I've wanted to write a timeline for a while, but I've always put it off due to the phenomenal amount of research I felt was required, combined with the press of Real Life. Finally, however, I decided to just post a first draft, relatively sparse on detail, of a TL from a period I already know somewhat well. So, here goes my first timeline...
1860: Election of A. Lincoln. Secession of "first wave" of states.
1861: Inauguration of A. Lincoln, J. Davis. Firing on Ft. Sumpter. Lincoln calls for volunteers. Secession of "second wave" of states. First Battle of Bull Run.
1862: Battle of Seven Days. Second Battle of Bull Run.
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by actor John Wilkes Booth and a small band of Confederate sympathizers. Booth killed the same night. Connections to the Confederate government suspected but never proven.
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President Hamlin sat slumped over at the desk he still thought of as Lincoln's, between the two ramrod-straight men on either side of him. How, he wondered, did they do it?
Well, with one of them, the answer was clear. "I have never pretended to do that," Gen. McClellan was saying for the fifth - or was it the tenth? - time. "That, at least since your predecessor removed me from the general-in-chief'ship, is not my concern. Once I receive the reenforcements, then my part of the task begins."
"You're verging on treason," Secretary of State Seward shot back without moving an inch. "What can you do with the armies you have?"
"I can - and will - of course do what I can," McClellan expostulated, "but all the reports agree the enemy outnumbers us at least two to one. If we can hold Alexandria -"
"You will hold Alexandria! And Manassas -"
"A large body of the enemy is ensconced at Manassas -"
"I have a report that they're only an advance party -"
"Maybe when your courier left, but by now -"
Seward frowned and turned to Hamlin. "Mr. President, I recommend again you recall General Pope."
Where, Hamlin wondered, was General Pope? Probably in Pennsylvania by now, if not New York. He had been all too glad to be cashiered in the chaos following Lincoln's assassination. That had been Hamlin's first act of office - made easy because both the outgoing Pope and the incoming McClellan had agreed on it. Besides, the one thing he was sure of was that McClellan had the confidence of the troops. That was probably the only way he'd been able to sign the order not four hours after being awakened with the dreadful news... maybe it had been too easy.
But it was too late now for second thoughts. "No, Mr. Seward, we cannot look back. We must move forward." Lincoln would have given a nice parable here, but all Hamlin could do was fold his hands and stare at the Secretary of State.
"And how are we to move forward?" Seward glared at General McClellan.
"I will try my best to reconstitute our army, but I cannot promise anything without reenforcements. Furthermore, far too many of our horses and supplies have been left behind on the Peninsula, as I said in my report of the second instant."
"And your plan?" Seward pressed.
"To lead back the Army of the Potomac from the brink of disaster into a viable fighting force so that, God willing, we will be able to defend Washington against any assaults."
"And that is all your plan?"
"Until reenforcements come, Mr. Seward, that is all I can do."
Seward glared at the President, but Hamlin shook his head. He didn't see how to do anything more, either.
***
Lee was on the Potomac. Lee had crossed the Potomac, with (Seward glared at McClellan) bridging materials he'd captured at the Manassas supply dump. (McClellan blithely replied that had been Pope's fault, and Seward had to agree.) Lee had cut the B&O branch line to Washington, while McClellan's men were still drilling in the defenses. (Seward pleaded for Hamlin to order McClellan to move, but McClellan insisted his army wasn't quite ready yet, and Hamlin feared to overrule him.) Lee was approaching Baltimore. Seward vowed to approach Congress about indicting McClellan for treason, and McClellan finally agreed to move. He was a little west of Annapolis when news came of riots in Baltimore overwhelming the city's defenses and letting Lee in.
At that time, Hamlin called his second full Cabinet meeting. They were unanimously against McClellan, but no two could agree on whom should replace him...
***
"Baron Lyons, I am glad to see you. I am sorry I cannot offer you anything more than these biscuits, but..."
The British Ambassador waved Hamlin's words aside with a casual gesture of his hand. "Then this will be a business meeting, Mr. President?"
Was that how he took a lack of refreshments? Hamlin suddenly felt as naive as the opposition press had painted Lincoln. "Very well, Baron."
"Mr. President." He paused for a moment. "You are aware, I take it, that I am not by nature sympathetic to... the cause for which General Lee stands."
Hamlin nodded. Lyons was being quite accurate, as far as he knew.
"Therefore, I hope you will see that it is no private sympathy which caused me to send my cable this morning."
"To your government, I assume?" Hamlin asked, unable to say anything more substantive. He knew what was coming - it was looming upon him like the army of Negros in the clouds that Jefferson had supposedly seen. But he could not say he was surprised.
"Indeed. Mr. President, General Lee's army is now besieging your capital. For almost a month, you have - I agree - escorted through coaches and ships, but you have been unable to dislodge the siege. Not to mention, you have lost almost half of another state. Therefore, it has been my painful duty to advise Her Majesty's Government to recognize the Confederate States of America."
"You are aware that this means war?" Another truism. But it was all Hamlin could muster.
"Mr. President, it is no longer a statement of policy but one of fact." Ambassador Lyons paused and looked at the President with a gaze Hamlin didn't care to evaluate. "Were I an American," he finally added, "I might advise you to do the same."
"Impossible," Hamlin sighed, "Ambassador."
Lyons frowned. "It shall soon become a question of timing, not possibility."
"Leave the slaves in chains? I thought -" He stopped himself. It would be futile to appeal to Lyons' better nature, now that he'd made it a question of British policy. Instead, he added, "There is still one question of timing: the elections next week."
"Very well," Lyons said. "The returns should come before Her Majesty's reply."
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NOVEMBER, 1862: US midterm elections result in Democratic sweep. United Kingdom and French Empire officially recognize Confederate States of America. Gen. Lee proposes cease-fire on Washington front; Pres. Hamlin reluctantly accepts.
DECEMBER, 1862 - JANUARY, 1863: Peace conference at Union-held Fortress Monroe (Hampton Roads, VA.) Independence of CSA acknowledged. (The Confederate delegation, in hopes of gaining further states later on, tries to make the Union explicitly acknowledge secession as legal; Hamlin and Seward refuse. With a frown from the British, the Confederates refuse to force the issue.) Union control of western Virginia acknowledged. Confederate-held eastern Maryland returned to Union in exchange for Union-held western Tennessee.
NOTE: Union "West Virginia" has more or less these borders, except that Confederate Virginia keeps the two farthest-east counties around Harper's Ferry.
To satisfy Confederate constitutional theory, Pres. Davis heavily leans on the Virginia government to give up their claim to "West Virginia." Reluctantly, Virginia passes an act officially declining to exercise jurisdiction in that area... but never explicitly surrendering it.
Meanwhile in the Union, the West Virginia statehood bill has been stalled in the House during the siege of Washington.
(In OTL, it passed on 10 December.) Senator Andrew Johnson (D-TN), seeing his seat evaporating, puts forward a new bill reiterating that the Restored Government of Virginia is the sole Union-recognized government of "all territory within the limits of Virginia as of December 6, 1860 (without prejudice to the claims of any foreign governments.)" This bill, effectively recognizing West Virginia as the Union state of Virginia, passes and is signed into law the same day as the Treaty of Fort Monroe.
MARCH, 1863: Inauguration of new US congress. John C. Beckinridge presents his credentials as first Ambassador from the Confederate States of America to the United States of America.
APRIL, 1863: Second Residency Act moves US capital to Cincinnati and returns District of Columbia to Maryland, effective 1 January 1864.
Comments? Please? More coming soon...