I believe it was if you look back in the earlier posts. The consensus was it was not much difference than OTL. I was just rereading a Walk in Hell and in the section where Reggie Bartlet and Lt. Briggs were escaping a US prison camp he was complaining about chestnut blight and all the foreign things the US allows into its country. Along with this xenophobic rant, there doesn't seem to be alot of evidence that supports greater immigration to the CSA in this timeline.
TL-191: Filling the Gaps
- Thread starter Craigo
- Start date
I believe it was if you look back in the earlier posts. The consensus was it was not much difference than OTL. I was just rereading a Walk in Hell and in the section where Reggie Bartlet and Lt. Briggs were escaping a US prison camp he was complaining about chestnut blight and all the foreign things the US allows into its country. Along with this xenophobic rant, there doesn't seem to be alot of evidence that supports greater immigration to the CSA in this timeline.
Emory Upton II 1878-1882
After a year in command of the 33rd Regiment, word spread throughout the small close-knit pre-remembrance Army that Upton’s 33rd Regiment was the place for ambitious reform minded officers. Many who wished to see the US army modernize along European lines sought out placement in this unit. Upton hoping to spread his fire for reform welcomed in many junior officers of talent and used his contacts at West Point to advertise to advertise joining the unit as a sort of Post Graduate education. Many of those who served in his regiment would go on to make up the General Staff and hold flag grade commands in the Great War.
Two of these promising young officers were Dudley Foulkes Corp Commander under General Custer in the Great War and Uhlric Dahlgren, the hero of Pocahontas. Dalhgren fought in the War of Secession briefly and after the war served as a prominent attorney in Philadelphia. He returned to the Army in 1875 hoping for a taste of adventure. After serving as a Company Commander under Upton he transferred to a cavalry Post in Southern Missouri. He commanded a Regiment of Union Cavalry forces that captured Pocahontas Arkansas. Dahlgrens Brigade commander fled from Pocahontas, after being attacked by a Brigade of Volunteer Confederate Cavalry, Dalhgren’s forces ambushed the untrained CS Cavalry units with Gatteling guns much like Custer’s in Kansas. For the rest of the war Dahlgren and his men managed to keep Confederate Cavalry raiders out of Southern Missouri. Foulkes too would go on to serve as a Cavalry officer in the Second Mexican War as a Cavalry Officer unfortunately for him on the disastrous New Mexico front. Eventually Foulkes would retire after serving as a Corp Commander in the Great War. Ironically both left the 33rd Regiment at Upton’s urging. He advised them both to get cavalry commands and gain combat experience against Indians in time for a probable second war with the Confederacy, which he did not believe the army would be ready for until at least 1886 or 1887.
After Blaine’s election in 1880, Upton began bombarding his contacts in Washington with proposals for a new Army reform bill. He hoped the new Republican President and Congress would use his recommendations in his Report on the Armies of Europe & Asia as a blue print for army reform. Upton traveled to Washington and was a guest at the inauguration of Senator Garfield of Ohio. After the inauguration, he met with several pro-army reform members of Congress. All professed to support his new “big army” proposals, however they informed him that a new bill would unlikely be presented until the next budget in late 1881.
Knowing that every moment counted if the United States was to be ready for a war sometime in the Blaine Presidency, he obtained a meeting with the new Chief of the Army William Rosecrans. He presented a copy of his Report and attempted to explain to Rosecrans the terrible state of the army. Especially compared to European Armies, which the US would invariably face in a war against the CS, tbecause of their alliance with Britain and France. He explained the need for a rapid reform of the regular army and its antiquated militia system. Reminding Rosecrans that the US Regular Army was only slightly larger than its Confederate counter part. Without properly trained reserves only this force would be effective in modern warfare. Rosecrans who also wished to see the army enlarged, however believed in the effectiveness of the US state militias. He reminded Upton that it was up to the President to make these political decisions.
Hearing that the new President intended to prevent the Confederate’s purchase of Mexican territory, Upton frantically sought an audience with President Blaine. He accomplished this through help of Garfield who was instrumental in Blaine’s nomination. Here he repeated his warnings of the Army’s dismal state compared to other powers. The President assured him he would seek a bill to enlarge the army as soon as possible, but he restated his commitment to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, which pledged too uphold in his inaugural address.
Defeated Upton returned to Ohio and immediately began readying his unit for war. He drilled his soldiers in river crossings and tasked his staff to begin drawing up plans for an Invasion of Kentucky. For months his staff sent observers and surveys to determine which were the best landing sites incase of departures from Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. While his staff worked in earnest to prepare for war, Upton continued to lobby Washington to not seek war. When war seemed imminent in early Spring Upton even went so far as to contact members of the Philadelphia Tribune to write an anonymous editorial explaining the dismal state of the Army and the state militias. However John Hay the former editor of the Tribune and newly named Minister to the Confederacy had the piece squashed.
When war finally came in late spring of 1881, Upton’s Regiment was one of many ordered to gather in Indiana to form the core of a new Army of the Kentucky. Upton naturally assumed that he would be made a division if not a Corp Commander in General Wilcox’s Army. Despite his well found reputation gossip lingered over his possible authorship of the Tribune editorial. This and his perceived defeatist attitude before the war began resulted in Rosecrans ordering Wilcox to pass him over for promotion. On his arrival in Clarksville, General Wilcox informed Upton of his decision not to promote him and keep him as Commander of the 33rd. Despite the rage he felt at this slight, Upton immediately handed to him his staff’s report. In it were plans for crossing the Ohio, capturing Louisville and securing the rest of the state for the Union. He recommended as well moving the headquarters and Army further east as to not alarm the Confederate forces of their true target. Wilcox would ignore these recommendations, much to his later regret.
On hearing of this slight by the Regular Army's Democratic leadership, Senator Platt the Republican Boss from his native New York offered, to coax Governor Cornell into naming him commander of all New York Volunteers heading for the newly reforming Army of the Potomac. Upton refused out of principal, he informed Platt he would rather command a Company of Regulars, than a Corp of Militia. It was then that Upton learned his men would be fighting under General Hancock, who like himself, was one of the few Army of the Potomac commanders to survive with his reputation intact. Hancock was quickly impressed with Upton’s pre war work and wanted to make him a Division commander, but Wilcox refused. Hancock would continually rely on Upton as his best commander and promised to promote Upton as soon as possible. While preparations continued on the Northern Shore of the Ohio, Upton learned of the Battle of Winchester. General Jackson’s inflicted a stunning defeat using the tactics he pioneered at the West Point. Despite this being a defeat for the US, it convinced even the recalcitrant Wilcox to order that the volunteers were drilled in the new infantry’s tactics already standard in the Regular units.
By May General Orlando Wilcox’s began the Kentucky campaign with an army of fifty thousand men. The Army of Ohio consisted of regulars and volunteers, broken into four Corps each a mix of regulars and state militia units. Upton’s regiment made up of all regular army soldiers and officers, fell under LTG Hancock’s II Corp. The attack began from the Confederates who pre-empted the invasion by shelling the landing barges and boats that had been gathering along the US side of the river.
In the early morning dawn the attack was launched across the Ohio River from three directions in Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany. Each of these locations was ruled out as unfeasible by Upton’s 33rd Regiments prewar staff work. Upton’s staff concluded that a direct attack on the city of Louisville would needlessly waste lives. The 33rd Regiment handled the actual crossing excellently despite being shelled.
The Confederate Army of Kentucky, now under the command of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson had used the time wisely. The Army commandeered Negro laborers to build firing pits and earth works around the city of Louisville. However, the defense of the city would rely heavily on the artillery of Major General E. Porter Alexander. Jackson ordered the guns to fire on the barges and boats as they crossed the river, but US guns made this difficult. He then ordered two brigades to the waterfront to resist the crossing. The pre-war preparation in river crossings made the 33rds landing much smoother than other regiments in their brigade. Most of which struggled to get their men and equipment together on the same stretch of the Kentucky shore. Upton’s Regiment successfully overcame CS resistant on their beachhead, thanks in large part from competent fire from US Artillery, which softened the Kentucky beach before landing.
With the Army of Ohio on the banks of Kentucky, CS artillery switched targets, from the boats to the men on the shore. While this caused casualties it did not slow down the advance, and US troops quickly entered Louisville. To Wilcox's surprise, Jackson chose to fight for the city rather than retreat and engage US forces on open ground. Upton’s forces took part in the fighting inside Louisville causing heavy causalities for his regiment and the rest of his brigade. Upton’s own study of assaulting Louisville showed that fighting in a city favored the defenders. Wilcox ignored this report sent him during the build up and instead chose to support the infantry attacking the town with artillery.
The Confederates refused to give, much like Upton’s report predicted they would. They fought using every building as an obstacle or defensive work, forcing the US to shell whole blocks of buildings into rubble. They then fought in the rubble until cleared out by rifle and bayonet. As the fighting progressed, Wilcox funneled more and more men into the city, heedless of casualties as his own reached as high as 17,409 men.
After weeks of fighting in and around Louisville Upton’s Regiment and the entire II Corp was rotated back to the Indiana shore of the Ohio. The II Corp was selected to spearhead the second assault across the Ohio, with the reinforcements being sent to GEN. Wilcox. They were to be apart of an attack from the West of the city on the Army of Kentucky’s flank, combined with a planned coordinated attack within the city.
This time Upton was promoted to command a Brigade and took much of his staff with him to prepare the brigade for a second crossing. Despite the IInd Corps well handling of the second crossing, Wilcox’s plan was mediocre at best. The attack opened up with another large artillery barrage, to which the Confederates responded by attacking the boats and barges. The US force made it ashore and advanced quickly. However the defensive lines that negro slaves had built around the city, again began stalling their advance.
From reports Jackson received about the intensity of the fighting in the city, he concluded that the attack was a feint. Knowing that the attack from the west was the main thrust, Jackson attempted to rush reinforcements. At this point much of the flanking attack was making slow but steady progress against the confederate defense. To speed up a break through before Confederate reinforcements arrived, Hancock approved Upton’s plan for storming confederate trenches, using his Regiment on a narrow front west of the city. Hancock ordered his divisional commander to support Upton’s plan. The plan called for using his Brigade to attack a narrow area of the confedreatet renches and using his old 33rd to break through the first line of trenches and moving on to attacking second line defenders, with the rest of his Brigade to attacking in waives. Their job would be to clearing those remaining confederate defenders left in the bypassed trenches. This was to be coordinated with the brigades on both sides of his flanks, each attacking confederate positions to prevent reinforcements. His attack succeeded in breaking through the first and second Confedrate defensive positions. His attack was a spectacular succes and his Brigade made it into the confederate rear. However they were forced retreat, before being cut off. Both commanders on his flanks failed to fully commit to their assaults and his Brigade was being threatend of being cut off.
Realizing the danger of Upton’s penetration of CS lines, Gen. Jackson ordered a counter attack a by the Third Virginia, the Fourth Virginia, the Third Tennessee Regiments supported by three batteries of the Second Confederate States Artillery. The counter-attack succeeded and by mid afternoon, the line had stabilized. This counter attack ended the flanking attack West of Louisville. Despite Upton’s Brigade suffering heavy losses, Upton’s regiment suffered fewer casualties then other Brigades in the Corp. Thanks in large part to the training his men received on the new style of tactics Upton pioneered while teaching in West Point.
After the US flank attack was stopped, major action halted on the Louisville Front. Both sides continued to fire artillery at each other, and raid each other's trench works. Wilcox and his small staff began infighting and looking for scapegoats, instead of focusing on the battle. After the success of his attack on Confederate lines and his Divison Commanders failure to exploit his success. Hancock replaced Upton as a Division Commander, of the Division that failed to support him. Because of the high death rate of both officers and Upton’s performance in the flanking attack, Wilcox did not object. However, despite Hancock’s well executed crossing of the Ohio and speedy attack on the Army of Kentucky’s west flank, Wilcox’s staff attempted to blame the failure of the attack on the II Corp commander. Hancock’s obvious strong leadership in the flanking attack and Wilcox’s consistent blundering, saved Hancock’s reputation. It was clear to those around him that the General had no notion of how to break the stalemate despite the success Upton’s Brigade had achieved west of the City. During the lull in the fighting, the Royal Navies and French Navies attacked US coastal cities like Boston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The British and Canadian armies invaded the US territory of Montana and the state of Maine.
