A Wrong Thing: A Wikibox Confederate Victory TL

Battle of Antietam
Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill was relieved when a trailing Confederate soldier had returned to him Special Order 191 after having found it in the field. On September 17, 1862 the Army of Northern Virginia routed Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. The Army of the Potomac suffered massive losses as many Union soldiers started to surrender or deserting the battle. The Union suffered even more losses as McClellan ordered a retreat and was being followed by Lee. McClellan started leading his forces towards D.C. at first and Lee realized this and ceased chasing him knowing that no matter much damage he did to the Army of the Potomac without support from the British of French it would be an impossible fight for the Union's capital. Instead he focused his eyes onto a different Union city that could convince them to help, Philadelphia.
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You might want to tone down the Union casualties a bit. No army in the Civil War achieved such a total destruction of the enemy, not even in the Franklin-Nashville campaign.
 
You might want to tone down the Union casualties a bit. No army in the Civil War achieved such a total destruction of the enemy, not even in the Franklin-Nashville campaign.
Yea I might reduce the number of wounded and missing making it only slightly above half. But I'll state that things went very right for the Confederates in this battle they routed and surprised the Union forces, and that in the Battle of San Jacinto of The Texas Revolution while forces were considerably less, of the 1,360 Mexican forces during the fight only 102 made it out of the battle without being captured, killed or wounded.
 
Yes, but that's the point: for all its strategic and political importance, San Jacinto is on the level of a skirmish. You just don't crush an army of that size that decisively unless you've blocked all lines of retreat. And McClellan is a defender and a ditherer at heart, it's just not in him to order a break-out similar to what the Roman survivors of Cannae pulled.
 
Yes, but that's the point: for all its strategic and political importance, San Jacinto is on the level of a skirmish. You just don't crush an army of that size that decisively unless you've blocked all lines of retreat. And McClellan is a defender and a ditherer at heart, it's just not in him to order a break-out similar to what the Roman survivors of Cannae pulled.
That is also true. I had completely forgotten the fact of McClellan being a defender. (I was tired as hell when I made it and I had it mind that I should post it). I figured McClellan would rather lose more men then be disgraced by surrendering to a smaller and what he probably a less trained force. I'll change it to where McClellan manages to not surrounded but still loses a lot of men try to defend against the rout and surprise attack, eventually ordering a retreat with Lee still attacking till he figures out that McClellan is heading towards D.C.
 
Battle of Philadelphia
McClellan was faced with a difficult choice after reaching D.C.. Reports have Lee splitting a third of the Army of Northern Virginia and putting them under Jackson is the only thing he can truly confirm. All reports continued on stating that either Jackson was heading to D.C. as to distract McClellan and Lee was bent on heading further into Pennsylvania to most likely capture Philly, or that Jackson was heading further into Pennsylvania as a distraction and that Lee was heading to D.C. to try and capture it while McClellan went after Jackson. Other members of the military and even Lincoln were calling McClellan to go after the Pennsylvania group and that no matter which one turned up at D.C.they would still have enough forces to defend the capital. But McClellan berated them stating how much it cost them when they were moving and unprepared for battle. That staying in D.C. and reinforcing their defenses and getting prepared for either Jackson or Lee to come. And this where McClellan stood his ground, but none of them knew that this is what Lee wanted. He never was going to D.C. and Jackson was never going to actually attack D.C. either. His goal was Philadelphia. A volunteer regiment was made under William H. Burns and the local police and the First City Troop were ready to defend the city. It was a tough fight, having to fight street to street with the final fight in the city taking place at City Hall. This was where chief of police Samuel G. Riddles tragically died and First City Troop leader Samuel J. Randall surrendered. While most of the police and large amount of the volunteer regiment were captured or killed in battle, Burns lead the rest of the First City Troop out of Philly into New Jersey along with survivors of the volunteers and the police.
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