I hate to bug you again @Alt History Buff but you’ve got two chapter 25‘s and skipped chapter 28…
Fenians, Brits, Mexicans, Canucks and Frenchies....OH, MY! An alternate American Civil War
- Thread starter Alt History Buff
- Start date
‘Put an end to British North America’
Lincoln is pissed. With Lee up there later to be supported by Grant and the others, I see no chance in Canada surviving. It will be annexed into the US.
Lincoln is pissed. With Lee up there later to be supported by Grant and the others, I see no chance in Canada surviving. It will be annexed into the US.
Chapter 29
February, 1862
Victoria, Colony of Vancouver Island
General John Fremont was baffled as to why there appeared to be nothing resembling Royal Navy protection of Vancouver Island though he did not question his good luck. A famous explorer known as much for his somewhat mercurial personality than his exploits in the west, Fremont was considered trustworthy to take command of the Department of California. Bearing a relatively low population and a huge amount of territory, his 10,000 soldiers were somewhat of a burden which many in Washington though too expensive given needs elsewhere. However, the gold and silver fields of the west remained important to American financial interests and memories of the temporary Confederate conspiracy in the west was not to be forgotten either. Granted 5000 men to invade the two western colonies of Great Britain, the Colony of Vancouver and Colony of British Columbia, Fremont was not inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Convinced that there would be no further rebel uprisings in California for over a year now, Fremont was ideally suited for the task of invading Vancouver and British Columbia. He'd explored so much of the region over the year.
Perhaps more importantly, the General would have another advantage. Only 50,000 or so civilians populated the enormous area....and probably half of those were American citizens. Another large portion were Irish or Negro, neither particularly disinclined to give trouble to the Union army. In 1858, the first of several gold strikes would be discovered in British Columbia, then (and to be honest, still) a backwater. As Americans in California were the closest to the strike, at least half the miners were American despite British attempts to keep them out. The modest British government in place proved inadequate to do anything.
When war was declared by Britain upon the United States....it seemed that Vancouver and British Columbia were utterly forgotten. No soldiers were dispatched, nor any ships. Indeed, the locals had only been AWARE of the war as of a few months earlier and the miners didn't care in the slightest.
Fremont, arriving with 2000 men in the newly incorporated town of Victoria, would walk casually into the government office and request the surrender of the 40 man British garrison. He was informed that 30 of them were actually on the mainland, most of the others were invalids. In short, Victoria fell without a shot fired.
A pair of militiamen attempted to fire an old cannon perched on a local cliff but the powder was too wet to fire. That was the extent of Victoria's defenses.
Fremont, beginning to realize that commandeering most of the ships in San Francisco to carry 5000 soldiers might have been overkill, ordered the other 3000 men inland. Several mainland towns were taken, all without incident. Neither the British nor the American miners seemed to give a damn in the least as to what flag flew over them and went back to panning gold. Indeed, Fremont's biggest problem was his men deserting to the goldfields.
The handful of British regulars were rounded up with few casualties. Two Americans were killed and one British wounded in the leg.
With that, the remote outpost of the British Empire had fallen.
It would be nearly 3 months before word even reached Britain and that was only because it was announced in America newspapers. The British Ministry discussed sending a relief mission but it was pointed out that this would take at least six months to put together. Also, the Americans would much more easily reinforce than Briton due to their advantage in geography. It was pointed out that an expedition from India might cut the time a bit but this was swiftly shot down. India was the Jewel in the British crown and had endured the Mutiny only a few years prior. Not a single soldier could be spared from India.
Though it was hard to say, Canada was not central to the survival of the British Empire. If given the choice of guaranteeing the rule of Canada but conceding a 10% chance that India may be lost....then the Empire would risk Canada any day of the week.
District of Minnesota
General Rosecrans knew that he'd been relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland after a poor performance in Virginia. However, Rosecrans would do yeoman's work in Minnesota as his smooth diplomacy managed to placate angry Dakota tribesmen. The Union had been late in annuity payments to the Dakota and a poor harvest left them in a state of destitution. Rosecrans advanced, on his own initiative, payments from his payroll as well as dispatching some grain to local tribes.
More importantly, he stomped down on several white settlers participating in assaults on local tribes. Rosecrans had seen how poor diplomacy had cost America in Indian territory to the south. He had no intention of allowing his posting to degenerate into another distraction for Washington.
It turned out his diplomacy was even more vital as the shocking orders arrived from President Lincoln. In the spring, Rosecrans was to launch an immediate invasion north into Rupertsland, the massive empty region north of the new state of Minnesota and the territories of Dakota (there was talk of breaking off parts of this to separate territories).
To the best of Rosecrans' knowledge, Rupertsland had no settlements WORTH conquering. Some investigation led to a trading post of European and Indian Mestizos called Fort Barry which was home to a few thousand people.
Shrugging, Rosecrans prepared his invasion. Summers were short in this region and there were no railroads to take him to this remote location. Belatedly, he realized that there were some natural allies whom might be willing to help. He called upon his friends in the Dakota tribe if any of their people were interested in partaking in a campaign. He also ensured that any who agreed to attend would be given extra rations for their families while they were away. Before he knew it, he had 200 Dakota and 100 of other tribes. With 400 Union cavalry, he imagined that the locals would not be a terrible threat.
Victoria, Colony of Vancouver Island
General John Fremont was baffled as to why there appeared to be nothing resembling Royal Navy protection of Vancouver Island though he did not question his good luck. A famous explorer known as much for his somewhat mercurial personality than his exploits in the west, Fremont was considered trustworthy to take command of the Department of California. Bearing a relatively low population and a huge amount of territory, his 10,000 soldiers were somewhat of a burden which many in Washington though too expensive given needs elsewhere. However, the gold and silver fields of the west remained important to American financial interests and memories of the temporary Confederate conspiracy in the west was not to be forgotten either. Granted 5000 men to invade the two western colonies of Great Britain, the Colony of Vancouver and Colony of British Columbia, Fremont was not inclined to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Convinced that there would be no further rebel uprisings in California for over a year now, Fremont was ideally suited for the task of invading Vancouver and British Columbia. He'd explored so much of the region over the year.
