If they will not meet us on the open sea (a Trent TL)

[Saphroneth]

13 June

A force of 4,000 Indian troops, accompanied by a British battalion, approaches Sacramento. They come under fire from two field guns mounted on top of the levee, and their advance is checked by this and the knowledge that there are troops defending the town.
However, the Imperial force has an important force multiplier - the Grappler, an Albacore-class gunboat with a draft of under seven feet, has been accompanying them on their trip inland. While she has barely inches under her keel this high up the Sacramento river, she is able to work her guns - a heavy 68-lber, a 40-lber (taken from Camelion) and a 24-lber howitzer all able to bear at once - and provide covering fire, which forces the American field guns to switch to firing on Grappler.
With their western-flank guns effectively rendered unable to contribute, the American defenders - the 1st California Infantry, 5th California Infantry and two regiments of California Volunteer Cavalry - are a little more nervous about the coming action. Nevertheless, they decide to make a fight of it, and have the advantage that the Volunteer Cavalry and 1st Regiment at least are well drilled.
With the terrain around the town quite flat, Carleton determines that it will not be easy to win an open field battle against superior numbers. As such, he has his infantry hole up in Sacramento, and makes it a street fight where every house is a potential fortress. This results in a bloody battle, with the skills of the Gurkha regiment proving useful to the British, and the battle occupies most of the day - with one notable moment being when the Grappler dismounts her 40-lber gun and begins using it as fire support from the levee position defended by small-arms men.

Ultimately, Sacramento is captured, and the bloodied California infantry retreat upriver. The cavalry covers their escape, and the British do not pursue for now.

(As it happens, if the British had attacked earlier they would have been able to literally sail their gunboats into Sacramento town square - the whole town was several feet underwater during the floods of the early year - but Maitland was unwilling to make the attempt before his troops arrived and so missed the chance.)

14 June
The Charleston -formerly the Ville de Nantes - arrives off Halifax, and puts in to recoal. She needs quite a lot, having been undergoing a 'shakedown' on the way across the Atlantic and averaging nine knots for her passage - as such she is very low on coal.
It will take her two days to coal up, but it is at least cheap (Halifax has a working coal mine and as such the coal is not very costly). While she is there, several blockade ships enter or leave Halifax - including the enormous Warrior, here to recoal and escorting three prizes.


Lee's army begins manoeuvring to capture Harpers Ferry. On the first day of the action, Confederate forces push the Union defenders off Loundon Heights and cut the Baltimore & Ohio railroad - thus allowing artillery to begin bombarding Harpers Ferry once it is emplaced.


15 June

Approximately 3,000 of the garrison of Harpers Ferry manage to evacuate ahead of the advancing Confederate troops. The rest are cut off, and start coming under bombardment.

McClellan's nearest forces are about thirty miles away, and after consideration he decides it would be foolish to send one corps south to attempt to rescue the Harpers Ferry garrison - it would simply throw more men away. Instead - after sending another letter requesting better equipment - he largely ceases training operations and begins concentrating his army at Chambersburg.
The one thing McClellan does not want to do is to easily surrender the advantage of the defensive. He considers himself to be heavily outnumbered, and that he will have to fight carefully to avoid being destroyed.



16 June

Harpers Ferry surrenders, under artillery bombardment and with Confederate riflemen working steadily forwards to the west of the town.
Lee and Cleburne examine the results carefully, with an eye to discerning which of their new practices are successful and which are not. Particularly notable on the successful side of things is the use of skirmishing sharpshooters to defeat isolated pickets - almost without losses - while the accuracy of the artillery is still something which needs work. (Lee notes that his infantry are now longer ranged than his artillery, which is not entirely accurate and which offends his artillery commander, Pendleton.)

Both sides are now struggling to sort out their logistics to move the rest of their armies forwards. The railroads and rivers in this area run counter to the 'grain' of the land, so both Lee and McClellan need to rely on wagon trains and supply depots more than railroads.



Also on this date, Eads finishes casing the Pennsylvania. She is ready to fight, though the decision is made to keep her back until the New York and Massachusets at least are able to support her - single ironclads are clearly not a winning proposition against the powerfully-armed British ironclads, and in any case there is a debate on whether to use the 'United States' (Pennsylvania) class to open the Chesapeake, to attack Gosport or to clear the Potomac.

 

[Saphroneth]

17 June

During a storm, the blockading squadron for the Delaware river is scattered. HMS Thunder - anchors carried away and without the power to steer - is driven into the shore, sustaining severe damage, and the old ironclad is found to be not in a fit state for refloating once the storm dies down - her keel is broken and the weight of the armour has distorted her skeleton.
As such, her crew are taken off by the Defiance. The guns, unspoiled supplies, and some of the armour plate are taken aboard for redistribution (or salvage), and what is left is burned.

Pennefather begins pushing down the rail line from Detroit. He moves slowly and methodically - he already has his major victory for the war, and does not want to risk being outmanoeuvred by the Union forces. (In truth they have little they could outmanoeuvre him with - there are three artillery batteries and a division in his way, and their small arms are mostly smoothbores).

The submersible vessel the Pegelius launches from Boston under cover of darkness. It attempts to reach the blockaders offshore and detonate a caulked gunpowder keg under the keel of the Duncan, though problems with the design mean it has to surface after an hour less than halfway to the target.
Boats retrieve it with difficulty.



18 June

Lee spends the day with Jackson and Cleburne, working out possible tactics and strategies for the coming campaign. Jackson volunteers information from the campaigns earlier in the year, offering insight into the behaviour of George McClellan - that he is a dangerous opponent, but that he is overly cautious. (In short, that he treats uncertainty as danger rather than opportunity).
Stuart is consulted on the capabilities of his cavalry, and the Confederate cavalry commander emphasizes a particular point - he has managed to arm all his men with rifled carbines, some of them breech-loading, and he is confident in his ability to defeat infantry so long as his men do not go up against large numbers of defenders at once.
About three in the afternoon, Lee comes to a conclusion - the caution of McClellan is both an advantage and a disadvantage to the man. It is an advantage as McClellan is very hard to destroy, but it is also a disadvantage as he is easy to predict - McClellan will always keep back a reserve, and will never allow his line of retreat to be cut off, and this very fact is exploitable.


The New York completes casing. A debate is ongoing as to what armaments to give each United States ironclad, as it is felt there will only be two of the heaviest gun (the 15") available.

For the fourth time this month, a supply line is briefly established through the Confederate siege line around Washington. This area of the siege is tenuous at best - the fort ring makes the area to be covered too large to permanently interdict - but the railroad is cut and supplies have to be fought through under heavy escort.

The issue is raised in Congress whether the government should evacuate to a safer location, further north; this is decided against, though the debate is close and it goes to a vote in the House. As the results are read out, the firing of Confederate guns at the Rock Creek line can faintly be heard.

 

[Saphroneth]

19 June

The Vanderbilt stops a prize two days out of Bristol, the Calypso. Her cargo (largely cotton clothing, to be sold in the Confederacy and in South America) is siezed where possible and useful, and some of the coal from the ship itself is loaded into Vanderbilt.

As the American steamer does not have the spare crew for many prizes, her captain starts as he means to go on - he takes what he can over the course of the day, then has the crew of Calypso made prisoner and sets her alight. He will later put the crew ashore at a French port. (As the Calypso is slower than the Vanderbilt, he does not want to keep the ships in company for disposal of Calypso at a neutral port.)


