Fifty-Four Forty or Bite!
- Thread starter Thespitron 6000
- Start date
He does have a whole two more years to pull things back together again. It's not impossible.
DAMN.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. Cass's situation just went from desperate to catastrophic.
This is not going to end well. Now Britain will probably insist that the US recognize California at the peace treaty.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. Cass's situation just went from desperate to catastrophic.
This is not going to end well. Now Britain will probably insist that the US recognize California at the peace treaty.
HeavyWeaponsGuy
Banned
Wow I'm such a geek, first thing I think when I see this is "zombies in the Antebellum period? spiffy!"
Just sat down and read all this today. I'm subscribed now!
Awesome timeline. What a time for the North/South tensions to come to a boil! Now it almost seems as if the question is how hard is Britain going to push the US down now that they hold the whip hand again.
Also, was that foreshadowing of Texas going independent again? That would be awesome!
Awesome timeline. What a time for the North/South tensions to come to a boil! Now it almost seems as if the question is how hard is Britain going to push the US down now that they hold the whip hand again.
Also, was that foreshadowing of Texas going independent again? That would be awesome!
Thanks, lothaw. Glad to have you on board! Long post, as always, your thoughts welcome.
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Winter 1849-50: Winfield Scott struggles to recover from the loss of nearly half his command. Going on the offensive in the spring will require a fresh flow of troops, but the ongoing secession crisis makes that unlikely. For Scott, therefore, the question is how to hold on to the gains he has made. After the departure of the Southern volunteer units, Scott has approximately 25,000 men. Rowan at Saint-Denis has around 27,000. Scott therefore focuses on strengthening his fortifications around Quebec and Montreal, expecting the aggressive, competent Rowan to attack hard once spring comes.
January 1850: America reels from the recent secession of eleven states. President Cass cannot believe that the crisis has reached this stage, but quickly reacts, addressing Congress (or, at least, its remaining members) in a joint session, stating “I should rather be impeached and removed from office than see any state removed from the Union.” He is mistaken, however, in assuming that the South’s grievances are limited to a personal dislike of him. Broader and far deeper than any of Cass’s administration had realized, the antipathy of Southerners for the North now constitutes a significant political movement.
Keeping in mind Calhoun’s dictum that the southern states should act in concert, the secessionist governments spend much of the month arranging a conference to decide a joint course of action, once again to be held in Charleston.
January 28, 1850: The Second Charleston Convention opens. No outsiders are allowed to attend, only officially appointed delegates. Some kind of unified government seems necessary; few Southerners think that Cass will willingly allow the secession of the southern states, and if war threatens, the South must fight together. However, the precise structure of this new government is elusive. After several days of debate, the notion of a confederation of states, less restrictive and centralized than the United States, is advanced, and quickly becomes popular among delegates.
February 5, 1850: The delegates at the Second Charleston Convention vote unanimously to unite into a confederation. The new country will be called the Confederate States of America. The delegates send word of the new government to the state governments, and begin work on a constitution.
February 6, 1850: Cass convenes his cabinet to discuss possible solutions to the Secession Crisis. Although the Cass Administration is aware that the Southerners intend to form a new national government, it is still believed that a peaceful resolution might be found that will bring the wayward states back into the Union.
Vice-President Polk suggests a peace conference, between North and South, to resolve their differences. No other workable suggestions are found; Secretary of War William Marcy is privately instructed by President Cass to begin war planning, in the event that Polk’s proposed peace conference fails.
February 19, 1850: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is completed. It is very similar in wording to the Constitution of the United States, with a few key differences. Slavery is enshrined in the new Constitution, and much of the Confederate government’s power is restricted, especially governing interstate commerce. However, many of the Confederate war powers remain; the new government is preparing, ominously, to defend their new nation against possible “Northern aggression.”
The Convention wishes to name John C. Calhoun as president, but Calhoun’s ill-health makes that unreasonable. Instead, Calhoun is given the title of “President Emeritus” as a mark of honor for his long campaign for states’ rights. Instead, the position of President is given to the governor of North Carolina, William Alexander Graham. Augustus Longstreet, a fiery defender of slavery originally from Georgia, is appointed Vice-President. Alexander Stephens, the young man whose letter initiated the first Charleston Convention, is voted President of the new Confederate Senate.
February 20, 1850: Native Marylander and Confederate supporter Richard Andrews sneaks across the Maryland border into Washington D.C. If war comes, the Union capital may have to be moved, but for the moment, the business of government continues. Andrews carries with him documents intended for John Bloomfield, the British envoy to the United States. Andrews manages to make it to the British mission on Connecticut Avenue, and presents the documents to Bloomfield. Chief among them is a letter from Confederate President Graham, extending the hand of friendship to Great Britain, announcing the formation of the new nation, and requesting a normalization of relations between the Confederacy and the United Kingdom.
Bloomfield reads the documents, and swiftly pens a letter to Graham, informing him that while Great Britain is of course welcome to the notion of restoring peace between the United States and herself, any recognition of the breakaway nation would need to issue from the Prime Minister’s office and Royal approval. This letter is sent back with Andrews to head for Charleston, the de facto Confederate capital. Bloomfield immediately forwards the Confederate documents on to London.
February 23, 1850: The Confederacy reacts with mild approval to Polk’s notion of a peace conference. At the moment, they need time; time for their diplomatic overtures to Britain to succeed, and time to organize their military forces. The date of the conference is set for April 8.
March 7, 1850: President Graham’s letter, sent on by John Bloomfield, arrives in London. Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, is beside himself with glee at the United States’ situation. The rest of Britain, on the other hand, is less sanguine. The Confederacy is a slaveholding power, and Britain has a politically influential abolitionist movement. Public sentiment is mixed: some favor anything that weakens the United States, but others are concerned about the possible spread of slavery. In light of public opinion, Prime Minister Russell decides to hold back on any official recognition of the new Confederacy.
March 11, 1850: Lord Palmerston has had the weekend to think about the ramifications of recognizing the Confederacy, and decides to do it anyway, regardless of what Russell says. In private, he writes a letter to President Graham congratulating him on the success of his new nation and expressing the hope that the two nations, the Confederacy and Great Britain, will quickly normalize relations, thus ending British military action against the southern states. This letter is dispatched in secret; Palmerston regards foreign diplomacy as his own fief, and has no desire to let Russell meddle.
March 12, 1850: Jefferson Davis, returning to South Carolina from Mississippi, is informed by President Graham that Graham intends to make him a general in the new Confederate Army. Davis is enormously flattered, but is concerned he is not experienced enough. Graham overrides his concerns, pointing out that Davis is a military and national hero, and the South needs heroes at this time.
Still, the challenge in front of Davis is enormous. The volunteer militias must be recalled and transformed into an actual, national army, new units must be raised, supply lines must be laid down, and all this must be done without spooking the North too much. Davis sets to work with brio.
March 14, 1850: Word reaches Panama City that the British have lifted the blockade of Californian ports. Thousands of Forty-Eighters, who had reached the west coast of Panama only to find the way on to San Francisco blocked, resume their journey to California, bringing with them much needed supplies.
March 18, 1850: Major General Jefferson Davis, currently commander of the Confederate Army, issues orders that all United States Army posts in the South are to be confiscated by the new Confederate Army, peacefully if at all possible. Most forts throughout the South are already in Confederate hands; those that aren’t, quickly surrender.
Fort Bowyer, located on a peninsula off Mobile, Alabama, does not. On March 23, its small garrison refuses to surrender. Surrounded by British warships and Confederate troops, the gesture is courageous but foolhardy. The Confederacy, not content to allow this vital fort to remain in Union hands, lays siege.
March 23, 1850: Lord Palmerston’s letter is delivered to President Graham in Charleston. Graham is unaware that Palmerston is acting outside his brief; he believes that the Foreign Secretary has the backing of Lord Russell’s government. Delighted, Graham informs the newly formed Confederate Congress that they have been recognized as a sovereign nation by the United Kingdom. Reports of this diplomatic coup are published in the Charleston Courier and other Southern newspapers.