Perhaps more importantly, the General would have another advantage. Only 50,000 or so civilians populated the enormous area....and probably half of those were American citizens. Another large portion were Irish or Negro, neither particularly disinclined to give trouble to the Union army. In 1858, the first of several gold strikes would be discovered in British Columbia, then (and to be honest, still) a backwater. As Americans in California were the closest to the strike, at least half the miners were American despite British attempts to keep them out. The modest British government in place proved inadequate to do anything.
When war was declared by Britain upon the United States....it seemed that Vancouver and British Columbia were utterly forgotten. No soldiers were dispatched, nor any ships. Indeed, the locals had only been AWARE of the war as of a few months earlier and the miners didn't care in the slightest.
Fremont, arriving with 2000 men in the newly incorporated town of Victoria, would walk casually into the government office and request the surrender of the 40 man British garrison. He was informed that 30 of them were actually on the mainland, most of the others were invalids. In short, Victoria fell without a shot fired.
A pair of militiamen attempted to fire an old cannon perched on a local cliff but the powder was too wet to fire. That was the extent of Victoria's defenses.
Fremont, beginning to realize that commandeering most of the ships in San Francisco to carry 5000 soldiers might have been overkill, ordered the other 3000 men inland. Several mainland towns were taken, all without incident. Neither the British nor the American miners seemed to give a damn in the least as to what flag flew over them and went back to panning gold. Indeed, Fremont's biggest problem was his men deserting to the goldfields.
The handful of British regulars were rounded up with few casualties. Two Americans were killed and one British wounded in the leg.
With that, the remote outpost of the British Empire had fallen.
It would be nearly 3 months before word even reached Britain and that was only because it was announced in America newspapers. The British Ministry discussed sending a relief mission but it was pointed out that this would take at least six months to put together. Also, the Americans would much more easily reinforce than Briton due to their advantage in geography. It was pointed out that an expedition from India might cut the time a bit but this was swiftly shot down. India was the Jewel in the British crown and had endured the Mutiny only a few years prior. Not a single soldier could be spared from India.
Though it was hard to say, Canada was not central to the survival of the British Empire. If given the choice of guaranteeing the rule of Canada but conceding a 10% chance that India may be lost....then the Empire would risk Canada any day of the week.
District of Minnesota
General Rosecrans knew that he'd been relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland after a poor performance in Virginia. However, Rosecrans would do yeoman's work in Minnesota as his smooth diplomacy managed to placate angry Dakota tribesmen. The Union had been late in annuity payments to the Dakota and a poor harvest left them in a state of destitution. Rosecrans advanced, on his own initiative, payments from his payroll as well as dispatching some grain to local tribes.
More importantly, he stomped down on several white settlers participating in assaults on local tribes. Rosecrans had seen how poor diplomacy had cost America in Indian territory to the south. He had no intention of allowing his posting to degenerate into another distraction for Washington.
It turned out his diplomacy was even more vital as the shocking orders arrived from President Lincoln. In the spring, Rosecrans was to launch an immediate invasion north into Rupertsland, the massive empty region north of the new state of Minnesota and the territories of Dakota (there was talk of breaking off parts of this to separate territories).
To the best of Rosecrans' knowledge, Rupertsland had no settlements WORTH conquering. Some investigation led to a trading post of European and Indian Mestizos called Fort Barry which was home to a few thousand people.
Shrugging, Rosecrans prepared his invasion. Summers were short in this region and there were no railroads to take him to this remote location. Belatedly, he realized that there were some natural allies whom might be willing to help. He called upon his friends in the Dakota tribe if any of their people were interested in partaking in a campaign. He also ensured that any who agreed to attend would be given extra rations for their families while they were away. Before he knew it, he had 200 Dakota and 100 of other tribes. With 400 Union cavalry, he imagined that the locals would not be a terrible threat.
How to make the most out of a shit sandwich, I have a feeling he'll find himself a governorship sooner or later.
International alliances are going to get weird in TTL. There’s likely to be an anti-British bloc consisting of the US, Russia, Prussia, and possibly China and Italy.
Thing is, it’s going to be hard for any of these guys to hit the British hard outside of Canada. At least not until the US Navy can build up then team up with a possible German navy to contest the Royal Navy’s dominance of the sea. Outside of that they can’t really get to India, various African colonies, Egypt, or Australia for a long time and even Ireland might be tough to get to.
Thing is, it’s going to be hard for any of these guys to hit the British hard outside of Canada. At least not until the US Navy can build up then team up with a possible German navy to contest the Royal Navy’s dominance of the sea. Outside of that they can’t really get to India, various African colonies, Egypt, or Australia for a long time and even Ireland might be tough to get to.
They can make it hell for British trade though lel.
Anyway ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, the United States of North America with the OTL US borders, plus Canada, likely Greenland( Denmark is gonna sell or lose it by force if the Americans have Canada) and maybe Baja California, Sonora, Cihuahua and other northern Mexican states. It would be a massive country, capable of rivaling the Russian Empire of 1914.
Potentially with Canada lost, Britain intensifies its colonisation of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, so the former becomes perhaps majority Anglo and the latter two have greater populations.
Chapter 30
March, 1862
Portland
Major General Robert E. Lee arrived in this cold bastion in February and was pleased to see that General Hooker had not been idle over the past several months. The Harbor defenses had been upgraded greatly as heavy artillery was moved by rail from inland locations no longer under threat. Heavy Parrot and Dahlgren guns now poked out from mini-fortifications constructed out of sand, wood and stone. It would be possible to reduce them but any attacking fleet was pay HEAVILY for the privilege. To his surprise, several heavy mortars had been emplaced at a remove, no doubt difficult targets, and a section of the Balloon Corps assigned to the city. Telegraph lines had already been laid from the balloon to the Mortar locations and some of the local cannon.