A small skirmish aound Lake Champlain escalates, with both battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment (the 18th) getting themselves into trouble and then shooting themselves out again. 1/18th takes considerable casualties due to friendly artillery fire (aimed to create a beaten zone, the fuzes were set too short) and the incident is the source of bar fights for the rest of the century - a man asking for "a pint of shrapnel" in one of the bars frequented by the Royal Irish is liable to get his teeth kicked in!


20 June

The Pegelius goes out for another attempt. This time it is successful in reaching the blockaders, and detonates a keg containing nearly fifty kilograms of gunpowder near the Duncan.
The powerful submarine explosion holes the Duncan and causes her to take on hundreds of tons of water, and she is driven ashore on the island the Royal Navy is using as their Boston base (Great Brewster) in order to prevent her sinking; nevertheless, she is disabled until the damage can be repaired.
The Pegelius does not survive the attack, as she is caught by the gunboat Pincher on her way back to Boston (the air within being insufficient for a two-way submarine journey out to the British anchorage and back). A single hit breaches her fragile waterproofing, and the submersible vanishes into the harbour - taking with her the entire crew, including the inventor.

Charleston sails into Gosport Naval Yard, to wild cheers from the men of the Confederate Navy, Confederate Army (those manning the batteries) and several thousand civilians who took the trip down to see her. The Charleston may be a wooden ship, but she is the largest ship yet owned by an American country at 5,150 tonnes.
The Confederacy being the Confederacy, claims are made that she could whip any three Union ships. (These are almost true, if only by virtue of the Royal Navy having destroyed most of the USN's heavy ships, but the Eads ironclads would be too much for the Charleston to take on alone.)

 

[Saphroneth]

21 June

The Falchion sails down the Thames River in Connecticut. She is a heavily armoured ship built not with iron armour, in the main, but timber - the brainchild of an inventor from Ohio and built by the Connecticut state government, she has a total thickness of six feet of wood forming her sides - split into four 18" layers with 1/2 inch boilerplate between each.
This weighs about as much as a foot solid of iron would, but is certainly easier to produce - and gives important bouyancy to the craft, which is unfortunately not very mobile (using two locomotive engines, she can make about six knots). Fitted with a 9" Dahlgren sleeved rifle in front and smaller weapons on the side, the intent is to be able to harm or destroy ironclads while being largely immune to the dreadful effect of a Martin's Shell - the theory being, a single layer being set alight would only burn this layer.

In the event the Falchion first encounters the local blockading squadron - quickly reinforced from components of other blockading sections spread over the area, as it is the entrance to Long Island Sound. Within an hour or so, she is engaging the Aboukir, frigate Amphion and the gunboats Sparrow and Victor.

The timberclad takes several hits from shell (the contact-fuzed shells penetrating into the first layer of timber and blowing large chunks away, but not doing damage to the fighting value of Falchion) and shot (which in some cases bounces and in other cases penetrates to no further effect). One of the 32-lbers on the side is knocked out by a direct hit, but the main problem Falchion is having is simple speed - the Aboukir has four knots of speed on her and can often get out of her arcs, though Amphion is only as fast as the timberclad and takes several hits from 32-lber shell (some of them causing internal damage and knocking out a few guns.)

After a full salvo by Aboukir at close range (forty-six guns at two hundred yards, over half of which hit and which cause the Falchion's fire to slacken) , the steam liner closes to board. This somewhat unexpected tactic causes confusion on Falchion, then belated shock as the captain realizes he does not have the crew to fend off the boarders should they get under the armour.
As such, he turns about and sails for the Thames - there are batteries armed with hot shot on Eastern Point, with 32-lbers at an unusually high angle, and if the Aboukir is caught by three or four of them while grappled to Falchion she will be in serious trouble. This does not occur, but the threat makes Aboukir abandon the chase when she comes under long-range fire.


22 June


Jackson's corps crosses the Potomac at Williamsport, brushing aside a light Union screen, and begins an advance on Hagerstown.

The Falchion's damaged wooden armour has been replaced, but she finds herself confronted by an additional foe - the ironclad Virgo, which begins engaging the Eastern Point batteries at about 10 AM.
Arguments take place as to the best way to employ Falchion, and it is pointed out that the channel's depth (25 feet even at the lowest of low tide, as far as Norwich) means that, once the Eastern Point batteries are disabled, it will be possible for Aboukir to ascend the channel and assist the British ironclad. Thus, delaying the confrontation would garner no meaningful advantage.

As such, Falchion sails out to fight Virgo. The British ironclad shifts her fire to Falchion, and the Eastern Point batteries go silent as the two armoured ships approach one another - they cannot fire accurately enough to target one ship over the other, a side effect of their modifications.

Virgo's first major move is to fire a Martin's Shell from her fore port Armstrong 110-lber, and the munition strikes home - setting a fire on the Falchion's wooden glacis, but while the result is spectacular it does not disable Falchion. (The confidence of the British crew in their weapon is such that it takes a while for them to realize the burning warship in front of them is still capable of fighting!) Temperatures inside the American timberclad are uncomfortably high, but they have a system to reduce the impact (via piping in cold river water) and continue engaging Virgo.

Once most of the top 18" of wood have been reduced to charred remains, the Virgo manages to penetrate the thin iron armour on Falchion with several rounds of solid shot (even the Armstrongs can pierce such thin iron). Another Martin's Shell is fired once the second layer of wood is seen, but this one does not hit the penetrated areas - it instead simply smashes, splattering hot iron over the side of Falchion and producing a cloud of steam when the iron runs into the water.

At this point, shell is used by Virgo - less successfully than before as two of her guns have been disabled via grape blasts - but the results are critical, as two Armstrong shells penetrate the iron and then burst. This causes several of the half-inch iron plates to fall off, exposing the second layer of wooden backing.

Once this is done, the Falchion's fate is effectively sealed - the Virgo sets her second layer afire, then blasts the second iron separator off with 68-lber and Armstrong shells. Falchion attempts to retreat, but the fire damage to her chimney means she cannot draw enough steam to get to safety in good time, and her captain abandons ship.

The verdict on the Falchion is ultimately that it is an ingenious solution to the problem of Martin's Shell, but that it was not sufficient to win alone. (One opinion is that a half-dozen Falchions could swam an ironclad under for roughly the same cost as the ironclad - taking a minimum of half an hour to burn down each is not a bad thing for this purpose!)

Spoiler: Lee's plan

My idea is that Lee will use a primary threat and a secondary one to drive McClellan to concentrate and fight (on good defensive terrain), then will send another force - his cavalry - through the void created by McClellan concentrating to battle Lee.
Their aim is to drive McClellan to notice a threat to his rear and assume it's more than it really is, and hence decamp to avoid being cut off - then pursue him all the way up the Shenandoah valley, snapping up stragglers.

 

[Saphroneth]

23 June

Pennefather's army engages a Union force west of Ann Arbor. His veteran regulars brush aside the defenders, who fall back up the rail line to avoid destruction.
Pennefather's advance is slow - he is waiting for the other shoe to drop, sure there must be more Union troops in the area than the ~10,000 he has just engaged.

The Vanderbilt slips into the Western Approaches. In the tradition of John Paul Jones, her captain aims to raid the British coast and cause terror and disruption - though this is made more problematic by a number of factors that did not avail in the Revolutionary War, not least of which being the proliferation of guard ships and blockships on the British coast. An old copy of the Times informs Vanderbilt that Pembroke/Milford Haven, for example, is defended by multiple batteries and the 60-gun screw blockship HMS Blenheim.
As attempting to sail up the Bristol Channel to raid would leave the Vanderbilt vulnerable to being cut off from Milford Haven, she instead shapes her course for Fishguard. (The Vanderbilt would have had much more choice were she willing to attack batteries, but as a ship built for speed rather than firepower or durability her captain is unwilling to take her in close.)