March 26, 1850: Via telegraph, President Lewis Cass has received word that the Confederacy has been recognized by Great Britain. Worse news could not be imagined. In Canada, the campaign season is about to begin, and Cass cannot afford to fight a war with the South while occupied on his northern border. All his hopes now rest with the peace conference.
Aware of the Fort Bowyer crisis, Cass has decided to order the surrender of the fort to the South. While this means losing face, he hopes it will be received in the South as a gesture of goodwill before the peace conference.
April 1, 1850: Thanks to the telegraph, Cass’s order to surrender Fort Bowyer can be at the fort in just six days. The garrison commander is both alarmed and appalled. The President can’t be serious, can he? Deciding there must have been some error, the commander sends back a message asking for clarification. In the meantime, he will continue to hold his post.
The Confederate troops outside the fort are starting to get bored and irritated. They want the Union troops inside to surrender, and to do it fast.
April 7, 1850: The Fort Bowyer commander’s message arrives in Washington D.C. Slightly put out, President Cass responds by reiterating his original message, and clarifies that the commander is to surrender immediately and in person to the Confederate commander as a gesture of goodwill.
April 8, 1850: The Washington Peace Conference opens. Vice-President James Polk is the chairman. The Southern states have dutifully sent delegates; they are all Confederate loyalists, and have been instructed to obstruct and delay the proceedings as long as possible. The Confederates do not believe that any genuine reconciliation is possible at this point; the differences between North and South are quite simply too great. Therefore, their only goal is to play for time.
Polk opens with what he hopes will be a stirring and inspirational speech. He has high hopes for the Conference; it seems that war between the breakaway states and the Union is imminent. From Polk’s point of view, that would be disastrous. So he is careful to draw attention in his speech to America’s long traditions of compromise, of mutual respect, and of fellowship. So caught up in his own vision of America is he that he fails to see the obvious boredom on the faces of the Southern delegates. Once Polk is finished, the leader of the Southern legation, Howell Cobb, politely and firmly lays out the Confederate position: Cass’s war is illegal, their own external trade has been decimated, and their internal security threatened. They want an end to the war, reparations from the Federal government, and slavery to be institutionalized in the Constitution.
Predictably, the Conference devolves into chaos as soon as Cobb finishes. The Northern delegates are outraged, the Southerners defensive. Polk’s high-mindedness has gone right out the window.
April 9, 1850: A quiet night in most of Mobile, Alabama. Mobile Point, the site of Fort Bowyer, is currently occupied by a small force of 100 Confederate volunteers, who have been tasked with keeping an eye on the Federal forces, also quite small, inside the fort. The volunteers are ill-trained and jumpy. Many have joined up because they want a chance to shoot at some Yankees.
At around 1 a.m. the Fort Bowyer guard changes. While climbing onto the parapet, one of the new guards trips and drops his lantern. Breaking open, the lantern spills oil everywhere, which flashes momentarily into flame.
The Confederate volunteers are startled to see a sudden flash of flame from the fort. For the past few weeks, messengers have been coming and going to the fort. Is this some kind of sneak attack, a cannon being fired at them? Twitchy and on edge as it is, the early morning and sleepless night does little for their reflexes, and several young men take aim at the fort with their rifles and open fire.
The Fort Bowyer garrison reacts predictably: believing themselves to be under attack by the Confederates, they return fire. In the dark it is impossible to hit anyone, and come morning, there have been no fatalities during the short-lived exchange.
However, shots have been fired between Union and Confederate troops. In the morning, the Confederate commander decides that the Federal troops will not be surrendering. He orders his small complement of artillery to begin bombarding the fort.
April 10, 1850: Third Battle of Quebec, Day One: The Canadian campaign season has begun. For the first time, Scott is on the defensive; his fortifications around Quebec are almost titanic, ringing the city with an impenetrable barrier of ditches, berms, moats, and walls. Rowan, for his part, has gone on the offensive. When his army arrives at Quebec he is almost tempted to give up and go home. The place is impregnable. Still, Rowan is no quitter. He has two options: ignore Quebec and attack someplace else, like Montreal, or lay siege. The first is completely impractical, as doing so would leave a powerful army at his back. A siege it is, then.
Scott is well prepared for a siege. If he lacks men, he makes up for it in supplies. The entirety of the winter, he has been bringing up munitions and food. His goal is simple: force Rowan to assault the city, and in doing so make sure the British take heavy casualties.
April 12, 1850: After three days bombardment, Fort Bowyer surrenders, just hours before Cass’s messenger arrives instructing them to do so. The damage has been done.
April 14, 1850: “The Last Peaceful Sunday”: Word arrives in Washington D.C. and in Charleston of what is being called the Battle of Fort Bowyer. Positions harden on both sides. For the Southerners, it is a sign that the North will not willingly leave the Confederacy to its own devices. To the Union, it is a shocking, unprovoked attack on Union soldiers by the Confederacy.
April 15, 1850: Britain’s political class is stunned to learn that the United Kingdom has recognized the Confederacy; this is the first they’ve heard of it, and they are hearing of it from an unlikely source: Southern newspapers, just now arriving from ships out of port cities such as Charleston. The Times of London runs the story on the front page. The article is notable in the emphasis it places on slavery. In Parliament, the opposition reacts with outrage. Russell’s government had no mandate to recognize the Confederacy, and the leaders of the opposition, Robert Peel and Edward Smith-Stanley, are extremely vocal in their condemnation of Russell’s perceived actions.
Russell, for his part, is baffled and furious. He has given specific instructions that the Confederacy was not to be recognized, and Palmerston ignored him.
In Washington, the Peace Conference has ground to a halt. The Confederates and Federals both are demanding the other side apologize for the Fort Bowyer incident. Neither side will budge. At 2:30 p.m. the Confederate delegation abruptly stands and leaves. Only Howell Cobb remains, and he informs Vice-President Polk that, unfortunately, “the great chains that once harnessed our nation to you have been severed, irrevocably, by your own rifles and your own cannon. We shall defend ourselves with ours.”
April 18, 1850: Although Russell is quick to distance himself from Palmerston’s actions, his administration has been dealt a fatal blow. Always perceived as weak, Russell is now seen as unable to reign in his subordinates. Parliament convenes, and a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister is introduced.
Third Battle of Quebec, Day Eight: Exchanges between British and American troops have been light for the past week. Rowan is no fool, and against the massive fortifications of Quebec his only hope is to starve the Americans out. The Americans, meanwhile, are on strict rations, but are nowhere near starving. Scott calculates he can last months before he runs out of food or bullets. For the people of Quebec, however, the prospect of a third siege in as many years is a nightmare, but they can do little with a massive American occupying army in their city.
April 19, 1850: The motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister passes. Russell’s government collapses.
President Lewis Cass addresses Congress. Admitting that the war in Canada has been less than successful, he nonetheless argues that now, at this time, the Union must draw together, and cannot allow itself to be broken apart. It is one union, indivisible. “Our brethren to the South have chosen the path of violence. They have staked out the road of war, to be lain down by their cannon and their soldiers. They have done so brutally, without provocation and without shame. And so, to preserve our union, we must sadly take up arms against our brothers, so that the error of their ways might be made plain to them, as plain as a cannon shot.” Cass calls for 90,000 troops to be provided to restore the secessionist states to the Union.
The American Civil War has begun.
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NB: Palmerston really did cause the collapse of Russell's government OTL; he just did it by recognizing Napoleon III's coup in 1851, rather than Confederate independence.
It wasn't my plan for the siege of Fort Bowyer to happen at the same time (eleven years earlier) as the Battle of Fort Sumter, it just worked out that way. But U.S. Army forts are going to be an issue between USA and CSA in any ACW TL.