The topography of the region would make a sea invasion somewhere further down the shore as impractical, thus a direct assault on the city or a march inland was the only realistic option.
Hooker was reassigned in February for a command in Plattsburgh. Lee was complimentary for his preparations and proceeded to make some improvements here and there but he was generally satisfied.
In the meantime, Lee rode through the miserable Maine cold to inspect the most likely path of enemy invasion, largely following the Grand Trunk Railroad. Western and Northern Maine were quite primitive compared to Virginia's civilized lowlands. He noted that Hooker had wisely increased security at every stop in the railroad and set procedures should telegraph communication be cut off without explanation. At the very least, it would take almost stunning incompetence to be caught unaware.
The previous path of invasion from Canada to the United States had generally been at Plattsburgh. However, the Grand Trunk Railroad made a descent through the Champlain region superfluous. Emerging from Montreal into New England en route to Portland, the railroad made for a better pathway.
Lee had two tasks: 1. Fortify Portland's harbor against a sea attack. 2. Prepare his forces for an invasion of Canada.
The rapidly collapsing Confederacy had freed up a number of front-line soldiers for Lee's army
As it was, Lee would not have to wait very long to find out if he'd have to defend Portland.
Detroit
George Armstrong Custer, until the war, was mostly notable as the "Goat" of his graduating class at West Point (meaning he finished last). This normally would have resulted in a list of obscure assignments and an undistinguished career but the war gave him an opportunity to rescue his reputation. Rapidly rising through the ranks of Sheridan's army after a series of near suicidal charges, Custer would reach the Confederate Capital of Atlanta to find the remnant of Confederate forces effectively collapsing.
The Governor of Georgia attempted to bluster about but his commander, General William Hardee, had no intention of pitting 10,000 or so Georgian regulars and militia against 100,000+ Federals looking for an excuse to burn the state to the ground. Backed by most of the government, Hardee agreed to surrender. Within weeks, a torrent of freedmen were marching north or just milling about, uncertain of what to do with their "freedom".
Many of the freedmen were taken into the military and placed on garrison duty in their own home state. Lincoln had decreed that all aid must be given to the freedmen and resentful southern irregulars were already targeting them.
Custer was disappointed to find he'd been relieved (along with his Regiment, the Wolverines) of their duties just as they were about to chase Polk and Bragg into Florida. However, his absence meant little as those two officers requested terms from Sheridan and, during the meeting, spent more time trying to get Sheridan to agree that the OTHER was to blame for the Confederate loss. Not for the first time, Sheridan wrote to Custer, that I must thank God these two idiots were on the OTHER side.
Rumer had it that General Kirby in Texas, with the largest army remaining the field, was seeking terms himself.
By this point, the procedure was already in place. Confederate soldiers who surrendered were allowed to go home on parole. Only the irregulars who fought on were placed in internment camps.....unless they were just hanged as outlaws on the spot.
Senior officers would travel in style to Washington for debriefing and to sign their own parole. Most would be required to remain in Washington for a time to take responsibility for any misconduct for their men.
Custer was delighted to learn his Regiment was not intended for mustering out but reassigned back to his home state of Michigan. The war had been the most fun he'd ever had and the young man desired to keep fighting. In Detroit, across the river from western Canada, Custer was greet by his new Commander, the able Corps Commander in the Eastern Theater, James Macpherson. As McPherson briefed Custer on Lincoln's plans for the Spring, Custer couldn't help but grin.
Buffalo
General Winfield Scott Hancock was already hating his new assignment. On some level, he wondered if this was a political machination on the part of the Lincoln administration to sideline high-ranking Democrat Generals for the conclusion of the war. But then elements of his beloved Corps were transferred up to Buffalo and large amounts of supplies brought by rail.
Something big was happening.
Plattsburg
Joseph Hooker knew that the British, if they came at all, would not take the path of past invasions through the Champlain district. Now, a new and better highway had been built on the rail-line going east. It must be a difficult thing, he concluded, to have your best port to the world in another country. As is, shipping up the St. Lawrence was not possible for most of Canada (outside of the Quebec region, of course).
But Plattsburg was still ideally situated to strike at the rail terminus erupting from Montreal. The Grant Trunk could easily be cut by Hooker as he marched northwards to Montreal, only 63 miles away from Plattsburg and 50 miles from the border.
Of course, the British and Canadians would be watching the railhead like a hawk. Fantasies about captured the rail line and reaching Montreal within hours were fun but unrealistic. The British would have to be the dumbest adversaries in history not to have a half dozen garrisons along the track ready to cut the line at the first sign of an enemy locomotive. That is what Hooker had set up in new England.
If Lee was planning on taking the Grant Trunk, he would likely get to the border but no further. But if Lee and Hooker could consolidate their assaults, they may utilize a pincher which could catch the British and Canadians south of Montreal in a vice.
Of course, the dimmest Lieutenant on either side could look at a map and figure THAT out.
Portland
Major General Robert E. Lee arrived in this cold bastion in February and was pleased to see that General Hooker had not been idle over the past several months. The Harbor defenses had been upgraded greatly as heavy artillery was moved by rail from inland locations no longer under threat. Heavy Parrot and Dahlgren guns now poked out from mini-fortifications constructed out of sand, wood and stone. It would be possible to reduce them but any attacking fleet was pay HEAVILY for the privilege. To his surprise, several heavy mortars had been emplaced at a remove, no doubt difficult targets, and a section of the Balloon Corps assigned to the city. Telegraph lines had already been laid from the balloon to the Mortar locations and some of the local cannon.
The topography of the region would make a sea invasion somewhere further down the shore as impractical, thus a direct assault on the city or a march inland was the only realistic option.
Hooker was reassigned in February for a command in Plattsburgh. Lee was complimentary for his preparations and proceeded to make some improvements here and there but he was generally satisfied.
