. He later said "As I stood on the deck of the ship, watching the rebel torpedoes coming at us, I seemed to see God in the sky pointing at the city. He said to me: 'Be not afraid, for I shall protect thee from harm'. From that moment onward, there was no hesitation, no doubt. I was like the arrow that springs from the bow.""
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"The Battle of Pensacola ended in a Union victory; much thanks to the determination of then-Commander Samuel Clemens and his crew, which served to raise the morale of the Union fleets, they managed to make landfall in the city, and bolster the forces of Robert E. Lee, who had taken it after the Battle of Turner's Meadow. The cross-service force thus formed would prove itself capable a few weeks later, when it took Mobile, denying the Confederates the use of all of their Gulf ports. Now, Montgomery was boxed in on all corners, and only the actions of Samuel Cooper could save it…"
***
[1] More on this later.
[2] The Virginia theatre was lagging behind quite a bit, and I felt I had to skip ahead a little. Suffice it to say that Sherman tried to attack Richmond, and was rebuffed by Johnston's defensive tactics.
***
From "William Walker: A Biography" by Joseph Martin
Hiedler Publishing, Idaho, Shoshone, 1966
"After defeating the rebels within Nicaragua, Walker sought to strengthen his ties with the CSA in the hopes that they would win the war and eventually annex his nation. However, the letter he sent to President Quitman in Montgomery was answered very inconclusively by the Confederate leadership. Quitman never referred to any country at any point in the letter; he wrote in the beginning that "the prosperity of our two nations are of paramount importance", and later that "our nation would undoubtedly benefit from stronger ties with yours", but also that "of primary concern to our nation at the moment is to defeat our enemies [the Union]; relations with other nations in the area are an issue to settle once the current crisis is over." In total, there was not a word throughout the letter that could be regarded as though Quitman wanted to annex Nicaragua, but neither was there one which seemed to indicate opposition to it.
Walker found himself in a predicament no different than he had been in before writing to Quitman. The Confederacy would not even sell him arms, since what little manufacturing they had needed desperately to be used for the Confederate Army. The only power that might help Walker had thus turned its back, and he found himself with a restive population, hostile relations with all neighbouring nations, even worse relations with the United States, a Confederacy that was fluctuating between sympathy and apathy, and few men among the military who were loyal to him. The situation was a powderkeg waiting to blow, and that blow came in March of 1862, as three Union gunboats approached San Juan del Sur…"
***
Granada
Republic of Nicaragua
March 12, 1862
Captain Abel Franks looked through his telescope as the USS Itasca neared the Nicaraguan capital. This was not much to look at, he thought to himself. He had certainly not expected anything on the scale of Washington, D. C., but this half-burned-down shantytown was hardly what you could call the capital of any nation. Walker must be in a really bad state if he had nowhere better to base his operation. There was not even a building in sight that could function as a capitol. It would be interesting to see where he was hiding; he was hiding, Franks had no doubt on that. The little slime did not even have the support of more than a few of his own army men, and they were all patrolling the streets. However, Franks was sure they'd find him eventually.
***
Granada
Republic of Nicaragua
March 13, 1862
William Walker awoke with a jolt, and as he did so he heard gunfire outside the building. Goddamn, he thought, the federals have found me. Now there will be hell to pay for trying to join the Confederacy.
A loud voice could be heard outside. "Mr. Walker, we know you're in there. Come out unarmed, and we won't open fire."
"Alright, I'm coming." Walker realised that the game was lost; he might as well throw in the towel and live to die another day, as opposed to being shot on the spot.
***
County Court, San Diego County
Colorado Territory [1], United States
April 3, 1862
"Mr. William Walker, you have been found guilty of high treason against the United States, by willingly providing aid and comfort to persons engaging in armed rebellion against *United States government authority. The punishment for these charges is death by firing squad, to be carried out at dawn three days from now."
Now it is all over, Walker thought as the judge spoke on. Here, no one cared if he died. He should have escaped to the Confederacy while he had the chance.
