Chapter 1
Chapter 1
1861 - February
Illinois
Damn, Buchanan, President-Elect Abraham Lincoln thought, cursing his soon to be departed predecessor. At least six states are openly in the act of or having completed secession and Buchanan does NOTHING!
The man's assertion that secession was illegal but he had no right to do anything about it did as much to underscore the weakness of America's government than anything Lincoln had experienced in his life of public service. To the best of the Illinoisan's knowledge, Buchanan intended nothing more for the remaining weeks of his presidency but to begin planning his memoirs in order to excuse his criminal lack of action as the country tore itself apart.
And there wasn't a damned thing Lincoln could do about it.
He would have to wait until his inauguration before he could even begin preparations to restore the Union. Though he loathed the expedience, Lincoln was willing to back down on what others called his more "Radical" positions. Granted, while Lincoln had publicly opposed slavery, he never intended to forcibly free the slaves despite the braying fears of the South. By the cries emerging from Charleston and other regions, Lincoln had campaigned on a platform of liberating the Negro by force and then unleashing them upon southern white women.
More than once, Lincoln had regretted Eli Whitney's machine while gave new life decades ago to an institution on the verge of obsolescence. It was obvious now that the structural differences between regions was bound to tear America apart if something wasn't done. Even a public vow not to touch the institution of slavery by Lincoln (which he would otherwise be willing to do) was unlikely to calm Southern passions in any meaningful way. The President-Elect was already reaching the undeniable conclusion that only military force would resolve the issue.
And what of the "Upper Southern States" or northern-most slave states (for all intents and purposes)? Would they follow the Deep South into rebellion?
As it so happened, the Unionist Cause (though at this point, there really wasn't anything yet called a "Unionist Cause" and wouldn't until Buchanan returned to Pennsylvania) was being served by two of the most unexpected persons imaginable in the most remote reaches of the country.
San Antonio
As the Texas Legislature voted overwhelmingly to follow six other states from the Union (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana with Delaware holding a vote and rejecting secession), the Head of the US Army Department of Texas, containing near 20% of the modest peacetime establishment, was celebrating with the Texan secessionists. David Twiggs was a 60ish Georgian whom had already sent a letter to General Winfield Scott assuring him that, should his home state of Georgia secede (as it did on February 1st), that he would resign.
What he did NOT tell General Scott in his letter was that he would surrender his entire command, including his soldiers, supplies, weapons and the 20 US Army facilities in Texas, to the secessionists.
While some of the soldiers, particularly the northerners, would resist, the obvious preponderance of Texas rebels milling around the remote outposts and the southern-born soldiers within the walls, would make any resistance untenable in the long run. Twiggs announcing that the northerners were welcome to depart in peace did little to ease their anxiety.
Then, in the celebrations, the inebriated Georgian would retire to a hotel room and quietly drown in his own vomit.
The second-in-command of the Department of Texas was a Virginian by the name of Colonel Robert E. Lee. A veteran of the Mexican conflict, Lee was considered among the best soldiers in America though he was reaching retirement age as well. As Twiggs' body was discovered the next morning, the Texas Commissioners hastily approached Lee expecting that Twiggs' impending surrender would be unaltered, not with another Southern officer in command.
But Lee, whose home state of Virginia had yet to secede (though Lee feared it inevitably would), had no intention of surrendering the property of a nation he'd served his entire adult life. Lee considered resigning and letting the next officer in line to deal with the situation but could not bring himself to do so. Instead, he calmly explained to the Commissioners that his duty prevented such an action.
Yielding to reason, Lee did accept the resignation of any of the southern officers under his command provided they left peacefully. Lee even turned blind eye as the enlisted men of southern affiliation quietly deserted. Far better to have them outside the walls of the fortifications than within.
Stiffened by Lee's courage, the remaining (predominantly but not exclusively northern) American regulars would abandon several indefensible locations and consolidate their forces in several of the stronger fortifications. Eventually, the Texans would assemble a force to besiege them including the Alamo, where Lee set up his headquarters outside of San Antonio. However, lacking any major siege machinery, the Texans could do little more than harass the regulars. With fewer than 2000 men he could trust, Lee would hold out for several days before negotiating a "withdrawal".
