A World without Lee

Mary Custis snatched a paper from the stand and took a look at the casualty lists from Harpers Ferry where someone she knew and loved reportedly took place in the recent raid. She scanned the story and found that three Marines died,
Quinn, Luke (died charging the house)
Rupert, Matthew (was shot in the face while storming the engine house)
Lee, Robert E. (killed in an accidental explosion)
Mary sat on a bench with her hand over her mouth, her husband of almost 20 years was dead. She would go on to die from a stroke in 1874 a recluse widow.

When Kansas erupted again a small scale Civil War over continuing to be free or slave an ambitious and young teacher at VMI was sent West to bring order to the troubled province. Thomas Jonathan Jackson quickly sided with the Anti-Slavery side and attacked the Pro-Slavery camp at Lecompton and burned it to the ground. Jackson imprisoned the Slaver leadership and along with it, stopped the violence in Kansas. When Jackson returned East he was met with cheers from the North and jeers from the South. Jackson became a crusader for the freedom of slaves, even when he himself had 6 back at his home, and the Southerners harassed him when he relieved the men at Fort Sumter during the Confederate siege. When the CSA started to bombard the Fort Jackson returned fire and didn't let up until he was out of cannonballs, then he fired pots and pans. After 34 hours of trading cannon fire, Jackson snuck out of Fort Sumter and let his second in command surrender the fort.

After the fall of Sumter the Union and CSA were at war and Washington was in danger. The Confederacy had defeated the Union at Bull Run and were in prime position to overrun Washington. General Jackson was appointed to fight the battle that was sure to come but a balloon observer saw that the Rebs were not attacking but waiting. Jackson decided to take a gamble and attacked their camp at Manassas and scored a rousing victory that raised morale in the North and had little effect in the south due to "mysteriously destroyed reports".

When news of Jacksons victory in Manassas reached Virginia Governor John Letcher offered Jackson a chance to fight in the Confederate Army as a General and for his state as the leader of the Virginia Militia. Jackson accepted and resigned from the Union Army and joined the Confederate Army and began planning an attack on D.C. President Lincoln appointed Ulysses S Grant to lead the Army of the Potomac to fight him because he knew his fighting style. During the Mexican American War Grant and Jackson co-operated on in the Battle of Mexico City and Grant claimed to know everything about his former compatriots strategies. With his Army Grant moved into Northern Virginia to take Richmond and put an end to the war before it even began.

Confederate President Davis ordered Jackson to defeat Grant and push him back into Maryland. Jackson had no choice but to put his invasion on hold and ride out to meet his enemy in combat. Grant was cautious and tried to avoid battle as much as possible. Jackson gave chase and managed to catch him in Remington.


Thanks to Wendell and the writer of Bob Lee's Body for a suggestion of the new POD.
 
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Anaxagoras

Banned
Butterflies resulting from Lee's death at childbirth would assure that subsequent history would be completely different. There would have been no raid on Harper's Ferry by John Brown. Stonewall Jackson likely would never have been born. Lee played a not inconsiderable role in the Mexican War, any significant changes in which would introduce yet more butterflies.
 
When Kansas erupted again a small scale Civil War over continuing to be free or slave an ambitious and young teacher at VMI was sent West to bring order to the troubled province. Thomas Jonathan Jackson quickly sided with the Anti-Slavery side and attacked the Pro-Slavery camp at Lecompton and burned it to the ground. Jackson imprisoned the Slaver leadership and along with it, stopped the violence in Kansas.

While Jackson treated slaves better than most, he was definitely pro-slavery. If Jackson for some unknown reason had a Saul of Tarsus style conversion to abolitionism, President Buchanan would have pulled him out of Kansas and freed the men Jackson had imprisoned.
 
Mary Custis snatched a paper from the stand and took a look at the casualty lists from Harpers Ferry where someone she knew and loved reportedly took place in the recent raid. She scanned the story and found that three Marines died,
Quinn, Luke (died charging the house)
Rupert, Matthew (was shot in the face while storming the engine house)
Lee, Robert E. (killed in an accidental explosion)
Mary sat on a bench with her hand over her mouth, her husband of almost 20 years was dead. She would go on to die from a stroke in 1874 a recluse widow.

A Lee-less Confederacy and a Lee-less world is an interesting idea however you remove him from the timeline but I'm not convinced that you have gone about things in a realistic fashion.

When Kansas erupted again a small scale Civil War over continuing to be free or slave an ambitious and young teacher at VMI was sent West to bring order to the troubled province.
Why would the US Government send a teacher at a minor military school to deal with a major state in the process of a small scale civil war when they have colonels and established units in the region already and other officers who have far greater seniority over him who would be given the chances instead?