In the meantime, Lee rode through the miserable Maine cold to inspect the most likely path of enemy invasion, largely following the Grand Trunk Railroad. Western and Northern Maine were quite primitive compared to Virginia's civilized lowlands. He noted that Hooker had wisely increased security at every stop in the railroad and set procedures should telegraph communication be cut off without explanation. At the very least, it would take almost stunning incompetence to be caught unaware.
The previous path of invasion from Canada to the United States had generally been at Plattsburgh. However, the Grand Trunk Railroad made a descent through the Champlain region superfluous. Emerging from Montreal into New England en route to Portland, the railroad made for a better pathway.
Lee had two tasks: 1. Fortify Portland's harbor against a sea attack. 2. Prepare his forces for an invasion of Canada.
The rapidly collapsing Confederacy had freed up a number of front-line soldiers for Lee's army
As it was, Lee would not have to wait very long to find out if he'd have to defend Portland.
Detroit
George Armstrong Custer, until the war, was mostly notable as the "Goat" of his graduating class at West Point (meaning he finished last). This normally would have resulted in a list of obscure assignments and an undistinguished career but the war gave him an opportunity to rescue his reputation. Rapidly rising through the ranks of Sheridan's army after a series of near suicidal charges, Custer would reach the Confederate Capital of Atlanta to find the remnant of Confederate forces effectively collapsing.
The Governor of Georgia attempted to bluster about but his commander, General William Hardee, had no intention of pitting 10,000 or so Georgian regulars and militia against 100,000+ Federals looking for an excuse to burn the state to the ground. Backed by most of the government, Hardee agreed to surrender. Within weeks, a torrent of freedmen were marching north or just milling about, uncertain of what to do with their "freedom".
Many of the freedmen were taken into the military and placed on garrison duty in their own home state. Lincoln had decreed that all aid must be given to the freedmen and resentful southern irregulars were already targeting them.
Custer was disappointed to find he'd been relieved (along with his Regiment, the Wolverines) of their duties just as they were about to chase Polk and Bragg into Florida. However, his absence meant little as those two officers requested terms from Sheridan and, during the meeting, spent more time trying to get Sheridan to agree that the OTHER was to blame for the Confederate loss. Not for the first time, Sheridan wrote to Custer, that I must thank God these two idiots were on the OTHER side.
Rumer had it that General Kirby in Texas, with the largest army remaining the field, was seeking terms himself.
By this point, the procedure was already in place. Confederate soldiers who surrendered were allowed to go home on parole. Only the irregulars who fought on were placed in internment camps.....unless they were just hanged as outlaws on the spot.
Senior officers would travel in style to Washington for debriefing and to sign their own parole. Most would be required to remain in Washington for a time to take responsibility for any misconduct for their men.
Custer was delighted to learn his Regiment was not intended for mustering out but reassigned back to his home state of Michigan. The war had been the most fun he'd ever had and the young man desired to keep fighting. In Detroit, across the river from western Canada, Custer was greet by his new Commander, the able Corps Commander in the Eastern Theater, James Macpherson. As McPherson briefed Custer on Lincoln's plans for the Spring, Custer couldn't help but grin.
Buffalo
General Winfield Scott Hancock was already hating his new assignment. On some level, he wondered if this was a political machination on the part of the Lincoln administration to sideline high-ranking Democrat Generals for the conclusion of the war. But then elements of his beloved Corps were transferred up to Buffalo and large amounts of supplies brought by rail.
Something big was happening.
Plattsburg
Joseph Hooker knew that the British, if they came at all, would not take the path of past invasions through the Champlain district. Now, a new and better highway had been built on the rail-line going east. It must be a difficult thing, he concluded, to have your best port to the world in another country. As is, shipping up the St. Lawrence was not possible for most of Canada (outside of the Quebec region, of course).
But Plattsburg was still ideally situated to strike at the rail terminus erupting from Montreal. The Grant Trunk could easily be cut by Hooker as he marched northwards to Montreal, only 63 miles away from Plattsburg and 50 miles from the border.
Of course, the British and Canadians would be watching the railhead like a hawk. Fantasies about captured the rail line and reaching Montreal within hours were fun but unrealistic. The British would have to be the dumbest adversaries in history not to have a half dozen garrisons along the track ready to cut the line at the first sign of an enemy locomotive. That is what Hooker had set up in new England.
If Lee was planning on taking the Grant Trunk, he would likely get to the border but no further. But if Lee and Hooker could consolidate their assaults, they may utilize a pincher which could catch the British and Canadians south of Montreal in a vice.
Of course, the dimmest Lieutenant on either side could look at a map and figure THAT out.
This feels like a foreshadowing of some British toff getting wrecked by their own stupidity.
Chapter 31
March, 1863
Halifax
Admiral Milne had never been sanguine on the war and learning of the burning of Manhattan made it even more unpalatable. Milne was station head of North America and the West Indies and was the man tasked with fighting despite getting next to no instruction from home.
He’d suffered terrible losses in the Chesapeake and even the “victory” in New York had come with a cost: The Black Prince, the sister ship of the Warrior (which went down in the Chesapeake) had sustained a hit upon leaving New York from shore battery. At first it did not seem severe, just a cannon ball embedded in the steel.
It turned out this was not a cannonball but an unexploded shell whose fuse failed….temporarily. 20 miles out from New York, the shell exploded. Bad luck put it near a powder magazine which soon set half the ship on fire. The ship was abandoned.
Now BOTH of Britain’s greatest ships had been lost and Milne could not figure how anything had been gained for Britain.
His new subordinate, Admiral James Hope, arrived with instructions to attack Portland. Rumors of hundreds of those huge Dahlgren cannons ringing the harbor (this may be an exaggeration but not by as much as either sailor hoped) led Hope to feel quite cynical regarding chances of victory.
