Toombs advice not to fire on Fort Sumter is taken.
Kill Hood sometime between Chattanooga and Kenasaw Mountain. Hardee replaces Johnston.
Albert Sydney Johnston lives longer and turns out to be as talented as Lee.
Cleburne's suggestion of using black troops is somehow accepted and successful (longest shot here but probably not quite ASB long as some people hear would have you believe).
AoT officer shoots Bragg and all swear up and down it was accidental.
Forrest's gifts recognized sooner.
Ft. Donalson successfully evacuated or holds longer, allowing the AoT to fight 1862 and part of 1863 supplied from the industrial center of Nashville which otl fell in Feb. 1862.
Hope that was helpful.
1) The first one was the POD in a timeline I'd was playing around with in my spare time, but I never really had the time to flesh out the idea completely. Without direct conflict between the Union and the Confederacy, the Union blunders its way into war with the United Kingdom over the Trent Affair. What really happens after that was something I never fleshed out all that much.
2) There's no guarantee here that Atlanta won't fall, but it would certainly make things more difficult for Sherman.
3) ASJ timelines really aren't all that common. We don't really have much evidence as to his talent, but a smashing victory at Shiloh would have been a great setback for the Union for sure. In
Dixie Victorious, one scenario has ASJ surviving his wounds at Shiloh. He is able to defeat Grant in 1863 and prevent the capture of Vicksburg.
4) Cleburne's suggestion of using black troops was explored by one member of this site years ago and it was called "The Black and the Gray." The author died a few years ago. The scenario was also briefly touched upon in
Dixie Victorious.
For the timeline in question:
http://www.geocities.ws/robertp6165/blackconfederatecontents.html
5) As far as eliminating Bragg goes, I'm still not sure how much that would have actually helped or hurt the Confederates. It could be an interesting timeline.
6) This one could be interesting.
7) Anything that would have prolonged the war in the West would have improved the situation for the Confederates. It doesn't guarantee Confederate victory, but it could make for an interesting story.
There are some strange ideas I've kicked around in my head over the years. Here are a few odd PODs.
1) Sherman's wife dies before the war, leading Sherman to marry into a Louisiana family in 1859 following his move to Pineville, Louisiana. Sherman reluctantly decides to support the CSA thanks to the influence of his wife.
2) Thomas Jackson decides to remain loyal to the Union rather than side with Virginia when it secedes.
3) Robert E. Lee achieves a Cannae at the Battle of Glendale when Stonewall Jackson's troops arrive on time. I've seen this scenario explored before, but the implications of this one are pretty massive.
4) Reverse Antietam: Confederates win despite the Union having their invasion plans. It's unlikely, but it would be downright embarrassing for McClellan.
5) The Union violates Kentucky's neutrality first.
6) Better Antietam: The Army of Potomac is able to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia. Robert E. Lee spends the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.
7) The Confederates do not place an embargo on selling cotton to foreign markets. They are able to play the victim much easier.
8) The Union wins at First Bull Run: There's no guarantee the Union would be able to take Richmond this early in the war and it may make the Union a bit overconfident. This could be really interesting.
No one's posted the biggest one yet: Glendale, 30 June 1862.
Stonewall Jackson is his usual aggressive self and completes the encirclement of McClellan's army with Longstreet, inflicting a second Cannae on the Union. With the Army of the Potomac crippled, the North has nothing with which to oppose Lee in Northern Virginia, putting Washington itself in danger.
You posted this while I was posting the same idea. That's awesome.