Though badly managed the Army of the Ohio still managed to inflict heavy damage on the Confederate Army of Kentucky. Still with enemies attacking from five different sides at once, Jackson knew the war was lost for the USA. In the fall of 1881 Jackson planned to end any further hope of renewed US attacks in Kentucky. He ordered an attack which opened with an offensive at early dawn on the stalemated flanking front. Artillery opened along the whole front as to confuse the Yankees as to where the attack would come from. Men rushed out of their trenches towards the US positions and the fighting began.
As the sun rose, the fighting had reached the first line of defenses and Jackson ordered the bulk of Confederate Artillery to fire on the southern flank of the US salient within the city. There had hardly been any action along that section and Jackson’s attck came as a total surprise to US commanders. US artillery shifted focus, but this time they were too slow to respond. Fortunately for the Union the IInd Corp had been shifted to this salient. In particular the men of Upton’s Division fought valiantly. However with an assault from the flank and rear, the US salient quickly collapsed. CS troops rapidly overran the supply dump of the salient and by the end of the day, were standing on the bank of the Ohio. Still the heroic efforts of the IInd Corp prevented a complete route of union force, as bad as Camp Hill. IInd Corp dogged defense elevated LTG Hancock to a national Hero and inevitably to the presidency. After this disaster, US President Blaine called for an unconditional cease-fire along all fronts.
In wrecked Louisville, Generals Jackson and Wilcox met to discuss terms. Jackson wanted the US to withdraw from all of Kentucky while Wilcox refused. Jackson wired Longstreet asking for permission to force the Yankees out, but was turned down in fear it might restart the war. Following the ceasefire the German Minister Kurd von Schlosser and Military Attaché Colonel Alfred von Schlieffen convinced General Rosecrans and President Blaine that the war could not be won. However they convinced President Blaine that the US should instead use the peace to rebuild the army. They should send their officers to Germany to be instructed in the modern military sciences. As word of the Presidents deal with the German Ambassador spread, Upton’s political supporters pushed the President to recall Upton to Philadelphia and take charge of planning the reforms. Bowing to pressure, Rosecrans ordered Upton to Philadelphia. On arriving in Philadelphia,the battle scarred Brevet Major General Upton was tasked to organize an ad hoc general staff and help select officers for a mission to Germany. Here he met Colonel Schlieffen, the two having similar temperaments and total devotion to duty quickly developed a mutual friendship, which lasted the rest of their lives.
Upton again used his contacts from his time in West Point to select bright young officers, to compliment his collection of battled tested officers he served with while in Kentucky. His committee came up with twenty-four names from across the branches to be enrolled in German Staff Colleges and other German military academies. The US mission to Germany would set sail once the Royal Navy ended their blockade of the East Coast. Until funding could be secured the General Staff would nominally consisted of the Chief of the Army’s personal staff. Already numbering around twelve Upton requisitioned another twenty to help him plan for a possible Confederate invasion into Maryland. All this planning was unnecessary, because in late April the CS government threatened to renew the war again, and this time the US agreed to surrender. After more than six months of ceasefire the US finally agreed to surrender on April 22nd, 1882. Upton and his small staff managed the US withdrawal from Kentucky and the demobilization of the militia units.
As the army shrunk to pre-war levels, Rosecrans kept on the additional officers Upton selected. He tasked them to develop a policy for a reorganization of the army along the model Upton set out in his report on the Armies of Europe and Asia. This policy became the basis for the Blaine Army Bill of 1883, which went down to defeat. During this time the repentent Rosecrans developed a deep respect of Upton and his plans for reform. Some in the Republican Party pressured Blaine to replace Rosecrans with Upton. Blaine however chose to keep Rosecrans on for the time being, Blaine did not entirely trust the the scope of Upton’s reforms. This period was marked by fears in both the U.S.A and C.S.A. of possible military coup d'etats. Blaine ordered Rosecrans to select Upton as head of new the mission to Germany. Rosecrans not wanting to be replaced acquiesced, however he secured for Upton the rank of Regular Major General. On June 3rd 1882, Major General Emory Upton and twenty-four other officers set sail from New York, bound for Hamburg as the vanguard of a new United States-German Cooperative.
After a year in command of the 33rd Regiment, word spread throughout the small close-knit pre-remembrance Army that Upton’s 33rd Regiment was the place for ambitious reform minded officers. Many who wished to see the US army modernize along European lines sought out placement in this unit. Upton hoping to spread his fire for reform welcomed in many junior officers of talent and used his contacts at West Point to advertise to advertise joining the unit as a sort of Post Graduate education. Many of those who served in his regiment would go on to make up the General Staff and hold flag grade commands in the Great War.
Two of these promising young officers were Dudley Foulkes Corp Commander under General Custer in the Great War and Uhlric Dahlgren, the hero of Pocahontas. Dalhgren fought in the War of Secession briefly and after the war served as a prominent attorney in Philadelphia. He returned to the Army in 1875 hoping for a taste of adventure. After serving as a Company Commander under Upton he transferred to a cavalry Post in Southern Missouri. He commanded a Regiment of Union Cavalry forces that captured Pocahontas Arkansas. Dahlgrens Brigade commander fled from Pocahontas, after being attacked by a Brigade of Volunteer Confederate Cavalry, Dalhgren’s forces ambushed the untrained CS Cavalry units with Gatteling guns much like Custer’s in Kansas. For the rest of the war Dahlgren and his men managed to keep Confederate Cavalry raiders out of Southern Missouri. Foulkes too would go on to serve as a Cavalry officer in the Second Mexican War as a Cavalry Officer unfortunately for him on the disastrous New Mexico front. Eventually Foulkes would retire after serving as a Corp Commander in the Great War. Ironically both left the 33rd Regiment at Upton’s urging. He advised them both to get cavalry commands and gain combat experience against Indians in time for a probable second war with the Confederacy, which he did not believe the army would be ready for until at least 1886 or 1887.
After Blaine’s election in 1880, Upton began bombarding his contacts in Washington with proposals for a new Army reform bill. He hoped the new Republican President and Congress would use his recommendations in his Report on the Armies of Europe & Asia as a blue print for army reform. Upton traveled to Washington and was a guest at the inauguration of Senator Garfield of Ohio. After the inauguration, he met with several pro-army reform members of Congress. All professed to support his new “big army” proposals, however they informed him that a new bill would unlikely be presented until the next budget in late 1881.
Knowing that every moment counted if the United States was to be ready for a war sometime in the Blaine Presidency, he obtained a meeting with the new Chief of the Army William Rosecrans. He presented a copy of his Report and attempted to explain to Rosecrans the terrible state of the army. Especially compared to European Armies, which the US would invariably face in a war against the CS, tbecause of their alliance with Britain and France. He explained the need for a rapid reform of the regular army and its antiquated militia system. Reminding Rosecrans that the US Regular Army was only slightly larger than its Confederate counter part. Without properly trained reserves only this force would be effective in modern warfare. Rosecrans who also wished to see the army enlarged, however believed in the effectiveness of the US state militias. He reminded Upton that it was up to the President to make these political decisions.
Hearing that the new President intended to prevent the Confederate’s purchase of Mexican territory, Upton frantically sought an audience with President Blaine. He accomplished this through help of Garfield who was instrumental in Blaine’s nomination. Here he repeated his warnings of the Army’s dismal state compared to other powers. The President assured him he would seek a bill to enlarge the army as soon as possible, but he restated his commitment to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, which pledged too uphold in his inaugural address.
Defeated Upton returned to Ohio and immediately began readying his unit for war. He drilled his soldiers in river crossings and tasked his staff to begin drawing up plans for an Invasion of Kentucky. For months his staff sent observers and surveys to determine which were the best landing sites incase of departures from Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. While his staff worked in earnest to prepare for war, Upton continued to lobby Washington to not seek war. When war seemed imminent in early Spring Upton even went so far as to contact members of the Philadelphia Tribune to write an anonymous editorial explaining the dismal state of the Army and the state militias. However John Hay the former editor of the Tribune and newly named Minister to the Confederacy had the piece squashed.
When war finally came in late spring of 1881, Upton’s Regiment was one of many ordered to gather in Indiana to form the core of a new Army of the Kentucky. Upton naturally assumed that he would be made a division if not a Corp Commander in General Wilcox’s Army. Despite his well found reputation gossip lingered over his possible authorship of the Tribune editorial. This and his perceived defeatist attitude before the war began resulted in Rosecrans ordering Wilcox to pass him over for promotion. On his arrival in Clarksville, General Wilcox informed Upton of his decision not to promote him and keep him as Commander of the 33rd. Despite the rage he felt at this slight, Upton immediately handed to him his staff’s report. In it were plans for crossing the Ohio, capturing Louisville and securing the rest of the state for the Union. He recommended as well moving the headquarters and Army further east as to not alarm the Confederate forces of their true target. Wilcox would ignore these recommendations, much to his later regret.
On hearing of this slight by the Regular Army's Democratic leadership, Senator Platt the Republican Boss from his native New York offered, to coax Governor Cornell into naming him commander of all New York Volunteers heading for the newly reforming Army of the Potomac. Upton refused out of principal, he informed Platt he would rather command a Company of Regulars, than a Corp of Militia. It was then that Upton learned his men would be fighting under General Hancock, who like himself, was one of the few Army of the Potomac commanders to survive with his reputation intact. Hancock was quickly impressed with Upton’s pre war work and wanted to make him a Division commander, but Wilcox refused. Hancock would continually rely on Upton as his best commander and promised to promote Upton as soon as possible. While preparations continued on the Northern Shore of the Ohio, Upton learned of the Battle of Winchester. General Jackson’s inflicted a stunning defeat using the tactics he pioneered at the West Point. Despite this being a defeat for the US, it convinced even the recalcitrant Wilcox to order that the volunteers were drilled in the new infantry’s tactics already standard in the Regular units.
By May General Orlando Wilcox’s began the Kentucky campaign with an army of fifty thousand men. The Army of Ohio consisted of regulars and volunteers, broken into four Corps each a mix of regulars and state militia units. Upton’s regiment made up of all regular army soldiers and officers, fell under LTG Hancock’s II Corp. The attack began from the Confederates who pre-empted the invasion by shelling the landing barges and boats that had been gathering along the US side of the river.
In the early morning dawn the attack was launched across the Ohio River from three directions in Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany. Each of these locations was ruled out as unfeasible by Upton’s 33rd Regiments prewar staff work. Upton’s staff concluded that a direct attack on the city of Louisville would needlessly waste lives. The 33rd Regiment handled the actual crossing excellently despite being shelled.
The Confederate Army of Kentucky, now under the command of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson had used the time wisely. The Army commandeered Negro laborers to build firing pits and earth works around the city of Louisville. However, the defense of the city would rely heavily on the artillery of Major General E. Porter Alexander. Jackson ordered the guns to fire on the barges and boats as they crossed the river, but US guns made this difficult. He then ordered two brigades to the waterfront to resist the crossing. The pre-war preparation in river crossings made the 33rds landing much smoother than other regiments in their brigade. Most of which struggled to get their men and equipment together on the same stretch of the Kentucky shore. Upton’s Regiment successfully overcame CS resistant on their beachhead, thanks in large part from competent fire from US Artillery, which softened the Kentucky beach before landing.
With the Army of Ohio on the banks of Kentucky, CS artillery switched targets, from the boats to the men on the shore. While this caused casualties it did not slow down the advance, and US troops quickly entered Louisville. To Wilcox's surprise, Jackson chose to fight for the city rather than retreat and engage US forces on open ground. Upton’s forces took part in the fighting inside Louisville causing heavy causalities for his regiment and the rest of his brigade. Upton’s own study of assaulting Louisville showed that fighting in a city favored the defenders. Wilcox ignored this report sent him during the build up and instead chose to support the infantry attacking the town with artillery.
The Confederates refused to give, much like Upton’s report predicted they would. They fought using every building as an obstacle or defensive work, forcing the US to shell whole blocks of buildings into rubble. They then fought in the rubble until cleared out by rifle and bayonet. As the fighting progressed, Wilcox funneled more and more men into the city, heedless of casualties as his own reached as high as 17,409 men.
After weeks of fighting in and around Louisville Upton’s Regiment and the entire II Corp was rotated back to the Indiana shore of the Ohio. The II Corp was selected to spearhead the second assault across the Ohio, with the reinforcements being sent to GEN. Wilcox. They were to be apart of an attack from the West of the city on the Army of Kentucky’s flank, combined with a planned coordinated attack within the city.
This time Upton was promoted to command a Brigade and took much of his staff with him to prepare the brigade for a second crossing. Despite the IInd Corps well handling of the second crossing, Wilcox’s plan was mediocre at best. The attack opened up with another large artillery barrage, to which the Confederates responded by attacking the boats and barges. The US force made it ashore and advanced quickly. However the defensive lines that negro slaves had built around the city, again began stalling their advance.