Lee continues moving his troops across the river, setting up in a classic pattern with two main wings. His left wing will provide the initial offensive, pushing up to Hagerstown and then towards Greencastle, while his right wing marches parallel to aim for Waynesboro.
In addition, a division under Jubal Early begins a flank march to come at Chambersburg from the west - a long journey, and one which could be easily stopped with a comparatively small force in their way.

McClellan wonders about the flanking movement, and commits a division of his own to guard the passes to the west of Chambersburg. This reduces his forces somewhat, but he is still willing to make a battle of it - provided he can get enough reinforcements. As such, as his main force marches south to establish defensive positions (along the highest terrain he can find in this relatively flat valley), he telegraphs for as many troops as possible to concentrate on him.



24 June

Eads has now finished four ironclads. The construction of the Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusets and Connecticut has been a spectacular feat of engineering, made possible by Eads' use of rigid standardization (and the startlingly high priority his efforts have had, as well as a labour force in excess of 10,000 doing every possible task in parallel - these ships have been expensive) and the four are ready to fight - if a little green.


Pennsylvania has the largest guns, with her battery consisting of a pair of 15" Rodman guns and six 8" Dahlgrens (four guns each side). Her sisters the New York and Massachusets rely on 8" Parrott rifles for their main punch, each carrying six in addition to their Dahlgrens (the reduced weight of the 8" Parrott compared to the very heavy 15" Rodman allows for them to have chase guns, through ports which are simply blocked on the Pennsylvania) and the Connecticut is equipped with sleeved 11" Dahlgrens (though, like the Pennsylvania, can only manage a broadside).

With their inclined armour consisting of two 3" layers of hammered wrought iron, Eads is justly proud - even if the actual quality of the forging is questionable.

Their official completion results in a resurgence of the argument about their role - whether they should be used to open the Chesapeake, open the Potomac or destroy Gosport.

 

[Saphroneth]

25 June

A coordinated Confederate offensive takes place in the West.
Supported by the two still-somewhat-functional ironclads the Mississippi and Louisiana, a force under Polk reaches Columbus, Kentucky and takes the town.
The threat to Buell's rear areas makes the Union general fall back to Paducah, from where he can head down the Ohio to reinforce Cairo if need be.

On the same day, Smith's corps captures Bardstown. The prospect of Confederate troops cutting the rail line (a prospect Grant is becoming depressingly familiar with) means Grant begins to head north again, entraining his troops to head to Shepherdsville.

In truth, at this point the situation in Kentucky is confused - supply lines are being switched around, some towns have been behind Confederate lines for a week without a visit from troops and the Union is scrambling to put together a string of strongpoints - even if it is starting to look like that will have to be formed on the Ohio river. If one thing is clear, however, it is that fighting deep in Kentucky is not a good sign for the Union in the West - especially as Pennefather's forces still have nothing in their way except for a single division which has been defeated three times in a row and is starting to suffer morale problems.


The Vanderbilt's raid on Fishguard ends, with the Union cruiser departing hastily to avoid facing a potentially disastrous battle. While the paddle steamer has certainly profited from their raid - they have recoaled somewhat, and replenished consumables like water and food - Fishguard is small, and indeed some of the oldest residents have already lived through a short-lived French invasion so the terror effect is not what was hoped for.
As night falls, Vanderbilt uses her superior speed to steer around the paddle frigate Dragon and heads south and west.
Her captain decides that it would perhaps make more sense to raid British commerce further from British shores, and plumps for the Mediterranean as he is aware several of the ships that sailed to expand the British blockade came from the Mediterranean.


In Mexico, French forces mount an attempt at a speedy resolution to the Siege of Pueblo. The attempt is rebuffed (albeit with difficulty) and de Lorencz determines to continue the siege while awaiting reinforcements he requested some time ago. (There are, indeed, reinforcements en route - though some 5,000 troops have been diverted to the capture of Tampico by Gloire and a small French fleet in support.)
He is also starting to attract Conservative guerillas to his (victorious) army, and French NCOs are putting them through an abbreviated form of the Vincennes rifle course to make them effective flank skirmishers and to help alleviate de Lorencz' manpower problems.


The HMS Glasgow completes at Portsmouth, the very last in a line of wooden Royal Navy frigates stretching back to the days of Oliver Cromwell (technically until just after the restoration, as the Navy is Royal!). The Ister class has already been cancelled in light of the success of the iron-hulled Warrior, and it is thought likely that future heavy ships of the Royal Navy will all be iron - clad or hull.
Glasgow and her sisters of the Bristol class were built to use up ship-class timber in the United Kingdom, but it has been decided that the timber will be of more use as backing to ironclad armour.

 

[Saphroneth]

26 June

After much debate, it is decided that the United States ironclads should attack Gosport. This would, so the theory goes, aid substantially in regaining control of the Chesapeake area - and it would also destroy one of the two Confederate squadrons (the other being on the rivers).
It is also observed that, of the other options, sending ironclads up the Potomac would split force (not considered a good idea) and attacking the British would be similar to attacking the Confederacy with the additional problem that the British could retreat out to sea after a battle - good if it opens the Chesapeake, but not so good if the Confederate Navy can outflank the Union ironclads with a few fast gunboats - or bring the Virginia back down.
There are further arguments, and the matter is not settled, but the orders are cut - the US ironclad squadron is to run past or neutralize the guns of Hampton Roads, engage the Confederate navy and destroy it, and to shell Gosport.


A report of the Ordnance department is requested in Congress by Clement Vallandingham (D-OH). The report is duly read out, laying bare the state of the Union's military logistics - in summary, not good.
Gunpowder is becoming extremely scarce, with resupply not being able to be provided on time in many cases, and the Ordnance Department is starting to draw up plans to request gunpowder back from forts and magazines to which it has been distributed - thus allowing them to prioritize.
There are effectively no spare long arms in the country that are available to be issued. The greatest windfall in the last two months was a blockade-runner from Belgium which carried 4,000 new rifles, and which escaped British inspection by hiding them inside the substance of the ship itself (though this necessitated severe damage to the ship to extract the rifles).
The artillery situation is marginally better in that artillery is still being produced in quantity, though the requirements are extensive - among other things, the Army of Lake Champlain and the Army of the St Lawrence (the latter a misnomer as it is currently on the Black River some miles to the south, and is having to work hard to avoid being pushed further south) keep losing artillery to long ranged, accurate British counter-battery fire. Part of the problem for Union artillery, in turn, is that the gunners are forbidden from practicing due to the powder shortage.

Once the report has been read, Vallandingham makes the forceful point that the Union is not in a fit state to keep fighting. He has long held that the Union has no right to keep the states of the Confederacy from seceding - now he reiterates this, and adds that the Union clearly does not have the ability either.
This time, he is not shouted down - the stark facts are hard to argue with - but the mood (or hope) of Congress is that things will get better soon.


27 June

Lee's skirmishers run into McClellan's line in the early afternoon. This information is communicated back to Lee's two main wings, and he has them concentrate to prepare for an assault.
He also sends a messenger back to Leesburg, with a simple instruction - 'Launch operation as previously specified'.

Ignorant of this, McClellan abandons a plan for a division to cross the Conococheague and march south, using it as a shield against the main Confederate concentration while attempting to manoeuvre against Lee's logistics. While he has swelled his ranks with nearly every infantryman able to make it to the battlefield in time, he still wants to retain a reserve - and the Conococheague plan, while offering the chance for a fairly major victory, would mean committing his last reserves.