---------------------------------------------------
Winter 1849-50: Winfield Scott struggles to recover from the loss of nearly half his command. Going on the offensive in the spring will require a fresh flow of troops, but the ongoing secession crisis makes that unlikely. For Scott, therefore, the question is how to hold on to the gains he has made. After the departure of the Southern volunteer units, Scott has approximately 25,000 men. Rowan at Saint-Denis has around 27,000. Scott therefore focuses on strengthening his fortifications around Quebec and Montreal, expecting the aggressive, competent Rowan to attack hard once spring comes.
January 1850: America reels from the recent secession of eleven states. President Cass cannot believe that the crisis has reached this stage, but quickly reacts, addressing Congress (or, at least, its remaining members) in a joint session, stating “I should rather be impeached and removed from office than see any state removed from the Union.” He is mistaken, however, in assuming that the South’s grievances are limited to a personal dislike of him. Broader and far deeper than any of Cass’s administration had realized, the antipathy of Southerners for the North now constitutes a significant political movement.
Keeping in mind Calhoun’s dictum that the southern states should act in concert, the secessionist governments spend much of the month arranging a conference to decide a joint course of action, once again to be held in Charleston.
January 28, 1850: The Second Charleston Convention opens. No outsiders are allowed to attend, only officially appointed delegates. Some kind of unified government seems necessary; few Southerners think that Cass will willingly allow the secession of the southern states, and if war threatens, the South must fight together. However, the precise structure of this new government is elusive. After several days of debate, the notion of a confederation of states, less restrictive and centralized than the United States, is advanced, and quickly becomes popular among delegates.
February 5, 1850: The delegates at the Second Charleston Convention vote unanimously to unite into a confederation. The new country will be called the Confederate States of America. The delegates send word of the new government to the state governments, and begin work on a constitution.
February 6, 1850: Cass convenes his cabinet to discuss possible solutions to the Secession Crisis. Although the Cass Administration is aware that the Southerners intend to form a new national government, it is still believed that a peaceful resolution might be found that will bring the wayward states back into the Union.
Vice-President Polk suggests a peace conference, between North and South, to resolve their differences. No other workable suggestions are found; Secretary of War William Marcy is privately instructed by President Cass to begin war planning, in the event that Polk’s proposed peace conference fails.
February 19, 1850: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is completed. It is very similar in wording to the Constitution of the United States, with a few key differences. Slavery is enshrined in the new Constitution, and much of the Confederate government’s power is restricted, especially governing interstate commerce. However, many of the Confederate war powers remain; the new government is preparing, ominously, to defend their new nation against possible “Northern aggression.”
The Convention wishes to name John C. Calhoun as president, but Calhoun’s ill-health makes that unreasonable. Instead, Calhoun is given the title of “President Emeritus” as a mark of honor for his long campaign for states’ rights. Instead, the position of President is given to the governor of North Carolina, William Alexander Graham. Augustus Longstreet, a fiery defender of slavery originally from Georgia, is appointed Vice-President. Alexander Stephens, the young man whose letter initiated the first Charleston Convention, is voted President of the new Confederate Senate.
February 20, 1850: Native Marylander and Confederate supporter Richard Andrews sneaks across the Maryland border into Washington D.C. If war comes, the Union capital may have to be moved, but for the moment, the business of government continues. Andrews carries with him documents intended for John Bloomfield, the British envoy to the United States. Andrews manages to make it to the British mission on Connecticut Avenue, and presents the documents to Bloomfield. Chief among them is a letter from Confederate President Graham, extending the hand of friendship to Great Britain, announcing the formation of the new nation, and requesting a normalization of relations between the Confederacy and the United Kingdom.
Bloomfield reads the documents, and swiftly pens a letter to Graham, informing him that while Great Britain is of course welcome to the notion of restoring peace between the United States and herself, any recognition of the breakaway nation would need to issue from the Prime Minister’s office and Royal approval. This letter is sent back with Andrews to head for Charleston, the de facto Confederate capital. Bloomfield immediately forwards the Confederate documents on to London.
February 23, 1850: The Confederacy reacts with mild approval to Polk’s notion of a peace conference. At the moment, they need time; time for their diplomatic overtures to Britain to succeed, and time to organize their military forces. The date of the conference is set for April 8.
March 7, 1850: President Graham’s letter, sent on by John Bloomfield, arrives in London. Lord Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary, is beside himself with glee at the United States’ situation. The rest of Britain, on the other hand, is less sanguine. The Confederacy is a slaveholding power, and Britain has a politically influential abolitionist movement. Public sentiment is mixed: some favor anything that weakens the United States, but others are concerned about the possible spread of slavery. In light of public opinion, Prime Minister Russell decides to hold back on any official recognition of the new Confederacy.
March 11, 1850: Lord Palmerston has had the weekend to think about the ramifications of recognizing the Confederacy, and decides to do it anyway, regardless of what Russell says. In private, he writes a letter to President Graham congratulating him on the success of his new nation and expressing the hope that the two nations, the Confederacy and Great Britain, will quickly normalize relations, thus ending British military action against the southern states. This letter is dispatched in secret; Palmerston regards foreign diplomacy as his own fief, and has no desire to let Russell meddle.
March 12, 1850: Jefferson Davis, returning to South Carolina from Mississippi, is informed by President Graham that Graham intends to make him a general in the new Confederate Army. Davis is enormously flattered, but is concerned he is not experienced enough. Graham overrides his concerns, pointing out that Davis is a military and national hero, and the South needs heroes at this time.
Still, the challenge in front of Davis is enormous. The volunteer militias must be recalled and transformed into an actual, national army, new units must be raised, supply lines must be laid down, and all this must be done without spooking the North too much. Davis sets to work with brio.
March 14, 1850: Word reaches Panama City that the British have lifted the blockade of Californian ports. Thousands of Forty-Eighters, who had reached the west coast of Panama only to find the way on to San Francisco blocked, resume their journey to California, bringing with them much needed supplies.
March 18, 1850: Major General Jefferson Davis, currently commander of the Confederate Army, issues orders that all United States Army posts in the South are to be confiscated by the new Confederate Army, peacefully if at all possible. Most forts throughout the South are already in Confederate hands; those that aren’t, quickly surrender.
Fort Bowyer, located on a peninsula off Mobile, Alabama, does not. On March 23, its small garrison refuses to surrender. Surrounded by British warships and Confederate troops, the gesture is courageous but foolhardy. The Confederacy, not content to allow this vital fort to remain in Union hands, lays siege.
March 23, 1850: Lord Palmerston’s letter is delivered to President Graham in Charleston. Graham is unaware that Palmerston is acting outside his brief; he believes that the Foreign Secretary has the backing of Lord Russell’s government. Delighted, Graham informs the newly formed Confederate Congress that they have been recognized as a sovereign nation by the United Kingdom. Reports of this diplomatic coup are published in the Charleston Courier and other Southern newspapers.
March 26, 1850: Via telegraph, President Lewis Cass has received word that the Confederacy has been recognized by Great Britain. Worse news could not be imagined. In Canada, the campaign season is about to begin, and Cass cannot afford to fight a war with the South while occupied on his northern border. All his hopes now rest with the peace conference.
Aware of the Fort Bowyer crisis, Cass has decided to order the surrender of the fort to the South. While this means losing face, he hopes it will be received in the South as a gesture of goodwill before the peace conference.
April 1, 1850: Thanks to the telegraph, Cass’s order to surrender Fort Bowyer can be at the fort in just six days. The garrison commander is both alarmed and appalled. The President can’t be serious, can he? Deciding there must have been some error, the commander sends back a message asking for clarification. In the meantime, he will continue to hold his post.
The Confederate troops outside the fort are starting to get bored and irritated. They want the Union troops inside to surrender, and to do it fast.
April 7, 1850: The Fort Bowyer commander’s message arrives in Washington D.C. Slightly put out, President Cass responds by reiterating his original message, and clarifies that the commander is to surrender immediately and in person to the Confederate commander as a gesture of goodwill.