From reports Jackson received about the intensity of the fighting in the city, he concluded that the attack was a feint. Knowing that the attack from the west was the main thrust, Jackson attempted to rush reinforcements. At this point much of the flanking attack was making slow but steady progress against the confederate defense. To speed up a break through before Confederate reinforcements arrived, Hancock approved Upton’s plan for storming confederate trenches, using his Regiment on a narrow front west of the city. Hancock ordered his divisional commander to support Upton’s plan. The plan called for using his Brigade to attack a narrow area of the confedreatet renches and using his old 33rd to break through the first line of trenches and moving on to attacking second line defenders, with the rest of his Brigade to attacking in waives. Their job would be to clearing those remaining confederate defenders left in the bypassed trenches. This was to be coordinated with the brigades on both sides of his flanks, each attacking confederate positions to prevent reinforcements. His attack succeeded in breaking through the first and second Confedrate defensive positions. His attack was a spectacular succes and his Brigade made it into the confederate rear. However they were forced retreat, before being cut off. Both commanders on his flanks failed to fully commit to their assaults and his Brigade was being threatend of being cut off.
Realizing the danger of Upton’s penetration of CS lines, Gen. Jackson ordered a counter attack a by the Third Virginia, the Fourth Virginia, the Third Tennessee Regiments supported by three batteries of the Second Confederate States Artillery. The counter-attack succeeded and by mid afternoon, the line had stabilized. This counter attack ended the flanking attack West of Louisville. Despite Upton’s Brigade suffering heavy losses, Upton’s regiment suffered fewer casualties then other Brigades in the Corp. Thanks in large part to the training his men received on the new style of tactics Upton pioneered while teaching in West Point.
After the US flank attack was stopped, major action halted on the Louisville Front. Both sides continued to fire artillery at each other, and raid each other's trench works. Wilcox and his small staff began infighting and looking for scapegoats, instead of focusing on the battle. After the success of his attack on Confederate lines and his Divison Commanders failure to exploit his success. Hancock replaced Upton as a Division Commander, of the Division that failed to support him. Because of the high death rate of both officers and Upton’s performance in the flanking attack, Wilcox did not object. However, despite Hancock’s well executed crossing of the Ohio and speedy attack on the Army of Kentucky’s west flank, Wilcox’s staff attempted to blame the failure of the attack on the II Corp commander. Hancock’s obvious strong leadership in the flanking attack and Wilcox’s consistent blundering, saved Hancock’s reputation. It was clear to those around him that the General had no notion of how to break the stalemate despite the success Upton’s Brigade had achieved west of the City. During the lull in the fighting, the Royal Navies and French Navies attacked US coastal cities like Boston, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The British and Canadian armies invaded the US territory of Montana and the state of Maine.
Though badly managed the Army of the Ohio still managed to inflict heavy damage on the Confederate Army of Kentucky. Still with enemies attacking from five different sides at once, Jackson knew the war was lost for the USA. In the fall of 1881 Jackson planned to end any further hope of renewed US attacks in Kentucky. He ordered an attack which opened with an offensive at early dawn on the stalemated flanking front. Artillery opened along the whole front as to confuse the Yankees as to where the attack would come from. Men rushed out of their trenches towards the US positions and the fighting began.
As the sun rose, the fighting had reached the first line of defenses and Jackson ordered the bulk of Confederate Artillery to fire on the southern flank of the US salient within the city. There had hardly been any action along that section and Jackson’s attck came as a total surprise to US commanders. US artillery shifted focus, but this time they were too slow to respond. Fortunately for the Union the IInd Corp had been shifted to this salient. In particular the men of Upton’s Division fought valiantly. However with an assault from the flank and rear, the US salient quickly collapsed. CS troops rapidly overran the supply dump of the salient and by the end of the day, were standing on the bank of the Ohio. Still the heroic efforts of the IInd Corp prevented a complete route of union force, as bad as Camp Hill. IInd Corp dogged defense elevated LTG Hancock to a national Hero and inevitably to the presidency. After this disaster, US President Blaine called for an unconditional cease-fire along all fronts.
In wrecked Louisville, Generals Jackson and Wilcox met to discuss terms. Jackson wanted the US to withdraw from all of Kentucky while Wilcox refused. Jackson wired Longstreet asking for permission to force the Yankees out, but was turned down in fear it might restart the war. Following the ceasefire the German Minister Kurd von Schlosser and Military Attaché Colonel Alfred von Schlieffen convinced General Rosecrans and President Blaine that the war could not be won. However they convinced President Blaine that the US should instead use the peace to rebuild the army. They should send their officers to Germany to be instructed in the modern military sciences. As word of the Presidents deal with the German Ambassador spread, Upton’s political supporters pushed the President to recall Upton to Philadelphia and take charge of planning the reforms. Bowing to pressure, Rosecrans ordered Upton to Philadelphia. On arriving in Philadelphia,the battle scarred Brevet Major General Upton was tasked to organize an ad hoc general staff and help select officers for a mission to Germany. Here he met Colonel Schlieffen, the two having similar temperaments and total devotion to duty quickly developed a mutual friendship, which lasted the rest of their lives.
Upton again used his contacts from his time in West Point to select bright young officers, to compliment his collection of battled tested officers he served with while in Kentucky. His committee came up with twenty-four names from across the branches to be enrolled in German Staff Colleges and other German military academies. The US mission to Germany would set sail once the Royal Navy ended their blockade of the East Coast. Until funding could be secured the General Staff would nominally consisted of the Chief of the Army’s personal staff. Already numbering around twelve Upton requisitioned another twenty to help him plan for a possible Confederate invasion into Maryland. All this planning was unnecessary, because in late April the CS government threatened to renew the war again, and this time the US agreed to surrender. After more than six months of ceasefire the US finally agreed to surrender on April 22nd, 1882. Upton and his small staff managed the US withdrawal from Kentucky and the demobilization of the militia units.
As the army shrunk to pre-war levels, Rosecrans kept on the additional officers Upton selected. He tasked them to develop a policy for a reorganization of the army along the model Upton set out in his report on the Armies of Europe and Asia. This policy became the basis for the Blaine Army Bill of 1883, which went down to defeat. During this time the repentent Rosecrans developed a deep respect of Upton and his plans for reform. Some in the Republican Party pressured Blaine to replace Rosecrans with Upton. Blaine however chose to keep Rosecrans on for the time being, Blaine did not entirely trust the the scope of Upton’s reforms. This period was marked by fears in both the U.S.A and C.S.A. of possible military coup d'etats. Blaine ordered Rosecrans to select Upton as head of new the mission to Germany. Rosecrans not wanting to be replaced acquiesced, however he secured for Upton the rank of Regular Major General. On June 3rd 1882, Major General Emory Upton and twenty-four other officers set sail from New York, bound for Hamburg as the vanguard of a new United States-German Cooperative.
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Alright, since everyone else is doing there own bios, heres one of my own, and my first to write in this thread. Enjoy.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1943)
Edward Roscoe Murrow was born on April 25, 1908 at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, North Carolina, Confederate States of America. His family lived in poverty, and continued to live in Polecat Creek until Murrow was seven, when the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia to seek new job opportunity's. It was here that Murrow attended high school, and later Atlanta University, graduating in 1930. While at college, Murrow majored in speech, and was active in College politics. It was also during this period in his life that Murrow decided he wanted to become a journalist.
In 1932, Murrow moved to Richmond and fulfilled his ambitions by joining the Confederate States Broadcasting Corporation (CSBC) as a journalist, preparing and writing up news stories for the stations broadcasters. He continued doing so for several years. In 1934, Jake Featherston and the Freedom Party came to power in the Confederate States, and as a result in the spring of that same year, the CSBC came under control of the new Confederate States Department of Communications (CSDC), established by the Featherston administration to keep a hold on the nation's media. Murrow still kept his job, and, disillusioned in his youth by the general poverty in the CSA during the 1920's, and even more so after the Great Depression, remained a rather lukewarm supporter of the Freedom Party, but was a Confederate patriot foremost, and had previously been a supporter of the Radical Liberal party. Still during the mid-1930's he continually proved his loyalty to the Freedom Party, which he joined in 1936, and rose up in the CSBC's ranks. In 1939, Murrow became a relatively major broadcaster for the station, and continued to gain popularity amongst his colleges both in the CSBC and the Freedom Party.
It was predicted by many in the Confederate entertainment industry that nothing could stop Murrow, and that he would become a household name in no time. However in 1942, almost a year into the Second Great War, he put his broadcasting career on hold to become a war correspondent. Saul Goldman and the CSDC agreed to Murrow's wishes, and was almost immediately sent to the front lines in Ohio and Pennsylvania to report on the war's progress. The reports he sent back home were heavily detailed, but the reports were none the less heavily censored by the Freedom Party government, not wanting to decrease public morale.
In 1943, Edward R. Murrow was killed near Dayton, Ohio during Irving Morrel's repulsion of the Confederate invasion of the United States. His body was never recovered, and a small memorial service was held amongst his colleagues back in Richmond. He was never married and had no children. Today, Murrow, remains a relatively obscure figure, overshadowed by the much more infamous Freedom Party members involved in the Confederate media. Also, historians have come to the conclusion that he was more of a Confederate patriot than Freedomite, and that he may have been horrified if he knew of the horrors of the Population Reduction.
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1943)
Edward Roscoe Murrow was born on April 25, 1908 at Polecat Creek, near Greensboro, North Carolina, Confederate States of America. His family lived in poverty, and continued to live in Polecat Creek until Murrow was seven, when the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia to seek new job opportunity's. It was here that Murrow attended high school, and later Atlanta University, graduating in 1930. While at college, Murrow majored in speech, and was active in College politics. It was also during this period in his life that Murrow decided he wanted to become a journalist.
In 1932, Murrow moved to Richmond and fulfilled his ambitions by joining the Confederate States Broadcasting Corporation (CSBC) as a journalist, preparing and writing up news stories for the stations broadcasters. He continued doing so for several years. In 1934, Jake Featherston and the Freedom Party came to power in the Confederate States, and as a result in the spring of that same year, the CSBC came under control of the new Confederate States Department of Communications (CSDC), established by the Featherston administration to keep a hold on the nation's media. Murrow still kept his job, and, disillusioned in his youth by the general poverty in the CSA during the 1920's, and even more so after the Great Depression, remained a rather lukewarm supporter of the Freedom Party, but was a Confederate patriot foremost, and had previously been a supporter of the Radical Liberal party. Still during the mid-1930's he continually proved his loyalty to the Freedom Party, which he joined in 1936, and rose up in the CSBC's ranks. In 1939, Murrow became a relatively major broadcaster for the station, and continued to gain popularity amongst his colleges both in the CSBC and the Freedom Party.
It was predicted by many in the Confederate entertainment industry that nothing could stop Murrow, and that he would become a household name in no time. However in 1942, almost a year into the Second Great War, he put his broadcasting career on hold to become a war correspondent. Saul Goldman and the CSDC agreed to Murrow's wishes, and was almost immediately sent to the front lines in Ohio and Pennsylvania to report on the war's progress. The reports he sent back home were heavily detailed, but the reports were none the less heavily censored by the Freedom Party government, not wanting to decrease public morale.
In 1943, Edward R. Murrow was killed near Dayton, Ohio during Irving Morrel's repulsion of the Confederate invasion of the United States. His body was never recovered, and a small memorial service was held amongst his colleagues back in Richmond. He was never married and had no children. Today, Murrow, remains a relatively obscure figure, overshadowed by the much more infamous Freedom Party members involved in the Confederate media. Also, historians have come to the conclusion that he was more of a Confederate patriot than Freedomite, and that he may have been horrified if he knew of the horrors of the Population Reduction.
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Actually the Snake said that he was OK with Jews since he saw them as being white men like any other and didn't get the obsession with persecuting them. So with the Tsar openly persecuting them and the Kaiser not doing anything to stop persecution in the Kingdom of Poland, maybe more of them came to the CSA? If Featherston spun it as being pro-white he could get a lot of Jewish immigration from the Entente powers and maybe from Poland too, assuming the Ottomans don't let them go to Palestine. If it's middle-class Jews who come or those with the money and connections to do so then Featherston has a ready alternative to the southern planter nobility he can count on to be loyal to him
And there's Saul Goldman being the spindoctor for Featherston, one of the most well known Confederate voices and helping a great deal to whip up the genocidal rhetoric of the Freedom party and-oh shit the Jews are really going to get it post Second Great War aren't they?