The Texans agreed provided that Lee hand over all equipment. This Lee could not do and the Colonel personally led several raids against the unprepared Texans besieging the Alamo. This scattered the rebels temporarily but Lee knew they'd be back in force. The Virginian ordered the walls of the fort to be leveled by sappers and any goods unable to be carried out via horseback or wagon. The Alamo was abandoned, her walls imploded, soon to be forgotten as the scene was repeated across Texas.
Inefficient rebel leadership prevented a significant assault on the Federal forces. Most of the Texans had assumed that the 1000+ horses, 44 cannon, massive stockpiles of powder and shot, etc, etc, would be handed over to them on a platter by General Twiggs. When Lee's unexpected refusal to abide by Twiggs' agreement/treason, the Texans, already in the throes of attempting to form a wartime government (many high-ranking men expected to form the government were actually travelling East to discuss the formation of the Confederacy at the Provisional Confederate Congress ongoing at this time), simply assumed that the southern officers and enlisted men released from Lee's command would lead the sieges across the State. However, almost immediately, these Mississippians and South Carolinians and Georgians, etc, had promptly ridden east to their own homes, few having any interest in serving Texas.
Gathering his forces and supplies along the way from remote outposts, Lee would manage to cross the Red River into the Indian Territories leading over 2000 regulars, 1000 horse, and all but twelve of the forty-four cannon in Texas as pack animals became scarcer. Lee ordered the latter's fuses spiked, the carriages and trundles burned, bombed exploded in the barrels in an attempt to rupture them (largely failed) and then barrels thrown into the local rivers. Four were eventually recovered by the local rebels but Texas did not possess a capable smithy at the time to return the weapons to use and eventually the barrels were melted down for bullets nearly a year later.
Lee's subordinates unanimously supported their commander's actions in preventing usable military wares falling into the hands of the rebels and Lee was promptly offered a commission by Lincoln in March as a Major General. However, by the time he returned to Washington DC in late April, Virginia had seceded from the Union. Though he personally did not support secession, Colonel Lee could not abide the though of battling fellow Virginians. With a heavy heart, Lee would resign his commission from the Army he'd served with distinction for close to 31 years.
He returned to Virginia in late May expecting an offer of a Commission as General. However, Lee found himself plastered with offal in the streets of Richmond. His refusal to surrender his command in Texas, despite Virginia not having seceded at the time, would cast him as a traitor to his "country" as he called Virginia. As it was, Joseph Johnston, another highly regarded Virginian, would be given the command of the Army of Virginia until it could be merged into the new "Confederate States Army". Instead, Lee was offered a modest commission as an Engineer....with no official rank.
Insulted, Lee would politely decline and return to his family (well, his WIFE's family) house and plantation at Arlington, close to the Capital. Winfield Scott would repeatedly send dispatches begging Lee to accept a Generalship but Lee refused, stating he could not turn arms against his beloved Virginia. He would see out the conflict from his parlor.
Benecia, California
May
The commander of the Department of the Pacific in Benecia, California faced a near identical dilemma. Albert Sidney Johnston was a native Kentuckian who served the American Army in as distinguished a manner as Lee. However, unlike Texas, "free-state" California was much more split down the middle in supporting the Union.
Johnston was an ardent supporter of slavery (though he currently owned none nor any property in his native Kentucky), he opposed secession. Having not lived in Kentucky for years, he was uncertain as to his path. What was NOT up for debate is that he would not buckle under and surrender the Army's California facilities to a handful of what he considered brigands. Lacking numbers as they did in Texas, the pro-Confederates would resort to assembling around Los Angeles with vague talk about merging with Oregon to form a "Pacific Republic" or somehow declaring "neutrality" in the coming conflict as several border states like Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri were publicly debating.
As it was, Johnston was "relieved" in May as the War Department feared he'd defect to the Confederates (which, of course, would make this more likely) and Johnston took his family to Los Angeles where his wife gave birth to his sixth child. Johnston was almost convinced to join a militia called the "Los Angeles Rifles" intent on riding east to join the Confederate Army but his wife's ill health would put this on hold.
By the time his wife recovered and Johnston was at liberty to volunteer for the war, the Union army had complete control over California. Seeing no point in abandoning his young family to clandestinely cross the nation to join a war he hardly approved of in the first place, Johnston instead concentrated on building a new life in California.