Thomas Jonathan Jackson quickly sided with the Anti-Slavery side and attacked the Pro-Slavery camp at Lecompton and burned it to the ground. Jackson imprisoned the Slaver leadership and along with it, stopped the violence in Kansas. When Jackson returned East he was met with cheers from the North and jeers from the South. Jackson became a crusader for the freedom of slaves, even when he himself had 6 back at his home,
Jackson was of the same mind as Lee on the slavery issue; that it might not be a very nice thing but it was an essential thing that the black people needed to suffer to become a better, more intelligent and more Christian people, and that God would determine when the time was right for their bonds to be broken.

He would not presume to take it upon himself to pass judgement on the issue, to take sides, he would merely do his duty as a Federal officer and do no more than that. Having him quickly pick sides and persecuit one over the other and publically advertize his opinion on the matter and campaign to make other accept he's in the right doesn't fit with his character.

and the Southerners harassed him when he relieved the men at Fort Sumter during the Confederate siege. When the CSA started to bombard the Fort Jackson returned fire and didn't let up until he was out of cannonballs, then he fired pots and pans. After 34 hours of trading cannon fire, Jackson snuck out of Fort Sumter and let his second in command surrender the fort.
I dont understand how you somehow shoe-horned Jackson into the Fort Sumter affair. Has he replaced Anderson? Has he come in relief of Anderson on one of the ships?

And then slipping away to leave someone else to surrender in his place...doesn't seem to fit him either. If Jackson was in commend at the Fort, and the Fort was to fall, then he would see it as devine providence that it would do so and he would command the defence until to do so any longer would be impossible at which point he would either attempt to break out with his men or else surrender with dignity.

After the fall of Sumter the Union and CSA were at war and Washington was in danger. The Confederacy had defeated the Union at Bull Run and were in prime position to overrun Washington. General Jackson was appointed to fight the battle that was sure to come but a balloon observer saw that the Rebs were not attacking but waiting. Jackson decided to take a gamble and attacked their camp at Manassas and scored a rousing victory that raised morale in the North and had little effect in the south due to "mysteriously destroyed reports".
Having Jackson side against Virginia and against the Confederacy by proxy, once more, isn't like him. He was one of the many who believed loyalty to State had preferance over loyalty to his nation and would have joined the Virignian ranks.

When news of Jacksons victory in Manassas reached Virginia Governor John Letcher offered Jackson a chance to fight in the Confederate Army as a General and for his state as the leader of the Virginia Militia. Jackson accepted and resigned from the Union Army and joined the Confederate Army and began planning an attack on D.C.
Odd that you would make Jackson such a high profile pre-war officer in the Federal ranks yet would only have the Virginia government offer him a position in their military months after the war has started, and odd that he would not have pre-empted that like so many other officer did and offered his native State his services himself.

President Lincoln appointed Ulysses S Grant to lead the Army of the Potomac to fight him because he knew his fighting style. During the Mexican American War Grant and Jackson co-operated on in the Battle of Mexico City and Grant claimed to know everything about his former compatriots strategies. With his Army Grant moved into Northern Virginia to take Richmond and put an end to the war before it even began.
So Lincoln just bypasses McClellan, Halleck and Buell and drags Grant up from - lets face it - obscurity, before Grant has fought a single major battle let alone campaign and long before he has perfected his command style and puts him in command of the main Federal Army. That...doesn't work. There is a set chain of command that exist in the Federal forces and Grant hasn't accomplished anything to prove himself worthy of being elevated above the rest in 1861/1862.

Confederate President Davis ordered Jackson to defeat Grant and push him back into Maryland. Jackson had no choice but to put his invasion on hold and ride out to meet his enemy in combat. Grant was cautious and tried to avoid battle as much as possible. Jackson gave chase and managed to catch him in Remington.

Thanks to Wendell and the writer of Bob Lee's Body for a suggestion of the new POD.
I dont know. The POD is definitely interest, I've always thought that, but you've just completely disregarded Jackson and Grant's lack of seniority and ignored other men who would would have been chosen ahead of them at the time for command, and also disregarded Jackson's personality and opinion, so that make the timeline unbelievable.
 

Art

Monthly Donor
Well, there IS

the LION of Caprera, the man who United Italy against the Pope, the Devil Bomba, and the GODDAMNED Austrians.


You MUST know who I am talking about, you know, Garibaldi.


And the SLIME Napoleon the TRAITOR.
 
When Kansas erupted again a small scale Civil War over continuing to be free or slave an ambitious and young teacher at VMI was sent West to bring order to the troubled province.

Jackson at this time was 35 (not young) and a first lieutenant who had retired from active duty eight years before (not ambitious). He was in any case far too junior for the command in Kansas; it was held by BG William Harney.

As for Jackson leading Union troops at Manassas and then changing sides - ASB is not too strong for it. Jackson would be excoriated as a traitor by all secessionist Virginians, not invited to command them.
 
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