Good updates, President Mahan and Zoidberg!
Thanks. Heres another.
Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1958)
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897 in the town of Cuttack in British India. He grew up in the same town of Cuttack with his family, and was educated in a number of British run schools in India in his youth, as well as for part of his college years. For a number of his other college years, Bose studied abroad in England for two years beginning in 1919, finally returning to British India in 1921.
That same year, Bose, only in his mid-twenties, joined the pro-independence Indian National Congress Party. Soon after, Bose was elected mayor of Calcutta in 1924, but was arrested by the British government in a large crack down of Indian nationalists only a few months into his term. He was freed after four years in prison in 1928, and a year later became general secretary for the Congress Party, working with other prominent party members like Jawaharlal Nehru for Indian independence. Bose continued to rise in popularity within the party and with Indian nationalists in general, and as a result was again elected mayor of Calcutta in 1932. During this same time in the 1930's, Bose made a number of visits to Europe, visiting Indian students and European politicians such as King Charles XI, Philippe Henriot, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Otto Wels, Kaiser Karl I of Austria-Hungary, King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Sultan Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman Empire, as well as a number of lesser known left wing and right wing politicians. During these visits Bose himself saw conservative monarchism, far-right politics and far-left politics all first hand. Bose also reached a number of general conclusions on how these parties related to the cause of Indian nationalism and independence. He considered far-right politics an enemy to the Indian cause, considering it supported ethnic nationalism and aggressive imperialism amongst the European powers, and also that the far-right/Actionist France was an ally of Great Britain. Bose however was attracted to the many far-left, communist, socialist, social democratic and radical socialist parties in Europe, and would later use radical socialism as the basis for his vision of an independent India. Bose was not much attracted to the conservative monarchies of Europe, seeing some like Spain and Russia, the latter which he never bothered to visit, as completely irrelevant to India, but Bose was more than happy to cooperate with one semi-conservative power in particular, the German Empire. The German Empire had shown itself supportive of the Indian's cause for nationhood during the First Great War with the large scale Hindu-German conspiracy, and Bose wanted to re-kindle this relationship between India and Germany. In the coming years leading up to GWII, a few other Indian nationalists came to Germany to raise awareness of the movement, a sort of preview of what was to come when war broke out. It was also in Europe, Austria-Hungary to be exact, that Bose met with wife Emilie Schenkl (1910-1996). They married in 1937 and had one daughter five years later, Anita Bose Pfaff.
Soon after Bose returned to India in 1937, he himself was made leader of the Indian National Congress. As party leader, Bose advocated a plan of complete self-governance and independence for India, to the point of using force against the British, as well advocating a an authoritarian socialist government for a new Indian republic. This line of thought put him in conflict with the less radical members of the party like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. As a result the Indian National Congress split, and Bose and his followers formed the Indian People's Foward Block, a far left political party based on his views, its main base of power in the Bengal region. Meanwhile in Great Britain, a coalition government came about between the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the far-right British Nationalist Party under Minister of War Oswald Mosley in 1934. The coalition, particularly those in the Nationalist Party, which had some influence over a number of Conservative MP's, where staunch and aggressive imperialists, and refused to negotiate at all with any pro-independence nationalists, Bose and the INC included. While the Labour and Liberal Parties supported a level of negotiation with the Indian nationalists, they were constantly silenced by the Conservative-Nationalist coalition. During the late 1930's Bose's star continued to rise and the Indian People's Foward Block (IPFB) grew in a number of other Indian regions outside Bengal. Bose also organized at least a few large scale protests against British rule in India. Churchill saw Bose in particular as a grave threat to British Imperialism and power, and those in the Nationalist Party heavily agreed. As a reuslt, Bose's home in New Dehli was raided in May of 1940, and he was arrested without trial, both actions by order of the British government. He was held in a prison outside Madras for six months, when he escaped from said prison in November of 1940 with the help a number of rouge INC and IPFB members. Bose proceeded to escape the country, being helped by a number of sympathetic local rulers (Sultan's, Princes etc.) to escape into the Japanese East Indies. While in the city of Banda Aceh, Bose was introduced to the ideology of Pan-Asainism, in particular the version being supported by the Japanese government, as well as that of certain local Indonesian intellectuals. He sympathized with the movement due to its anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist stance, and this was a sympathy which have important ramifications in due time. In January of 1941, Bose flew to Berlin, knowing going to the Germany Empire was his best chance to further the cause of Indian independence.
To be continued....
Honestly its past midnight right now, so expect a completed version tomorrow or the day after.
Great work on Murrow and Bose. Any more information on whats going on outside North America is always welcome. I have a good idea for some German/British machinations in South America and the Caribbean in the decades leading up to the Great War.
Thanks.
I have to say I'm really enjoying your updates on Emory Upton. I'll finish Bose's bio soon, but in the mean time, heres this. IOTL this is A. Phillip Randolp btw. I wrote something similar to this and much shorter in the "Photos from Timeline 191" thread. This is a refined, longer, more proper and completed bio. Anyways, enjoy.
Asa Johnson (1889-1975)
Asa Johnson was born under the single name of Marcus in Crescent City, Florida, Confederate States of America, on April 15, 1889. The son of recently manumitted slaves who were freed after the state of Florida agreed to manumission in 1883, Marcus grew up and lived most of his adolescent life in poverty under the heavily segregated society of the Confederate States. For most of his adolescence, after the age of fourteen, Marcus traveled around northern and central Florida and worked mostly as a farm hand, and would sometimes do odd jobs on the side. However when Marcus was about twenty years old, after making a relatively decent amount of money, he decided to became a Christian preacher. Marcus soon started preaching at an African American Methodist Church in a small town outside of Orlando, Florida, and became a Reverend at the age of 22 in 1911. He continued in this line of work for a number of years, his work to God uninterrupted by the outbreak of the First Great War in 1914.
However, the First Great War would have a great effect on Marcus's life and congregation when the Red Rebellion broke out in 1915. Marcus, a constant witness to the injustice of Confederate society against African-Americas, sympathized greatly with the rebels, but remained uneasy at many of the rebels' Anti-Christian and Atheist views. Still, in late-1915, Marcus made a daring decision and started sheltering many red revolutionary rebels, most of said rebels fighting for the near-by "Everglades Socialist Republic", in his own church. Marcus also supported the men with food, clothing and other such important supplies. "Reverend Marcus" as he came to be known, became well known locally amongst the black red rebels in Florida for his brave and daring assistance to their their cause. It was also during this time that "Reverend Marcus" became even more sympathetic towards the rebels. As result he read a number of books, brought to him by rebels in exchange for his help, on leftist politics. He read the works of Lincoln, Marx, Lenin, Bellamy and many others, and came to support American style and Lincolnist Socialism rather than the more radical Communist, Marxist and Marxist-Leninist forms of socialism many of red rebels followed. Marcus would remain a closet socialist for years, his political views later becoming very important in his future life. When the Red Rebellion ended, Marcus, quite luckily, avoided being prosecuted by Confederate authorities for assisting in the rebellion, and continued on his life in the Church just as it had been before said rebellion.
However, his support of the Red Rebellion would not go without consequences. Soon after the war ended, in around 1920, an angry white mob, made up mostly of disgruntled Great War veterans, burned his church down, another one of the number of violent incidents perpetrated against blacks in the Confederate States in retaliation for the Red Rebellion, whether they partook in it or not, as well as for the Confederacy's loss of the Great War. Whether the mob knew about Marcus's assistance of the rebels is a fact lost to history, but luckily, Marcus has warned of the attack by a local neighbor and church attendee. As a result, Marcus immediately fled the church and village with his life, only taking a small amount of personal possessions. He traveled on the run for a number of months until coming to the city of Austin, Texas. Upon arriving there Marcus bought a humble apartment in an African-American ghetto in the city and changed his name to "Asa", to avoid being held accountable for his support of the Red Rebellion. Soon after all this he joined an African American Methodist Congregation in the ghetto. Here Asa lived a quiet, mostly happy life, preaching the word of God from his pulpit and assisting the impoverished black community of Austin, as well as other black communities in the surrounding cities. Even when the Freedom Party came to power in 1934, his life remained mostly the same, and in fact his commitment to blacks in the Confederacy became stronger, even if there was little he could have done at the moment.
This changed when the Second Great War broke out. A year after said war broke out, in 1942, the African-American community in Austin was deported to Camp Determination. Despite these hardships, Reverend Asa continued to keep his faith in God, and later said after the war that as hard as it was, nothing would make him lose his faith. As it would soon turn out, when the detainees arrived at the camp, this very faith of his would greatly help to keep hope alive amongst these detainees. Many of them came to Reverend Asa for help and consolation, and, when guards weren't looking, Asa even gave a number of small sermons amongst a number of the inmates. Unfortunately, many did perish in the camp, but quite a few had managed to survive, Asa included. When the camp was liberated by the US Army in 1944, Asa almost immediately meet with the American soldiers to discuss his experiences in the camp, and of his life story as well. This account as a whole amazed the soldiers who'd heard it, and in no time, Asa became a respected figure amongst the survivors of the Population Reduction, as well as with blacks in the United States.
Soon after Camp Determination was liberated Asa took the last name of Johnson, and moved to Washington D.C. to rebuild his life. It has also here that he went before Congress and told the same account he had told to the soldiers who had freed him. He also gave the same account to President Dewey and Vice President Truman not long after. They again were all inspired by his story, and in 1945, Asa Johnson was inspired to write it down. His memorares, "The Life of Asa Johnson", was published the following year, and it was greatly received both by White and Black readers. It was also in 1946 that Johnson officially joined the Socialist Party of the United States, and campaigned for the Socialists during the midterms of that year.
In 1947, Johnson moved back to Austin, Texas to assist the survivors of the Population reduction, and collaborated heavily with the US Armed forces and the government of the Second Republic of Texas in doing so. Later that year he began a tour of the United States, telling his life story, promoting his memorares, and raising awareness of the terrors endured by African Americans during the population reduction. His account continued to inspire and amaze, and make many formerly ambivalent to African Americans sympathize with the struggles they endured. The tour ended in late 1948. He then traveled between then and 1949 to Haiti and Liberia, to assist with the Population Reduction survivors who chose to move to these safe havens for African Americans instead of stay in the former CS or move up north. From 1949 to 1950, Asa traveled to the deep south and assisted with Population Reduction survivors still living in region.
When Johnson returned to Washington D.C. in 1950, he lived a mostly quiet life, until 1952, when he decided to run for Congress under the Socialist Party. He successfully won the seat that November. Johnson continued to serve as a Socialist congressman until his retirement in 1972, when he was 83 years of age. During his time as a Socialist congressman, Johnson supported the new Compact of Democratic States, became a prominent advocate and supporter of human rights and civil rights for American minorities, supported pro-Socialist measures, supported the Socialist Presidencies during this time, and supported war against Japan in 1967. He also continued to make visits to the former CSA, Haiti and Liberia, and went on a number of diplomatic visits to other countries as well. He was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1969. Lastly, it should be noted that during his years as a Congressman, Johnson still held close to God, and even gave occasional Church sermons during his more informal visits, especially when visiting Population Reduction survivors.
After his retirement, Johnson moved to Miami, Florida, and continued to remain an activist for human rights and the rights for minorities in the US, even up until the very end. In October of 1975, Johnson had a sudden heart attack, and on October 26, 1975, he died as a result, aged 86 years old. As per his wishes, he was buried in a small church cemetery in Cresent City, Florida, the city he was born and raised in, the church being the same one he attended as a small boy.
James Ryder Randall (1839-1908)
James Ryder Randall, an American, later Confederate journalist and poet, was born on January 1 (New Years Day), 1839, in Baltimore, Maryland. In his youth, Randall studied at Georgetown University. After abandoning his studies at Georgetown, Randal traveled to South America and the West Indies. When he returned to the United States, Randall taught English Literature at Poydras College in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, a prominent Creole institution.
It was during this same time that the War of Succesion broke out, and Randal, aged 22, wrote his most famous poem, the pro-Confederate "Maryland, my Maryland". Randall was inspired to write the poem after learning that his friend Francis X. Ward, a resident of Randallstown, Maryland, was killed by the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in the Baltimore Riot on April 19, 1861. Randal's pro-southern sympathies were so aroused that he wrote the aforementioned poem, which is considered the most martial poem in American and Confederate History. It was first published in a New Orleans newspaper, The Sunday Delta, a week later.