***
From "William Walker: A Biography"*by Joseph Martin
Hiedler Publishing, Idaho, Shoshone, 1966
"After the execution of Walker on American soil, the Nicaraguan leadership was given a choice of resuming their business as an independent state or to be annexed into the United States. The Nicaraguans, who were tired of war and of civil unrest, decided that if they came under American protection, then perhaps stability would come easier. As such, they asked Congress for annexation, a measure which, although unpopular with many anti-imperialists in Congress, was nevertheless approved, the Territory of Nicaragua being established on April 30…"
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"After his defeat at Hanover Courthouse [2] in November of 1861, Sherman decided to try a different approach: to move half of his army west into the Piedmont, and use it to strike against Johnston from two sides. McClellan's ill-fated Montgomery Campaign, however, had taught him that splitting his forces into too many parts and attacking directly was a strategy not to be tested, and so he opted to send the detached army group across the James River west of Richmond, coming around to attack Petersburg, one of few remaining industrial centres still in Confederate hands, and the main entry point into the Richmond area by rail. This would sever the city from supply, and isolate Johnston from the possibility of retreat before being attacked.
The second army, which was commanded by John Sedgwick, managed to cross the James River easily enough, only to find that Johnston had anticipated his strategy and surrounded the two cities of Richmond and Petersburg, along with the railway line linking them, with entrenched soldiers and artillery. The Union forces found themselves facing a major obstacle to attacking Richmond and Petersburg, and eventually had to build corresponding ramifications within a few hundred yards of the Confederate lines. The Virginia front was settling into a whole new kind of warfare."
***
From "To Live and Die in Dixie" by Willie Pearson
Duke University Press, 1946
"After the retreat of McPherson from Montgomery and the stalling of the front after Talladega Forest, the Montgomery Campaign ended, and Longstreet and McPherson both planned new offensives. McPherson wanted to drive on the Confederate capital once again, and eventually try to free it, and Longstreet planned a drive on Atlanta to retake the major rail hub of the Deep South. However, neither plan had anticipated the arrival of another factor, named Robert Edward Lee.
Lee, who had been attacking what remained of the Army of Georgia throughout the winter, was now advancing on Mobile and Pensacola with 11,000 men. He was finding himself increasingly cornered, and had to use guerrilla tactics more and more to avoid attracting a large-scale attack against him. However, in the battle that followed, he had the help of a naval squadron, commanded by David Glasgow Farragut, who had been sent by Grant from New Orleans with the same objectives as Lee: to take Mobile and Pensacola."
***
From "Samuel Clemens: The Life of a True American Hero"*by David Isaacs
Brown University Press, 1943
"Clemens' ship was one of the many from the Mississippi River Squadron that accompanied Farragut at Pensacola. The Chickamauga fought with distinction, passing the Confederate mines laid out in the triangle between the Forts Barrangas, Pickens and McRee. Clemens said of the battle that "the Star-Spangled Banner's first verse was and is the best description of what we felt that day" (ed. note: the Star-Spangled Banner is a patriotic hymn that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For the text he referred to, see the appendix). Out of the twenty-four ships that took part in the blockade, eighteen survived, and the Chickamauga was one of them. Clemens earned national fame when, as he faced torpedoes launched from Confederate ships anchored in the bay, he was the only ship commander who didn't hesitate to move forward anyway. He later said "As I stood on the deck of the ship, watching the rebel torpedoes coming at us, I seemed to see God in the sky pointing at the city. He said to me: 'Be not afraid, for I shall protect thee from harm'. From that moment onward, there was no hesitation, no doubt. I was like the arrow that springs from the bow.""
***
From "The Civil War" by Kenneth Burnside
University of Illinois Press, 1948
"The Battle of Pensacola ended in a Union victory; much thanks to the determination of then-Commander Samuel Clemens and his crew, which served to raise the morale of the Union fleets, they managed to make landfall in the city, and bolster the forces of Robert E. Lee, who had taken it after the Battle of Turner's Meadow. The cross-service force thus formed would prove itself capable a few weeks later, when it took Mobile, denying the Confederates the use of all of their Gulf ports. Now, Montgomery was boxed in on all corners, and only the actions of Samuel Cooper could save it…"
***
[1] More on this later.