6000 of the 30,000 or so British regulars in British North America had been gathered in Halifax for a spring attack (in addition to another 4000 in the regular garrison). Both men thought this was a poor use of resources.
Paris
Jefferson Davis had been forced to leave the Confederacy without his family. Managing to arrive in France via a blockade running, Davis carried a large sum of gold which had been received from the British during a rare opening of a Union blockade.
News reached Paris fairly quickly via intermediaries and neutral powers.
The fall of the Confederacy and the manumission of the slaves had cut Davis like a knife. He’d hoped that some sort of news related to a national uprising was taking place but secretly doubted it. Lincoln was ruthless enough to keep adequate forces standing up the South’s collective throat.
British diplomats would come calling upon Davis, acting as if he were some sort of government-in-exile rather than an escaped felon (no doubt that is how the Union saw him). He knew damned well that the encouragement he received from the British was only a pathetic attempt to get southerners to rise up in a futile rebellion and thereby distract the Union’s attention from British territory. After the Queen refused to ally with the Confederacy out of Her Majesty’s disgust for their traditions, Davis wasn’t inclined to allow more of his people to die for that little German bitch.
Offers of weapons, money, etc to set up a resistance in the south were outright rejected by Davis, who instead set upon writing his memoirs.
London
Lord Palmerston and John Russell were finally providing more direct leadership. For the past year, the British government seemed unwilling to fully prosecute the war they’d declared. Instead, hoping a show of force would bring the Union to heel. However, this failed spectacularly as the dithering only allowed the Confederacy to collapse and the Union to turn the full force of her anger on Great Britain.
Britain’s best military weapon by this point was her fleet. If she were to ravage American commerce ships wherever they were found, surely Washington would give in.
Of course, two could play that game.
Philadelphia
For all the fears of Confederate privateering, there were very few ships taken. Technology had advanced so much that one could no longer find a ship, make sure it was light and fast, and then go chasing merchants. Now, only the most powerful engines could expect to survive long as commerce raiders.
As luck would have it, the Union had acquired one built by the British. Intended to be Christened the CSS Alabama, she’d been captured before armaments could be added. Now, a Union shipyard had completed that task and the USS Manhattan sailed out to sea, intending to ravage as much British shipping as possible.
Crewed by Irish volunteers, it would soon become infamous in London.
Baltimore
The Irish would prove useful in other ways. The refugees in America from the Irish Famine maintained tight links to their relatives on the Emerald Isle. A heavy British hand prevented any major rebellion from initiating. However, Irish organizations were long demanding weapons from their kin in America.
It was such an accusation that was among the complaints/justifications of the British in declaring war.
Now, Lincoln had agreed to provide as many weapons as Ireland’s “Young Ireland” and “Irish Republican” movements desired. More than one wave of guilt ran through him as he knew that America was using these people for its own interests and the blood of any dead in a failed uprising would be at least partially on his hands.
Yet still blockade runners seized from the Confederacy plied the North Atlantic to enter Ireland’s remote coves.
Washington DC
Baron de Stoeckl was a longtime diplomat in the Czar’s service and had spent the past decade cultivating friends in Washington. He and Lincoln got along well while de Stoeckl had particularly warm relations with Secretary of State Seward.
Years before, he had proposed that the Czar sell Alaska to America as another conflict with Britain would almost certainly see it seized. Russia could then concentrate upon the development and protection of Eastern Siberia.
Naturally, de Stoeckl was watching intently as the United States tore itself apparent. And he was absolutely delighted to see inept British diplomacy pull that nation into a quagmire in North America.
He would regularly send messages back to Moscow and urge the Czar to force his own Imperial policy upon Europe while the Continent remained at war and Britain was distracted.
The Czar listened to his Minister. After the Crimean War ended in humiliation and defeat, the Czar used the chaos of the last year to crush Poland and eliminate it as a separate legal entity, rearmed the Black Sea fleet in the Crimea (which was the primary cause of the Crimean War and brought most of Europe into alliance with the Ottoman against him) and then did what only a year prior to be unthinkable:
He crossed the border into the Balkans on a “War of Liberation” of the Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Montenegrans and Serbians. Most of these peoples were Orthodox and the Czar loathed the idea of the vile Turk oppressing his religious kin.
With Europe distracted and the Ottoman long in decline, the Czar’s forces made stunning progress against an entity that had been feared by Christian Europe for centuries….and effectively propped up by Christian Europe for the past century in an effort to keep it out of Russian hands.
Venetia
The “Patriotic” invasion of the Habsburg Province of Venetia had failed miserably the previous year. Properly chastened, General Garibaldi would grovel before the King to grant him control over the Italian Army, which had been assiduously trained for the past two years.
Granted assent, the General once again invaded northeast into Venetia and the last major Italian-speaking domain not under the House of Piedmont.
Halifax
Admiral Milne had never been sanguine on the war and learning of the burning of Manhattan made it even more unpalatable. Milne was station head of North America and the West Indies and was the man tasked with fighting despite getting next to no instruction from home.
He’d suffered terrible losses in the Chesapeake and even the “victory” in New York had come with a cost: The Black Prince, the sister ship of the Warrior (which went down in the Chesapeake) had sustained a hit upon leaving New York from shore battery. At first it did not seem severe, just a cannon ball embedded in the steel.
It turned out this was not a cannonball but an unexploded shell whose fuse failed….temporarily. 20 miles out from New York, the shell exploded. Bad luck put it near a powder magazine which soon set half the ship on fire. The ship was abandoned.
Now BOTH of Britain’s greatest ships had been lost and Milne could not figure how anything had been gained for Britain.
His new subordinate, Admiral James Hope, arrived with instructions to attack Portland. Rumors of hundreds of those huge Dahlgren cannons ringing the harbor (this may be an exaggeration but not by as much as either sailor hoped) led Hope to feel quite cynical regarding chances of victory.
6000 of the 30,000 or so British regulars in British North America had been gathered in Halifax for a spring attack (in addition to another 4000 in the regular garrison). Both men thought this was a poor use of resources.