"Maryland, my Maryland" was later set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius", better known today as the tune of the German Christmas Carol "O Tannenbaum", also known as "O Christmas Tree". "Maryland, my Maryland" soon became a famous war song of the Confederate States during the War of Succession. It continued to be sung to a degree during the Second Mexican War, though relatively not that much considering little fighting took place in Maryland during said war. The song truly regained its popularity during the First Great War, when the Confederate States invaded Maryland, and it was sung by several soldiers on that very front. The song was later adopted by the Freedom Party, which had irrendentist claims on the state of Maryland, and as a result was also song by Confederate soldiers during Operation Coalscuttle. After the end of the Second Great War and the fall and later re-integration of the Confederate States into the United States, the song became a taboo symbol of Confederate nationalism, and is today only allowed to be performed at war reenactments and for other historical purposes.
After the War of Succession ended in November of 1862, Randall, as a pro-Confederate, moved from Baltimore to Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. Randall later renounced his United States citizenship sometime in 1870. While living in Richmond, Randall engaged in newspaper work, finding a job at the Richmond Daily Dispatch. At the Richmond Daily Dispatch, Randall would hold several important editorial positions. During the Second Mexican War, he began writing a number of editorials on the war and battles himself, many of which survive to this very day in the National Archives. After the war ended he continued to edit articles for paper, and even wrote himself for the paper sporadically, and would continue doing so up until his death.
Randall continued to write poetry while working at the Richmond Daily Dispatch, despite taking a brief brake from doing so during the Second Mexican War, as he was busy writing articles at the time. Despite this, none of his other poems would come close to the level of popularity of "Maryland, My Maryland". His later poems are deeply religious in nature; Randall himself a Roman Catholic.
He died on January 15, 1908 in his home in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 69.
James Ryder Randall, an American, later Confederate journalist and poet, was born on January 1 (New Years Day), 1839, in Baltimore, Maryland. In his youth, Randall studied at Georgetown University. After abandoning his studies at Georgetown, Randal traveled to South America and the West Indies. When he returned to the United States, Randall taught English Literature at Poydras College in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, a prominent Creole institution.
It was during this same time that the War of Succesion broke out, and Randal, aged 22, wrote his most famous poem, the pro-Confederate "Maryland, my Maryland". Randall was inspired to write the poem after learning that his friend Francis X. Ward, a resident of Randallstown, Maryland, was killed by the 6th Massachusetts Regiment in the Baltimore Riot on April 19, 1861. Randal's pro-southern sympathies were so aroused that he wrote the aforementioned poem, which is considered the most martial poem in American and Confederate History. It was first published in a New Orleans newspaper, The Sunday Delta, a week later.
"Maryland, my Maryland" was later set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius", better known today as the tune of the German Christmas Carol "O Tannenbaum", also known as "O Christmas Tree". "Maryland, my Maryland" soon became a famous war song of the Confederate States during the War of Succession. It continued to be sung to a degree during the Second Mexican War, though relatively not that much considering little fighting took place in Maryland during said war. The song truly regained its popularity during the First Great War, when the Confederate States invaded Maryland, and it was sung by several soldiers on that very front. The song was later adopted by the Freedom Party, which had irrendentist claims on the state of Maryland, and as a result was also song by Confederate soldiers during Operation Coalscuttle. After the end of the Second Great War and the fall and later re-integration of the Confederate States into the United States, the song became a taboo symbol of Confederate nationalism, and is today only allowed to be performed at war reenactments and for other historical purposes.
After the War of Succession ended in November of 1862, Randall, as a pro-Confederate, moved from Baltimore to Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. Randall later renounced his United States citizenship sometime in 1870. While living in Richmond, Randall engaged in newspaper work, finding a job at the Richmond Daily Dispatch. At the Richmond Daily Dispatch, Randall would hold several important editorial positions. During the Second Mexican War, he began writing a number of editorials on the war and battles himself, many of which survive to this very day in the National Archives. After the war ended he continued to edit articles for paper, and even wrote himself for the paper sporadically, and would continue doing so up until his death.
Randall continued to write poetry while working at the Richmond Daily Dispatch, despite taking a brief brake from doing so during the Second Mexican War, as he was busy writing articles at the time. Despite this, none of his other poems would come close to the level of popularity of "Maryland, My Maryland". His later poems are deeply religious in nature; Randall himself a Roman Catholic.
He died on January 15, 1908 in his home in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 69.
great Asa bio, especially the everglades socialist republic. however craigo asked everyone not to post stuff based on the After the end timeline. He has his own ideas and doesn't want to get this thread and that thread mixed up. he really hasn't put anyhting up past 1946.
So all the red rebellions seem to be based in swamps or geographically isolated areas. I was wondering what are other areas we could come up with for the Southern Socialist Republics. Another interesting Bio would be if there was an unofficial or spiritual leader of the rebellion. What was their plans for the confederacy if they succeeded or did he believe the revolution would be North American or world wide.
So all the red rebellions seem to be based in swamps or geographically isolated areas. I was wondering what are other areas we could come up with for the Southern Socialist Republics. Another interesting Bio would be if there was an unofficial or spiritual leader of the rebellion. What was their plans for the confederacy if they succeeded or did he believe the revolution would be North American or world wide.
The Battle of Barbados 1914
The Carribean in the Pre-War Error
By the late 19th Century the Caribbean had become was one of the most highly contested places on earth. In the wake of the War of Succession, the Confederate State of America and their allies engaged in dozens of interventions throughout the region. The first intervention in the area was the French invasion of Mexico, which culminated in the formation of the Second Mexican Empire under the French Puppet Emperor Maximillian I. The CS Navy supported the French intervention with an assault on Veracruz led by Admiral Raphael Semmes.
During this early period there was no power in the hemisphere strong enough to resist the Confederacy and allies imperial aggression. No South American power had the modern military equipment to resist and the United States the Federal government was dominated by soft line Democrats who sought to maintain good relations with its southern neighbor. In pursuance to these policies the Woodard administration did not challenge the Confederacy’s acquisition of Cuba in 1877. After decades of internal revolt the Confederacy with the help of France and the United Kingdom, forced Spain to submit to sale of Cuba. Cuba became a state of the Confederate States of America soon thereafter. In 1880 the Confederate States elected James Longstreet, who set a priority to acquire the Mexican provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua. In the United States a waive of Anti-Confederate sentiment swept the Republican James G. Blaine into office. His leadership through the disastrous Second Mexican War helped to keep the “Hard line” anti-Confederate forces out of office until the election of Thomas B. Reed in 1888. In the interim Confederate, British and French dominated the markets and the governments throughout the Caribbean. They continued to force unfair loans on governments throughout the region and threatened to seize territory of those nations who refused to pay their debts.
Haiti with its population of freed slaves alone defied the Confederate-British-French alliance. After defaulting on multiple loans the Confederacy threatened the nation with invasion and annexation. By 1892 the United States felt a resurgence of national confidence thanks to the reforms of Secretary of the Navy Alfred Thayer Mahan and Army Chief of Staff Emory Upton. Because of the United States growing military confidence and the British reticence to enter in a new war on the North American continent, the United States scored its first diplomatic victory in thirty years. After US declared Haiti a protectorate, the Confederacy agreed to mediation of their claims.
Despite United States success in preventing the annexation of Haiti its Army and Naval reforms had not reached a point were it could challenge all Confederate-British predations on Caribbean nations. The United States was unable to prevent the British acquisition of Venezuelan territory. In 1896 the British uncovered gold in Venezuela adjacent to it’s Guyana territory. The British quickly set about to acquire this territory through claims it had maintained with Venezuela since the nations boundaries were set. The Confederates fearing further British expansion in the region used this as an excuse to renegotiate Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. After the War Secession the British government insisted the Confederate States abide by all treaties the British government signed with United States prior to Secession. The British reasoned legally as members of the union the states that would go on to make up the CS, assented through their representation in the Senate to all agreements the United States made before their secession. One such agreement was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which forbade fortification or occupation of Central America.
Luckily for the British a trans-isthmus canal through Central America had long been a dream of Gulf Shore Confederate Merchants. Their champion was Senator John Tyler Morgan of Alabama. With the election States Rights Gist in 1892, Morgan became the C.S. Secretary of State. Morgan proposed to the British that they support a canal across the isthmus in exchange for their acquiescence to British territory grabs in Venezuela. In the Morgan-Paucefote Treaty, the British agreed to an isthmus canal n exchange for the Confederacy withdrawing any objections to Britain’s claims on Venezuelan territory. In the same treaty the Confederate States made it clear to the world that any attempts to seize territory within the Confederacy’s sphere of influence in the Caribbean would have to meet with their approval. With this treaty clause, the Confederates took up the mantle of a perverted Monroe Doctrine. This policy was the brainchild of Assistant Secretary of State James Bulloch outlined and became officially known as the as the Bulloch Corollary.
In 1897 the Confederacy finally had the funds and the agreement with Nicaragua to construct a trans-oceanic canal across the isthmus. They also had an agreement with the British to support and finance a canal scheme, as long as it did not anger the “other Americans.” With mounting tension in South Africa, the British government was eager to avoid conflict. The Confederacy attempted to make an agreement with the United States to recognize the building of a Confederate- British canal across the isthmus. But President Mahan threatened war the second the first Confederates shovel dug into Nicaraguan earth. The bellicose Confederate President States Rights Gist immediately demanded support from his allies to build the canal under the threat of possible war. Britain with its attention turned towards South Africa, would not risk a war. Without British support the humiliated President Gist was forced to end all Confederate aspirations for a trans-oceanic canal. The failure of the Confederates to stand against the British seizure of Venezuelan territory officially pushed Venezuelans into the German-U.S. camp.
After President States Rights Gist, the C.S.A. turned its back on former Generals as Presidents, and in 1898 elected Robert Talyor then Champ Clark as President. Each pursued a policy of preventing further exploitation of the Caribbean by European Powers and non-conflict with the United States. Meanwhile, Germany and the United States continued to cultivate alliances across South America, most notably with Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Venezuela a de facto German Colony?
German investment in Venezuela was the largest European investment outside of Europe besides the Capetown-Cairo Railroad. By 1900 Germany had purchased 90% of Venezuelan railways and most of their cash crops. In 1902 Venezuela defaulted in its loans. Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to organize a blockade. At first Britain and Italy joined the planned blockade, however when it became apparent the Germans intended to land marines and seize territory as compensation the other nations withdrew their warships.
When Kaiser Wilhelm the II sought support from his American ally. However he was warned buy the Mahan administration that the United States could not support his plan to make Venezuela a de facto German colony, after it nearly went to war in defense of Haiti. The US warned that the C.S. would likely send a fleet to defend Venezuela, which could draw all of North America and Europe into a war. The German Kaiser even penned a secret letter to his friend Secretary of War Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt informed the Kaiser of the near sacredness of the Monroe Doctrine after the Second Mexican War. He also warned the Kaiser that the Democratic Party under Thomas Reeds leadership had become strongly against colonialism, though did not necessarily share that conviction. Further he explained that President Mahan was not interested in starting a war when General Upton’s Army reforms would not be complete till 1905 and President Mahan’s Naval reforms would not be completed until 1913. Accordingly Kaiser Wilhelm accepted the U.S. counter proposal to guarantee the Venezuelan debt and lease rights to both countries to use the Caracas’s port as a rallying point and coal storage for commerce raiders during wartime.
The German-U.S.-Venezuelan arrangement would bare fruit in the opening phase of the Great War. When War broke out between the Quadruple Alliance and Quadruple Entente in August of 1914. Both the United States and Germany found a significant part of their merchant marine in South America waters and with out friendly ports or coal reserves to make it to the U.S. With the outbreak of war the United States ambassador Adelbert Barnes Hay and the German Ambassador Franz von Papen quickly bought up much of the countries coal reserves, and convinced the government to create a safe haven for Quadruple Alliance shipping in a estuary outside Caracas. This secret port became a became a rallying point for those ships that escaped the Confederate and British Navies. In Caracas the U.S. had a Light Cruiser and two Destroyers, one Destroyer was suffering a major boiler malfunction. US Naval command ordered the cruiser and destroyer to organize a convoy and shepherd the surviving U.S. and German merchant vessels to United States waters. They also ordered that the US destroyer be sunk before the British or Confederate Navy could capture it.
Ambassador Hay, son of the former Republican presidential candidate, struck upon the idea of transferring its armaments to U.S. passenger liners and transforming them into commerce raiders. While the U.S. Cruiser and destroyer successfully shepherded 18 merchant vessels back to the United States, the crew of the dead-lined Destroyer worked overtime to transform two ocean liners the SS Allegheny and SS Susquehanna into commerce raiders. By September 12th, both warships were ready to leave Caracas and prey on the Caribbean shipping.
