alternatehistory.com

6 January

Benjamin Butler publishes a book The Guilty Generals of the Great American War, which attacks essentially everyone of command rank in the army except for himself. It does not blame Lincoln for the Trent war, and instead argues that the war was entirely winnable but for the incompetence of the officers in charge of allocating and using army resources (except for himself, of course, who did the best he could with what he had). Grant is decried for alcoholism, McClellan for reluctance to commit his army, Meade for an inability to prevent the investment of Washington DC and for allowing the Capitol to be shelled - the list goes on.

Of particular note is the third section of the book, which can best be viewed as an early example of an alternate history. It describes an alternate approach to the Trent situation, allocating troops and guns in a bewildering array of numbers and tables to arrive at a situation where the Union (so he concludes) could annex Canada, drive the Confederacy out of Kentucky and Virginia, and make heavy inroads into Tennessee within the first six months of the war.

The publication of the book causes outrage in the War Department - quite apart from anything else, almost everyone in the building has been attacked - and McClellan sums up the general sense when he notes that Butler's analysis "moves divisions across the map of the United States at the speed of a mail train, turns recruits into soldiers the equal of the fearsome British riflemen with the addition of one rusty musket for every two men, and assumes that the coast is of no importance whatsoever to defend".
He also notes in passing that, while he will admit to being hoodwinked by Lee, he has also seen Lee's commissariat records and that Butler underestimates the size of Lee's force by nearly half.

9 January

Admiralty minute on the continued value of the liner, or steam line of battle ship. It is generally considered that the type is currently still of value, but it is also noted that in the event of any budgetary or manpower problems the liners should be the first target of force reduction - in the event of a French copy of Martin's Shell being made then most of the liners would be not very useful in a clash of battle lines.
The value of five thousand tonnes of wooden sail and steam ship in the logistic sense is noted to still be considerable, in the event that a major overseas deployment is required to a place without a nearby base. (Though admittedly "just use the Great Eastern" is also considered viable.)


11 January

Butler - considering the negative reaction of the Generals to be vindication - begins looking for a flag officer or navy captain to provide an equivalent book for the US Navy side of things.
The reaction in the Navy is very negative, since nobody with the ability to count thinks that the US Navy could have done much more than delayed the inevitable by a week or two. (The destruction of almost every US naval yard, dockyard, coastal fort or ship has made a considerable impression, even though the USN is now slowly expanding back to a default size; it also means that nearly every surviving flag officer and indeed most captains saw action at the battles in question.)
The only captain to consider breaking ranks is Wilkes, though at the moment this is a private thought.


12 January
German Confederation troops, largely formed of the Prussian III Corps with additional attachments and detachments from other German states, marches into Holstein. Their objective is to force or bypass the Dannevirke, and thus to bring the Danish government to the negotiating table; if this is not sufficient, then they are permitted to advance into South Schleswig for the purpose of bringing the Danish army to battle.


13 January

President Lincoln examines the facts of the case, then flatly denies a request for military assistance in finally defeating the Lakota.
Showing more of the old energy than he has done in some time, Lincoln declares that it would better suit the Land of the Free to treat those with whom it has treated well, as the Confederacy to the south appears to have formed a partnership with their own native population to great effect.