Lone Star Republic
- Thread starter Kaiser Chris
- Start date
Chapter 87 So Close Yet So Far
Chapter 87 So Close Yet So Far
"You folks don't need to worry one bit about the war. Those Rio Grande folks love us and they'll be begging to save them from Benito."- President Davy Crockett 1862
"We must never forget the state of peril that Mexico lies. To the north is the Gringo Texan bastards with the Tejano traitors. To the South lie the Yucatan who mix with the savage Indians. You must give your life to Mexico if we are to survive against the world."- President Porfirio Diaz 1896
"The reason that the Mexican War did not end in a total victory is because all of the participants did not have the means to conquer one another. If we went to war today, then Mexico would see its downfall by Christmas."- General Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961
Rio Grande: On Septmember 23rd the Second Battle of El Paso began when skirmishes took place between elements of the Republican Guard and Texas Rangers about 10 miles east of El Paso. For weeks Johnston and his men had traveled west along the Rio Grande river, liberating any towns and settlements that they came across in an effort to secure the eastern borders of Texas once and for all. The Mexican garrison had advance warning of the Texans thanks to RG scout units and notices from sympathetic Tejanos, however while the garrison commander Phillipe Castanzo had requested for numerous reinforcements in order to hold El Paso, President Juarez was adamant on preventing any men from marching to the city in order to establish a clear line of resistance in the former Republic of the Rio Grande. Since the capture of the city earlier in the year, El Paso had been extensively fortified with each pueblo within the city becoming its own barracks and multiple storehouses erected in a top example of well organized logistics. The main problem facing Castazno though was the fact that El Paso's 10,000 citizens had been an immense drain on the resources of the 7500 men army and when supplies came from central Mexico, they had to be rationed with the civilian in order to set up an image of liberators instead of conquerors. Castanzo was also outnumbered by Johnston 3 to 1 with the Texan force of 23,000 men. Unless Benito Juarez sent at least two or three regiments to help, then the odds would be in the favor of the Texans. For the next three days multiple skirmishes would be waged on the cities limits as the Texan infantry moved forward against the Mexican defenses while cavalry struck key points in the city. The Mexicans were able to put up a well defense with several well put tactical charges and a system set up of mini forts with each one being defended long enough to bleed the Texan's dry and then retreat to the next line of earthworks. However the battle would keep on going in the Texans favor thanks to their larger numbers putting up replacements, and the increasing destruction of buildings and cover in El Paso. Facing little choice but defeat but having no desire to surrender, Castanzo made a bold move. On the night of the 26th Castanzo gathered his men and told them that they would create two distractions in order to keep the Texans occupied and allow the army to escape. The first would be the setting up of a wildfire with the water having been removed from the wells and setting aflame the dry plants in the area, burning multiple homes in the process. The second and nearly controversial, would be a suicide charge of a group of men to the Texans to prevent them from entering the city and escaping the fire. Castanzo compared this act to the glory of the Mexican patriots in the war of independence, but that he would not force volunteers and that if enough men did not come forward then he would abandon the plan. Surprisingly a group of 600 moved forward and volunteered to be the bait, knowing full well that almost none would make it. These men were given their last rites by the brigade's chaplain, then marching forward to battle while they sang the national anthem. Around 10:23 P.M, reports came from the Texan lines of fires being sighted within the city. Desiring not to have El Paso be destroyed before its capture, General Johnston quickly rallied his men and ordered a charge forward. By then the group of volunteers who would later be known in Texan and Mexican history as "The Bold 600" had moved forward and were beginning to engage the Texans in close combat, often using their own hands when running out of ammunition. Out of the 600 that volunteered only 21 survived due to the rest being killed in action, being mortally wounded, or controversially being executed by rogue Texan soldiers for the act of the burning of El Paso. By the time the 600 were dealt with it was too late as thousands of panicked Texan citizens were fleeing towards Johnston's army and most of the paths into the city were destroyed, Castanzo fleeing with his men. The Second Battle of El Paso is considered a victory to Texas, albeit a high Pyrrhic one. Casualties for the Texans were high with 513 killed, 564 wounded. Mexican casualties were even higher with 1,021 killed, 378 wounded, and 136 taken prisoner. To this day the Second Battle of El Paso remains a controversial point of relations between Texas and Mexico with Texans considering Castanzo a war criminal while to many in Mexico he is a patriot, having avoided any charges at the Treaty of Havana. Thankfully though the Battle of El Paso was able to result in Texas securing their borders and having no other major battles within their territory for the rest of the war.