April 8, 1850: The Washington Peace Conference opens. Vice-President James Polk is the chairman. The Southern states have dutifully sent delegates; they are all Confederate loyalists, and have been instructed to obstruct and delay the proceedings as long as possible. The Confederates do not believe that any genuine reconciliation is possible at this point; the differences between North and South are quite simply too great. Therefore, their only goal is to play for time.
Polk opens with what he hopes will be a stirring and inspirational speech. He has high hopes for the Conference; it seems that war between the breakaway states and the Union is imminent. From Polk’s point of view, that would be disastrous. So he is careful to draw attention in his speech to America’s long traditions of compromise, of mutual respect, and of fellowship. So caught up in his own vision of America is he that he fails to see the obvious boredom on the faces of the Southern delegates. Once Polk is finished, the leader of the Southern legation, Howell Cobb, politely and firmly lays out the Confederate position: Cass’s war is illegal, their own external trade has been decimated, and their internal security threatened. They want an end to the war, reparations from the Federal government, and slavery to be institutionalized in the Constitution.
Predictably, the Conference devolves into chaos as soon as Cobb finishes. The Northern delegates are outraged, the Southerners defensive. Polk’s high-mindedness has gone right out the window.
April 9, 1850: A quiet night in most of Mobile, Alabama. Mobile Point, the site of Fort Bowyer, is currently occupied by a small force of 100 Confederate volunteers, who have been tasked with keeping an eye on the Federal forces, also quite small, inside the fort. The volunteers are ill-trained and jumpy. Many have joined up because they want a chance to shoot at some Yankees.
At around 1 a.m. the Fort Bowyer guard changes. While climbing onto the parapet, one of the new guards trips and drops his lantern. Breaking open, the lantern spills oil everywhere, which flashes momentarily into flame.
The Confederate volunteers are startled to see a sudden flash of flame from the fort. For the past few weeks, messengers have been coming and going to the fort. Is this some kind of sneak attack, a cannon being fired at them? Twitchy and on edge as it is, the early morning and sleepless night does little for their reflexes, and several young men take aim at the fort with their rifles and open fire.
The Fort Bowyer garrison reacts predictably: believing themselves to be under attack by the Confederates, they return fire. In the dark it is impossible to hit anyone, and come morning, there have been no fatalities during the short-lived exchange.
However, shots have been fired between Union and Confederate troops. In the morning, the Confederate commander decides that the Federal troops will not be surrendering. He orders his small complement of artillery to begin bombarding the fort.
April 10, 1850: Third Battle of Quebec, Day One: The Canadian campaign season has begun. For the first time, Scott is on the defensive; his fortifications around Quebec are almost titanic, ringing the city with an impenetrable barrier of ditches, berms, moats, and walls. Rowan, for his part, has gone on the offensive. When his army arrives at Quebec he is almost tempted to give up and go home. The place is impregnable. Still, Rowan is no quitter. He has two options: ignore Quebec and attack someplace else, like Montreal, or lay siege. The first is completely impractical, as doing so would leave a powerful army at his back. A siege it is, then.
Scott is well prepared for a siege. If he lacks men, he makes up for it in supplies. The entirety of the winter, he has been bringing up munitions and food. His goal is simple: force Rowan to assault the city, and in doing so make sure the British take heavy casualties.
April 12, 1850: After three days bombardment, Fort Bowyer surrenders, just hours before Cass’s messenger arrives instructing them to do so. The damage has been done.
April 14, 1850: “The Last Peaceful Sunday”: Word arrives in Washington D.C. and in Charleston of what is being called the Battle of Fort Bowyer. Positions harden on both sides. For the Southerners, it is a sign that the North will not willingly leave the Confederacy to its own devices. To the Union, it is a shocking, unprovoked attack on Union soldiers by the Confederacy.
April 15, 1850: Britain’s political class is stunned to learn that the United Kingdom has recognized the Confederacy; this is the first they’ve heard of it, and they are hearing of it from an unlikely source: Southern newspapers, just now arriving from ships out of port cities such as Charleston. The Times of London runs the story on the front page. The article is notable in the emphasis it places on slavery. In Parliament, the opposition reacts with outrage. Russell’s government had no mandate to recognize the Confederacy, and the leaders of the opposition, Robert Peel and Edward Smith-Stanley, are extremely vocal in their condemnation of Russell’s perceived actions.
Russell, for his part, is baffled and furious. He has given specific instructions that the Confederacy was not to be recognized, and Palmerston ignored him.
In Washington, the Peace Conference has ground to a halt. The Confederates and Federals both are demanding the other side apologize for the Fort Bowyer incident. Neither side will budge. At 2:30 p.m. the Confederate delegation abruptly stands and leaves. Only Howell Cobb remains, and he informs Vice-President Polk that, unfortunately, “the great chains that once harnessed our nation to you have been severed, irrevocably, by your own rifles and your own cannon. We shall defend ourselves with ours.”
April 18, 1850: Although Russell is quick to distance himself from Palmerston’s actions, his administration has been dealt a fatal blow. Always perceived as weak, Russell is now seen as unable to reign in his subordinates. Parliament convenes, and a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister is introduced.
Third Battle of Quebec, Day Eight: Exchanges between British and American troops have been light for the past week. Rowan is no fool, and against the massive fortifications of Quebec his only hope is to starve the Americans out. The Americans, meanwhile, are on strict rations, but are nowhere near starving. Scott calculates he can last months before he runs out of food or bullets. For the people of Quebec, however, the prospect of a third siege in as many years is a nightmare, but they can do little with a massive American occupying army in their city.
April 19, 1850: The motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister passes. Russell’s government collapses.
President Lewis Cass addresses Congress. Admitting that the war in Canada has been less than successful, he nonetheless argues that now, at this time, the Union must draw together, and cannot allow itself to be broken apart. It is one union, indivisible. “Our brethren to the South have chosen the path of violence. They have staked out the road of war, to be lain down by their cannon and their soldiers. They have done so brutally, without provocation and without shame. And so, to preserve our union, we must sadly take up arms against our brothers, so that the error of their ways might be made plain to them, as plain as a cannon shot.” Cass calls for 90,000 troops to be provided to restore the secessionist states to the Union.
The American Civil War has begun.
----------------------------------------------
NB: Palmerston really did cause the collapse of Russell's government OTL; he just did it by recognizing Napoleon III's coup in 1851, rather than Confederate independence.
It wasn't my plan for the siege of Fort Bowyer to happen at the same time (eleven years earlier) as the Battle of Fort Sumter, it just worked out that way. But U.S. Army forts are going to be an issue between USA and CSA in any ACW TL.
Well thats interesting... they (C & NM) better hope they get Br. recognition and protection...
Absent that Mexico could perhaps try and undo some of their losses. The logistics are horrible but a campaign into southern New Mexico is doable and I suspect the Mexicans could exact some concessions in that area say south of the Colorado. Then there is southern California dominated largely by the Californios. I suspect Mexican diplomats are also getting busy once this becomes known in Mexico City, and they should hear about it before the Americans themselves and can get busy with their own representations in London and San Fran. Just read the post on the collapse of Russell's gov't and this likely strengthens the Mexicans hand considerably with respect to the new state considering the US has now devolved into Civil War as well and unable to act if mexico chooses. With the British gobv't in transition...an expedient compromise would seem to be the order of the day from the Br. point of view...then again....perhaps this is why the Golden republic is only until 1850, completely reoccupied by Mexico?
California south of the Tehachapis perhaps through the Mojave to the Colorado. The Br. probably don't want another combatant on their plate nor the burden of protecting C and NM from Mexico while dealing with the US. Concessions in still largely Mexican populated areas is a small price to pay for independence and preserving the peace in the west and gaining mexican recognition and goodwill. Of course all that California Gold could buy territory and continued good will from Mexico as well. mexico gets paid handsomely for the terr. lost...a second time.
Like I said, expect Mexican diplomats to be busy. london and San Francisco first, and then Washington after things are sewn up to their satisfaction with San Francisco and London. you may be adding a third party to the disputed terr.'s if I am not mistaken very shortly and the south of California will be hotly contested as well If those bandits under the former Mexican have anything to say. At the very least they will want San Diego back to add to Baja.
