A More Perfect Union: An AH of the ACW

So, what sort of casualties has each army been taking? After a series of major battles, how many men could Lee actually have left?

Also, how is the western front affected by Longstreet's Corps not assisting in the Chickamauga campaign?

Very good questions.

Lee's army is pretty drained. Which will be further explained throughout the winter rest that we are now in. And, about the casualties, Reynolds has been taking much more losses than Lee. Nevertheless, those can be replaced.

This is a rough estimate on the amount of soldiers in both armies (and open to debate):
Army of Northern Virginia: 48,000
Army of the Potomac: 73,000

Lee knows at this point that he either: 1. Needs more men. or 2. Needs to Destroy most of the Army of the Potomac.

The West is pretty screwed. The only difference is that the Confederates are doing a little better than OTL. Davis knows that peace will need to be made before the close of 1864 or the Confederacy's a lost cause.
 

The Sandman

Banned
Um, just how screwed is the West? From a quick look at the Wiki article on Chickamauga, it looks like Longstreet's corps was decisive in turning it into a major Confederate victory. Without it, you might well see the Army of the Cumberland besieging Atlanta over the winter of 1863. Assuming they weren't able to take the city outright.

Also, the murder of the President by a Southern sympathizer during wartime would probably serve to vastly increase support for the war in the North.
 
Um, just how screwed is the West? From a quick look at the Wiki article on Chickamauga, it looks like Longstreet's corps was decisive in turning it into a major Confederate victory. Without it, you might well see the Army of the Cumberland besieging Atlanta over the winter of 1863. Assuming they weren't able to take the city outright.

Also, the murder of the President by a Southern sympathizer during wartime would probably serve to vastly increase support for the war in the North.

Yes, but the part of the Confederates doing a little better means that Chickamauga has yet to happen. The Western Theater (as OTL) has been delayed a few months.

And to answer the other question, war support went up a lot. That's exactly what did happen. The only thing is, the Confederates keep winning (except at Annandale). Right now, around 3/4 of the Northern populace is in favor of the war.

Right now, the CSA doesn't have a good chance of surviving. There is no way the Democrats will win if the war is still on by November 1864. Either Lee does something pretty awesome or there's no hope. A major thing helping the South is the one-legged Grant.
 
March Forth to Victory: Darkened Sun and Bloodied Moon

The Confederate States of America were dying. Despite the news of the Confederate victory at Nashville, most of the officers in the Army of Northern Virginia knew that the day of defeat grew nearer. Everyday supplies dwindled. Every month, irreplaceable men fell in battle. General Lee knew foremost that the day of reckoning was at hand. He would need to convince President Hamlin of a lost war in the East. Instead of leading a campaign based on small skirmishes, Lee prepared for a bloodbath. On March 2, 1864, the Confederate army marched from Arlington to Dranesville.

The news of Nashville brought a drop in Northern morale. Throughout the Brimstone Campaign, the Army of the Potomac had felt a rising wave in desertion. However, these numbers had dropped since the victory at Annandale. With a steady population of around 70,000 men, General Reynolds ordered his men to follow its moving counterpart. Before leaving, though, he reorganized his army into four corps. (The I and II were combined into the new II; the III, VI, and XII remained separate.) General Doubleday of the old I Corps was angered by his demotion to put lightly.

On March 3, the Army of Northern Virginia had planned to set up defensive positions a few miles north of Dranesville. However, a mixed-up order had General Longstreet’s I Corps separated from the rest of the army and settled on the Potomac River. The missing presence of the corps would go unnoticed for the last several hours of March 3. Once Lee learned of its location, though, the defenses were abandoned to venture into the wilds of Northern Virginia.

Shortly after learning of the absence of the Army of Northern Virginia, General James Longstreet learned of the approaching Federal Army. It seemed as though Reynolds would take advantage of a weaker and separated enemy. Being an experienced general, Longstreet ordered defensive structures to be made in preparation for the attack. However, he did not plan to use them for more than two hours.

On March 4, 1864, Reynolds attacked. The VI Corps under General Sedgwick spearheaded the audacious attack. After taking extremely high casualties, the corps was reinforced by the remainder of the Army of the Potomac. (The others had not arrived by the start of the battle.) The I Corps quickly fled west before opening fire onto the flank of the Northern Army. By the close of eight o’clock, the Army of Northern Virginia was completely assembled to aid Longstreet. To make matters worse for the Federal soldiers, their new defenses now ran the wrong way.

The Army of the Potomac folded into a square. The III Corps was directly on the water with its three brigades reinforcing its allies; the II stood defiantly at the front with the VI and XII on its left and right, respectively. Lee ordered an offensive into all sections of the Union army. Stonewall’s Corps pierced into Sedgwick’s; Anderson’s assailed Slocum’s; Longstreet’s charged into Hancock’s. It was the most daring assault General Lee had every planned. Many historians argue that it worked because of the terrain.

The densely wooded area stopped any ability for either army to use artillery. Many of the Confederate soldiers were skilled at fighting in forests; many Northern men were not. Union defenses were spread thin by the forest. These, along with ability for many Confederate generals to rally their men after breaching the North’s walls, won the charge for the South. Reynolds found himself surrounded with a river at his back. He however gathered his men expertly and broke through the right wing of the Southern III Corps. The army turned into a wall of retreating men. Lee reorganized his army and renewed the attacks.

