Houston, We Have a Problem- A World without Sam Houston

March 27, 1814: Instead of being shot in the arm and shoulder during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Third Lieutenant Sam Houston is shot in the stomach, a near untreatable wound. The battle goes on as OTL, but with higher American casualties. Also, Chief Menewa is killed in the battle
June 10, 1814: The Treaty of Fort Jackson is signed.* Emboldened by the death of Chief Menewa, Jackson decided to force the Creeks to cede approximately 40 million acres.


*OTL Treaty signed in August of 1814
 
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March 27, 1814: Instead of being shot in the arm and shoulder during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Third Lieutenant Sam Houston is shot in the stomach, a near untreatable wound.

correct me if i'm wrong, but i was under the influence that he was shot in the crotch with an Arrow durring the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, not the arm and shoulder, and that what was what forced him out of the war.

but this sounds intresting.
 
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correct me if i'm wrong, but i was under the influence that he was shot in the crotch with an Arrow durring the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, not the arm and shoulder, and that what was what forced him out of the war.

but this sounds intresting.

The arrow hit his crotch, he was shot in the arm and shoulder
 
1814-1815: The rest of the War of 1812 goes on as it was before with the one exception of the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson's ordered his troops to pursue the British after the second attack on the Jackson Line failed. This led to the eventual death/capture of most of the remaining British forces as Jean Laffite's pirates prevented the British from withdrawing by sea. Jackson is shot in the thigh during this advance, but in the excitement does not notice it immediately. Jackson takes his revenge for his childhood incident with a British soldier by ordering the death of the captured soldiers. Jackson is revered as a hero in America and despised as a barbarian in Britain. This will be important later in his life.

1816: The Presidential Election goes nearly identical as OTL, James Monroe wins a landside as is expected

March 1817: The Mississippi territory is never divided, enters as the State of Mississippi on March 18.

Next Update: The Seminole War Begins!
 
Interesting premise, a world without Sam Houston would definitely be a different one than our own.

Just a few questions
-What's the reason for having the Treaty of Fort Jackson being signed earlier than OTL? How does the initial POD relate to that?

-Since Houston was out of the war following his wound and didn't play a larger role in the battles of New Orleans or the formation of the state of Mississippi why are those events different?

-How does Houston's death have an affect on Andrew Jackson?

Due to the fact that Houston only really became active after the war of 1812 I would have expected that the divergence from our own history would be relatively minor prior to the emergence of Texas...

But good work nonetheless!
 
Interesting premise, a world without Sam Houston would definitely be a different one than our own.

Just a few questions
-What's the reason for having the Treaty of Fort Jackson being signed earlier than OTL? How does the initial POD relate to that?

-Since Houston was out of the war following his wound and didn't play a larger role in the battles of New Orleans or the formation of the state of Mississippi why are those events different?

-How does Houston's death have an affect on Andrew Jackson?

Due to the fact that Houston only really became active after the war of 1812 I would have expected that the divergence from our own history would be relatively minor prior to the emergence of Texas...

But good work nonetheless!

1. Jackson takes higher casualties so I he becomes more vicious against the Native Americans

2. Due to him taking more land in the original treaty, I decided to make him more confident and aggressive. As for Mississippi, I took a liberty. When the Battle for New Orleans failed, the British were sent instead to take Biloxi, Mississippi. Due to the force being destroyed, this attack never takes place. I decided that this would affect the decision to divide the territory

3. See first point.
 
Hmm interesting. This could have interesting butterflies. A Texan Revolution will still most likely occur. No San Jacinto probably means it fails. Santa Anna in character tries to take vengance on Anglos in Texas, probably Cossack style. War Hawks in Washington play this up similar to the second Seminole War, though likely with far more justification. We get an earlier Mexican American War that is more popular across the board in the United States. Texas likely established as a US Territory then state. Size likely different depending on what the Americans can take.
 
If TTL's Mexican-American War is more popular, does that mean Winfield Scott (or whoever the Whig nominee in 1852 is, presumably a war hero) would have a much better chance at victory in 1852?

Maybe if Texas is a territory first, it can prolong the slavery debate, with Stephen Douglas compromising between north and south to balance the number of Free and Slave states?
 
Certainly an interesting notion, if a <<sniff>> depressing one.

Houston's early death could well have some sort of effect on Jackson, but just what is hard to judge. Houston was a Congressman in 1824 and helped Jackson campaign in the Presidential contest that year. His efforts failed, but the fact that he played a role means you'd have to judge whether it would have an impact on the events of the election of 1824--that election being chock full of very contingent, personality driven events and its outcome being crucial to the next 30+ years of American politics.

Houston met Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 and is said to have formed the template for Tocqueville's portrait of a "nervous American." A small change, but Tocqueville is pretty influential.

The lack of Houston in Texas will be the most telling: first, he won't be around to help negotiate a treaty with the Cherokee in northern East Texas. This treaty was fairly important to ensure the Texians could face the Mexicans without worry, but there was another commissioner there, John Forbes. Whether he had Houston's background is far from certain. Next and perhaps most important is who becomes commander of the Texas army in February 1836. Houston's strategy was to withdraw into Eastern Texas, forcing Santa Anna to extend his lines and taking advantage of the more wooded territory which was better suited to Texian rifleman. Given the abysmal discipline of the Texan army, a less able commander might have proved unable to direct such a move (or prompted a movement to replace him by a direct vote of the troops). It could be all too easy to have events evolve in such a way that the Texans are defeated.

So too however, they could win in a different way and this might alter the status of peace to the Mexican government, which in turn affects the Republic of Texas' viability. Nevertheless, for the calculus of annexation (in terms of the benefit to Texas) to be substantially different, Texas would need European support far sooner (it's all about the public finances which were atrocious under the Republic).

Overall, it's an interesting notion, but precise speculation becomes very difficult: enough time elapses between the POD and major events moved by it, that one could always post that a person might take on a wholy analgous role (but didn't OTL because Houston did).
 
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