Paris
Jefferson Davis had been forced to leave the Confederacy without his family. Managing to arrive in France via a blockade running, Davis carried a large sum of gold which had been received from the British during a rare opening of a Union blockade.
News reached Paris fairly quickly via intermediaries and neutral powers.
The fall of the Confederacy and the manumission of the slaves had cut Davis like a knife. He’d hoped that some sort of news related to a national uprising was taking place but secretly doubted it. Lincoln was ruthless enough to keep adequate forces standing up the South’s collective throat.
British diplomats would come calling upon Davis, acting as if he were some sort of government-in-exile rather than an escaped felon (no doubt that is how the Union saw him). He knew damned well that the encouragement he received from the British was only a pathetic attempt to get southerners to rise up in a futile rebellion and thereby distract the Union’s attention from British territory. After the Queen refused to ally with the Confederacy out of Her Majesty’s disgust for their traditions, Davis wasn’t inclined to allow more of his people to die for that little German bitch.
Offers of weapons, money, etc to set up a resistance in the south were outright rejected by Davis, who instead set upon writing his memoirs.
London
Lord Palmerston and John Russell were finally providing more direct leadership. For the past year, the British government seemed unwilling to fully prosecute the war they’d declared. Instead, hoping a show of force would bring the Union to heel. However, this failed spectacularly as the dithering only allowed the Confederacy to collapse and the Union to turn the full force of her anger on Great Britain.
Britain’s best military weapon by this point was her fleet. If she were to ravage American commerce ships wherever they were found, surely Washington would give in.
Of course, two could play that game.
Philadelphia
For all the fears of Confederate privateering, there were very few ships taken. Technology had advanced so much that one could no longer find a ship, make sure it was light and fast, and then go chasing merchants. Now, only the most powerful engines could expect to survive long as commerce raiders.
As luck would have it, the Union had acquired one built by the British. Intended to be Christened the CSS Alabama, she’d been captured before armaments could be added. Now, a Union shipyard had completed that task and the USS Manhattan sailed out to sea, intending to ravage as much British shipping as possible.
Crewed by Irish volunteers, it would soon become infamous in London.
Baltimore
The Irish would prove useful in other ways. The refugees in America from the Irish Famine maintained tight links to their relatives on the Emerald Isle. A heavy British hand prevented any major rebellion from initiating. However, Irish organizations were long demanding weapons from their kin in America.
It was such an accusation that was among the complaints/justifications of the British in declaring war.
Now, Lincoln had agreed to provide as many weapons as Ireland’s “Young Ireland” and “Irish Republican” movements desired. More than one wave of guilt ran through him as he knew that America was using these people for its own interests and the blood of any dead in a failed uprising would be at least partially on his hands.
Yet still blockade runners seized from the Confederacy plied the North Atlantic to enter Ireland’s remote coves.
Washington DC
Baron de Stoeckl was a longtime diplomat in the Czar’s service and had spent the past decade cultivating friends in Washington. He and Lincoln got along well while de Stoeckl had particularly warm relations with Secretary of State Seward.
Years before, he had proposed that the Czar sell Alaska to America as another conflict with Britain would almost certainly see it seized. Russia could then concentrate upon the development and protection of Eastern Siberia.
Naturally, de Stoeckl was watching intently as the United States tore itself apparent. And he was absolutely delighted to see inept British diplomacy pull that nation into a quagmire in North America.
He would regularly send messages back to Moscow and urge the Czar to force his own Imperial policy upon Europe while the Continent remained at war and Britain was distracted.
The Czar listened to his Minister. After the Crimean War ended in humiliation and defeat, the Czar used the chaos of the last year to crush Poland and eliminate it as a separate legal entity, rearmed the Black Sea fleet in the Crimea (which was the primary cause of the Crimean War and brought most of Europe into alliance with the Ottoman against him) and then did what only a year prior to be unthinkable:
He crossed the border into the Balkans on a “War of Liberation” of the Romanians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Montenegrans and Serbians. Most of these peoples were Orthodox and the Czar loathed the idea of the vile Turk oppressing his religious kin.
With Europe distracted and the Ottoman long in decline, the Czar’s forces made stunning progress against an entity that had been feared by Christian Europe for centuries….and effectively propped up by Christian Europe for the past century in an effort to keep it out of Russian hands.
Venetia
The “Patriotic” invasion of the Habsburg Province of Venetia had failed miserably the previous year. Properly chastened, General Garibaldi would grovel before the King to grant him control over the Italian Army, which had been assiduously trained for the past two years.
Granted assent, the General once again invaded northeast into Venetia and the last major Italian-speaking domain not under the House of Piedmont.
Will the Union be getting some Rolling Blocks from Remington to test in the liberation of Canada if it's still ongoing in 1864? It seems like a weapon that'd be useful for giving to newer troops, it's so damned simple to train raw recruits on.
Chapter 32
April, 1863
Portland, Maine
Almost from the minute the British fleet entered Portland harbor, Admiral James Hope was certain this endeavor was a fool’s errand. America had been given far too much time to prepare for a seaborne invasion. The harbor did not so much possess cannon but BRISTLED with them. Earthen, stone and timber ramparts displayed a ring of heavy artillery. Heavy Dahlgrens had not been placed on hills but CUT INTO them.
The topography of the region did not lend towards disembarking the army nearby. Heavily forested and hilly, it would be verify difficult, prohibitively so, to land a few miles away and march inland through the terrain.
Thus a direct assault seemed the only option. Of course, the people who ordered the attack in London were not present to carry it out.
But his orders were clear. He was to attack Portland, reduce the defenses and land 6000 British regulars upon Portland’s soil to seize control over the Grant Trunk Railroad terminus.
Exactly how THAT helps Britain was still a little vague in the mind of the Admiral as there was still a hundred miles of track to Montreal, much of it through American territory which could easily be severed by the enemy. Was Britain to conquer all of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont as well?