The storming of El Paso with the city burning in the distance
Further down south General Travis was making his way with 30,000 men in an attempt to liberate the Rio Grande from Mexican rule. Unlike the last invasion which ended in a failure, the Texans would make their place slowly this time, going a few miles a day while capturing each settlement as a supply stop to the garrison at Laredo. Most of the invasion force was placed within the state of Coahuila while 5,000 men along with over 2,000 of the Texas marines would travel along the coast and prevent any supplies from coming into Mexico. Mexican resistance was stiff along the way with 6 major battles occurring in the second half of 1862, 2 of them being Mexican victories at the Battles of Sabinas and Palau; while the Texans won the Battles of Zaragoza, El Infante, El Judio, and La Cuidad de Cardenas. The Mexican victories on the campaign were little more than minor roadblocks metaphorically as the only major accomplishments were stalling the Texan force for days at a time and causing some loss of supplies in men. Out of all these battles the Texans suffered 3,000 casualties while the Mexicans suffered 5,000. What came as a general surprise to the Texan force during the campaign is the virtual lack of support by the native population. Instead of being hailed as liberators, the Texans were jeered and cursed at in liberated towns for taking them away from Mexico, most assuming that power would be given back to the now defunct Rio Grande Republic. Resistance movements were set up in coordination with the Mexican Army which costs the Texans about a tenth of their casualties. On October 8th an important achievement occurred with the capture of Satillo in the Second Battle of Satillo where the Texan forces were able to liberate the city from the Mexican defenders. The battle was costly thanks to a week long siege and a final assault which saw heavy hand to hand combat. In the end the Texans suffered 647 killed, 532 wounded, and 39 captured. The Mexicans suffered 721 killed, 644 wounded, and 406 taken prisoner from a force of 5,000. After Satillo the Texan offensive virtually stopped due to the strain of the supply lines and the increased partisan resistance in captured territory with several uprisings occurring. The Texan Army would be dispersed throughout the state and operations with multiple regiments would see the securing of the territory and capture of the cities of Matamortos and Torreon. By the end of the year a conundrum rose up for both sides. For the Texans they would not be able to secure the entirety of the Rio Grande without an estimated strength of at least 200,000 men and the costs of the occupation force would rack up tens of thousands in debt for the Republic. For the Mexicans, their offensive capabilities would be destroyed while the Texans had a deep foothold into their territory and they were economically strained from the blockade and virtual lost of trade. It would be this situation which would force a peace next year.
The Texan Army in Coahuila
On the political side of both Texas and Mexico their were two differing situations. While Mexico did face several harsh defeats at the hands of the Texans, the fact that they were able to reconquer the Rio Grande and two states from the Yucatan made Benito Juarez into the most popular man overnight. The Nationalist Populists wiped out the opposition in the 1861 legislative elections which secured Juarez a blank check in order to run the government as he saw fit. Even in the darkest periods of the war, Juarez's name would be chanted throughout the towns and villages of Mexico and tens of thousands of men would sign up to loyally serve El Presidente. Within Texas things were quite the opposite. President Juan Seguin was a beloved figure for his part in the Revolution and extensive service to the people of Texas, specifically to the Tejanos who had benefited much from legislation that Seguin had started. In the 1861 congressional elections the Republicans had a surge of seats gained thanks to the national fire against Mexico with many cheering Seguin to victory. This would all change in the next year. When word came of the extensive defeats in California, Rio Grande, and Texas, Seguin's popularity would drop to its lowest. In the first half of 1862 there were numerous protests against his name with calls of resignation for the poor conduct of the war. The biggest of them all were the Independence Day protests within Austin were 9,000 showed up at the capitol and demanded answers for Seguin for why Texans were losing. The main issue for the Texan psyche was that due to their numerous victories against Mexico and hostile Indians in the past, a mindset had been created that Texans were near invincible and that Mexicans were weak cowards. Reports of massive losses confused Texans as they simply could not comprehend why Mexico could win a single victory. The worst aspect of this dark time in Texan history was the racial violence that rose with nearly 500 racial crimes reported in Texas in 1862 against Tejanos due to their perceived sympathies to Mexico and fears of a hispanic domination against the other races, even though historical accounts point to an overwhelming majority of Tejanos as loyal patriots. Then came time for the Presidential elections. Within the Western Union members were unsure of what to due in large parts due