The Mississippi's return to the Atlantic shipping lanes nearly ends in disaster, when she fires a shot across the bows of a British paddle steamer only to be met in reply by a dozen cannonballs and shells - she has run into the HMS Great Eastern (which looked closer than it was!), and only a hasty disengagement at maximum speed (and the Great Eastern's schedule to keep) saves her from a nasty end to her encounter with the auxiliary vessel.
(Once the danger is passed, the Mississippi's captain remarks that the Great Eastern in such a configuration would make a stunning blockade runner!)

 

[Saphroneth]

28 June

J.E.B. Stuart sets off from Leesville. In order to fool any Union spies, the formation had been undergoing preparations for a strategic move west - Stuart did not know his own instructions until he opened them yesterday. Fortunately, as the move was to involve travel off the railroads, the Cavalry Division is well prepared for their planned operations - a move north to threaten McClellan's eastern flank.

The Cavalry Division crosses the Potomac at Point of Rocks at 10:30 AM. Riding at a fast trot (possible because there are very few Union infantry in the way) they pass through Frederick and continue north. At one point Stuart encounters a (depleted) Federal regiment, which delays him for half an hour before he can set up a rifle base of fire and charge home with the rest (causing him about two hundred casualties counting wounded, but scattering the Federal regiment and causing them to flee north).
The news flashes ahead of Stuart on the telegraph, reaching McClellan around 1 PM - whose first response is shock, then relief he has not expended his reserve, then a kind of fatalism as he begins planning how he will react.
The first priority is to send his reserve north to Chambersburg - the loss of his supply depot would inevitably lead to the loss of the whole army, and McClellan considers preventing this unmitigated disaster to be a matter of overriding importance. Once this is done, however, he will need to disengage his entire army and send it north - five thousand (ten thousand? Fifteen?) Confederate cavalry on his line of communication, cutting the railroad from Pittsburgh (his only remaining rail supply line) and all the good roads would be almost as big a problem, and to keep his supply lines open he needs to relocate to where he can operate against Confederate attackers.

By 3 PM, the reserve division is marching north. McClellan hopes they can reach Chambersburg while there is still daylight, though worries about the ability of tired troops to defend the supply depot, and turns his attention to the matter of moving the rest of the army.
Before his plans are well advanced, however, Lee begins an attack - his rifles working forwards to deliver covering fire, and a division under Holmes launching an assault with the bayonet. They are turned back, the volleys of that wing of the Army of the Potomac sufficing to prevent the assaulting division from reaching their goal, but McClellan finds himself with a difficult problem indeed to solve - if he pulls out, Lee will pursue him closely, and only by abandoning his artillery can he move too fast to pursue (but replacement artillery is simply not available) whereas if he holds in position then the cavalry force (already seeming to loom larger and larger in his assessments, as scattered reports come in of the Confederate cavalry overwhelming all before them - mainly because most of the troops which should be in their way are in the embrasures here, in reality) will cut him off and force his surrender.

As such, McClellan makes the difficult decision to leave a rearguard. He has the drovers (who are not armed, as he has insufficient rifles or muskets) help to set up hasty fallback positions, and at 5 PM issues a series of orders - the upshot of which is that the wings under McDowell and Keyes will march north, followed by Heintzelman's III Corps, and that Sumner's II Corps will cover their retreat.

There is logistical chaos, and McClellan decides to leave the execution of his orders to the following day - attempting to pull out of defensive positions and march by night seems to be asking for trouble.


The reserve division reaches Chambersburg as the sun goes down, and Porter (in charge of the reserves) belatedly realizes that the real danger is further north still, in Carlisle - the northern end of this section of the valley. He sends riders back to McClellan and continues marching north, his force diminished by a brigade left in Chambersburg to protect the supply depot.

Things in the Valley are quickly falling under the fog-of-war, with nobody (including Stuart) entirely sure what all the parts of their armies are doing. One thing that is clear, however, is that the campaign has taken on something of the character of a race towards Harrisburg.

 

[Saphroneth]

29 June

McClellan recieves the messages from Porter informing the general of his change in plans. McClellan is initially angry, but after checking the map concurs that Porter had to shut off the possibility of Confederate troops taking Mechanicsburg and cutting off his army. However, this makes it all the more important to leave a rearguard - his men will desperately need time to entrench at Chambersburg.

As McClellan activates the orders for McDowell's corps to fall back, Lee's artillery fires off a sudden sharp cannonade on the western flank (which is Keyes' command). This is not followed up with a full assault, but causes disruption as men man the embrasures to defend against a potential Confederate attack - something made worse by the probing rifle fire of Cleburne's skirmishers.

Lee hears about the withdrawal of McDowell's corps, and has the relevent Confederate commanders prepare for an attack. He also orders troops readied to advance along the rest of the line, in sequence. This preparation takes an hour or two, and by the time it is ready to execute Keyes is also vacating his position.

For most of the afternoon of the 29th, Lee's echelon attack takes place. The assault is very similar in some ways to those that took place fifty years ago in Europe, with Cleburne's skirmishers taking the part of the voltigeurs in clearing the way and the Confederate assault rolling forwards behind the covering rifle fire. (One of the key differences is that Lee's men do not use the column - instead they advance in line, a probable miscalcuation but one which does not have any real effect on the outcome of the battle.)

Sumner's II Corps are hard pressed to hold their positions, and McClellan detaches some of III Corps (Heintzelman) to reinforce this rearguard - it will mean the extra division of troops is lost, but the rearguard collapsing early would probably lead to the loss of his whole command.
He also leaves all of III Corps' artillery for Sumner to use, as Heintzelman's men will need to move fastest and the extra artillery will hopefully make all the difference.


In the end, by the time the Confederate assault peters out, Lee has been frustrated. Pickett's men on the far eastern flank have managed to work around and cut the road north - behind III Corps - but Sumner is still holding out, having drawn back his men into a 'hedgehog' astride the main road and covered by liberal use of artillery.

Unable to pursue McClellan closely, Lee intends to crush Sumner as quickly as possible and then follow up to Chambersburg.






30 June


At Mechanicsburg, Porter wins the race to the town. His men are tired, having route marched about fifty miles since Chambersburg, but take interim positions and begin fortifying them - relying heavily on choke points through the hilly terrain to the south of the town itself, and also on the labour of much of the nearby population (who are quite panicked by the thought of Confederate cavalry arriving.)
Fortunately for Porter, the Confederate cavalry who indeed arrive a few hours later are also tired - they have cut a wide swath, but many of their horses are in desperate need of rest and the men themselves are sometimes close to falling asleep in the saddle. As such, Stuart does not launch an attack today, wanting his men to be in good shape.

An unexpected bonus arrives for Porter in the middle of the afternoon - several trains of infantry, coming from all over the country. These are about three thousand taken from the east coast (small numbers from each garrison, in general) and another few thousand from the men defending the southern shore of Lake Erie. While small, this nearly doubles Porter's front line strength - and the new troops are fresh.

Further south and west, McClellan has sent I Corps north to Mechanicsburg to shore up the line there. The rest of his men are resting after their march north, and some fortification of Chambersburg is taking place, but McClellan worries about their morale - being so outmanoeuvred by Lee has done a lot of damage to his hard-won esprit d' corps, and not only is rescuing Sumner's men unlikely in the extreme but defending Chambersburg against Lee's army seems a dicey prospect.
And there is that Confederate division well out on his western flank, as well.