Every yard the Northerners turned back and opened fire. As soon as their backs were turned, the Confederates returned. Before long, this process became obsolete and an all-out charge ensued. In the famous fighting, the Confederacy lost many brave generals. Among them were Major Generals Richard S. Ewell and Pickett, along with Brigadier General Garrett.

But the Confederates were relentless. Jubal Early took command of Ewell’s division and cried out to his men. Holes were drilled in the Union positions by bloodied bayonets. Reynolds was able to keep his men together before reaching Washington. The charge was over. The Battle of the Potomac, or of Dranesville as it is referred to in the South, took the most lives in the entire American Civil War. Lee lost over half of his 48,000 men in one day. Reynolds lost a little bit less than half of his army.

Both Reynolds and the United States president both believed that their opponent was now larger than the Army of the Potomac. To top it off, the president felt a major loss in morale with a successive loss in the West and the East. On March 6, President Hannibal Hamlin penned a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis with the intention of opening peaceful negotiations. Despite the cost, the Army of Northern Virginia had triumphed. Upon receiving the invitation, Davis accepted, the de facto end of the War Between the States had ended. People throughout the Confederate States of America were jubilant.
 
(Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been thinking ahead rather than thinking of the now in TTL.)

“Under an unofficial cease-fire, peace negotiations lasted until early May of 1864. This was true only in the East, with battles being fought against the remains of the Confederate armies on the Mississippi. Ironically, General Sherman’s men broke the Southern forces in half just a day before the Treaty of Richmond was signed. This treaty outlined the recognizing of the Confederate States of America by the Federal government (including the Confederate-owned the Indian and Arizona Territories), war reparations, and the departure date of Federal soldiers from Confederate land. One of the rather touchy subjects in the treaty was the plebiscites. It was finally decided, after much debate, that West Virginia (which had been recognized as a Federal state by the Confederate government as part of the treaty), Kentucky, and Missouri would vote on January 1, 1865 for staying in the Union or seceding to the Confederacy. Despite being signed for peace, tensions would arise between the two nations for several decades.”
Daniel Reese -excerpt from Bars and Stripes Together

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By signing the Treaty of Richmond, President Hannibal Hamlin had basicaly killed himself politically. The election of 1864 was coming up. The Democratic ticket held General George B. McClellan and Joseph Holt. The Democrats persecuted Hamlin and called the treaty "an evil, treasonous charter".

Needless to say, Hamlin was never given a chance for a second (or a complete first) term. The Republican ticket was composed of John C. Frémont and Thaddeus Stevens, both Radical Republicans. Being more extreme than the Democrats combined with the fear of another war with the Confederacy, the Republican Party split, with many votes going to McClellan. On March 4, 1865, George McClellan was inaugurated as the 18th President of the United States.

States Voting Republican:

Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Illinois
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Iowa
Kansas
Oregon
Nevada
California

States Voting Democrat:

Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
West Virginia
Kentucky
Missouri

On a side note, West Virginia and Kentucky voted to stay in the Union. Missouri voted for secession. Because Missouri voted in November of 1864 and seceded on January 1, 1865, the votes counted.
 
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The Post-War Years

North:

One of the first acts of Congress during President McClellan’s administration was changing the inauguration date. The official reason for this 13th Amendment was due to the gap in power from the time the president left office (in January) to the time the new president entered office (in March). The unofficial reason was that the old Inauguration Day, March 4, was the same day the Battle of the Potomac took place. Being the battle that cost the Union the war, it was a bad day for the start of a new presidency.

President McClellan’s administration was characterized by shutting the door in the Confederacy’s face wherever and whenever he could. There were no diplomatic relations between the United States and its southern sister. Tensions were not only found between the two nations, but also between the president and the new Congress. The 14th Amendment, passed in 1867, abolished slavery in the United States.


South:

The South was a reasonably successful nation by the end of the War Between the States. President Jefferson Davis sought to repair the Confederate States by the end of his term. He was more or less successful. At Egypt’s expense, Britain and France began massive trade with the Confederacy. With the cotton states unharmed by Northern forces during the War, their chief product was exported in the millions just in 1865. Passports were no longer needed for traveling between states; this promoted interstate travel and interstate business. These factors contributed to a mass of money in the Confederate treasury, but it would not remain there for long. After paying off debts, the Davis Plan came into effect. It split the excess money between states damaged in the War. It would then be spent on repairing the lands destroyed in battle. However, the Davis Plan appeared to be illegal due to the Confederate commerce clause that specifically prohibited it. Jefferson Davis found a loophole, though. He would have the states’ money, not the central government’s, fuel the plan. It was a complete successful.

In 1866, a new president would be elected. The two major candidates were Alexander Stephens, Vice President under Davis, and John C. Breckinridge, one of the United States presidential candidates back in 1860. Most of Stephens’s votes came from states that benefitted from the Davis Plan. Breckinridge carried the core of the country with the inclusion of Virginia. The election was extremely close. John C. Breckinridge was inaugurated as President of the Confederate States on March 4, 1867; Thomas H. Watts became his Vice President that same day.

States Voting For Stephens:
Tennessee
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Texas
Georgia

States Voting For Breckinridge:
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi

(Feel free to suggest president(s) for either country)
 
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