Absent that Mexico could perhaps try and undo some of their losses. The logistics are horrible but a campaign into southern New Mexico is doable and I suspect the Mexicans could exact some concessions in that area say south of the Colorado. Then there is southern California dominated largely by the Californios. I suspect Mexican diplomats are also getting busy once this becomes known in Mexico City, and they should hear about it before the Americans themselves and can get busy with their own representations in London and San Fran. Just read the post on the collapse of Russell's gov't and this likely strengthens the Mexicans hand considerably with respect to the new state considering the US has now devolved into Civil War as well and unable to act if mexico chooses. With the British gobv't in transition...an expedient compromise would seem to be the order of the day from the Br. point of view...then again....perhaps this is why the Golden republic is only until 1850, completely reoccupied by Mexico?
California south of the Tehachapis perhaps through the Mojave to the Colorado. The Br. probably don't want another combatant on their plate nor the burden of protecting C and NM from Mexico while dealing with the US. Concessions in still largely Mexican populated areas is a small price to pay for independence and preserving the peace in the west and gaining mexican recognition and goodwill. Of course all that California Gold could buy territory and continued good will from Mexico as well. mexico gets paid handsomely for the terr. lost...a second time.
Like I said, expect Mexican diplomats to be busy. london and San Francisco first, and then Washington after things are sewn up to their satisfaction with San Francisco and London. you may be adding a third party to the disputed terr.'s if I am not mistaken very shortly and the south of California will be hotly contested as well If those bandits under the former Mexican have anything to say. At the very least they will want San Diego back to add to Baja.
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I wrote this pretty fast, so if it's unclear please let me know.
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April - May, 1850: The failure of the Washington Peace Conference triggers a month of complex diplomatic chess. In Mexico, President Jose Joaquin de Herrera has known of the independence of California for nearly a month. Intensely aware of Californian vulnerability, de Herrera desires the wealth that the California gold fields represent. Now that California is independent, it may be possible for Mexico to conquer her wayward province again. But the American army still occupies Mexico City and other key points, a fact that makes any movement against California impossible. The force remaining is skeletal after the loss of the Southern volunteer units, but still remains as a diplomatic obstacle. With the increased tensions between North and South in the United States, President Cass may be required to recall the remaining occupying forces, and de Herrera is very much aware of this fact. The Mexican ambassador in Washington, D.C., has been sent specific instructions on how to handle any war crisis in America. Once the Civil War begins, he travels to the White House, politely requesting renormalization of relations between Mexico and the removal of troops from Mexico. James Buchanan, Cass’s secretary of state, does not know yet of Californian independence; with the war crisis, he advocates to the President the withdrawal of General William Butler’s troops from Mexico and the speedy dispatch of them to the Texan- Louisiana border. Cass agrees, and dispatches orders that Butler is to withdraw from Mexico forthwith. The Mexicans have won a major diplomatic coup, and the Americans do not even know it yet.
In Britain, the collapse of Russell’s government leaves the country leaderless. With the Whigs temporarily in disgrace, the Conservatives, although in the minority, must form a government. The only question is who is to lead: Robert Peel or Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Stanley. Peel, for many years the leader of the Conservatives, was responsible for the failure of the last Tory government when he supported the repeal of the Corn Laws, an unpopular initiative. Since then, he has drifted away from the mainstream of Conservative thought. Yet he still has significant influence. Smith-Stanley, on the other hand, does not stand so high in the public esteem, but leads the majority of Tories in Parliament. Eventually, the Queen elects to ask Lord Stanley to form a government. Stanley, recognizing the need for a strong government during the war and the need for Conservative unity, approaches Peel about a combined ministry. Peel is intrigued, but wants one of the Great Offices of State in exchange for joining the government. After the Corn Laws debacle, Peel as Chancellor of the Exchequer is unthinkable. Instead, Stanley agrees to give Peel the office of Home Secretary. Since the majority of Tories will not support a Peelite in the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, a neophyte to high office, is named Chancellor. As a sop to the Peelites, William Gladstone is named Foreign Secretary, replacing Lord Palmerston.
The first matter on the plate of the new government is the diplomatic standing of the Confederacy. While the Tories despise slavery, it is obvious that an independent South has many benefits for Great Britain. Gladstone, therefore, suggests a moderate course. Stanley’s government will not officially recognize the new nation, but instead unofficially assume a spirit of neutral friendship. This will allow the Royal Navy to remove their ships from Southern ports and use them to hammer the United States into submission. On May 9, Gladstone drafts this new policy and instructs the Admiralty to put it into effect.
In Washington, the Federal government prepares to evacuate. Surrounded on every side by the Confederacy, Washington is no longer a fitting city for the capitol. Instead, Philadelphia will be the new site of the United States government. Due to the proximity of Maryland to the new capitol, Manhattan is being prepared as a secondary site.
Congress has approved Cass’s request for troops. For the moment, both the Senate and the House are dominated by the Democrats, and although America is becoming increasingly war-weary, few can countenance the idea of the Union being split in twain. Young men who have failed to see combat in Canada now come forward, some with enthusiasm, but many with reluctance. Among the eager joiners is a 10-year-old boy from Ohio who wants to be a company drummer, George Armstrong Custer, and a twenty-seven-year-old lawyer from New York, John Jacob Astor.
As Cass’s “Army of the Republic” begins to swell in size, he looks around for a general to lead it. Winfield Scott, fighting so implacably in Canada, is still needed there. William Harney, while still commanding an army in the field, is in disgrace for massacring surrendered British officers. William Worth volunteers, but Cass assigns him to the West, not entirely trusting the capability of Worth after the Battle of Montmagny. Robert E. Lee, a possible candidate for promotion, is cunning, respected, and experienced, but he is a Virginian, and has expressed to General Scott that he will not fight against his home state. Content to leave Lee in Canada against the British, Cass turns to the only man left: Zachary Taylor, the hero of Toronto. Taylor, although originally from Virginia, grew up in Kentucky, a state which did not secede. A convinced nationalist, he does not believe that secession is legal. Returning from Canada upon receiving Cass’s request to join him in Philadelphia, Taylor reflects on his new position, the greatest challenge of his life.
In California, food slowly begins to trickle back into the starving nation. On April 2, a constitution, largely based on the American one, is written by a small congress of prominent Californians. Although they have no legal standing to adopt the Constitution, in their occupations they represent most of California’s population. Deciding that their new nation needs a firm democratic foundation, Fremont and his followers elect to put the matter of the Constitution to the general public. On July 4, 1850, a general plebiscite will be held on whether the new country will adopt the Constitution as written.
With the arrival of food and news from the outside, the mood in San Francisco, the new capitol of the Union of California and New Mexico, is ebullient. But Fremont, who is serving as chief executive and effective dictator, is aware of how precarious the new nation’s status is. Mexico threatens from the south, and it is doubtful the United States will look kindly on the separation of a large chunk of its western territory. At this time, no one in California is aware that a civil war is brewing in the East.
Deciding to deal with the Mexicans first, Fremont establishes with the help of his “cabinet” (actually a small clique of his close friends) the Californian Army, which is to recruit, train, and arm soldiers for defense of the new nation. John W. Geary, the mayor of San Francisco and a veteran of the Mexican-American War, is named by Fremont as commander of the “Army of the Sierra Nevada.” Persifor Frazer Smith, a Union general from the South who has elected to side with the Californians, is named by Fremont Secretary of War and the commander of the “Army of the Pacific.” At this point, both armies exist only on paper.
In Charleston, the capitol of the Confederacy, the Confederate government is baffled by events in Britain. First they are recognized by the British government, then Russell’s ministry falls, and now they discover that the new government is rescinding their recognition? President Graham and his aides are confused. Still, their mood is cautiously optimistic; as May ends, the British warships blockading their ports gradually withdraw. Things are looking up.