At noon, McClellan makes his decision - fall back up the valley. This leads to a loud argument with Heintzelman and Keyes, in which McClellan makes the point that he would rather sacrifice a few hundred square miles than have his army ripped to shreds by Lee. In particular, he asks the two corps commanders which of them plans on leading the next rearguard.
After hours of debate, a compromise is reached - the defensive positions outside Chambersburg are set up, in case it is possible to hold, but they are also made as hard to pass as possible and food is withdrawn to Shippensburg. The intent here is that a Confederate attack on Chambersburg would be fought, but if it began to look like it would succeed then the Union would withdraw (and leave nothing that would make the Confederate pursuit easier).


Sumner's pocket contracts hourly as Confederate sharpshooter fire and artillery picks away at his strength. The general himself is wounded early in the process, but stays active - having his broken arm splinted against the pain.
Lee offers terms near sundown, and Sumner refuses - he will delay as long as possible.



(This turned out huge, so I'm going to do another one for the naval side of things.)

 

[Saphroneth]

30 June

At nine in the morning, DuPont (the most senior commander the US Navy has able to fight, after Farragut's crippling during the Virginia's destruction of his command) leads his flotilla towards Gosport.
He is in the Pennsylvania, with the other three ironclads (Massachusets, New York and Connecticut) in line and his gunboats (Chocura, Katahdin, Pinola, Cayuga and Oregon) forming a scouting screen ahead. The whole formation has a fleet speed of about seven knots, and begin coming under long range (and inaccurate) fire from Fort Monroe about two miles out.

In Gosport, Semmes readies his ships for battle. The news of four Yankee ironclads gives him pause, but he has the Charleston and the Old Dominion - the former still a wooden liner, but with some of her guns replaced by 7" rifles - and a collection of gunboats of varying levels of firepower to back them up, as well as the guns protecting Hampton Roads.
As such, Semmes - always daring - elects to sally out and fight, under the protection of the guns but not relying on them to do all the work.


Meanwhile, R.Adm. Michell, commanding the Chesapeake blockade squadron from HMS Resistance, takes note of the thunder of guns some miles to the north. He orders that his flotilla concentrate on him, and sail north - but makes clear that they are not to engage without further orders.


Over the course of the next few hours, the Confederate fleet gets up steam and makes way towards the mouth of Newport News. The American ironclads and gunboats are putting up a steady if slow bombardment of Fort Monroe, which still bears the scars of the damage from nearly five months prior, and at the long range in question (over a mile) the Confederate guns are doing little damage that is not superficial - though the exception is violent, as Oregon is struck by a large rifle shell and begins to sink. (Her captain orders the crew to take to the boats, and they are picked up by Katahdin.)
It is already starting to look like the Eads boats - with their two layers of 3" hammered armour - are significantly better protected than a ship with armour like that of the Monitor (as would be expected from Dahlgren's experiments), though a few cracks have developed where wrought iron shot has struck at a near-perpendicular angle on the casemate, as the iron is still more fragile than expected.


Semmes brings his ships into play around 1 PM, with Charleston leading the line at full speed and Yorktown and Jamestown following her - all three vessels can make 12 knots, which is very creditable (the only other ship able to make 12 knots in the whole area is the Immortalite, a British frigate). Leaving behind Old Dominion as too slow to follow the fleet, Semmes starts by angling for the pair of Union gunboats a little to the south of the main ironclad force - where they are out of the arc of the water battery.
The Union gunboats react by attempting a retreat, though they are too slow to avoid being brought to action - Charleston ripples off a broadside of 24 30-lber shells, 7 30-lber rifle shells and three 7" rifle rounds, the barrage striking Chocura four times and impairing her ability to maintain speed. As she falls back behind Pinola, the two large Confederate paddle gunboats also engage her - before long the Chocura is in a sinking condition.
As Semmes pursues, however, he comes under fire from the chase guns of Massachusets and New York. Pennsylvania opens her broadside as well, and the screw liner is soon under a sporadic fire from three of the four Union ironclads and is working both of her own broadsides as fast as possible. Her 7" rifles have a few precious cast-steel shot, and these are expended at close range to do significant damage to the port side of Pennsylvania - but a few solid bolts into the fighting space, while disabling one gun, cannot render the Union ironclad hors d'combat.

At about this time, Michell - discussing matters with his flag captain Chamberlain - comes to the conclusion that, since the Union ironclads seem to be resisting fire quite well, it would be detrimental to his ability to sustain the blockade for them to be able to attack him after repairing.
It is not clear how much of this argument is genuine, and how much is simply the desire to be involved in the battle. Nevertheless, he gives the order to engage the Union ships, and Resistance begins to close in - followed by Agamemnon, Octavia, Immortalite and Medea, at a little over ten knots. (The various British gunboats are quickly set up under tow from the faster ships, as their 68-lber smoothbores and 110-lber rifles may be useful.)

At 2:30, the Charleston has taken a hell of a battering. Her engine is below the waterline, so she has not taken any serious mobility damage, but the large shells hitting her as fast as the Union gunners can serve their guns are causing significant casualties and have rendered much of her broadside unusable. Jamestown has blown up, and Yorktown is retreating with most of her guns disabled.
Old Dominion has waded in, the slow Confederate ironclad using her own few steel shot to hit the Connecticut (and taking heavy damage in return) and the Union ironclad Massachusetts has been so battered by the repeated broadsides of Charleston that her upper layer is starting to crack apart under the impacts - even without the ability to pierce, the Charleston has such a large broadside of comparatively fast-firing weapons that she can cause substantial progressive damage.

The broadside of the Resistance comes as a surprise. At such a range - 800 yards - the angle of the armour means that the two hits from her 68-lber heavy guns do not penetrate, but the concussion is still considerable (Resistance is using 'far' charges, which mean the muzzle velocity is nearly twice the speed of sound, and she also has a large supply of steel shot which transfer more of their energy to the target.) Her 110-lber rifles do little damage, with a much lower muzzle velocity, but the two hits scored sound just as bad and add to the confusion.
The Pennsylvania and the Connecticut, as the ships with the more powerful armour piercing rounds, break off to focus on the British ships. Pennsylvania's 15" smoothbore scores a hit with the first shot, though at a comparatively long range this does not penetrate either, and the crew begin reloading the unwieldy gun as fast as possible - covered by the three smoothbores on the same broadside, and the four 9" sleeved rifles the Connecticut can supply on her relatively undamaged broadside.

The battle from this point degenerates into a brawl. Fort Monroe's guns are largely silenced - in some cases simply out of solid shot that can harm ironclads at this range - and the Charleston continues stubbornly resisting, using her higher speed to try and steer for a good angle on the Union ironclads (though even this starts to go as her engine is overstrained). Meanwhile, the British line starts to unravel as ships open their broadsides, and Medea abruptly loses way when her port paddle is destroyed by 8" rifle fire from the damaged Massachusets - which is herself then battered by the forty-six projectiles thrown by a single broadside from Agamemnon and pierced once.
Resistance takes considerable damage over the course of the battle, with her being the obvious target for heavy fire, and her side is pierced at close range by Pennsylvania's 15" (once, knocking out an Armstrong rifle) and Connecticut's 9" (twice, though the powder load required also causes one of the guns to burst). Michell is killed in the fighting when an 8" shell cuts down some of the masthead, and she also takes on some water from hits afore her armoured belt (though this does not put her at risk of sinking). At such a close range, however, her steady thunder of 68-lbers repeatedly pierces the Union ironclads, both battering their armour into shattering and simply punching straight through.