to the chaos of a changing administration in wartime. Overtures were made to Davy Crockett to take the reigns of the presidency once more, but the former president refused due to his old age and desire not to interfere with Seguin's leadership. With a highly confused election on what to due, the final outcome was in favor of Senator Pendleton Murrah who was the most energetic and vocal member of the party in favor of running and declared that he woudl right the wrongs of Seguin. On the Republican side party leaders were unsure of whether or not they would nominate Seguin due to feelings that his position on the ballot would cause him to lose the election, however at the same time no one decided to run against him for fear of setting up a precedent against wartime leaders in the future. In the end the Republicans cast their ballots and Seguin was very reluctantly nominated on the ticket again. In the months leading up to the election, the tide began to turn in favor of Seguin. When news spread of the Texan victories at Los Angeles, Tucson, El Paso, and Coahuila, faith in the office of the president was once more restored and Seguin's popularity began to rise again with protests virtually ceasing except for Deseret and Eastern Texas. Pendleton Murrah also made several critical mistakes in campaigning due to his perception that he would win in a landslide during the war. Murrah rarely made any speeches and refused to campaign in around Texas with the exception of a few major cities such as San Antonio and Galveston. What was most damaging of all to the man was his bigoted comments toward the Tejano community with suggestion that marshal law should be installed in southern Texas in order to make sure that the Tejanos would not rise up in support of Juarez, virtually eliminating what little Tejano support the Western Union had. Thanks to the war and the newly obtained citizenship of several Texans, the elections were the largest yet with nearly 200,000 votes. In the end Seguin won with a 54% majority of 102,950 to Murrah's 85,691. Unfortunately for Seguin the elections were not a complete victory as the Western Union had managed to obtain majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, proving for complications after the war until 1868 when the issue of the Southern Exodus entered the forefront of Texan politics.
1862 Texas Presidential Elections
Seguin/Pease: 102,950 Votes (Republican) 54.29 %
Murrah/Sawyer: 86,691 Votes (Western Union) 45.71%
Seguin (Left) Murrah (Right)
Yucatan: With the launching of Operation Cortez the Yucatan hoped to liberate the entirety of their nation and achieved the same amount of success as the Texans had in California, launching on July 4th, Cortez would see the usage of 75,000 Yucatan and French troops launching an invasion into Tobasco and Chiapas in the war to liberate the two states. Much like how the war had occurred down south, a bloody guerilla war ensued between the two sides. Massacres of any remaining Mayan populations continued in the land due to fears that they would be used as a base of manpower for the Yucatan, while a state of civil war emerged among the Creole between Unificationists and Loyalists. While the presence of the French forces assured that the Yucatan would dominate all open battles, Mexican leadership switched tactics to a hit and run strategy that also employed brutal usage of total warfare with burning fields and jungles and sacked homes. By the end of the year Tabasco would be liberated with the usage of the Texan and French navies assuring a domination on the coast and a quick advance through the rural cities. The city of Ciudad del Carmen was taken on August 2nd while the capitol of Villahermosa was captured on September 5th. The decision would be made to move forwards into Veracruz for a possible capture of the territory with the Battles of Cardenas and Paraiso occuring on October 6th and 10th respectively. Both were bloody battles with burned earth tactics being used in entrapments to cut off the Mexican defenders from supplies. The towns would then be heavily bombarded for about a day, then allowing for the infantry to enter into swarms and kill any resistance. Down south was a whole other story as the Mexicans were able to hold their ground against the Yucatan. Chiapas was a state that was less affected from the blockades like Tobasco due to its location next to the Pacific and low roads and development in the state. By this time the Mexican Army had learned of the guerilla tactics from the Yucatan and were able to coordinate an effective resistance with the local Creoles. Major General Pancho Morales is credited with the Mexican victories within Chiapas due to his virtually lack of restraint on the rules of war and favoring of dispersing his large army into small bands which would attack any stray Yucatan units and eliminate sympathetic civilian holdouts. While the war in the Yucatan is considered today to be one of multiple warcrimes and brutalities, for the Mexicans and Yucatans it was a fight of sheer survival as both saw the potential collapse of their nations in the outcome of a defeat. The actions taken within these jungles would begin a large hatred between the Yucatan and Mexico which still occurs today along the borders. For the Yucatan was the bloodiest fight of the war with 12,000 Yucatan and 15,000 Mexican casualties in the second half of 1862.