1861 - February
Illinois
Damn, Buchanan, President-Elect Abraham Lincoln thought, cursing his soon to be departed predecessor. At least six states are openly in the act of or having completed secession and Buchanan does NOTHING!
The man's assertion that secession was illegal but he had no right to do anything about it did as much to underscore the weakness of America's government than anything Lincoln had experienced in his life of public service. To the best of the Illinoisan's knowledge, Buchanan intended nothing more for the remaining weeks of his presidency but to begin planning his memoirs in order to excuse his criminal lack of action as the country tore itself apart.
And there wasn't a damned thing Lincoln could do about it.
He would have to wait until his inauguration before he could even begin preparations to restore the Union. Though he loathed the expedience, Lincoln was willing to back down on what others called his more "Radical" positions. Granted, while Lincoln had publicly opposed slavery, he never intended to forcibly free the slaves despite the braying fears of the South. By the cries emerging from Charleston and other regions, Lincoln had campaigned on a platform of liberating the Negro by force and then unleashing them upon southern white women.
More than once, Lincoln had regretted Eli Whitney's machine while gave new life decades ago to an institution on the verge of obsolescence. It was obvious now that the structural differences between regions was bound to tear America apart if something wasn't done. Even a public vow not to touch the institution of slavery by Lincoln (which he would otherwise be willing to do) was unlikely to calm Southern passions in any meaningful way. The President-Elect was already reaching the undeniable conclusion that only military force would resolve the issue.
And what of the "Upper Southern States" or northern-most slave states (for all intents and purposes)? Would they follow the Deep South into rebellion?
As it so happened, the Unionist Cause (though at this point, there really wasn't anything yet called a "Unionist Cause" and wouldn't until Buchanan returned to Pennsylvania) was being served by two of the most unexpected persons imaginable in the most remote reaches of the country.
San Antonio
As the Texas Legislature voted overwhelmingly to follow six other states from the Union (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana with Delaware holding a vote and rejecting secession), the Head of the US Army Department of Texas, containing near 20% of the modest peacetime establishment, was celebrating with the Texan secessionists. David Twiggs was a 60ish Georgian whom had already sent a letter to General Winfield Scott assuring him that, should his home state of Georgia secede (as it did on February 1st), that he would resign.
What he did NOT tell General Scott in his letter was that he would surrender his entire command, including his soldiers, supplies, weapons and the 20 US Army facilities in Texas, to the secessionists.
While some of the soldiers, particularly the northerners, would resist, the obvious preponderance of Texas rebels milling around the remote outposts and the southern-born soldiers within the walls, would make any resistance untenable in the long run. Twiggs announcing that the northerners were welcome to depart in peace did little to ease their anxiety.
Then, in the celebrations, the inebriated Georgian would retire to a hotel room and quietly drown in his own vomit.
The second-in-command of the Department of Texas was a Virginian by the name of Colonel Robert E. Lee. A veteran of the Mexican conflict, Lee was considered among the best soldiers in America though he was reaching retirement age as well. As Twiggs' body was discovered the next morning, the Texas Commissioners hastily approached Lee expecting that Twiggs' impending surrender would be unaltered, not with another Southern officer in command.
But Lee, whose home state of Virginia had yet to secede (though Lee feared it inevitably would), had no intention of surrendering the property of a nation he'd served his entire adult life. Lee considered resigning and letting the next officer in line to deal with the situation but could not bring himself to do so. Instead, he calmly explained to the Commissioners that his duty prevented such an action.
Yielding to reason, Lee did accept the resignation of any of the southern officers under his command provided they left peacefully. Lee even turned blind eye as the enlisted men of southern affiliation quietly deserted. Far better to have them outside the walls of the fortifications than within.
Stiffened by Lee's courage, the remaining (predominantly but not exclusively northern) American regulars would abandon several indefensible locations and consolidate their forces in several of the stronger fortifications. Eventually, the Texans would assemble a force to besiege them including the Alamo, where Lee set up his headquarters outside of San Antonio. However, lacking any major siege machinery, the Texans could do little more than harass the regulars. With fewer than 2000 men he could trust, Lee would hold out for several days before negotiating a "withdrawal".
