alternatehistory.com

13 Mar

The Committee on Fortifications reports to the Confederate Congress. This takes quite a long time - their recommendations include major coastal fortifications for Charleston, Savannah, Gosport, Albemarle Sound, New Orleans, Galveston, Mobile and San Diego, more minor fortifications to cover many of the smaller inlets such as the York river (or the Potomac, which derails things for half an hour over whether to move the Confederate capital to Washington DC or to dissolve the District of Columbia), as well as land forts at strategic locations along the Parallel Borders, the Ohio, the Mississippi (another derailment about river transit rights) and the Mason Dixon Line. Smaller forts are suggested for Indian Territory, among others.

The Senators and Representatives debate long into the night (indeed, technically they are still sitting on Saturday) about where forts should go, how it should be funded, whether this is a State or Confederate matter and shouldn't Tennessee have a fort too?


16 Mar

Last debate in the Capitol in Washington. It is, as it happens, about fortifications - and goes nowhere fast. The somewhat bitter joke is that the debate will take so long the Confederates will be kicking them out for nonpayment of rent.

Robert E. Lee consults with contractors about what to do with the unsightly army camps on the grounds of Arlington House.


17 Mar
Resolution in the British Parliament on the Polish Affair. It does not go so far as to condemn Russian actions before the revolt, but certainly does not condone their actions since either.
Indeed, the main point the debate turns on is whether to afford the Poles the recognition of being a belligerent.

18 Mar

The State of Colorado is formally welcomed into the Confederate States of America. Communication remains difficult at first, as the most reliable route for rapid communication is essentially to send a coded telegraph through the Union. (Construction of a cross-continental telegraph continues apace, along with surveying for the transcontinental railroad.)
The capital is selected as the small town of Los Angeles.

19 Mar

Battle between Mexican Republic and French-Mexican Empire forces at Santa Cruz de Rosales. There is no particular great victory, with the pro-Maximilian forces holding the field but the pro-Juarez forces taking only light casualties.

Most of the central area of Mexico, and the majority of the coast, is now under pro-Maximilian control. Pro-Juarez forces mainly remain strong in the north and near the CSA border, despite these areas having a fairly high concentration of Conservatives in the Reform War - as such much of Juarez' military is tied down dealing with guerilleros.
Already heavily in debt (the pretext for French intervention in the first place), Juarez' government is mainly funding itself off silver mines in Chihuahua and Sonora, and French plans to capture the remaining ports on the western coast as springboards to attack the silver mines are being advanced.