When the smoke has cleared late in the afternoon, the only capital ship to escape almost unscathed is the Immortalite. Near the back of the British line, she was not targeted by any major concentration of fire, and indeed only took one hit - a 10" shell near the bows which killed five men and disabled two guns, but passed through the ship before exploding and as such acted like a round shot.
All the other ships are damaged, in some cases seriously - Charleston is a wreck above the water line, though Semmes has not even been injured, and the Medea burns before exploding - and of the four Union ironclads only the New York manages to escape by withdrawing into shoal water and limping upriver overnight.


All three nations involved (when they hear about this battle) react with a mix of emotions. In the Confederacy there is relief, and a little shame that their navy could not defeat the Union navy alone (even Confederate pride cannot ignore that Charleston is barely able to fight a gunboat and Old Dominion has lost three of her five guns); in the British Empire the whole engagement is viewed with suspicion (Bright asks the First Lord whether the actions of Michell have materially contributed to the independence of the Confederacy) - though also pride that the Resistance was so heavily involved - and the Union's reaction is essentially one of shock, as the results come in the middle of the news of the battles in the Shenandoah Valley.

 

[Saphroneth]

1 July

Lee's force launches an assault on Sumner, and manages to break their perimeter. The men of II Corps are already tired and running low on supplies (they had not expected to be put in this situation), and when the guns fall silent it is too much. Sumner surrenders his command, specifically because further resistance cannot achieve anything beyond getting more of his men killed.

The Confederate general himself feels somewhat better about the battle when he realizes he has captured a good third or so of the Army of the Potomac (due to all the regiments detached from III Corps, as well as the significant number of men manning what used to be III Corps' artillery) and begins coordinating with his cavalry - who need to either establish a proper supply line or fall back, though their raid has done huge damage to Union morale and was important in the outcome of the battle.


As Congress absorbs the news of the defeats of the past few days, Vallandingham reiterates his opinion that peace is the only sensible option. This time the audience is more receptive of his view, and though the debate goes on long into the night the conclusion is reached - peace must, indeed be had.
This does not in any sense mean that everyone is agreed on what peace means... but nevertheless the request is sent to Canada and to Richmond for a ceasefire in order that the details of the peace can be worked out.



2 July

Milne hears about the news of the ceasefire. Almost his first words are a clear statement that the blockade will continue, at least until the peace, as to do otherwise would be frankly stupid.

Pennefather also halts on hearing of the ceasefire, and notes with some satisfaction that he has essentially captured Lower Michigan - which will hopefully prove useful at the peace table. (He will discover the next day that a flank brigade captured Toledo as well largely by accident late on the 1st, having found it defended by a small number of militia unwilling to put up a serious fight).

The Vanderbilt approaches the straits of Gibraltar after a hasty recoaling at A Coruna, and a course shaped well out to sea to avoid British ships at the Tagus (based on old information - the ships which were at the Tagus are now blockading the US coast, and unlike the assumptions made by Vanderbilt's captain the station was not replaced). The Gibraltar station has been drawn down with the war, and contains no ships capable of matching the 14 knot dash speed of the Vanderbilt (or, indeed, making twelve knots).
This, coupled with the circuitous course, means that the Vanderbilt manages to successfully run the straits. This is largely by staying at least ten miles from Gibraltar at all times - the Rock positively bristles with guns, with over six hundred guns mounted (and many of them heavy pieces such as 68-lbers) in 110 different batteries.

Telegraph messages are passed on to Malta informing the station of the Vanderbilt's passage.

 

[Saphroneth]

3 July

Amid jubilation in Richmond, the debates begin in the Confederate congress about what the Confederacy actually wants from the peace. Some of the fire-eaters insist on particularly large concessions - Minnesota, Arizona, California, everything south of the Mason-Dixon line, a transcontinental railway and an indemnity to boot - but Davis is more realistic on the matter, and over the next few days he begins to cajole the Confederate legislators into setting a priority list for what they want.

One thing is immediately clear - the states of the 'main' Confederacy (all slave states bar those called the border states) are not up for negotiation, excepting only for leaving open the possibility of adjusting the northern border of Confederate Virginia.
Davis is also canny - he tells the legislators they must make clear that the war is won when peace is signed, and not before. In other words, that as much as possible the Confederate States must not get complacent and let things fall apart now (by, for example, reducing their army size or pulling back from their positions).



4 July

Independence day celebrations in the United States are distinctly muted, but not as bad as one might think - the blockade has been painful, and the news of a potential peace has turned out to be more popular than anticipated. (Also, very few people are being shot at today, which is an improvement over the past few weeks.)

The fighting continues in California (which will not get the news for some days), but relatively little action is taking place even here - the most notable event is a minor skirmish at the town of Nevada in the Sierra Nevada (in California) between Indians (from Bengal) and Indians (from Nevada), which will briefly confuse students of history whenever they first learn about it.


5 July

The damage assessment on Charleston is complete - the ship's fighting value is seriously marred for service as a line of battle ship as she has taken so much structural damage, but the hull below the waterline is sound. As such, she is evaluated for conversion to a broadside ironclad - something impressive, as there is so much tonnage to work with!

The Vanderbilt stops a British trading vessel (the Gambia) south of Sardinia, and puts a prize crew aboard. The two ships sail to a cove on Sardinia, where Vanderbilt will take on supplies from the Gambia (including coal).

 

[Saphroneth]

7 July

Congress orders a ban on military training involving the use of gunpowder for the duration of the ceasefire, based on Ordnance Department figures which show that their supply is extremely limited.
Plans are also put in place for what to do if the war resumes - one idea mooted is to ram a single large army through to Richmond, though this would be rather difficult with the Potomac essentially under Confederate control and no viable jumping off points. It would also entail stripping most regions entirely of their line troops - at this point the Union cannot hope to outnumber the Confederacy alone without shipments of arms which have not yet been manufactured - and entail considerable risk to say the least!


8 July

After a spectacular high speed crossing of the Atlantic by RMS Scotia, the news of the ceasefire arrives in Plymouth and is telegraphed to London. Palmerston is pleased, and the process of arranging the peace conference begins - thanks to the proliferation of the telegraph, Napoleon III has agreed to mediate within hours and Russia is being contacted about doing the same. Messages also go to Spain, and the peace conference is tentatively suggested to take place at Havana - subject to American approval.

Meanwhile, in the Confederate states, the ceasefire has meant that the government has a chance to actually govern properly (rather than existing in war crisis mode). For example, a fiery debate takes place on the ideal court structure for a confederation of states - the concept being reached that any court at the highest levels can only address cases which cannot be settled internally within a single state, and that that court of the highest levels should involve the deliberation of judges drawn from the individual states. That is, the Confederate "supreme" court is in fact the chief justices of the individual states acting as a combined body.
This system has several advantages, one of which being that it's not the one the Union uses!

 

[Saphroneth]

11 July

The Vanderbilt evades HMS Malacca off Pantelleria, taking two hits from 32-lber shells at long range and suffering one casualty. Her return fire damages the mast of the Malacca with a lucky hit, and Vanderbilt pours on the coal in order to get clear - travelling east and south, to pass close to the North African coast and hopefully escape notice.
This means she is off the main trade routes, and cannot take any more prizes for several days.



13 July
The state of peace notwithstanding, the Confederate Army of Maryland continues with the non-military preparations in case the war continues. Much rifle training is taking place, with many Confederate soldiers happy to practice useful (and prestigious) skills at the CSA's expense, and there is even a railroad being set up to allow a future offensive north to be better supplied if need be.