For Winfield Scott, the Siege of Quebec continues. It has been seven weeks since the start of the siege, and so far the two armies have only managed pinpricks at each other. Still, he can afford to be patient. He has plenty of supplies. Let Rowan waste his men on pointless, hopeless assaults.
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Your thoughts?
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April - May, 1850: The failure of the Washington Peace Conference triggers a month of complex diplomatic chess. In Mexico, President Jose Joaquin de Herrera has known of the independence of California for nearly a month. Intensely aware of Californian vulnerability, de Herrera desires the wealth that the California gold fields represent. Now that California is independent, it may be possible for Mexico to conquer her wayward province again. But the American army still occupies Mexico City and other key points, a fact that makes any movement against California impossible. The force remaining is skeletal after the loss of the Southern volunteer units, but still remains as a diplomatic obstacle. With the increased tensions between North and South in the United States, President Cass may be required to recall the remaining occupying forces, and de Herrera is very much aware of this fact. The Mexican ambassador in Washington, D.C., has been sent specific instructions on how to handle any war crisis in America. Once the Civil War begins, he travels to the White House, politely requesting renormalization of relations between Mexico and the removal of troops from Mexico. James Buchanan, Cass’s secretary of state, does not know yet of Californian independence; with the war crisis, he advocates to the President the withdrawal of General William Butler’s troops from Mexico and the speedy dispatch of them to the Texan- Louisiana border. Cass agrees, and dispatches orders that Butler is to withdraw from Mexico forthwith. The Mexicans have won a major diplomatic coup, and the Americans do not even know it yet.
In Britain, the collapse of Russell’s government leaves the country leaderless. With the Whigs temporarily in disgrace, the Conservatives, although in the minority, must form a government. The only question is who is to lead: Robert Peel or Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Stanley. Peel, for many years the leader of the Conservatives, was responsible for the failure of the last Tory government when he supported the repeal of the Corn Laws, an unpopular initiative. Since then, he has drifted away from the mainstream of Conservative thought. Yet he still has significant influence. Smith-Stanley, on the other hand, does not stand so high in the public esteem, but leads the majority of Tories in Parliament. Eventually, the Queen elects to ask Lord Stanley to form a government. Stanley, recognizing the need for a strong government during the war and the need for Conservative unity, approaches Peel about a combined ministry. Peel is intrigued, but wants one of the Great Offices of State in exchange for joining the government. After the Corn Laws debacle, Peel as Chancellor of the Exchequer is unthinkable. Instead, Stanley agrees to give Peel the office of Home Secretary. Since the majority of Tories will not support a Peelite in the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, a neophyte to high office, is named Chancellor. As a sop to the Peelites, William Gladstone is named Foreign Secretary, replacing Lord Palmerston.
The first matter on the plate of the new government is the diplomatic standing of the Confederacy. While the Tories despise slavery, it is obvious that an independent South has many benefits for Great Britain. Gladstone, therefore, suggests a moderate course. Stanley’s government will not officially recognize the new nation, but instead unofficially assume a spirit of neutral friendship. This will allow the Royal Navy to remove their ships from Southern ports and use them to hammer the United States into submission. On May 9, Gladstone drafts this new policy and instructs the Admiralty to put it into effect.
In Washington, the Federal government prepares to evacuate. Surrounded on every side by the Confederacy, Washington is no longer a fitting city for the capitol. Instead, Philadelphia will be the new site of the United States government. Due to the proximity of Maryland to the new capitol, Manhattan is being prepared as a secondary site.
Congress has approved Cass’s request for troops. For the moment, both the Senate and the House are dominated by the Democrats, and although America is becoming increasingly war-weary, few can countenance the idea of the Union being split in twain. Young men who have failed to see combat in Canada now come forward, some with enthusiasm, but many with reluctance. Among the eager joiners is a 10-year-old boy from Ohio who wants to be a company drummer, George Armstrong Custer, and a twenty-seven-year-old lawyer from New York, John Jacob Astor.
As Cass’s “Army of the Republic” begins to swell in size, he looks around for a general to lead it. Winfield Scott, fighting so implacably in Canada, is still needed there. William Harney, while still commanding an army in the field, is in disgrace for massacring surrendered British officers. William Worth volunteers, but Cass assigns him to the West, not entirely trusting the capability of Worth after the Battle of Montmagny. Robert E. Lee, a possible candidate for promotion, is cunning, respected, and experienced, but he is a Virginian, and has expressed to General Scott that he will not fight against his home state. Content to leave Lee in Canada against the British, Cass turns to the only man left: Zachary Taylor, the hero of Toronto. Taylor, although originally from Virginia, grew up in Kentucky, a state which did not secede. A convinced nationalist, he does not believe that secession is legal. Returning from Canada upon receiving Cass’s request to join him in Philadelphia, Taylor reflects on his new position, the greatest challenge of his life.
In California, food slowly begins to trickle back into the starving nation. On April 2, a constitution, largely based on the American one, is written by a small congress of prominent Californians. Although they have no legal standing to adopt the Constitution, in their occupations they represent most of California’s population. Deciding that their new nation needs a firm democratic foundation, Fremont and his followers elect to put the matter of the Constitution to the general public. On July 4, 1850, a general plebiscite will be held on whether the new country will adopt the Constitution as written.
With the arrival of food and news from the outside, the mood in San Francisco, the new capitol of the Union of California and New Mexico, is ebullient. But Fremont, who is serving as chief executive and effective dictator, is aware of how precarious the new nation’s status is. Mexico threatens from the south, and it is doubtful the United States will look kindly on the separation of a large chunk of its western territory. At this time, no one in California is aware that a civil war is brewing in the East.
Deciding to deal with the Mexicans first, Fremont establishes with the help of his “cabinet” (actually a small clique of his close friends) the Californian Army, which is to recruit, train, and arm soldiers for defense of the new nation. John W. Geary, the mayor of San Francisco and a veteran of the Mexican-American War, is named by Fremont as commander of the “Army of the Sierra Nevada.” Persifor Frazer Smith, a Union general from the South who has elected to side with the Californians, is named by Fremont Secretary of War and the commander of the “Army of the Pacific.” At this point, both armies exist only on paper.
In Charleston, the capitol of the Confederacy, the Confederate government is baffled by events in Britain. First they are recognized by the British government, then Russell’s ministry falls, and now they discover that the new government is rescinding their recognition? President Graham and his aides are confused. Still, their mood is cautiously optimistic; as May ends, the British warships blockading their ports gradually withdraw. Things are looking up.
For Winfield Scott, the Siege of Quebec continues. It has been seven weeks since the start of the siege, and so far the two armies have only managed pinpricks at each other. Still, he can afford to be patient. He has plenty of supplies. Let Rowan waste his men on pointless, hopeless assaults.
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Your thoughts?
June 3, 1850: John C. Calhoun, President Emeritus of the Confederacy and lion of the Senate, clings to life with his last strength. Attending to him is his disciple, Alexander Stephens. The tuberculosis is killing Calhoun slowly, has been for months, but now it takes its final toll on him. He is barely aware of where he is, but he knows the end is near.
Shortly before 10 p.m. he takes hold of Stephens’s hand and pulls the younger man close, to whisper his last words. “Is Clay still alive?”
“Yes,” says Stephens.
“God damn it,” says Calhoun, and then dies. Calhoun’s blasphemous final words will only come to light decades later, when Stephens’s journals are published; Calhoun’s family immediately protests the publication.
Shortly before 10 p.m. he takes hold of Stephens’s hand and pulls the younger man close, to whisper his last words. “Is Clay still alive?”
“Yes,” says Stephens.
“God damn it,” says Calhoun, and then dies. Calhoun’s blasphemous final words will only come to light decades later, when Stephens’s journals are published; Calhoun’s family immediately protests the publication.
It's taking me a while to write the month of June, 1850, so here's some political stuff until I finish.