Each U.S. commerce raider was armed with two 4.1 inch guns and six 1-pounder pom-pom (Heavy Machine Guns) and an assortment of mines and torpedoes. The raiders operating in pairs scored a series of victories against Entente shipping. They shut down much of the shipping out of British colonies in the Caribbean by laying mines and attacking commerce coming out of Jamaica and the British Antilles. After two months of successful interdiction of British and Confederate shipping they finally were cornered by a Confederate raider.
At the outset of the war the United States Navy vastly outnumbered the C.S. Navy, despite the Confederate investment in submersibles. The Confederates quickly armed any civilian ship they could to make up their lack of surface escorts. It was one of these vessels the SS Nullification armed with four 4.7 inch guns that finally caught up to the U.S. raider pair off the island of Barbados. Both were refueling from colliers dispatched by Ambassador Hay.
The Battle
The battle began on November 19th, a day after the USS Allegheny departed and the USS Susquehanna was still refueling. The CSS Nullification spotted the Susquehanna refueling, the Susquehanna and coiller disengaged from the transfer on spotting the Nullification. Then the ships turned towards the USS Susquehanna and began to fight, the Nullification fired too early and thus allowed the Susquehanna the first blow. Nullification suffered much the worse of the engagement in the ensuing two hours, being hit 79 times, was holed below the waterline, and had her bridge totally destroyed by shellfire. However, as the range closed her own guns began to tell, and fires broke out on both ships, sailors lining the rails and firing machine guns at their opposite numbers as the ships came within a few hundred yards of each other, in a style of fighting more akin with the Napoleonic Wars than the First World War.
Just as it seemed that the fires on Nullification would burn out of control, Susquehanna veered away, lowering lifeboats as she heeled over to port. A shell below the waterline had ruptured several compartments, and the ship was rapidly sinking, although the colliers were able to pull 279 sailors from the wreck before she sank. 51 were killed in the fighting or the sinking. CSS Nullification was equally shattered, listing severely, heavily flooded and burning, with nine men dead and many more wounded. It was at this point that USS Susquehanna’s contemporary, the armed merchant cruiser USS Allegheny arrived, seemingly to provide the coup de grace for the shattered ship. However, the USS Allegheny captain feared a trap, since many ships both German and Allied in the area had doubtless been listening to the SOS calls of the USS Susquehanna, which, though in U.S. code, had been supplemented by messages from the Nullification with the Confederate code. Since multiple warships were on their way to the location, and the USS Susquehanna had presumably already sunk, the captain of the USS Allegheny turned his ship about and sailed away without firing a shot.
The Result
The following day the Nullification was rescued and brought into Barbados by units of the Royal Navy, whilst the survivors of the Susquehanna were rescued by the collier SS William Penn and taken to Caracas. The USS Allegheny continued to raid Entente shipping until December 1916 when she was cornered off Dutch Guiana by two Confederate cruisers. The Nullification was deemed wrecked beyond repair.
Long-term Effects
The battle became the subject of both Union and Confederate novels in the interwar period. A Fire in the Caribbean, an account of the ordeal faced by the survivors of the battles adrift at sea or trapped in a burning Nullification, by Ernest Hemingway would be an early bestsellers. Eventually both nations would name warships after their predecessors. The Pocket Battleship CSS Nullification would support the Confederate invasion of Haiti in the 2nd Great War and the Escort Carriers Allegheny and Susquehanna would take part in the defense of Hawaii after the disastrous battle of Midway.
The battle was formative for the young officer William Halsey serving aboard the Susquehanna. His heroic action earned him the Navy Cross. He wrote in his memoires that spotting of a British scout plain led to his fascination with naval aviation. His interwar career became entangled with naval aviation, which he utilized to great affect. His use of Carriers helped turn the tide of war, as Commander of the US North Atlantic Fleet in Battle of the North Atlantic. Ambassador Hay was propelled by his cooperation with the German Ambassador Franz von Papen into the spot of premier diplomat of the United States during the Great War. Ambassador Hay would represent the United States as the ambassador to Germany in the 2nd Great War, and organize the Monrovia Conference and Post War Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Carribean in the Pre-War Error
By the late 19th Century the Caribbean had become was one of the most highly contested places on earth. In the wake of the War of Succession, the Confederate State of America and their allies engaged in dozens of interventions throughout the region. The first intervention in the area was the French invasion of Mexico, which culminated in the formation of the Second Mexican Empire under the French Puppet Emperor Maximillian I. The CS Navy supported the French intervention with an assault on Veracruz led by Admiral Raphael Semmes.
During this early period there was no power in the hemisphere strong enough to resist the Confederacy and allies imperial aggression. No South American power had the modern military equipment to resist and the United States the Federal government was dominated by soft line Democrats who sought to maintain good relations with its southern neighbor. In pursuance to these policies the Woodard administration did not challenge the Confederacy’s acquisition of Cuba in 1877. After decades of internal revolt the Confederacy with the help of France and the United Kingdom, forced Spain to submit to sale of Cuba. Cuba became a state of the Confederate States of America soon thereafter. In 1880 the Confederate States elected James Longstreet, who set a priority to acquire the Mexican provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua. In the United States a waive of Anti-Confederate sentiment swept the Republican James G. Blaine into office. His leadership through the disastrous Second Mexican War helped to keep the “Hard line” anti-Confederate forces out of office until the election of Thomas B. Reed in 1888. In the interim Confederate, British and French dominated the markets and the governments throughout the Caribbean. They continued to force unfair loans on governments throughout the region and threatened to seize territory of those nations who refused to pay their debts.
Haiti with its population of freed slaves alone defied the Confederate-British-French alliance. After defaulting on multiple loans the Confederacy threatened the nation with invasion and annexation. By 1892 the United States felt a resurgence of national confidence thanks to the reforms of Secretary of the Navy Alfred Thayer Mahan and Army Chief of Staff Emory Upton. Because of the United States growing military confidence and the British reticence to enter in a new war on the North American continent, the United States scored its first diplomatic victory in thirty years. After US declared Haiti a protectorate, the Confederacy agreed to mediation of their claims.
Despite United States success in preventing the annexation of Haiti its Army and Naval reforms had not reached a point were it could challenge all Confederate-British predations on Caribbean nations. The United States was unable to prevent the British acquisition of Venezuelan territory. In 1896 the British uncovered gold in Venezuela adjacent to it’s Guyana territory. The British quickly set about to acquire this territory through claims it had maintained with Venezuela since the nations boundaries were set. The Confederates fearing further British expansion in the region used this as an excuse to renegotiate Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. After the War Secession the British government insisted the Confederate States abide by all treaties the British government signed with United States prior to Secession. The British reasoned legally as members of the union the states that would go on to make up the CS, assented through their representation in the Senate to all agreements the United States made before their secession. One such agreement was the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, which forbade fortification or occupation of Central America.
Luckily for the British a trans-isthmus canal through Central America had long been a dream of Gulf Shore Confederate Merchants. Their champion was Senator John Tyler Morgan of Alabama. With the election States Rights Gist in 1892, Morgan became the C.S. Secretary of State. Morgan proposed to the British that they support a canal across the isthmus in exchange for their acquiescence to British territory grabs in Venezuela. In the Morgan-Paucefote Treaty, the British agreed to an isthmus canal n exchange for the Confederacy withdrawing any objections to Britain’s claims on Venezuelan territory. In the same treaty the Confederate States made it clear to the world that any attempts to seize territory within the Confederacy’s sphere of influence in the Caribbean would have to meet with their approval. With this treaty clause, the Confederates took up the mantle of a perverted Monroe Doctrine. This policy was the brainchild of Assistant Secretary of State James Bulloch outlined and became officially known as the as the Bulloch Corollary.
In 1897 the Confederacy finally had the funds and the agreement with Nicaragua to construct a trans-oceanic canal across the isthmus. They also had an agreement with the British to support and finance a canal scheme, as long as it did not anger the “other Americans.” With mounting tension in South Africa, the British government was eager to avoid conflict. The Confederacy attempted to make an agreement with the United States to recognize the building of a Confederate- British canal across the isthmus. But President Mahan threatened war the second the first Confederates shovel dug into Nicaraguan earth. The bellicose Confederate President States Rights Gist immediately demanded support from his allies to build the canal under the threat of possible war. Britain with its attention turned towards South Africa, would not risk a war. Without British support the humiliated President Gist was forced to end all Confederate aspirations for a trans-oceanic canal. The failure of the Confederates to stand against the British seizure of Venezuelan territory officially pushed Venezuelans into the German-U.S. camp.
After President States Rights Gist, the C.S.A. turned its back on former Generals as Presidents, and in 1898 elected Robert Talyor then Champ Clark as President. Each pursued a policy of preventing further exploitation of the Caribbean by European Powers and non-conflict with the United States. Meanwhile, Germany and the United States continued to cultivate alliances across South America, most notably with Chile, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Venezuela a de facto German Colony?
German investment in Venezuela was the largest European investment outside of Europe besides the Capetown-Cairo Railroad. By 1900 Germany had purchased 90% of Venezuelan railways and most of their cash crops. In 1902 Venezuela defaulted in its loans. Kaiser Wilhelm II attempted to organize a blockade. At first Britain and Italy joined the planned blockade, however when it became apparent the Germans intended to land marines and seize territory as compensation the other nations withdrew their warships.
When Kaiser Wilhelm the II sought support from his American ally. However he was warned buy the Mahan administration that the United States could not support his plan to make Venezuela a de facto German colony, after it nearly went to war in defense of Haiti. The US warned that the C.S. would likely send a fleet to defend Venezuela, which could draw all of North America and Europe into a war. The German Kaiser even penned a secret letter to his friend Secretary of War Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt informed the Kaiser of the near sacredness of the Monroe Doctrine after the Second Mexican War. He also warned the Kaiser that the Democratic Party under Thomas Reeds leadership had become strongly against colonialism, though did not necessarily share that conviction. Further he explained that President Mahan was not interested in starting a war when General Upton’s Army reforms would not be complete till 1905 and President Mahan’s Naval reforms would not be completed until 1913. Accordingly Kaiser Wilhelm accepted the U.S. counter proposal to guarantee the Venezuelan debt and lease rights to both countries to use the Caracas’s port as a rallying point and coal storage for commerce raiders during wartime.
The German-U.S.-Venezuelan arrangement would bare fruit in the opening phase of the Great War. When War broke out between the Quadruple Alliance and Quadruple Entente in August of 1914. Both the United States and Germany found a significant part of their merchant marine in South America waters and with out friendly ports or coal reserves to make it to the U.S. With the outbreak of war the United States ambassador Adelbert Barnes Hay and the German Ambassador Franz von Papen quickly bought up much of the countries coal reserves, and convinced the government to create a safe haven for Quadruple Alliance shipping in a estuary outside Caracas. This secret port became a became a rallying point for those ships that escaped the Confederate and British Navies. In Caracas the U.S. had a Light Cruiser and two Destroyers, one Destroyer was suffering a major boiler malfunction. US Naval command ordered the cruiser and destroyer to organize a convoy and shepherd the surviving U.S. and German merchant vessels to United States waters. They also ordered that the US destroyer be sunk before the British or Confederate Navy could capture it.
Ambassador Hay, son of the former Republican presidential candidate, struck upon the idea of transferring its armaments to U.S. passenger liners and transforming them into commerce raiders. While the U.S. Cruiser and destroyer successfully shepherded 18 merchant vessels back to the United States, the crew of the dead-lined Destroyer worked overtime to transform two ocean liners the SS Allegheny and SS Susquehanna into commerce raiders. By September 12th, both warships were ready to leave Caracas and prey on the Caribbean shipping.
Each U.S. commerce raider was armed with two 4.1 inch guns and six 1-pounder pom-pom (Heavy Machine Guns) and an assortment of mines and torpedoes. The raiders operating in pairs scored a series of victories against Entente shipping. They shut down much of the shipping out of British colonies in the Caribbean by laying mines and attacking commerce coming out of Jamaica and the British Antilles. After two months of successful interdiction of British and Confederate shipping they finally were cornered by a Confederate raider.
At the outset of the war the United States Navy vastly outnumbered the C.S. Navy, despite the Confederate investment in submersibles. The Confederates quickly armed any civilian ship they could to make up their lack of surface escorts. It was one of these vessels the SS Nullification armed with four 4.7 inch guns that finally caught up to the U.S. raider pair off the island of Barbados. Both were refueling from colliers dispatched by Ambassador Hay.