16 July
A major offensive takes place at Pueblo. de Lorencz uses his troops in a three-phase assault - his best riflemen suppressing the enemy from long range, his guerilleros attacking all along the front with sniping, and the main French army mounting an assault supported by artillery.

This attack does not succeed in ending the siege - the Mexican defenders are tenacious - but the major shifting of troops required to fend the assault off does reduce the defenders of an important hill a mile from the city enough that a large band of guerilleros manage to drive the defenders off. de Lorencz commits his reserves, retaining control of the hill and driving off a Mexican countercharge, and has his heavy artillery begin shifting to the summit of the hill - from this position, he will be able to bombard almost any part of the Mexican defences with his longer-ranged rifles.

 

[Saphroneth]

18 July

The news of the proposed conference arrives in the Americas. The reaction of Congress to the proposal is not overall positive - they agree that the Spanish location would be preferable, but object that the overall weighting of the conference is too pro-British and anti-Union as the Spanish are known to be anti-Union.

Based on State Department memos, they propose a third mediator to be added to the conference - Prussia. It will take another eight or nine days for this message to cross the Atlantic - one of the downsides of the width of the ocean.

The Confederacy are informed of these proposed changes, and see little problem with them. They (perhaps falsely) consider Prussia to be potentially sympathetic.

21 July

HMS Lion arrives at Hawai'i. The sight of such a huge ship - intended to be a largely permanent resident, as well, not simply a visitor - is quite an impressive one to the locals. She fires a 21-gun salute, which in the slightly involved metrics of the British Empire on the matter is about as high as it will get without being directly related to Victoria.
Once the formalities are over, the work begins. Both transports begin unloading, with the engineers heading up to pick positions for their four 68-lber guns - as well as the dozens that will follow - and the infantry battalion disembarking to take up their new garrison duties (one of which is introducing the local royal guard to the wonders of Hythe-style training).

22 July

A ship is stopped from sailing up the Delaware river, as it is breaking blockade by doing so - the blockade will not be lifted until the peace treaty. It has a cargo which includes fifty tons of gunpowder, which is contraband, and is sailed (somewhat gingerly!) to Bermuda for condemnation.

 

[Saphroneth]

25 July

McClellan and Hooker get into an argument about rifle practice. Hooker emphasizes the Congressional ban on the use of gunpowder for practice, to which McClellan replies that an unpracticed army will be easily destroyed by the Confederates if a battle develops upon breakdown of the peace.

Both men have an excellent point; neither is wrong. The right answer is elusive. (The best course of action would probably be to employ a combination of range estimation classes - which can benefit troops without a shot being fired - with snapping practice using percussion caps. This solution is not discovered, and even this involves using part of a potentially limited supply of percussion caps.)



27 July
The Vanderbilt takes a British prize off Crete. She ducks into a small cove on Lesbos and endeavours to be as unnoticeable as possible while she recoals from the prize.


30 July
The request for a mediator arrives in Prussia.
The Prussian King - already embroiled in serious problems from a combination of parliamentary deadlock, elevated grain prices from the trade disruption of the Trent War and sheer bull-headedness - sends off the first experienced negotiator to meet his eye, the recently-returned ambassador to France.

1 August

Havana belatedly discovers it will be hosting a major peace conference. Much disruption occurs in the capital of Spanish Cuba, including the defences being made to look as impressive as possible and more than a few people being bumped out of the grandest hotels.

The Superb undocks, having completed conversion into the biggest bomb ship in the world. Her rigging is distinctly unusual, with chains rather than the normal lines and even an experimental iron-sheathed main mast - however, it is expected that her engine will provide most of her manoeuverability in theatre.
She also sports a few experimental tricks, notably four anchors (one on each quarter) and a steam engine dedicated to lifting the enormous one-ton mortar shells from the magazine.
She is also very lightly armed for a ship her size apart from the mammoth mortar - sporting primarily a dozen 40-lber Armstrong guns on her gundeck.

 

[Saphroneth]

5 August

Lancaster docks in Kagoshima for coal. While there she encounters the HMS Odin, a paddle frigate of about the same size, and is preparing for battle when she spots the Odin flying a flag of truce.
Odin, being on the China Station, got the news of the ceasefire over a week ago (due to the excellent telegraph communications between London and India), and her captain informs the captain of Lancaster that the war has become a cease-fire.
She recommends that Lancaster operate out of a Royal Navy base for the next few months, and that in the event of a resumption of war Lancaster will be given forty-eight hours to leave port before the British ships pursue her. This is accepted, with some further caveats and details relating to the specific situation.


7 August
The ambassadors and delegations begin to assemble in Havana. The Prussian representative at least is not expected for another several days, so the early discussions are largely theoretical -those in charge of the Confederate delegation seeking to get some interest from the French ambassadors regarding future trade deals, mostly without any particular success.

9 August

In Mexico, Fort Loreto at Puebla is captured. The tenacious resistance of the garrison - necessitating de Lorencz bringing up his heaviest artillery in order to batter the walls, and delaying the capture of the whole area by several weeks even after his break-in to the city - has allowed the Mexican Republican government to evacuate, heading north and west. Despite this, the Siege of Puebla is over with a French victory.
de Lorencz does not push his forces northwest in pursuit of the Mexican government, as his men have been tired by the siege. His plan instead is to rest for a few days, allowing his logistics to consolidate, and then take Mexico City later in the month.

10 August
The Charleston goes in for conversion, with some thorough plans being put into action at Gosport.
A minor riot takes place in Baltimore, demanding an end to the Union occupation and for the city (along with Maryland) to join the Confederacy. This makes Congress nervous to say the least.

 

[Saphroneth]

12 August

William Palliser begins a sequence of experiments to test how well his shot performs against targets which are not in factory-fresh shape - wondering whether, perhaps, the effects of salt water on the iron of a ship's sides are quantifiable.

His armour-penetrating shot performs well, especially when he fires rounds from the 100-lber Somerset Cannon he has obtained from testing, but the most notable result actually comes from some of the control shots - Palliser has made full use of the ironclad building program and has obtained a dozen rejected plates from the same batch (hence of the same quality), and as some of his experiments compared AP shot to conventional shot and rusted armour to pristine armour, the treated plates were soaked over a period of weeks in a mine.

Owing to a slight mixup, one of the untreated plates also kept in the mine is tested, and it produces significantly different results than the plates which were kept in the open - in fact, it allows a projectile into the backing where the 'control' plate (which has been out in the hot summer sun) resisted competently.

Palliser will chase up this effect over the following weeks, and conclude that for iron armour temperature is immensely important for resistance - in fact, in going from 32 Fahrenheit to 100 Farenheit (both temperatures a battle is possible at), the energy absorbed by the armour doubles!

13 August

The CSS Alabama sails into Gosport, captained by Bulloch. This leads to considerable surprise, as the Confederate Congress had essentially lost track of their naval procuring agent and indeed had forgotten about the procurement of the Alabama entirely.

On the same date, further Confederate naval surprise is curtailed somewhat when the Admiralty - having taken the construction time of the United States ironclads and extrapolated, with some unjustified alarm - concludes that in the event of a resumption of the war they may face as many as eight more Union ironclads of this class or dozens of smaller ones. They thus begin plans for a second-generation small ironclad, armed with a Coles turret to mount a Somerset gun or similar heavy anti-armour piece, though are somewhat surprised to discover that Laird already has two half-finished turret rams of an appropriate design (Hulls 294 and 295) and make preparations to purchase not only the ships but the design. (Laird successfully avoids censure by pointing out that no ship was launched by the yard in breach of neutrality regulations, as by the time the Alabama and the rams were under construction the British were already at war with the Union.)