[2] The Virginia theatre was lagging behind quite a bit, and I felt I had to skip ahead a little. Suffice it to say that Sherman tried to attack Richmond, and was rebuffed by Johnston's defensive tactics.
Best thing ever to come home from work is to see an update from one of the finest TLs out there.
One thing about William Walker in Any TL is that he always seems to cause trouble, no matter what.
One thing about William Walker in Any TL is that he always seems to cause trouble, no matter what.
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High praise indeed. Thank you.
Indeed; they've sorted it out, though. By now he's just a brownish smear on the wall of the San Diego Penitentiary.
Here's a little something to keep you all while I work on the next update, and hopefully to provoke some discussion.
***
From the New York Tribune
February 27, 1878
PRESIDENT BLAINE SHOT!
We are sad to inform you that President James G. Blaine, who left the country for Madrid after the New Year to negotiate over damage payments for the Amistad incident, is dead. The President was shot in the streets of the Spanish capital, on his way out of the Royal Theatre, where he had watched a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. He took three bullets, one to the chest, one to the head and one to the right leg, and died within minutes.
The death of the Chief Executive in such a time of crisis is unpardonable, and a great loss not just to the Republican Party, but to the entire nation. As we see it, between the Amistad incident and this recent outrage, the time for negotiation with Spain is over. We are of the belief that only going to war, and committing ourselves to the war fully, can alleviate the stranglehold in which our Cuban brothers have been held for the last five years.
Vice President John Sherman was sworn in yesterday morning, and in his inaugural speech he declared that he would continue to follow Blaine's policies of strengthening American industry [1], civil service reform, supporting Southern industrial growth and increasing the size of the Army and Navy. He had this to say about the tragedy of the situation:
"We must try to create the world James Blaine would have wanted, for his children, our children and posterity. We will begin by focusing on the needs of our own people to sustain them through this difficult time, and to prepare them for the tasks ahead." [2]
It is the hope of this newspaper, and surely that of the entire nation, that we will be able to heed Sherman's words, and move on from grief to create a better world for everyone. Our thoughts and our condolences go out to his wife Harriet, his four sons and three daughters, all of whom survived him.
***
The White House
Washington, D. C., United States
March 3, 1878
President John Sherman sat at his desk, reading the editorial of yesterday's Plain Dealer. It loudly called for war with Spain, citing the repeated atrocities of the Spanish people toward American citizens. It was hardly surprising to read it, given that almost all major newspapers shared that opinion. His thoughts wandered off at the thought of actually asking Congress to declare war. America's youth would die by the thousands simply for a principle, and if they lost the war the blood would be on his hand. That one person could send so many young men out to die seemed to him like a great irony, and he also knew that going to war now would only make popular opinion more vengeful and bloodthirsty than it already was. The nation needed peace, Sherman instinctively knew that. Otherwise, society would never recover from the shock of the Amistad incident and of Blaine's death.
"Mr President?"
It was Mr Doyle, his private secretary.
"Yes, come in."
"This telegram just came in for you, sir."
Sherman took the telegram from the man's hand and read it.
"HAVANA 03/02/1878
SANTA CLARA ATTACKED BY SPANISH FORCES AT DAWN STOP POPULACE MASSACRED STOP REBELS AND CIVILIANS DEAD BY HUNDREDS STOP ENTIRE ISLAND NOW IN OPEN REBELLION AGAINST SPANISH RULE STOP
AMERICAN CONSULATE"
Sherman sat quiet for what felt like several minutes, as pictures of scruffy children lying shot and dead in a city street raced through his mind. The full depth of the situation had not fully struck him until now, he suspected. He realised now, that even if he did not intervene many people would die, and even more would continue to live in bondage on Cuba. The hope of an entire people now rested on his shoulders.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Send a message to the Senate President and the House Speaker. Tell them to convene a joint session of Congress tomorrow morning, to discuss the Cuban situation. I have an important announcement to make."
"Yes, sir."
***
[1] That is, raising tariffs.
[2] Anyone who gets this reference also gets a virtual cookie.