In April of 1863, Admiral Hope led an assault force of 20 warships into Portland Harbor. Almost immediately, he sensed the folly of it all Several local fortifications had been heavily, heavily reinforced including Fort Prebble, Fort Scammell and Fort Gorges. Every conceivable height on the rocky shore surrounding the city bristled with heavy cannon, mostly Dahlgrens.
Among his heavier ships, Hope had brought eight “morter ships” utilized to reduce Sevastpol in the Crimean War. Unfortunately, two endured mechanical problems and were left in Halifax.
With the troop transports out to sea, the Navy moved in to reduce the local forts and force the no doubt thousands of Union soldiers from the town and allow the army to land. Almost immediately, this plan fell apart under the weight of over 80 guns. Still, his orders clear, Hope sailed forth and attempted to exchange fire.
While he did not expect his mostly-armored, ocean going ironclads to reduce the town, he’d hoped they would reduce the enemy fire enough for his mortar ships to do their jobs.
It was at this point that General Lee, the defender of Portland, had revealed one of his own tricks. He had 16 heavy mortars of his own embedded behind his primary lines, all zeroed into the bay. Several balloons lifted in the cold northern air and telegraphed down coordinates for Lee’s cannon and mortars to improve their aim.
The battle of Portland lasted 14 hours. In that time, Hope suffered the total loss of 7 of his 20 warships, several exploding as shot and shell hit their powder stores (particularly the Mortar ships). Six other ships were badly damaged and had to withdraw from the fight (one sank the following day).
The Admiral never came close to summoning the transports to land. His only consolation was that a third of the city had burned to the ground despite efforts by Lee’s army and the citizenry to prepare for the expected blaze by organizing fire brigades, ensuring that every container in every house was filled to the brim with water and even laying sand upon flammable surfaces like rooftops, floors and firewood piles (the latter covered up with rugs, horse blankets or anything else on hand).
Portland suffered terribly that day but the British never came close to setting foot upon dry land. The armada limped back to Halifax, having been betrayed by absurd orders from afar.
London
One by one, the opposition Parliamentarians rose to demand an explanation of the government's conduct. Britain had declared war upon America, which was not recipricated by America until the Royal Navy saw fit to burn that nation's economic capital to the ground.
The humiliation of the Chesapeake only added to the woes.
Now, agents of the Government of Great Britain had been discovered by the Americans, the newspapers and the Opposition attempting to entice the Confederates to rise up against the Union. One letter, captured and shared with the world, would implicate a member of Russell's foreign ministry in offering British assistance in "returning the Confederacy to her former glory". Given that this, by definition, meant returning 3.5 million freed slaves to bondage, this could not be interpreted any other way.
Even Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, now in exile in France, wrote articles condemning the British government (though for different reasons) stating the Palmerston's government acted solely to weaken America, not out of outrage at a few stopped ships in a blockade.
Knowing the nation's genuine loathing of slavery, virtually no Briton could be found speaking its virtues, Palmerston had refused a formal alliance with the Confederacy, stating that Britain only acted to defender her own honor. However, evidence piled up over the past months that the government was attempting to prop up the Confederacy.
With the war between the states effectively over, more and more Britons were wondering why the conflict with America continued to be waged. Even the cynical opportunists in the political classes realized that the gambit had failed to crush America as a future threat and, instead, only guaranteed it.
Lincoln had been willing to settle the matter months ago. But then the damned Navy burned New York and America's collective patience had gone out the window. Lincoln's government declared war upon Britain and rushed vast numbers of soldiers north to the border with Canada.
Had Britain simply stayed neutral, the flow of cotton from the south would have largely renewed by now, bringing the better part of a million British textile workers back to employment. Now, even if cotton could be produced without slavery, it seemed rather unlikely that any would be sailing to Britain or France in the near future. Most of the huge quantities of cotton seized in their warehouses by the Federal troops had been shipped north to American factories.
In the meantime, it became readily apparent how much Britain depended upon American and Canadian grain. Now BOTH were cut off and the best foreign supply they could find was....Russia and Poland....which, of course, was now presenting a very different set of problems.
Picking a fight that was dishonorable was one thing. LOSING that fight was an order of magnitude worse.
Only the disagreements between the other main parties, the Radicals and the Conservatives, kept Palmerston's Liberal government in motion.
The Bosporus
The Russian Black Fleet, the one by treaty should not even exist, matched the march of the Russian Army into the Balkans by sailing into the Bosporus and cutting off Istanbul from Asia.
What remained of the Turkish Navy was annihilated within days. The Turks sent a desperate plea for help to their former allies in Austria, Italy, France and Britain. All were somewhat busy at this time, though, and only Britain considered intervention.
Portland, Maine
Almost from the minute the British fleet entered Portland harbor, Admiral James Hope was certain this endeavor was a fool’s errand. America had been given far too much time to prepare for a seaborne invasion. The harbor did not so much possess cannon but BRISTLED with them. Earthen, stone and timber ramparts displayed a ring of heavy artillery. Heavy Dahlgrens had not been placed on hills but CUT INTO them.
The topography of the region did not lend towards disembarking the army nearby. Heavily forested and hilly, it would be verify difficult, prohibitively so, to land a few miles away and march inland through the terrain.
Thus a direct assault seemed the only option. Of course, the people who ordered the attack in London were not present to carry it out.
But his orders were clear. He was to attack Portland, reduce the defenses and land 6000 British regulars upon Portland’s soil to seize control over the Grant Trunk Railroad terminus.
Exactly how THAT helps Britain was still a little vague in the mind of the Admiral as there was still a hundred miles of track to Montreal, much of it through American territory which could easily be severed by the enemy. Was Britain to conquer all of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont as well?