The Battle
The battle began on November 19th, a day after the USS Allegheny departed and the USS Susquehanna was still refueling. The CSS Nullification spotted the Susquehanna refueling, the Susquehanna and coiller disengaged from the transfer on spotting the Nullification. Then the ships turned towards the USS Susquehanna and began to fight, the Nullification fired too early and thus allowed the Susquehanna the first blow. Nullification suffered much the worse of the engagement in the ensuing two hours, being hit 79 times, was holed below the waterline, and had her bridge totally destroyed by shellfire. However, as the range closed her own guns began to tell, and fires broke out on both ships, sailors lining the rails and firing machine guns at their opposite numbers as the ships came within a few hundred yards of each other, in a style of fighting more akin with the Napoleonic Wars than the First World War.
Just as it seemed that the fires on Nullification would burn out of control, Susquehanna veered away, lowering lifeboats as she heeled over to port. A shell below the waterline had ruptured several compartments, and the ship was rapidly sinking, although the colliers were able to pull 279 sailors from the wreck before she sank. 51 were killed in the fighting or the sinking. CSS Nullification was equally shattered, listing severely, heavily flooded and burning, with nine men dead and many more wounded. It was at this point that USS Susquehanna’s contemporary, the armed merchant cruiser USS Allegheny arrived, seemingly to provide the coup de grace for the shattered ship. However, the USS Allegheny captain feared a trap, since many ships both German and Allied in the area had doubtless been listening to the SOS calls of the USS Susquehanna, which, though in U.S. code, had been supplemented by messages from the Nullification with the Confederate code. Since multiple warships were on their way to the location, and the USS Susquehanna had presumably already sunk, the captain of the USS Allegheny turned his ship about and sailed away without firing a shot.
The Result
The following day the Nullification was rescued and brought into Barbados by units of the Royal Navy, whilst the survivors of the Susquehanna were rescued by the collier SS William Penn and taken to Caracas. The USS Allegheny continued to raid Entente shipping until December 1916 when she was cornered off Dutch Guiana by two Confederate cruisers. The Nullification was deemed wrecked beyond repair.
Long-term Effects
The battle became the subject of both Union and Confederate novels in the interwar period. A Fire in the Caribbean, an account of the ordeal faced by the survivors of the battles adrift at sea or trapped in a burning Nullification, by Ernest Hemingway would be an early bestsellers. Eventually both nations would name warships after their predecessors. The Pocket Battleship CSS Nullification would support the Confederate invasion of Haiti in the 2nd Great War and the Escort Carriers Allegheny and Susquehanna would take part in the defense of Hawaii after the disastrous battle of Midway.
The battle was formative for the young officer William Halsey serving aboard the Susquehanna. His heroic action earned him the Navy Cross. He wrote in his memoires that spotting of a British scout plain led to his fascination with naval aviation. His interwar career became entangled with naval aviation, which he utilized to great affect. His use of Carriers helped turn the tide of war, as Commander of the US North Atlantic Fleet in Battle of the North Atlantic. Ambassador Hay was propelled by his cooperation with the German Ambassador Franz von Papen into the spot of premier diplomat of the United States during the Great War. Ambassador Hay would represent the United States as the ambassador to Germany in the 2nd Great War, and organize the Monrovia Conference and Post War Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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bguy
Donor
Good entry. I've been hoping to see more of the naval war for some time. and I liked how you fleshed out the diplomatic history of the Remembrance Era. There are only two things in the entry I didn't understand.
Would the CSA even loan money to Haiti? Pre-Civil War the Southern states utterly detested Haiti as it was the personification of the South's greatest nightmare: the successful slave revolt. Implacable Southern hostility was why the US government didn't recognize Haitian independence until 1862 (when the Southern states were no longer around to object.) That hatred would only continue when the Southern states form the CSA, so I would expect the Confederates to refuse all commercial and diplomatic intercourse with Haiti.
Why would the British be negotiating a Klondike boundary agreement with the US when Alaska still belongs to Russia?
Would the CSA even loan money to Haiti? Pre-Civil War the Southern states utterly detested Haiti as it was the personification of the South's greatest nightmare: the successful slave revolt. Implacable Southern hostility was why the US government didn't recognize Haitian independence until 1862 (when the Southern states were no longer around to object.) That hatred would only continue when the Southern states form the CSA, so I would expect the Confederates to refuse all commercial and diplomatic intercourse with Haiti.
Why would the British be negotiating a Klondike boundary agreement with the US when Alaska still belongs to Russia?
I imagine that it was loans through civillian banks and other corporations. Confederate merchants and financiers who found taking advantage of the Haitians unrelated to recognizing them or treating them with equality. So the loans were nothing state sanctioned, but then became a pretext for invasion.
Damn, I just forgot about the Russians in Alaska. It fit perfectly, damn Russians. I will rework that issue and figure something out. An impending war in South Africa might be enough for the British to not want another war in North America.
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Foreign Policy in the Remembrance Era 1888-1920
I’m almost finished with Upton III, which has had me thinking about the domestic and foreign Policy of the US in the Remembrance Era.
The Democrats in this period are a hybrid of the Democrats and Republicans in the Northern State of OTL. It seems Reed solidified Remembrance or Hard-Line domination of American politics. However, there are probably two camps within the party and any President would have to appease both factions with some policy platforms to become President.
The two camps were the Hard-Line or Remembrance faction, the other being the Soft-Line Democrats similar in ideology to OTL Bourbon Democrats. The Hard line Democrats are for rebuilding the armed forces, rationing if need be, and an aggressive foreign policy geared towards denying further Confederate-British expansion in the hemisphere, and reclaiming American territory lost to the British and Confederates. The soft-line democrats would be more interested in maintaining a balanced budget, Laissez-faire economic policies, growing US strength through the economic might, probably a gold standard, states rights, and a benign anti- colonialist or anti-interventionist foreign policy. Policies were almost inline with that of the OTL Bourbon Democrats
Thomas Brackett Reed in our OTL was an anti-imperialist and attempted to thwart US acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippines. The Bourbons like Grover Cleveland were also Anti- Imperialists. I see that in the US during the Remembrance period, Reed could have put into Remembrance Ideology an Anti-Imperialist platform plank. Distinguishing between US irredentism and the UK-France and CS’s blatant carving up of the world. Reed could use this to give a moral dimension for his defense of Haiti and Mahan’s ending the Nicaragua canal project. I see Reed and Mahan as stolid Remembrance men, but Nelson Aldrich as more of a Bourbon Democrat who was also strong on National Defense. Either way you have a consistent anti- expansion or anti-colonialism front until TR’s election in 1912.
Under Theodore Roosevelt we have a more expansive view of former American Territory. This new large-policy coined by Henry Cabot Lodge, TR’s ally in the Senate, included irredentist claims on: Hawaii, Part of Sonora, former US states and all of Canada/British North American territory. A historical justification for this is Alexander Hamilton and other founding father's belief that all the British Empire should be brought into the Union. Hamilton would be a much more prominent figure in the TL-191. This could then create some problems for the Democrats in the 1920 election, helping to end Democrat hegemony. On hearing the election results, Teddy was heard to yell "blast those Mugwumps," (Anti- Imperialist in OTL) for loosing the election now.
I’m almost finished with Upton III, which has had me thinking about the domestic and foreign Policy of the US in the Remembrance Era.
The Democrats in this period are a hybrid of the Democrats and Republicans in the Northern State of OTL. It seems Reed solidified Remembrance or Hard-Line domination of American politics. However, there are probably two camps within the party and any President would have to appease both factions with some policy platforms to become President.
The two camps were the Hard-Line or Remembrance faction, the other being the Soft-Line Democrats similar in ideology to OTL Bourbon Democrats. The Hard line Democrats are for rebuilding the armed forces, rationing if need be, and an aggressive foreign policy geared towards denying further Confederate-British expansion in the hemisphere, and reclaiming American territory lost to the British and Confederates. The soft-line democrats would be more interested in maintaining a balanced budget, Laissez-faire economic policies, growing US strength through the economic might, probably a gold standard, states rights, and a benign anti- colonialist or anti-interventionist foreign policy. Policies were almost inline with that of the OTL Bourbon Democrats
Thomas Brackett Reed in our OTL was an anti-imperialist and attempted to thwart US acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippines. The Bourbons like Grover Cleveland were also Anti- Imperialists. I see that in the US during the Remembrance period, Reed could have put into Remembrance Ideology an Anti-Imperialist platform plank. Distinguishing between US irredentism and the UK-France and CS’s blatant carving up of the world. Reed could use this to give a moral dimension for his defense of Haiti and Mahan’s ending the Nicaragua canal project. I see Reed and Mahan as stolid Remembrance men, but Nelson Aldrich as more of a Bourbon Democrat who was also strong on National Defense. Either way you have a consistent anti- expansion or anti-colonialism front until TR’s election in 1912.
Under Theodore Roosevelt we have a more expansive view of former American Territory. This new large-policy coined by Henry Cabot Lodge, TR’s ally in the Senate, included irredentist claims on: Hawaii, Part of Sonora, former US states and all of Canada/British North American territory. A historical justification for this is Alexander Hamilton and other founding father's belief that all the British Empire should be brought into the Union. Hamilton would be a much more prominent figure in the TL-191. This could then create some problems for the Democrats in the 1920 election, helping to end Democrat hegemony. On hearing the election results, Teddy was heard to yell "blast those Mugwumps," (Anti- Imperialist in OTL) for loosing the election now.
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bguy
Donor
Makes sense and that would help explain why Daniel Miller was emphasizing state's rights during his Congressional campaign which otherwise always seemed odd to me since prior to that the Remembrance Era Democrats seemed to favor a strong national government. Presumably then Miller was from the Bourbon wing of the party.
(It could also explain how TR managed to lose New York in 1916, if the Bourbons largely stayed home that year.)
Now what about Confederate foreign policy? Your Battle of Barbados entry would seem to suggest a factional split within the Whigs as well. Probably with one faction favoring better relations with the US, minimizing European influence in the Western Hemisphere, maintaining only a small army, low taxes, and state's rights, while the other faction would presumably favor a strong alliance with Britain and France, Confederate expansionism, maintaining a large standing army, higher taxes (to pay for said army), and a stronger national government.
In both American Republics there are those who don't really care about the past wars or the rivalry between the USA and CSA. I think there is a branch of the Whigs that fear the CSA is becoming too much like the USA. They are the small government, small army and states rights. They hope the French and British will come to their aide again in a national war. The other branch is more about cultivating the allies and seeming like a contributing part of the alliance to ensure Britain and France intervene.
The Bulloch Corollary is more of the CSA coming into their own. Where before they were happy to allow Britain and France to do what they want. By the 1890's however they are ready to flex a little muscle and mark out the Caribbean as their sphere of influence. Especially as the Europeans are carving up the rest of the planet. The CSA will support their allies, but they have to check with them before they occupy a country in their sphere. This sits better with the more aggressive militarists and those that want a better relationship with the USA. The interventionism seems like too much meddling in foreign affairs to the Whig traditionalists.
Craigo in post #64 makes mention of two branches within the Confederate Military establishment the Louisville school and the "Fire-eater" school. "Louisvillers" wants to stand on the defensive until the Europeans arrive and the "Fire-eaters" who want to invade the US and defeat them before the US can wear the CSA down with overwhelming numbers. This a good analogy for the Whigs divisions as a whole. The traditionalists/ "Louisville" school hopes that the strategy in the last war will work again. The "Fire- eaters" see that with the forming of the Quadruple Alliance there is less of a chance the CSA will get help. They know they are on their own and need to match the USA to survive. Cultivating the alliance, while demonstrating their strength in the Caribbean fits well with their outlook.
In the end both parties were wrong. The CSA's drive towards Philly failed and the rest of the Entente couldn't lend the resources to defeat the US.
The biggest questions of the Great War are: why did it take the USA so long to defeat the CSA and why did the USA stop in 1917 and not conquer more CSA territory. My plan is to finish the Upton Bio in two more parts; then write a Bio on Charles Francis Adams to continue the history of the General Staff up to the Great War. Then try to give some answers to those two questions in a final article about the General Staff and the Great War. I'm going to sprinkle in some short ones like the Battle of Barbados. I have some ideas: Long Range Zeppelin operations in the GW; James Bulloch, Dan Sickles, Artillery in North America during the GW, USA and the Boer War, the CSA Appalachian region and the Boxer Rebellion.