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Summer, 1850: America, now divided, heads towards civil war, but the business of government does not stop. 1850 is a midterm election year, and even as militias are called out and armies march, political hopefuls begin campaigning for the Senate and the House.
Although the majority of Whigs voted for the war with Canada in June of 1848, by spring 1849 Whig opinion had shifted against the war. The Whigs traditionally do not function well as a national political party; their anti-partisan stance makes it difficult for them to create an effective political machine above the state level, and even then their regional parties are not as useful as one might hope. But the civil war has galvanized them. America is growing increasingly tired of war, and the Whigs, acting in concert for perhaps the first time in their history, intend to take advantage of that in November. From the beginning of the campaign, they run on a “peace with Britain” platform, one that finds fertile soil in what remains of the Union. Many intended voters flock to their colors.
In May, a new political bombshell goes off. California has declared independence, the East Coast learns. For Cass and his administration, it is a disaster. Two distinct sections of the country have broken away, to form two distinct nations. Cass immediately declares that California cannot legally declare independence, and that it is to be considered a territory in rebellion. When Cass asks for more troops from Congress to send West, the Whigs make political hay out of Cass’s tendency to spread himself too thin. “One rebellion at a time,” says Henry Clay, the ailing Whig leader. In newspapers and speeches across the country, the Whigs argue that America should make peace with Britain and hold off on reclaiming California until after they have finished defeating the Confederacy. This stance proves popular.
One individual who does not approve is Abraham Lincoln. The representative from Illinois is concerned that the Whigs, his party, are not committed enough to preserving the Union. The United States is indivisible, in his view, and that includes territories like California. While action against the Confederacy is pressing, preparations should still be made to mount a military expedition against California, he believes. “The longer California is allowed independence, the harder it shall be to return her to the fold,” Lincoln writes to Clay.
By August, Lincoln’s dissatisfaction with the Whigs has caused him to consider the unthinkable: leaving the party. Joining the Democrats is impossible; aside from his position opposing the Canadian war, Lincoln is an abolitionist, and the Democrats are not. Lincoln, meeting with his friend Senator Salmon P. Chase, suggests forming a third party. Chase, who was elected to the Senate as part of Martin van Buren’s Peaceful Abode Party, stresses the difficulty in mounting a successful third party challenge.
The Peaceful Abode Party has largely sputtered out by this point, failing to make major gains in 1848, but the elements that comprised it still exist. Lincoln thinks a new third party might be successful where the PA Party was not; the Civil War has largely stripped away the Democratic base in the South, while their ideas have been discredited in the North due to six years of bad governance, and someone must step in to take their place. Chase is skeptical, but agrees to introduce Lincoln to van Buren.
Van Buren is impressed by the gangly representative from Illinois. Lincoln outlines his plan for a broad-based, national party to usurp the Democrats by blending Whig and Democrat positions:
*The Democrats are populist, expansionist, agricultural, and pro-war. Much of their support comes from immigrants and religious minorities, rather than the Anglo-Saxon Protestants who comprise the Whigs. They favor free trade and a laissez-faire approach to government, are opposed to banks, are tolerant of less...moral behavior, and base their ideas on political principles. They are pro-slavery, or at the least, not anti-slavery.
*The Whigs are elitist, anti-expansionist, industrial, and anti-war. Most of their support comes from the Anglo-Saxons of New England and New York. They favor protectionism and a paternalistic approach to government, support banks and fiscal discipline, preach morality and self-improvement, and base their ideas on political history. They are mostly abolitionist.
*The new party will be populist, agricultural, and anti-war. It will attempt to appeal to non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants and minorities. It will favor free trade and a laissez faire approach to government, support banks and fiscal discipline, be tolerant of less than moral behavior on the part of citizens, and base its ideas on a combination of principle and history. It will be abolitionist, and strongly in favor of preserving the Union.
To van Buren, Lincoln, and Chase, it sounds pretty good. As it is too late in the political season to launch a new political party, they decide to hold off until after the election. Lincoln will run as a Whig, as before, but after the election, the three politicians will attempt to muster support for a new party.
After much debate, they decide on the party’s name. It will be called the Union Party.
--------------------------------------------
Your thoughts?
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Summer, 1850: America, now divided, heads towards civil war, but the business of government does not stop. 1850 is a midterm election year, and even as militias are called out and armies march, political hopefuls begin campaigning for the Senate and the House.
Although the majority of Whigs voted for the war with Canada in June of 1848, by spring 1849 Whig opinion had shifted against the war. The Whigs traditionally do not function well as a national political party; their anti-partisan stance makes it difficult for them to create an effective political machine above the state level, and even then their regional parties are not as useful as one might hope. But the civil war has galvanized them. America is growing increasingly tired of war, and the Whigs, acting in concert for perhaps the first time in their history, intend to take advantage of that in November. From the beginning of the campaign, they run on a “peace with Britain” platform, one that finds fertile soil in what remains of the Union. Many intended voters flock to their colors.
In May, a new political bombshell goes off. California has declared independence, the East Coast learns. For Cass and his administration, it is a disaster. Two distinct sections of the country have broken away, to form two distinct nations. Cass immediately declares that California cannot legally declare independence, and that it is to be considered a territory in rebellion. When Cass asks for more troops from Congress to send West, the Whigs make political hay out of Cass’s tendency to spread himself too thin. “One rebellion at a time,” says Henry Clay, the ailing Whig leader. In newspapers and speeches across the country, the Whigs argue that America should make peace with Britain and hold off on reclaiming California until after they have finished defeating the Confederacy. This stance proves popular.
One individual who does not approve is Abraham Lincoln. The representative from Illinois is concerned that the Whigs, his party, are not committed enough to preserving the Union. The United States is indivisible, in his view, and that includes territories like California. While action against the Confederacy is pressing, preparations should still be made to mount a military expedition against California, he believes. “The longer California is allowed independence, the harder it shall be to return her to the fold,” Lincoln writes to Clay.
By August, Lincoln’s dissatisfaction with the Whigs has caused him to consider the unthinkable: leaving the party. Joining the Democrats is impossible; aside from his position opposing the Canadian war, Lincoln is an abolitionist, and the Democrats are not. Lincoln, meeting with his friend Senator Salmon P. Chase, suggests forming a third party. Chase, who was elected to the Senate as part of Martin van Buren’s Peaceful Abode Party, stresses the difficulty in mounting a successful third party challenge.
The Peaceful Abode Party has largely sputtered out by this point, failing to make major gains in 1848, but the elements that comprised it still exist. Lincoln thinks a new third party might be successful where the PA Party was not; the Civil War has largely stripped away the Democratic base in the South, while their ideas have been discredited in the North due to six years of bad governance, and someone must step in to take their place. Chase is skeptical, but agrees to introduce Lincoln to van Buren.
Van Buren is impressed by the gangly representative from Illinois. Lincoln outlines his plan for a broad-based, national party to usurp the Democrats by blending Whig and Democrat positions:
*The Democrats are populist, expansionist, agricultural, and pro-war. Much of their support comes from immigrants and religious minorities, rather than the Anglo-Saxon Protestants who comprise the Whigs. They favor free trade and a laissez-faire approach to government, are opposed to banks, are tolerant of less...moral behavior, and base their ideas on political principles. They are pro-slavery, or at the least, not anti-slavery.
*The Whigs are elitist, anti-expansionist, industrial, and anti-war. Most of their support comes from the Anglo-Saxons of New England and New York. They favor protectionism and a paternalistic approach to government, support banks and fiscal discipline, preach morality and self-improvement, and base their ideas on political history. They are mostly abolitionist.
*The new party will be populist, agricultural, and anti-war. It will attempt to appeal to non-Anglo-Saxon immigrants and minorities. It will favor free trade and a laissez faire approach to government, support banks and fiscal discipline, be tolerant of less than moral behavior on the part of citizens, and base its ideas on a combination of principle and history. It will be abolitionist, and strongly in favor of preserving the Union.
