alternatehistory.com

25 June

A coordinated Confederate offensive takes place in the West.
Supported by the two still-somewhat-functional ironclads the Mississippi and Louisiana, a force under Polk reaches Columbus, Kentucky and takes the town.
The threat to Buell's rear areas makes the Union general fall back to Paducah, from where he can head down the Ohio to reinforce Cairo if need be.

On the same day, Smith's corps captures Bardstown. The prospect of Confederate troops cutting the rail line (a prospect Grant is becoming depressingly familiar with) means Grant begins to head north again, entraining his troops to head to Shepherdsville.

In truth, at this point the situation in Kentucky is confused - supply lines are being switched around, some towns have been behind Confederate lines for a week without a visit from troops and the Union is scrambling to put together a string of strongpoints - even if it is starting to look like that will have to be formed on the Ohio river. If one thing is clear, however, it is that fighting deep in Kentucky is not a good sign for the Union in the West - especially as Pennefather's forces still have nothing in their way except for a single division which has been defeated three times in a row and is starting to suffer morale problems.


The Vanderbilt's raid on Fishguard ends, with the Union cruiser departing hastily to avoid facing a potentially disastrous battle. While the paddle steamer has certainly profited from their raid - they have recoaled somewhat, and replenished consumables like water and food - Fishguard is small, and indeed some of the oldest residents have already lived through a short-lived French invasion so the terror effect is not what was hoped for.
As night falls, Vanderbilt uses her superior speed to steer around the paddle frigate Dragon and heads south and west.
Her captain decides that it would perhaps make more sense to raid British commerce further from British shores, and plumps for the Mediterranean as he is aware several of the ships that sailed to expand the British blockade came from the Mediterranean.


In Mexico, French forces mount an attempt at a speedy resolution to the Siege of Pueblo. The attempt is rebuffed (albeit with difficulty) and de Lorencz determines to continue the siege while awaiting reinforcements he requested some time ago. (There are, indeed, reinforcements en route - though some 5,000 troops have been diverted to the capture of Tampico by Gloire and a small French fleet in support.)
He is also starting to attract Conservative guerillas to his (victorious) army, and French NCOs are putting them through an abbreviated form of the Vincennes rifle course to make them effective flank skirmishers and to help alleviate de Lorencz' manpower problems.


The HMS Glasgow completes at Portsmouth, the very last in a line of wooden Royal Navy frigates stretching back to the days of Oliver Cromwell (technically until just after the restoration, as the Navy is Royal!). The Ister class has already been cancelled in light of the success of the iron-hulled Warrior, and it is thought likely that future heavy ships of the Royal Navy will all be iron - clad or hull.
Glasgow and her sisters of the Bristol class were built to use up ship-class timber in the United Kingdom, but it has been decided that the timber will be of more use as backing to ironclad armour.