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Emory Upton III
1882- 1885
1882- 1885
Upton and his men arrived in Germany July of 1882, where Upton and his men procured appointments to several of Germany’s most respected military academies. Positions were obtained in Staff Colleges for the senior officers, and a host of appointment to branch specific schools for the junior officers, thanks largely to the offices of US Minister to Germany Andrew Dickson White, and Colonel Shlieffen. Upton enrolled in the staff college, despite being able to only read French. Through the help of fellow German born American appointees LTC Guido Norman Lieber and MAJ Theodore Schwan, Upton enrolled in the German General Staff College. Lieber like his was father was a military law expert and excelled in the German program and Schwan was a German born veteran of the War of Secession and military scholar. By January 1883 Upton could read German and all three impressed their instructors. Their work helped to win the respect of the normally dismissive German General Staff. Together after one year the three were ranked in the top five of their class.
While Upton and the American mission were busy learning the modern military sciences, there were profound political changes going on at home. The Republican Party suffered an apocalyptic defeat in the 1862 midterm elections. The failure of a second war under their belt the Republican Party began to fracture. Under the leadership of Benjamin Butler more than a third of the party bolted the Party for the Democrats. These members began caucusing with the hard line elements of the Democratic Party. Butler with several new converts to the Democratic Party and the leading Hardline Democrats like John Logan of Illinois, Edward Pierrepont of Connecticut, Winfield Scott Hancock of Pennsylvania and Thomas Reed of Maine, crossed the country in a speaking tour. They preached the new remembrance ideology and the need to reform the nation before it was defeated once and for all.
The party was further fracturing after the loss of the progressive wing of the party to Abraham Lincoln’s new Socialist Party. The new Party was bringing in scores of new recruits under Lincoln’s speaking tour and the protests of the waste of the war. While the majority of its members were defecting Blaine, Garfield and Sherman tried to hold together what was left of the Republican Party. Blaine was primarily concerned with putting forward a new Army Reform Bill, and preventing any further decline of the party.
The Congress now back in Democrat hands thanks to the recent defections, first act was to threaten the President with hearings on the prosecution of the war and new military tribunals on loyalty of Army officers during the war. To spare the Army further embarrassment and loss of morale the President asked for the resignation of General and Chief Rosecrans and promoted Chief of the Artillery Henry Hunt to the position. Rosecrans and his ad hoc and unauthorized General Staff had been busy writing the new Blaine Army Bill. The Army reform bill called for an increase in the regular Army size to 85,000 men. Reinforced by trained reserve of 140,000 national volunteers whose officers were selected and trained by the Federal Government. This new Federal Volunteer force would be further augmented by the State Militia’s, which would now have their officers selected and trained by the Federal Army. These reforms would be supported by new fortifications outside Washington and Philadelphia, with funding for modern coastal defenses on the Atlantic, Pacific coasts and Great Lakes. The blue print was taken largely from Upton’s report The Armies of Europe & Asia.
Henry Hunt had served as Chief of Artillery, the one Army branch to perform with out issue in either the War of Succession or the Second Mexican War. Much of its success in the SMW was due to his leadership of the artillery branch, over the previous two decades. Upon taking the position of General and Chief Hunt dismissed most of the Rosecrans new staff. He also made his opinion heard on the hill, that he did not believe the new Army reforms necessary. Instead he believed only additional funding for more regular forces, modern equipment and new fortifications were needed. As a result of lack of cooperation from the war department and the general disarray of the President’s allies in Congress the Blaine Army Bill was voted down to defeat in April of 1883. Owing to the growing strength of the new Hardline Wing of the Democratic Party, a compromise was reached in the next budget for the increases to regular forces and allocations for fortifications but no reforms to the Militia system were approved.
In Germany Upton read news of the political strife at home, with despair. As before when his efforts at reform in Washington had failed prior to the Second Mexican War, Upton began experiencing severe migraines. As the strength of these headaches increased he began to loose focus and suffered in his duties. Fearing he would no longer be able to carry on as his mission he asked is friend Alfred Schlieffen, now head of the German General Staff Military-History Division, to find him a doctor to find a cure for his head aches. Shlieffen through the offices of the War Ministry and Foreign Ministry, showing the seriousness Germany took the possibility of an alliance with the United States, arraigned a meeting with Germany’s leading brain surgeon. The Doctor decided to operate and discovered a benign tumor, which he successfully removed. While recuperating at Schlieffen’s home in Berlin, Upton formulated an outline for a new book, this one to be made available to the public.
Upton began writing The Military Policy of the United States. In writing the book Upton had one objective to convince the Congress, the other members of the military and the public for the need for a modern professional Army, based on the German Model. To convince the people of the United States he endeavored to write the definitive military history of the United States. His purpose was to show conclusively that the Unions military policies of the past were a failure and that its lack of military preparedness cost the nation more than any standing Army ever would. His analysis started with the Revolution and concluded with the disastrous Second Mexican War.
Beginning with the Revolution Upton relied heavily on Washington’s criticism of the minutemen system, the predecessors to the state militias. He characterized Washington’s Army as poorly trained and equipped owing to a lack of professional soldiers and proper equipment, because of lack of cooperation between the colonies. Though he commends the early fathers for finally fashioning a professional Army by the war’s end, he slams the Continental Congress for not being able to coordinate the resources of the individual colonies. He further reputes them and the early Congress’s for allowing the Army to wither away, resulting in “the first true lost war,” in our new nations history, the War of 1812. He argues “had the Army maintained its size and strength Canada would easily have fallen and the United States would not now be sandwiched between two predatory neighbors.”
One of the few chapters of praise for the army system and the military government was the chapter on the Mexican War. Where “the regulars under Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott handily defeated the Mexican Army.” He contends that it was the well-trained and equipped professional soldiers, who smashed through Mexican lines and the state militias then mopped up the few Mexican hold out units. However after creating this capable war machine, Congress disbands it. Though this war proved a proving ground for the future leaders in the War of Secession, Congress could have prevented this new war by maintaining the modern professional force it created.
His most heated and inflammatory chapters are the period surrounding the outbreak of the War of Secession and the interwar period leading to the Second Mexican War. Here he argues again that a Regular Army augmented by a federally trained and equipped reserve could have smashed the Confederate Army in the Battle of Manassas and quickly seized Richmond. A professional modern Army like that wielded by the Prussians could have easily dispatched the Confederacy and ended the rebellion in its infancy. He then argues that it was the civilian interference in the conduct of the war that finally brought the Army to ruin. To prove this theory he reached out to former Army of the Potomac Commander George B. McClellan, now living in semi disgrace as an engineer in Northern New Jersey. McClellan all too interested in finally shifting the blame away from him, gave Upton access to his reports and the notes he had made since the war’s end. Upton with McClellan’s helped place the blame to President Lincoln and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton for the failures during the peninsula campaign and the Unions defeat at Camp Hill. Arguing it was there continuing interference by the administration that effectively prevented the deployment of the Army of the Potomac to meet the Army of Northern Virginia’s invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. This however was hard for even the most stalwart Democrats to believe. Few anywhere could believe Little Mac; the Young Napoleon had done anything but botched the battle completely.
He finally shifts his analysis to the Second Mexican War, where he summarizes his findings in his earlier work The Armies of Europe & Asia, showing how this time Congress and the war department new better. He contends that a blueprint for victory existed and shows how all in this period were guilty, because of how widely read the report was and no one could claim ignorance. He argues that a combination of Softline Democrats and Republicands first kept the nation unprepared then drove it to war before it was ready. He then lambasts the pre- War of Secession and Second Mexican War General and Chiefs for planning for the certainty of a future war or telling the civilian leadership for what they need to even defend the United States. For these chapters he relied heavily on the memoirs of then Colonel Schlieffen and General and Chief Rosecrans. Rosecrans, who by now had been forced to retire, was completely converted to the reform movement and was willing to take on any blame or burden in its cause. He commends the regular forces for their success, specifically the infantry under the command of LTG Hancock, Artillery under now General in Chief Hunt and the Cavalry under BG Custer, completely omitting the contribution of the Authorized Regiment.
He compared the American system at the outbreak of the War of Secession and Second Mexican war to that of Prussia’s at the outbreak of the Austro-Prussian and Franco Prussian War. He showed how quickly the Prussians could be mobilized to create vast armies to defeat even larger nations like France and Austria Hungary. How universal conscription and more than a dozen officer academies, trained the men and professionals need to each victory. Finally he showed how the Prussian Officer Corp and its General Staff gave the Army the means to rapidly respond by foreseeing dangers and eventualities. Further it armed the Prussian civilian leadership with the independent reports and knowledge they need to make and educated assessment of the Army’s requirements, fostering cooperation between the civilian government and military. This combination attracted the brightest and most talented men to the armed forces, not those who could not find employment else where like the United States.
His conclusions were that the United States would continue to suffer military defeat until it reformed the Army along the European, specifically German, model. The United States required a standing universally conscripted Army, which during war could be rapidly increased by mobilizing federally trained reservists who had previously served in the Regular Army. The state militia system need to be either abolished or put completely under the federally armies control even in peacetime. Further it needed a well trained, well educated and well paid Officer Corp, who would serve in the field and in the General Staff. Further that all Army departments must be under the control of the General Staff to best coordinate the armies resources and minimize the civilian corruption he encountered in his service in the Indian Wars.
Schlieffen gave a great deal of input into Upton’s work and even arraigned an audience with the “Great Silent One” as the aging Helmut von Moltke was affectionately called. Moltke and Upton met for what originally was a brief interview in Berlin, as the older Moltke was still the Chief of the General Staff. However Schlieffen had sent him some of Upton’s research, Upton’s interview went well longer than he had planned on and Moltke was very supportive in Upton’s conclusions. He welcomed “the Yankee army reforms” and the idea of fostering a military alliance with the United States. This positive encouragement from one of the greatest military minds on the planet greatly boosted Upton’s recovery.
Despite his recent academic successes as Upton recovered, his mission became irrelevant. The new General and Chief Hunt was not interested in sending further American officers to Germany, outside of a few Artillery officers to purchase the latest Krupp Artillery. Upton was ordered to return to the US when he was able. Upton sailed back to the United States with his work on The Military Policy of the United States and arrived in Hoboken New Jersey in June of 1884, just in time to be circulated as a potential Vice Presidential candidate by the Hard-Line Democrats. Upton, never wanting political office would loose the nomination to his old commander Lieutenant-General Hancock.
Upton hoped when he arrived at Philadelphia to convince General in Chief Hunt to reform the General Staff at least on an ad hoc basis with him in control. However when the two met, the GNC informed, MG Upton the he was being given command of the Department of the Pacific. The Department of the Pacific was organized in the wake of the British and French attacks on the cities of the west coast. Nominally a paper command, Softline- Democrats were eager to remove Upton from Philadelphia. They needed a suitable position befitting his rank of Major General. The Department of the Pacific with its command in San Francisco was as far from Philadelphia as they could get without keeping him in the corrosive position of military attaché to Berlin. Upton was ordered to take command on January 1s t 1885. With only 5 months to gather the material for his work, he quickly assembled a group of young officers to help him wade through the Army archives saved from Washington during the Second Mexican War. Some had accompanied him to Germany him like Theodore Schwan, who wrote most of the armies reports on the German General Staff. He also selected several new officers who had remained in the US with reputations as military scholars. One selected was Captain Arthur L. Wagner who had recently published his own work The Military Necessities of the United States, and the Best Method of Meeting It. This offered a less ambitious counter plan to Upton’s more radical plans. Despite their differing conclusions on the Armies future, they both recognized a need to strengthen and reform the Army and the two quickly hit it off.
While in Philadelphia, Upton was able to witness the election of President Thomas Hendricks and his former mentor Vice- President Winfield Scott Hancock. He also further solidified his ties with his the new Remembrance movement. He empathized with their frustration over Hendricks platform for peace with the south and rebuilding the nation, but was elated to see the growing strength of the remembrance movement in Congress. The 1884 Congressional elections guaranteed Thomas Reed, a rabid Remembrance Democrat, would keep the Speakership.
Upton departed for San Francisco in early December of 1884, with much of the work on the book completed and the materials necessary to finish it. Though angry at first to be removed from Philadelphia, he vowed not to let this banishment deter him and instead work feverishly to finish his book before 1916 and the midterm Congressional elections. Upon arriving in San Francisco he was immediately taken to the Presidium, there he was greeted by the garrison commander Col. William Tecumseh Sherman. On that day they forged a partnership that would transform the Army and American Society.
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Sherman and Upton. This should be good.
It is just a pity what Turtledove did to Grant though.