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The rising power of the Californian Empire and the chaos happening in the United States, it seemed that the playing field was leveled. However, one thing that was in the pain in the butt for both opposing sides were the Mormons of Utah. The situation in Utah grew wild, as Brigham attempted to remove the Morrisites, a sect of the Latter Day Saints formed by Joseph Morris. Also known as the Church of the Firstborn, the Morrisites were at war with the Utah government during the Civil War, losing but pardoned. Young sought to destroy them once and for all. While most of the Morrisites lived in Montana now, their new leader, George Williams, often lived in Salt Lake City. The Mormons would attempt to arrest Williams but failed. Seeking vengeance for the Morrisite War, Williams returned to Montana to rally his followers and formed a fighting force, marching back to Utah. However, Williams would also find more support in some Mormons. Brigham grew more and more radical, as his war progressed, especially making a grip hold in the Mormon government, and many traditional Mormons were against this change, who still supported theodemocracy. One of them was the nephew of Joseph Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith.

After Williams and his band arrived, Brigham justified suspending the Council of Fifty, which angered many Mormons seeing Young going against the teachings of Joseph Smith. Soon, Smith and Williams met up with one another and agreed on their cooperation against Young. The Mormons splintered into the Josephite Mormons and the Loyalist Mormons. In early July, a Morrisite-Josephite force would lead a raid in Salt Lake City, where Brigham's son-in-law, Charles E. Johnson, and his daughter, Ruth Young, went against Brigham and sided with Smith. The firm hold of Utah by Brigham was crumbling, as Salt Lake City constantly became a warzone, even allowing US captives to escape and rally in southern Utah to fight the Mormons. Grant and Norton both saw the weakness in Utah, and readied their forces to crush the Utah threat. In October, both sides entered Utah and crushed any Mormon forces, on either side. Jefferson C. Davis would quickly take Salt Lake City with the organized Army of the Applegate from Oregon, Nevada, and Washington. A U.S force led by Steward V. Vliet, who fought in the Utah War, would enter in the east and make a path of destruction in their wake. The Josephites and Morrisites would flee north to the Morrisite home of Montana, while Loyalist Mormons would flee to the Utah wilderness. Brigham would be found killed by his multiple wives in central Utah. However, when the U.S and Imperial forces met, Davis quickly assaulted Vliet's forces at the Battle of Emigration Canyon, where Imperial forces on horseback ran down the encamped U.S force, and believing it was a Mormon counter-attack, Vliet called for a mass retreat to Fort Bridger to regroup.


When it was realized that the force they faced were soldiers under Emperor Norton, people on the east realized the danger of the self-proclaimed Emperor, with one enemy at the west replaced with another. In November, Grant called for reinforcements for Vliet's army, now being called the Army of the Missouri. However, most U.S forces would still be dealing with Southern insurrection, who resorted to guerilla warfare to stay a threat. The Butchery was out of it's bloody, war-like state, but it wats still a place where if a Yankee was wearing blue, he would be shot when taking a few steps into Virginia. Vliet would attempt to do a counterattack at Emigration Canyon, where most of the Imperial forces were at putting down Mormon insurrection. Reinforcements coming from the Dakota Territory, Vliet marched but were surprised to find Emigration Canyon abandoned. All the way to Salt Lake City, there were no Imperial forces stationed. All of Utah was abandoned. Vliet would station the Army of the Missouri around Salt Lake City, but it was soon figured out why Davis and his men left. Even if there was no Mormon forces on the field, militias would constantly harass the soldiers and the supply lines.

The Empire of California, however, would finalize the equipment of their soldiers. With the Long Depression occurring after the Panic of 1873, Canadians, especially on the western side, were struggling. It came to the point where Canadian businesses were secretly selling to the Empire of California who quickly recovered from the depression by gearing their economy to support the armed forces. "Overborder" businesses would form, making and selling weapons and supplies to sell to the Californian Empire. While Canadian officials tried to crack down on these businesses, these attempts were soon slacked off when it was apparent that these businesses gave back jobs. This strained relations with the Americans and Canadians. However, it wasn't only Canada doing that. Mexican mercenaries would sprout at the border, employed by the Imperial forces and soon the U.S forces later on. Although in the beginning, they were inexperienced, their struggles would mold them into soldiers. Spaces that needed to be filled were often done by Mexican mercenaries. These mercenaries would soon wither away and cracked down on by the newly-risen President Porfirio Díaz in 1876.