"You folks don't need to worry one bit about the war. Those Rio Grande folks love us and they'll be begging to save them from Benito."- President Davy Crockett 1862
"We must never forget the state of peril that Mexico lies. To the north is the Gringo Texan bastards with the Tejano traitors. To the South lie the Yucatan who mix with the savage Indians. You must give your life to Mexico if we are to survive against the world."- President Porfirio Diaz 1896
"The reason that the Mexican War did not end in a total victory is because all of the participants did not have the means to conquer one another. If we went to war today, then Mexico would see its downfall by Christmas."- General Dwight D. Eisenhower 1961
Rio Grande: On Septmember 23rd the Second Battle of El Paso began when skirmishes took place between elements of the Republican Guard and Texas Rangers about 10 miles east of El Paso. For weeks Johnston and his men had traveled west along the Rio Grande river, liberating any towns and settlements that they came across in an effort to secure the eastern borders of Texas once and for all. The Mexican garrison had advance warning of the Texans thanks to RG scout units and notices from sympathetic Tejanos, however while the garrison commander Phillipe Castanzo had requested for numerous reinforcements in order to hold El Paso, President Juarez was adamant on preventing any men from marching to the city in order to establish a clear line of resistance in the former Republic of the Rio Grande. Since the capture of the city earlier in the year, El Paso had been extensively fortified with each pueblo within the city becoming its own barracks and multiple storehouses erected in a top example of well organized logistics. The main problem facing Castazno though was the fact that El Paso's 10,000 citizens had been an immense drain on the resources of the 7500 men army and when supplies came from central Mexico, they had to be rationed with the civilian in order to set up an image of liberators instead of conquerors. Castanzo was also outnumbered by Johnston 3 to 1 with the Texan force of 23,000 men. Unless Benito Juarez sent at least two or three regiments to help, then the odds would be in the favor of the Texans. For the next three days multiple skirmishes would be waged on the cities limits as the Texan infantry moved forward against the Mexican defenses while cavalry struck key points in the city. The Mexicans were able to put up a well defense with several well put tactical charges and a system set up of mini forts with each one being defended long enough to bleed the Texan's dry and then retreat to the next line of earthworks. However the battle would keep on going in the Texans favor thanks to their larger numbers putting up replacements, and the increasing destruction of buildings and cover in El Paso. Facing little choice but defeat but having no desire to surrender, Castanzo made a bold move. On the night of the 26th Castanzo gathered his men and told them that they would create two distractions in order to keep the Texans occupied and allow the army to escape. The first would be the setting up of a wildfire with the water having been removed from the wells and setting aflame the dry plants in the area, burning multiple homes in the process. The second and nearly controversial, would be a suicide charge of a group of men to the Texans to prevent them from entering the city and escaping the fire. Castanzo compared this act to the glory of the Mexican patriots in the war of independence, but that he would not force volunteers and that if enough men did not come forward then he would abandon the plan. Surprisingly a group of 600 moved forward and volunteered to be the bait, knowing full well that almost none would make it. These men were given their last rites by the brigade's chaplain, then marching forward to battle while they sang the national anthem. Around 10:23 P.M, reports came from the Texan lines of fires being sighted within the city. Desiring not to have El Paso be destroyed before its capture, General Johnston quickly rallied his men and ordered a charge forward. By then the group of volunteers who would later be known in Texan and Mexican history as "The Bold 600" had moved forward and were beginning to engage the Texans in close combat, often using their own hands when running out of ammunition. Out of the 600 that volunteered only 21 survived due to the rest being killed in action, being mortally wounded, or controversially being executed by rogue Texan soldiers for the act of the burning of El Paso. By the time the 600 were dealt with it was too late as thousands of panicked Texan citizens were fleeing towards Johnston's army and most of the paths into the city were destroyed, Castanzo fleeing with his men. The Second Battle of El Paso is considered a victory to Texas, albeit a high Pyrrhic one. Casualties for the Texans were high with 513 killed, 564 wounded. Mexican casualties were even higher with 1,021 killed, 378 wounded, and 136 taken prisoner. To this day the Second Battle of El Paso remains a controversial point of relations between Texas and Mexico with Texans considering Castanzo a war criminal while to many in Mexico he is a patriot, having avoided any charges at the Treaty of Havana. Thankfully though the Battle of El Paso was able to result in Texas securing their borders and having no other major battles within their territory for the rest of the war.