To van Buren, Lincoln, and Chase, it sounds pretty good. As it is too late in the political season to launch a new political party, they decide to hold off until after the election. Lincoln will run as a Whig, as before, but after the election, the three politicians will attempt to muster support for a new party.
After much debate, they decide on the party’s name. It will be called the Union Party.
--------------------------------------------
Your thoughts?
U-nion! U-nion! U-nion!
Very interesting. I hope the Whigs make large gains in 1850, as they might be able to secure a peace with Britain.
After that, I like the look of the Union Party. Mostly because of Lincoln. I'm very interested in how far it goes.
Very interesting. I hope the Whigs make large gains in 1850, as they might be able to secure a peace with Britain.
After that, I like the look of the Union Party. Mostly because of Lincoln. I'm very interested in how far it goes.
I'd say ASB but I think America succeeding in Manifest Destiny was ASB so yeah.
Britain might recognise California as it will hurt the Americans and it seems that Cali isn't a slave holding nation.
Britain might recognise California as it will hurt the Americans and it seems that Cali isn't a slave holding nation.
Current political leadership, summer 1850:
United States:
President: Lewis Cass, Dem.
Vice-President: James Polk, Dem.
Confederate States:
President: William A. Graham, Ind. (Former Whig)
Vice-President: Augustus Longstreet, Ind.
Union of California and New Mexico:
President: John C. Fremont, Ind.
Vice-President: None
Great Britain:
Prime Minister: Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Stanley, Cons.
Home Secretary: Sir Robert Peel, Cons.
Mexico:
President: Jose Joaquin de Herrera, Ind.
France:
President: Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Bon.
Russia:
Tsar: Nicholas I
Ottoman Empire:
Sultan: Abdul Mejid I
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Up Next: War Games, or, Feuding With Your In-Laws Is No Fun.
United States:
President: Lewis Cass, Dem.
Vice-President: James Polk, Dem.
Confederate States:
President: William A. Graham, Ind. (Former Whig)
Vice-President: Augustus Longstreet, Ind.
Union of California and New Mexico:
President: John C. Fremont, Ind.
Vice-President: None
Great Britain:
Prime Minister: Edward Smith-Stanley, Lord Stanley, Cons.
Home Secretary: Sir Robert Peel, Cons.
Mexico:
President: Jose Joaquin de Herrera, Ind.
France:
President: Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, Bon.
Russia:
Tsar: Nicholas I
Ottoman Empire:
Sultan: Abdul Mejid I
----------------------------------------
Up Next: War Games, or, Feuding With Your In-Laws Is No Fun.
Lead up to June and July, 1850.
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The Civil War
“I have not forgotten, but I am no longer who I was, for I have been shattered on the anvil of war and reforged, anew. We have not forgotten, and we are no longer who we were.” - Walt Whitman
America has descended into civil war. Nothing shall be the same; everything has changed. It has been sparked by several causes: economic, military, cultural. But none is as significant as slavery. All the differences between north and south can be traced back to, or are influenced by, slavery. And now north and south have gone to war, in large part because of slavery.
Lewis Cass, the president of the United States, is hardly an abolitionist. He has no great love of slavery, but does not necessarily want to see it abolished. His party, the Democrats, has traditionally been friendly towards slavery, but now find themselves fighting a war against slave states for the preservation of the Union.
William Graham, the president of the Confederacy, is a former member of the Whig party, traditionally opposed to slavery. His vice-president, Augustus Longstreet, is a former minister, a profession that preaches peace, who now finds himself leading his nation to war.
The notion of “manifest destiny” lies, now, in ruins. On the Pacific Coast, a new nation, one based not on the farmlands and fields of colonial America but on mining and industry, is being built. Battle will come to every corner of America; hardly a patch of earth will go untouched. From New Orleans, Louisiana to Caribou, Maine, from the Colorado River in California to the Caloosahatchee River in Florida, war will be made across the American continent by every one of the American powers: the United States, Britain, Mexico. New nations will rise out of the ashes of the Union, only to be cast back down into the ashes again.
Out of the twenty-three million Americans, nearly four million will serve in some capacity; half a million will be killed. Men of all kinds will sign up and fight, and die. Three future presidents of the 19th century will fight; so also will a young boy who will lose two fingers in Kentucky and after the war head west to the frontier to fight Indians, and a soft-spoken college student attending Bowdoin who already speaks several languages. Both will father presidents of the 20th century.
Britain will come out of the war poorer, Mexico richer. Soldiers who had served in Canada as lieutenants and sergeants would finish the war as generals and sergeants major. Politicians will find their careers in ruins; others will find theirs made.
At sea, new technologies will be developed, and put into practice, to change naval warfare forever. Railroads and the telegraph will become commonplace, both for civil life and for war.
Jefferson Davis, the young general commanding the Confederate Army, will find his role complicated considerably by the fact that the man he makes war on, Zachary Taylor, is his former commanding officer and father-in-law.
Political parties will be destroyed, and replaced. Whole systems of government will be invented, ad hoc, and old, time-tested governments will be tested once more.
Entire nations will be defined by their experiences, changed irrevocably, and, in the end, so will their people.
Nothing will be the same.
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Your thoughts?
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The Civil War
“I have not forgotten, but I am no longer who I was, for I have been shattered on the anvil of war and reforged, anew. We have not forgotten, and we are no longer who we were.” - Walt Whitman
America has descended into civil war. Nothing shall be the same; everything has changed. It has been sparked by several causes: economic, military, cultural. But none is as significant as slavery. All the differences between north and south can be traced back to, or are influenced by, slavery. And now north and south have gone to war, in large part because of slavery.
Lewis Cass, the president of the United States, is hardly an abolitionist. He has no great love of slavery, but does not necessarily want to see it abolished. His party, the Democrats, has traditionally been friendly towards slavery, but now find themselves fighting a war against slave states for the preservation of the Union.
William Graham, the president of the Confederacy, is a former member of the Whig party, traditionally opposed to slavery. His vice-president, Augustus Longstreet, is a former minister, a profession that preaches peace, who now finds himself leading his nation to war.
The notion of “manifest destiny” lies, now, in ruins. On the Pacific Coast, a new nation, one based not on the farmlands and fields of colonial America but on mining and industry, is being built. Battle will come to every corner of America; hardly a patch of earth will go untouched. From New Orleans, Louisiana to Caribou, Maine, from the Colorado River in California to the Caloosahatchee River in Florida, war will be made across the American continent by every one of the American powers: the United States, Britain, Mexico. New nations will rise out of the ashes of the Union, only to be cast back down into the ashes again.
Out of the twenty-three million Americans, nearly four million will serve in some capacity; half a million will be killed. Men of all kinds will sign up and fight, and die. Three future presidents of the 19th century will fight; so also will a young boy who will lose two fingers in Kentucky and after the war head west to the frontier to fight Indians, and a soft-spoken college student attending Bowdoin who already speaks several languages. Both will father presidents of the 20th century.
Britain will come out of the war poorer, Mexico richer. Soldiers who had served in Canada as lieutenants and sergeants would finish the war as generals and sergeants major. Politicians will find their careers in ruins; others will find theirs made.
At sea, new technologies will be developed, and put into practice, to change naval warfare forever. Railroads and the telegraph will become commonplace, both for civil life and for war.
Jefferson Davis, the young general commanding the Confederate Army, will find his role complicated considerably by the fact that the man he makes war on, Zachary Taylor, is his former commanding officer and father-in-law.
Political parties will be destroyed, and replaced. Whole systems of government will be invented, ad hoc, and old, time-tested governments will be tested once more.
Entire nations will be defined by their experiences, changed irrevocably, and, in the end, so will their people.
Nothing will be the same.
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Your thoughts?
Very bleak picture you're painting there.
I hope the US can get out of this in reasonably good shape. If not for the British, the US would probably be able to win the war. With the British in the fight, though, I don't see much hope.
I hope the US can get out of this in reasonably good shape. If not for the British, the US would probably be able to win the war. With the British in the fight, though, I don't see much hope.