Thing is, the Susquehanna is over a mile wide downstream of the front range of the Appalachians. It'd be fairly easy to hold against anything larger than a raid.
Until Every Drop of Blood Is Paid: A More Radical American Civil War
- Thread starter Red_Galiray
- Start date
Oh shit!
Great job, Breckenridge. You literally created your own worst enemy. You could have sat back and waited uneasily until somebody in the either attacked or said "you know what, this isn't worth it", but no. You just became Public Enemy #1. The North will end slavery, break up the plantations, occupy the entire South for generations, and hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree, and it is all your fault.
Great chapter! Keep up the good work!
Great job, Breckenridge. You literally created your own worst enemy. You could have sat back and waited uneasily until somebody in the either attacked or said "you know what, this isn't worth it", but no. You just became Public Enemy #1. The North will end slavery, break up the plantations, occupy the entire South for generations, and hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree, and it is all your fault.
Great chapter! Keep up the good work!
It's not like he had a choice. Either he would have blinked first naturally, or the other southern leaders would force him to.
Such was the brilliant nature of lincoln's gambit.
Really though, barring any slip-ups as long as the feds have at least one base south of the Susquehanna, Maryland will fall, and fall FAST. Really the only reason they didn't try to succeed otl is because the fed had so many resources there (to protect DC) that trying to join the south would be futile for how fast reconquest would happen.
Wonder how the rest of the world will receive the news of DC's capture. Even before the first shots were fired many in nations like Britain and France were already writing off the Union's chances. DC's fall will only solidify that mindset.
I imagine there's a many Yankee enlistees hoping to give Richmond the same treatment soon enough.
I imagine there's a many Yankee enlistees hoping to give Richmond the same treatment soon enough.
This might help Northern morale in the medium run as well since even though the military situation looks worse than IOTL they'll have the initial campaigns of the war be them pushing the slavers out of Maryland and West Viriginia which sounds better than pushing the slavers out of West Virginia and faffing about pointlessly in Northern Virginia. Starting with less territory also puts more of the early war battlefields in areas with significant Unionist presence which'll help as well. Then once the army's better organized and has won a few victories they'll be in a better position to start chewing on Virginia than right off the bat as in OTL.
I was about to make that point. If the CSA can hold DC and Baltimore for any substantial period of time, an Anglo-French offer of mediation has a significant chance of happening.
Dude, the British wouldn't be touching that with a ten foot pole at this point... the British public was overwhelmingly pro-union OTL, and with an even more fervently anti-slavery President in charge than OTL, that would be enough to get the House of Commons to stand firm against any aid to the Confederacy.
OK, this also puzzled me.
In April 1861, the only standing fortification Washington had was Fort Washington, just down the Potomac - an upgraded Second System coastal fort. Which at one point only had a garrison of a single sergeant.
The vast ring of fortifications surrounding Washington was not begun in earnest until well into the summer of 1861. In April, none of it existed - including Fort Bunker Hill.
In any event, it is a puzzle why Jackson would swing all the way around to the eastern side of DC, rather than simply head down the (totally unfortified) Rock Creek Road.
I mean, if it looks the US can't put down the rebellion then its similiar to the British in the ARW where it starts of a domino effect of counties recognizing the CS's independence. Outright intervention might not be a possibility but access to stuff like loans and buying war supplies would be a great boon to the Confederacy.
Thanks! And no, some are still there. Lincoln wasn't able to take all of them with him, and some were looted or destroyed. Breckinridge, however, ordered the soldiers to give some of the art pieces to him so that he could protect them in Richmond. But many Northerners don't see it as Breckinridge preventing the loss of priceless art, but as him stealing to decorate his own office.
Sorry. Couldn't remember how it was written, and I decided to trust Word.
Thanks! To be fair to Breckinridge, he didn't order his soldiers to loot or burn D.C. In fact, he ordered them to be respectful of civilian and government property. But they didn't listen, and their officials weren't able to stop them. Some joined in the arson and looting.
Thank you! And no, it doesn't make you sound weird at all. I also love military history. It's very exciting.
Sorry. I meant Mayor of Baltimore.
It's still an improvement from Washington in terms of defense.
Ol' Breck (The soldier's nickname for Breckinridge, alongside Johnny Reb or Johnny Breck) felt himself trapped. For him it was attacking now and winning the Border States and maybe having a chance of winning, or allow Lincoln to build an army, consolidate his control over the Border South, and be hanged from a sour apple tree before Christmas.
Thanks!
Exactly. And yeah, Maryland's rebel government will probably only exist as a government in exile once the Union Army gets going.
Did someone say fire?
A capital for a capital.
Anti-Union Britons will be thrilled, that's for sure, and it does start Confederate Foreign Policy on a stronger footing. Much stronger.