The storming of El Paso with the city burning in the distance
Further down south General Travis was making his way with 30,000 men in an attempt to liberate the Rio Grande from Mexican rule. Unlike the last invasion which ended in a failure, the Texans would make their place slowly this time, going a few miles a day while capturing each settlement as a supply stop to the garrison at Laredo. Most of the invasion force was placed within the state of Coahuila while 5,000 men along with over 2,000 of the Texas marines would travel along the coast and prevent any supplies from coming into Mexico. Mexican resistance was stiff along the way with 6 major battles occurring in the second half of 1862, 2 of them being Mexican victories at the Battles of Sabinas and Palau; while the Texans won the Battles of Zaragoza, El Infante, El Judio, and La Cuidad de Cardenas. The Mexican victories on the campaign were little more than minor roadblocks metaphorically as the only major accomplishments were stalling the Texan force for days at a time and causing some loss of supplies in men. Out of all these battles the Texans suffered 3,000 casualties while the Mexicans suffered 5,000. What came as a general surprise to the Texan force during the campaign is the virtual lack of support by the native population. Instead of being hailed as liberators, the Texans were jeered and cursed at in liberated towns for taking them away from Mexico, most assuming that power would be given back to the now defunct Rio Grande Republic. Resistance movements were set up in coordination with the Mexican Army which costs the Texans about a tenth of their casualties. On October 8th an important achievement occurred with the capture of Satillo in the Second Battle of Satillo where the Texan forces were able to liberate the city from the Mexican defenders. The battle was costly thanks to a week long siege and a final assault which saw heavy hand to hand combat. In the end the Texans suffered 647 killed, 532 wounded, and 39 captured. The Mexicans suffered 721 killed, 644 wounded, and 406 taken prisoner from a force of 5,000. After Satillo the Texan offensive virtually stopped due to the strain of the supply lines and the increased partisan resistance in captured territory with several uprisings occurring. The Texan Army would be dispersed throughout the state and operations with multiple regiments would see the securing of the territory and capture of the cities of Matamortos and Torreon. By the end of the year a conundrum rose up for both sides. For the Texans they would not be able to secure the entirety of the Rio Grande without an estimated strength of at least 200,000 men and the costs of the occupation force would rack up tens of thousands in debt for the Republic. For the Mexicans, their offensive capabilities would be destroyed while the Texans had a deep foothold into their territory and they were economically strained from the blockade and virtual lost of trade. It would be this situation which would force a peace next year.