The Texans agreed provided that Lee hand over all equipment. This Lee could not do and the Colonel personally led several raids against the unprepared Texans besieging the Alamo. This scattered the rebels temporarily but Lee knew they'd be back in force. The Virginian ordered the walls of the fort to be leveled by sappers and any goods unable to be carried out via horseback or wagon. The Alamo was abandoned, her walls imploded, soon to be forgotten as the scene was repeated across Texas.
Inefficient rebel leadership prevented a significant assault on the Federal forces. Most of the Texans had assumed that the 1000+ horses, 44 cannon, massive stockpiles of powder and shot, etc, etc, would be handed over to them on a platter by General Twiggs. When Lee's unexpected refusal to abide by Twiggs' agreement/treason, the Texans, already in the throes of attempting to form a wartime government (many high-ranking men expected to form the government were actually travelling East to discuss the formation of the Confederacy at the Provisional Confederate Congress ongoing at this time), simply assumed that the southern officers and enlisted men released from Lee's command would lead the sieges across the State. However, almost immediately, these Mississippians and South Carolinians and Georgians, etc, had promptly ridden east to their own homes, few having any interest in serving Texas.
Gathering his forces and supplies along the way from remote outposts, Lee would manage to cross the Red River into the Indian Territories leading over 2000 regulars, 1000 horse, and all but twelve of the forty-four cannon in Texas as pack animals became scarcer. Lee ordered the latter's fuses spiked, the carriages and trundles burned, bombed exploded in the barrels in an attempt to rupture them (largely failed) and then barrels thrown into the local rivers. Four were eventually recovered by the local rebels but Texas did not possess a capable smithy at the time to return the weapons to use and eventually the barrels were melted down for bullets nearly a year later.
Lee's subordinates unanimously supported their commander's actions in preventing usable military wares falling into the hands of the rebels and Lee was promptly offered a commission by Lincoln in March as a Major General. However, by the time he returned to Washington DC in late April, Virginia had seceded from the Union. Though he personally did not support secession, Colonel Lee could not abide the though of battling fellow Virginians. With a heavy heart, Lee would resign his commission from the Army he'd served with distinction for close to 31 years.
He returned to Virginia in late May expecting an offer of a Commission as General. However, Lee found himself plastered with offal in the streets of Richmond. His refusal to surrender his command in Texas, despite Virginia not having seceded at the time, would cast him as a traitor to his "country" as he called Virginia. As it was, Joseph Johnston, another highly regarded Virginian, would be given the command of the Army of Virginia until it could be merged into the new "Confederate States Army". Instead, Lee was offered a modest commission as an Engineer....with no official rank.
Insulted, Lee would politely decline and return to his family (well, his WIFE's family) house and plantation at Arlington, close to the Capital. Winfield Scott would repeatedly send dispatches begging Lee to accept a Generalship but Lee refused, stating he could not turn arms against his beloved Virginia. He would see out the conflict from his parlor.
Benecia, California
May
The commander of the Department of the Pacific in Benecia, California faced a near identical dilemma. Albert Sidney Johnston was a native Kentuckian who served the American Army in as distinguished a manner as Lee. However, unlike Texas, "free-state" California was much more split down the middle in supporting the Union.
Johnston was an ardent supporter of slavery (though he currently owned none nor any property in his native Kentucky), he opposed secession. Having not lived in Kentucky for years, he was uncertain as to his path. What was NOT up for debate is that he would not buckle under and surrender the Army's California facilities to a handful of what he considered brigands. Lacking numbers as they did in Texas, the pro-Confederates would resort to assembling around Los Angeles with vague talk about merging with Oregon to form a "Pacific Republic" or somehow declaring "neutrality" in the coming conflict as several border states like Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri were publicly debating.
As it was, Johnston was "relieved" in May as the War Department feared he'd defect to the Confederates (which, of course, would make this more likely) and Johnston took his family to Los Angeles where his wife gave birth to his sixth child. Johnston was almost convinced to join a militia called the "Los Angeles Rifles" intent on riding east to join the Confederate Army but his wife's ill health would put this on hold.
By the time his wife recovered and Johnston was at liberty to volunteer for the war, the Union army had complete control over California. Seeing no point in abandoning his young family to clandestinely cross the nation to join a war he hardly approved of in the first place, Johnston instead concentrated on building a new life in California.