It is, indeed, going to be wild. It's at this point that the greatest changes regarding OTL take place.
We'll put the traitors all to rout,
I'll bet my boots we'll whip them out!
At the very least, it helps to dispel some of the Bull Run complex that affected officers and soldiers after their defeat there. They still lost here, but the Rebs lost more men to a force much smaller. The myth that a Southron can lick ten Yankees is debunked now.
Even Britons who would rejoice should the US fall would be squeamish about helping Slavers, that's for sure.
The ring of fortifications indeed doesn't exist. Union engineers desperately built some makeshift "forts" to try to protect the city. One of those was Fort Bunker Hill, which is barely more than some earthworks and trenches. That Fort Bunker Hill is different from OTL's, being closer to D.C., and also located slightly more to the west. Beauregard was in charge of the main thrust. He didn't use Rock Creek Road because there were many Union gunboats, which he feared would be able to bombard his army, and also because the Union Soldiers had done their best to fortify that road. He decided instead to advance through Rockville Road, a mile to the Northwest, which was undefended. Once there, he sent Jackson to link up with the Maryland Militia, which was North of Washington D.C. at the Seventh Street Road, mostly for the purpose of optics. He couldn't risk leaving the Maryland Militia alone, because if they were defeated by Union soldiers it would seem like the Confederacy was untrustworthy and unable to protect Border South secessionists. It also divided the already thin Union forces, preventing them from concentrating against Beauregard around the Rock Creek.
Loans are very possible, especially if many Brits come to believe that Southern victory is going to happen. The British government was known for ignoring citizens who helped the Confederacy.
It surprises me how many people would think the British and French would come to the aid of the CSA despite having no real reason to. Cotton isn't much of an issue and I doubt they would want to associate themselves with the CSA anyway.
Meanwhile, it's time for the Southern slave supporters and traitors to be reminded about liberty...
Meanwhile, it's time for the Southern slave supporters and traitors to be reminded about liberty...
With the entire north united behind the Lincoln we are going to prob see more men join the military that are just volunteers which could mean are we going to see some new union generals in this war nor in the early stages but the latter stages or an bad upper staff and a great lower staff
Great update. Philadelphia is easier to defend. I wonder if enough more border states secede Lincoln odes the Emancipation Proclamation early. He has nothing to lose - not now yet, I'm sure, but maybe by winter or early spring of 1862.
Then again, I don't think France had much of a reason for helping the US in the ARW except "fuck Britain". At the end, I think Britain wouldn't interfere, not because of moral issues but rather because of realpolitik. They stand to gain nothing from intervention. Slavery just adds more weight to the anti-intervention side.
Since I'm trying to keep this TL grounded, I am not going to outright make up new characters for the TL. But men who OTL had little prominency but showed promise may rise to higher ranks here.
Thanks! Most border states will probably end like Maryland - with two separate governments. Since the Unionist governments would depend more on the Union, Lincoln is on a stronger position. Also, I can see Lincoln being more forceful. For example, OTL the Emancipation Proclamation did not liberate slaves in Union-occupied territory, such as New Orleans and parts of Tennessee. ITTL, he may liberate slaves in the occupied territory of seceded states.
To make some sense of the military campaigns, I've made a very, very crude map.
Beauregard is the big red arrow. He forded the Potomac at the Chain Bridge and started advancing through the Rock Creek Road, but then he received intelligence that the Union was concentrating around makeshift "Fort" Saratoga, in that same road. Decided to catch them with their pants down, Beauregard swerved to the northeast, advancing instead through the Rockville Road. From there, he sent Jackson to makeshift "Fort" Bunker Hill, where he linked up with Maryland Militia. Beauregard was stopped at the Rock Creek, while Jackson and the militia battled with the Federals south of Fort Bunker Hill. The Rebs would eventually push the Federals back. When Beauregard crossed the Rock Creek, it was basically game over for Washington.
France was always more of a possibility of intervening than Britain, out of a desire that a divided US wouldn't have the means to oppose Napoleon III's imperial designs in Mexico and South America (now with a Confederate ally). However France would only have intervened if it was part of a joint-venture with Britain.
Britain intervening is trickier. Many in the British government and upper-classes were sympathetic to the South out of a sense of closer cultural connections and a shared distaste of rampant democracy. But actual intervention was another thing entirely, especially as put holdings like Canada in danger. A possible mediation offer was considered around 1862 but events in Europe and the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation killed any momentum it may have had.
Even if mediation were offered in the timeline, there's still the possibility of the US telling them to piss off. Offering to mediate an end to the conflict is one thing, having to get involved in said war on a side most of the lower classes or opposition factions aren't going to care for and with no real foreign policy benefit or objective is another.
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