In April of 1863, Admiral Hope led an assault force of 20 warships into Portland Harbor. Almost immediately, he sensed the folly of it all Several local fortifications had been heavily, heavily reinforced including Fort Prebble, Fort Scammell and Fort Gorges. Every conceivable height on the rocky shore surrounding the city bristled with heavy cannon, mostly Dahlgrens.
Among his heavier ships, Hope had brought eight “morter ships” utilized to reduce Sevastpol in the Crimean War. Unfortunately, two endured mechanical problems and were left in Halifax.
With the troop transports out to sea, the Navy moved in to reduce the local forts and force the no doubt thousands of Union soldiers from the town and allow the army to land. Almost immediately, this plan fell apart under the weight of over 80 guns. Still, his orders clear, Hope sailed forth and attempted to exchange fire.
While he did not expect his mostly-armored, ocean going ironclads to reduce the town, he’d hoped they would reduce the enemy fire enough for his mortar ships to do their jobs.
It was at this point that General Lee, the defender of Portland, had revealed one of his own tricks. He had 16 heavy mortars of his own embedded behind his primary lines, all zeroed into the bay. Several balloons lifted in the cold northern air and telegraphed down coordinates for Lee’s cannon and mortars to improve their aim.
The battle of Portland lasted 14 hours. In that time, Hope suffered the total loss of 7 of his 20 warships, several exploding as shot and shell hit their powder stores (particularly the Mortar ships). Six other ships were badly damaged and had to withdraw from the fight (one sank the following day).
The Admiral never came close to summoning the transports to land. His only consolation was that a third of the city had burned to the ground despite efforts by Lee’s army and the citizenry to prepare for the expected blaze by organizing fire brigades, ensuring that every container in every house was filled to the brim with water and even laying sand upon flammable surfaces like rooftops, floors and firewood piles (the latter covered up with rugs, horse blankets or anything else on hand).
Portland suffered terribly that day but the British never came close to setting foot upon dry land. The armada limped back to Halifax, having been betrayed by absurd orders from afar.
London
One by one, the opposition Parliamentarians rose to demand an explanation of the government's conduct. Britain had declared war upon America, which was not recipricated by America until the Royal Navy saw fit to burn that nation's economic capital to the ground.
The humiliation of the Chesapeake only added to the woes.
Now, agents of the Government of Great Britain had been discovered by the Americans, the newspapers and the Opposition attempting to entice the Confederates to rise up against the Union. One letter, captured and shared with the world, would implicate a member of Russell's foreign ministry in offering British assistance in "returning the Confederacy to her former glory". Given that this, by definition, meant returning 3.5 million freed slaves to bondage, this could not be interpreted any other way.
Even Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, now in exile in France, wrote articles condemning the British government (though for different reasons) stating the Palmerston's government acted solely to weaken America, not out of outrage at a few stopped ships in a blockade.
Knowing the nation's genuine loathing of slavery, virtually no Briton could be found speaking its virtues, Palmerston had refused a formal alliance with the Confederacy, stating that Britain only acted to defender her own honor. However, evidence piled up over the past months that the government was attempting to prop up the Confederacy.
With the war between the states effectively over, more and more Britons were wondering why the conflict with America continued to be waged. Even the cynical opportunists in the political classes realized that the gambit had failed to crush America as a future threat and, instead, only guaranteed it.
Lincoln had been willing to settle the matter months ago. But then the damned Navy burned New York and America's collective patience had gone out the window. Lincoln's government declared war upon Britain and rushed vast numbers of soldiers north to the border with Canada.
Had Britain simply stayed neutral, the flow of cotton from the south would have largely renewed by now, bringing the better part of a million British textile workers back to employment. Now, even if cotton could be produced without slavery, it seemed rather unlikely that any would be sailing to Britain or France in the near future. Most of the huge quantities of cotton seized in their warehouses by the Federal troops had been shipped north to American factories.
In the meantime, it became readily apparent how much Britain depended upon American and Canadian grain. Now BOTH were cut off and the best foreign supply they could find was....Russia and Poland....which, of course, was now presenting a very different set of problems.
Picking a fight that was dishonorable was one thing. LOSING that fight was an order of magnitude worse.
Only the disagreements between the other main parties, the Radicals and the Conservatives, kept Palmerston's Liberal government in motion.
The Bosporus
The Russian Black Fleet, the one by treaty should not even exist, matched the march of the Russian Army into the Balkans by sailing into the Bosporus and cutting off Istanbul from Asia.
What remained of the Turkish Navy was annihilated within days. The Turks sent a desperate plea for help to their former allies in Austria, Italy, France and Britain. All were somewhat busy at this time, though, and only Britain considered intervention.
In 1862?? After the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush? Victoria is home to the Pacific Station of the Royal Navy, and has a population of over 5000.
I may have my dates wrong but I believe the Pacific Squadron was not based there until 1865.
Also, the population of Victoria ebbed and flowed overnight depending on if there was a strike that year. By 1871, the population was down to 3000 so I don't think the population would necessarily be off. Certainly, a large portion would be American.
They began using Esquimalt harbour during Crimea, officially announced the move in 1859, and it was officially completed in 1865, although from 1858 and the beginning of the Gold Rush, Victoria and the Mainland were quite well defended by the Royal Navy.
Lol Britain’s foreign policy is crumbling. At the end of this war they’d have a probably united Germany that has defeated Austria and France, Russia in control of the Dardanelles, and America in control of Canada.
All seems lost for the British.
they could lose Canada and there is a possible rebellion coming in Ireland so the UK could break up.
If the British lose this war their enemies will see them as weak and that could mean the end of the British empire.
The British may have started this was over boarding of ships etc but it is rapidly turning into a fight for the survival of the British empire.
That is a war the British cannot afford to lose.
they could lose Canada and there is a possible rebellion coming in Ireland so the UK could break up.
If the British lose this war their enemies will see them as weak and that could mean the end of the British empire.
The British may have started this was over boarding of ships etc but it is rapidly turning into a fight for the survival of the British empire.
That is a war the British cannot afford to lose.
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