***
From the New York Tribune
February 27, 1878
PRESIDENT BLAINE SHOT!
We are sad to inform you that President James G. Blaine, who left the country for Madrid after the New Year to negotiate over damage payments for the Amistad incident, is dead. The President was shot in the streets of the Spanish capital, on his way out of the Royal Theatre, where he had watched a performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni. He took three bullets, one to the chest, one to the head and one to the right leg, and died within minutes.
The death of the Chief Executive in such a time of crisis is unpardonable, and a great loss not just to the Republican Party, but to the entire nation. As we see it, between the Amistad incident and this recent outrage, the time for negotiation with Spain is over. We are of the belief that only going to war, and committing ourselves to the war fully, can alleviate the stranglehold in which our Cuban brothers have been held for the last five years.
Vice President John Sherman was sworn in yesterday morning, and in his inaugural speech he declared that he would continue to follow Blaine's policies of strengthening American industry [1], civil service reform, supporting Southern industrial growth and increasing the size of the Army and Navy. He had this to say about the tragedy of the situation:
"We must try to create the world James Blaine would have wanted, for his children, our children and posterity. We will begin by focusing on the needs of our own people to sustain them through this difficult time, and to prepare them for the tasks ahead." [2]
It is the hope of this newspaper, and surely that of the entire nation, that we will be able to heed Sherman's words, and move on from grief to create a better world for everyone. Our thoughts and our condolences go out to his wife Harriet, his four sons and three daughters, all of whom survived him.
***
The White House
Washington, D. C., United States
March 3, 1878
President John Sherman sat at his desk, reading the editorial of yesterday's Plain Dealer. It loudly called for war with Spain, citing the repeated atrocities of the Spanish people toward American citizens. It was hardly surprising to read it, given that almost all major newspapers shared that opinion. His thoughts wandered off at the thought of actually asking Congress to declare war. America's youth would die by the thousands simply for a principle, and if they lost the war the blood would be on his hand. That one person could send so many young men out to die seemed to him like a great irony, and he also knew that going to war now would only make popular opinion more vengeful and bloodthirsty than it already was. The nation needed peace, Sherman instinctively knew that. Otherwise, society would never recover from the shock of the Amistad incident and of Blaine's death.
"Mr President?"
It was Mr Doyle, his private secretary.
"Yes, come in."
"This telegram just came in for you, sir."
Sherman took the telegram from the man's hand and read it.
"HAVANA 03/02/1878
SANTA CLARA ATTACKED BY SPANISH FORCES AT DAWN STOP POPULACE MASSACRED STOP REBELS AND CIVILIANS DEAD BY HUNDREDS STOP ENTIRE ISLAND NOW IN OPEN REBELLION AGAINST SPANISH RULE STOP
AMERICAN CONSULATE"
Sherman sat quiet for what felt like several minutes, as pictures of scruffy children lying shot and dead in a city street raced through his mind. The full depth of the situation had not fully struck him until now, he suspected. He realised now, that even if he did not intervene many people would die, and even more would continue to live in bondage on Cuba. The hope of an entire people now rested on his shoulders.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Send a message to the Senate President and the House Speaker. Tell them to convene a joint session of Congress tomorrow morning, to discuss the Cuban situation. I have an important announcement to make."
"Yes, sir."
***
[1] That is, raising tariffs.
[2] Anyone who gets this reference also gets a virtual cookie.
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Assassinating a President on foreign soil...isn't that an act a war.
But i guess that Cuba provides the incentive then, right.
But i guess that Cuba provides the incentive then, right.
Yes - it was never known who shot Blaine, but since no conspiracy has been found, it is assumed that it was just one more Spaniard who felt the Americans were swooping down on his nation's empire. We must remember that popular opinion in Spain was as inflamed - or more so - as the American press, and that Havana was as important a trade centre as Barcelona in the period.
As to why war isn't declared right off the bat, Sherman wants peace at almost any cost to be able to calm things down and start reforming the nation as he wants (civil service reform, of course, and something like OTL's Sherman Antitrust Act is in the works).
- Status