The Texan Army in Coahuila
On the political side of both Texas and Mexico their were two differing situations. While Mexico did face several harsh defeats at the hands of the Texans, the fact that they were able to reconquer the Rio Grande and two states from the Yucatan made Benito Juarez into the most popular man overnight. The Nationalist Populists wiped out the opposition in the 1861 legislative elections which secured Juarez a blank check in order to run the government as he saw fit. Even in the darkest periods of the war, Juarez's name would be chanted throughout the towns and villages of Mexico and tens of thousands of men would sign up to loyally serve El Presidente. Within Texas things were quite the opposite. President Juan Seguin was a beloved figure for his part in the Revolution and extensive service to the people of Texas, specifically to the Tejanos who had benefited much from legislation that Seguin had started. In the 1861 congressional elections the Republicans had a surge of seats gained thanks to the national fire against Mexico with many cheering Seguin to victory. This would all change in the next year. When word came of the extensive defeats in California, Rio Grande, and Texas, Seguin's popularity would drop to its lowest. In the first half of 1862 there were numerous protests against his name with calls of resignation for the poor conduct of the war. The biggest of them all were the Independence Day protests within Austin were 9,000 showed up at the capitol and demanded answers for Seguin for why Texans were losing. The main issue for the Texan psyche was that due to their numerous victories against Mexico and hostile Indians in the past, a mindset had been created that Texans were near invincible and that Mexicans were weak cowards. Reports of massive losses confused Texans as they simply could not comprehend why Mexico could win a single victory. The worst aspect of this dark time in Texan history was the racial violence that rose with nearly 500 racial crimes reported in Texas in 1862 against Tejanos due to their perceived sympathies to Mexico and fears of a hispanic domination against the other races, even though historical accounts point to an overwhelming majority of Tejanos as loyal patriots. Then came time for the Presidential elections. Within the Western Union members were unsure of what to due in large parts due to the chaos of a changing administration in wartime. Overtures were made to Davy Crockett to take the reigns of the presidency once more, but the former president refused due to his old age and desire not to interfere with Seguin's leadership. With a highly confused election on what to due, the final outcome was in favor of Senator Pendleton Murrah who was the most energetic and vocal member of the party in favor of running and declared that he woudl right the wrongs of Seguin. On the Republican side party leaders were unsure of whether or not they would nominate Seguin due to feelings that his position on the ballot would cause him to lose the election, however at the same time no one decided to run against him for fear of setting up a precedent against wartime leaders in the future. In the end the Republicans cast their ballots and Seguin was very reluctantly nominated on the ticket again. In the months leading up to the election, the tide began to turn in favor of Seguin. When news spread of the Texan victories at Los Angeles, Tucson, El Paso, and Coahuila, faith in the office of the president was once more restored and Seguin's popularity began to rise again with protests virtually ceasing except for Deseret and Eastern Texas. Pendleton Murrah also made several critical mistakes in campaigning due to his perception that he would win in a landslide during the war. Murrah rarely made any speeches and refused to campaign in around Texas with the exception of a few major cities such as San Antonio and Galveston. What was most damaging of all to the man was his bigoted comments toward the Tejano community with suggestion that marshal law should be installed in southern Texas in order to make sure that the Tejanos would not rise up in support of Juarez, virtually eliminating what little Tejano support the Western Union had. Thanks to the war and the newly obtained citizenship of several Texans, the elections were the largest yet with nearly 200,000 votes. In the end Seguin won with a 54% majority of 102,950 to Murrah's 85,691. Unfortunately for Seguin the elections were not a complete victory as the Western Union had managed to obtain majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, proving for complications after the war until 1868 when the issue of the Southern Exodus entered the forefront of Texan politics.
1862 Texas Presidential Elections
Seguin/Pease: 102,950 Votes (Republican) 54.29 %
Murrah/Sawyer: 86,691 Votes (Western Union) 45.71%
Seguin (Left) Murrah (Right)
Yucatan: With the launching of Operation Cortez the Yucatan hoped to liberate the entirety of their nation and achieved the same amount of success as the Texans had in California, launching on July 4th, Cortez would see the usage of 75,000 Yucatan and French troops launching an invasion into Tobasco and Chiapas in the war to liberate the two states. Much like how the war had occurred down south, a bloody guerilla war ensued between the two sides. Massacres of any remaining Mayan populations continued in the land due to fears that they would be used as a base of manpower for the Yucatan, while a state of civil war emerged among the Creole between Unificationists and Loyalists. While the presence of the French forces assured that the Yucatan would dominate all open battles, Mexican leadership switched tactics to a hit and run strategy that also employed brutal usage of total warfare with burning fields and jungles and sacked homes. By the end of the year Tabasco would be liberated with the usage of the Texan and French navies assuring a domination on the coast and a quick advance through the rural cities. The city of Ciudad del Carmen was taken on August 2nd while the capitol of Villahermosa was captured on September 5th. The decision would be made to move forwards into Veracruz for a possible capture of the territory with the Battles of Cardenas and Paraiso occuring on October 6th and 10th respectively. Both were bloody battles with burned earth tactics being used in entrapments to cut off the Mexican defenders from supplies. The towns would then be heavily bombarded for about a day, then allowing for the infantry to enter into swarms and kill any resistance. Down south was a whole other story as the Mexicans were able to hold their ground against the Yucatan. Chiapas was a state that was less affected from the blockades like Tobasco due to its location next to the Pacific and low roads and development in the state. By this time the Mexican Army had learned of the guerilla tactics from the Yucatan and were able to coordinate an effective resistance with the local Creoles. Major General Pancho Morales is credited with the Mexican victories within Chiapas due to his virtually lack of restraint on the rules of war and favoring of dispersing his large army into small bands which would attack any stray Yucatan units and eliminate sympathetic civilian holdouts. While the war in the Yucatan is considered today to be one of multiple warcrimes and brutalities, for the Mexicans and Yucatans it was a fight of sheer survival as both saw the potential collapse of their nations in the outcome of a defeat. The actions taken within these jungles would begin a large hatred between the Yucatan and Mexico which still occurs today along the borders. For the Yucatan was the bloodiest fight of the war with 12,000 Yucatan and 15,000 Mexican casualties in the second half of 1862.