It would take a month to secure safe-zones to allow supply lines to flow through and supply the U.S troops, so in December, Vliet would enter Nevada in hopes to crush the enemy. However, at this point, the march was very rushed, with little time between subduing the Mormons and going on the march. When the U.S captured Elko, Nevada, the Imperial forces would soon cut off the supply lines using their native allies, including the Modocs who were pardoned. Without their supplies, Vliet attempted to supply his forces by doing raids, but this only alienated any U.S sympathizers in the Empire, especially Nevada. Just before Christmas Day, Davis would skirmish the U.S forces effectively, and on the day after Christmas, where Vliet tried to boost his soldiers' morale by caroling, Davis would use howitzers taken from the western forts and fired near Elko, not meant to fire at it. These howitzers scared the oblivion out of the Yankee force, and when Californian soldiers marched to the town, the U.S put up a poor fight. Only troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer put up a hard fight, but Vliet again called for a retreat, now to Salt Lake City, to reinforce their supply lines again.

With the new threat being Norton and his Empire of California, Grant would attempt to shut down this rebellion quickly. The main front, being called the Nevada Front by the Californian military, seemed to be the main focus of the enemy military. Grant would organize another force in Texas, coming from stationed forces in the South, as the Butchery was in its dying weeks, led by recently promoted General George Armstrong Custer, who was a highlight in the Siege of Elko. On late February, as the Californians were sieging Salt Lake City, Custer entered the New Mexico Territory with the Army of the Rio Grande. Custer would make headway, able to organize supply lines through New Mexico and subjugate the rowdy populace. New Mexico militias had to face the ground and horse-backed units of Civil War veterans. However, Custer would be stopped in Arizona when faced with a new army and an old face. William S. Ketchum, the man who trained the first San Francisco Regiment during the Civil War, was spending most of his time in California, as Norton was becoming a good friend and his rising popularity allowed Ketchum to get good posts in the west. During the Californian War, Ketchum had been training men in Los Angelos from California, Arizona, and New Mexico, calling them the Army of Los Angelos. He would utilize the bands of Mexican mercenaries and even some Hawaiians that shipped themselves off to California to help out the men of Norton.

When news came up that Custer was making a rampage in the deserts of New Mexico, Ketchum made quick work to rally his men at Fort Yuma under the new flag of the Californian Empire, beginning the march. By March, Custer was trying to siege down the forts along the Rio Grande. So by following the Gila River, the Army of Los Angelos was making its way into New Mexico. In April, the first battle would arrive at the Battle of Fort Craig, where Ketchum and his men assaulted the sieging Americans led by Custer. Although without many steeds compared to Custer's forces, the besieged garrison of Fort Craig would sally out. Although Custer pushed for his cavalry to attack the exposed garrison, most troops thought that there were way more numbers on the garrison's side, maybe a flanking force some officers thought. it wouldn't help that Custer would be shot in the leg, injuring his muscles. Unable to clearly give orders, his inferiors called for a general retreat to Fort Thorn. After this battle, Custer called for Grant to begin conscription, especially for Southern states to "have reb's kill other reb's". However, the population was very unconvinced of the severity of this war. Buffalo, New York would be where a large protest of conscription would take place, however, it would turn violent when soldiers strolled in to put the protest down. Protesters soon threw rocks, bricks, any objects. Finally, one soldier would accidentally fire their gun when threatening a protestor. Soon, the conflict became lethal. Fifty people would die and twenty would be injured during the Buffalo Massacre. Followed by more incidents in Baltimore and even New York itself, may God have mercy on these United States of America.