15 August

The Vanderbilt's captain is confronted by the local Ottoman governor, and informed he is seriously outstaying his welcome. When the Union officer protests, the governor emphasizes his point by pointing out to sea - where the Mahmudiye is visible on the horizon.
Steam versus sail or no, the idea of confronting a 128-gun first rate is enough to tip the balance in the mind of Vanderbilt's captain, and he (reluctantly) has his ship head back out to sea.
Vanderbilt shapes her course for Benghazi, intending to pick up a prize or two before heading back into the Aegean to hide. This time the captain thinks Santorini might be a better bet.

17 August

With the belated arrival of the Prussian representative, the peace conference at Havana begins.
It does not start well, with the three powers in question putting forward completely incompatible and often risible initial negotiating positions.

The British ask for Oregon Country, the Red River area, all the islands that have been in dispute at any point in the past eighty years, the Lake of the Woods area, Michigan, the south of the St Lawrence, essentially all of Maine, an indemnity and the Right of Search. And an apology.

The Confederacy ask for every single state in the United States with legal slavery, the area of Kansas Territory, the southern half of California, New Mexico Territory, a transcontinental railroad and an indemnity. And Washington DC.

The Union's position is that the Confederacy will only be permitted to have the states of Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, both Carolinas and Virginia, excluding West Virginia (and ideally the land north of the Rappahanock). And that all former Federal forts will be returned to the Union government, that not a foot of territory will be given to the British, and that the San Juan islands be settled in their favour.
They also want an indemnity.

The Prussian envoy is seen rubbing his temples.

 

[Saphroneth]

19 August

The keels are laid on three screw frigates to form the cruising force of the Confederate Navy. They are provisionally named the Washington, Adams and Jefferson - a practice which some assume is calculated to annoy the Union, though the Confederacy as a whole generally considers itself the true heir of many of the early Presidents and sees nothing wrong with the names.

20 August
The Vanderbilt, operating on sail alone for now, steers clear of a cloud of smoke on the horizon thought to be a warship. (This suspicion is incorrect, it is a 3,500 ton steamer trading with Alexandria, but the Vanderbilt does not have a secure enough coal supply for a potential chase if it turns out to be a British warship.)

Admiralty planners look over the accounts from Milne's fleet on how various fortifications were attacked, and begin absorbing and refining the information. Among the lessons that come out are a need for greater focus on mine detection and clearing, the importance of planning based on the specific hydrological environment of the harbour, and the high value of a sufficiently well armoured ironclad. (The spectacular work of Aetna in Boston, with her armour impenetrable to the Union guns and her Armstrong guns able to collapse the fort face with sustained fire at close range, has drawn particular attention.)

As part of a planning exercise, maps are examined of locations such as Sveaborg, Krondstadt, Konstantiniyye (Constantinople), Brest, Charleston, Gosport - generally speaking, all the great dockyards and ports of the world which are neither British nor recently successfully bombarded by the British - to determine the ideal modes of attack.


22 August

The Diet in Prussia indicates it will reject the planned reorganization of the Prussian army, considering it both overly expensive and overly conservative - bluntly, the idea is to sideline the Landwehr (which is a cross-section of society) in exchange for the more peasant-oriented and aristocrat-officered regular army (which would recieve both a large funding boost and a considerable expansion) in Roon's reforms.
The Civil War in America is used as evidence for both sides - the success of the Confederates arguing for an army formed on the outbreak of war, the defeat of the Union arguing against, and the achievements of the British Army causing many conservative Prussian officers mild cases of cognitive dissonance.
Making things worse is the grain market disruption from the Civil War, which has led to a consideration of temporary Diet-funded diet supplements by way of large grain purchases - something which would affect the proposed army funding. (The pun does not work so well in German.)


23 August

Five days of discussion have not helped matters much at Havana. It has been made clear by all the mediators that the Union position is completely unrealistic (Lyons noting that the Union seem not to have remembered they were the ones who sued for peace), the British position is overly ambitious given the facts on the ground, and the Confederate position is at best unworkable.


Meanwhile, hundreds of miles to the west, the Superior Junta of Mexico (consisting mostly of haciendos) proclaims a Catholic Empire of Mexico and appoints an interim President in order to hold a plebiscite across Mexico - specifically, over whether Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria is acceptable as the Emperor of Mexico, a condition Maximilian placed on his taking the throne if offered.
The plebiscite's legitimacy is an enduring question, though many observe it is at least less suspiciously one sided than the elections of Napoleon I and George Washington. (Washington obtained literally every single vote; Napoleon obtained 99.94% of the vote in 1800, 99.76% in 1802 and 99.93% in 1804, as well as 99.67% in 1815. By contrast the Mexican plebiscite is a model of plurality.)

 

[Saphroneth]

24 August

HMS Glatton was discovered to be somewhat rotten when she was being prepared for potential service in the Americas; however, the requirements of the war prevented anything being done about it until July.
As orders were being cut for her breaking up given that the pace of war had slowed, someone (history does not record his identity, but Reed is considered a possible source) suggested using her for fort and naval gun testing against a real target - it has become clear that no systematic treatment of the subject yet existing is adequate to explain combat data from America.

The conversion required for this role is now complete, with a sturdy tow cable fitted nearly two miles in length (to allow a tug to tow her from well outside the danger zone) and much flammable material removed, and the spaces below the waterline packed with cork.
This experiment has interesting results. Some old assumptions are confirmed - that stationary ships must be at anchor to provide a stable firing platform, that a mobile ship is hard to hit from shore at a distance - but one possibly surprising detail is that a steady gun platform can allow rifles to hit with reasonable accuracy at a very long range; indeed, a longer range than any gun currently in service can penetrate the sides of even an old ironclad like Glatton (though once Palliser's Temperature Compensations are worked out it will be debated whether a full-charge 68-lber's penetration distance is more or less than its effective range, as the numbers are close to the critical point and it turns on the quality of the 4" armour plate struck). Plunging fire is a little more effective, though the extremely long range (and hence flight time) required to make a shot plunge given modern guns means that it is quite inaccurate.

Glatton survives these first tests, partly due to the removal of the charge from any Palliser shells fired meaning that nothing set her ablaze, though the shock has still caused significant damage to the rotten sections of her timbers.

25 August

Albert Pike successfully secures 5,000 Enfield rifles from the arsenals of the Confederacy for the militias of the Five Civilized Tribes. Part of the quid pro quo involved is that these Enfield rifles will be used for marksmanship training, and that the Civilized Tribes will each be able to furnish 1,000 foot or mounted riflemen for inspection each year. (Another part, due to the slightly odd nature of the Confederate House of Representatives, is that the Indian Representative lends his vote to the passage of four other bills - including one on subsidy of dredging for the mouth of the Mississippi.)
Pike also siphons off some funds from official military use in order to pay the arrears of the Indians who fought for the Confederacy west of the Mississippi, in a move which is probably illegal but which does earn him considerable credit with the tribes of the Indian Territory.
It is about this time that he writes a pamphlet which extolls the virtues of the Indian lifestyle and specifically its provision for natural training in marksmanship, horse riding, and fieldcraft.
Perhaps Pike's greatest rhetorical flourish during this period of Indian advocacy is that he heavily emphasizes the Union's treatment of the Indians (repeatedly breaking treaties) as being "another example of Yankee perfidy" - faced with such a description, Confederate attitudes tend to evolve to be the opposite! (The contradiction with the doctrine of white supremacy is studiously unexamined - "Red" seems to slot somewhere a little between "White" and "French" on the Confederate scale, well above "Yankee".)