Last edited:
Nothing really. The 4th of July would be treated just as Cinco de Mayo is now where its nothing but an excuse for Texans to get drunk and have fun parties for their friends. You may see some minor fesitivities in American communities and actual events in border towns (esepcially Texarkana they have the best 4th of July celebrations in the Republic) but no one will really care. What's interesting though is that the day will see more celebrations of Yucatan independence day in the Tejano community due to the Yucatan being Texas' sister republic, so you may see some Texans travel to Campeche and join the parties. After all did you celebrate Canada Day on the 1st?
Yes I plan to have a culture update for that year and some narrative chapters focusing on the celebrations and life in Texas. 1936 is actually going to be important as its the year before shit goes down for the entire world (not due to the actions of one nation, but of several events that occur within weeks and months). Also a minor spoiler, but I plan for Galveston to host the 1936 Olympics during that year, the IOC having chosen Texas in honor of their 100th anniversary. That will have its own post where we'll see what Texas considers to be sports.
Combining the 100th Birthday of Texas with the Summer Olympics they are hosting for that year... Now THAT is bound to create an Olympics that would enter the top ten most attended Olympics of the 20th century. Unless an ATL equivalent to Steroids*spitstotheside* is used and will eventually discredit the victories won with it.
Sawyer isn't really anyone important, just a politician for the Western Union. By now thanks to the butterflies and Texas' higher population, there are bound to be numerous politicians who never existed or weren't Texan OTL. For the vice presidential candidates in each of the election, unless the VP is an important politician or will play an important role in the coming administration, then they will not be of importance.
War is Hell.
So the South is a nightmare of bloody vendettas being formed that will endure fir centuries.
In the North Texas advances but faces stern realities born from their neglect of the region.
Based on some wording it sounds like Texas will annex some of the former RRG. Seems a bad idea, to the people there it may be quite too late. Texas had decades to step up and didn't. No Lone Star over Saltillo!
So I am hoping the Mexicans can hold their lines and secure the former republic and parts of the South for themselves.
Wonder how accurate Ike is? I doubt Mexico is going to be idle for another round.
Crockett not disputing Seguin at this time probably adds to his reputation and legacy. Putting him as seen above the mudslinging of the WU campaign of this election. Though his predictions for the war are way off.
So the South is a nightmare of bloody vendettas being formed that will endure fir centuries.
In the North Texas advances but faces stern realities born from their neglect of the region.
Based on some wording it sounds like Texas will annex some of the former RRG. Seems a bad idea, to the people there it may be quite too late. Texas had decades to step up and didn't. No Lone Star over Saltillo!
So I am hoping the Mexicans can hold their lines and secure the former republic and parts of the South for themselves.
Wonder how accurate Ike is? I doubt Mexico is going to be idle for another round.
Crockett not disputing Seguin at this time probably adds to his reputation and legacy. Putting him as seen above the mudslinging of the WU campaign of this election. Though his predictions for the war are way off.
Believe it or not the Yucatan and Mexico will not have the worst bilateral relations in the 20th century. There are going to be some countries who hate each other so much that it makes both Mexico and the Yucatan look like best buddies (and no its not Britain and America). However the war will be a sour point for several years to come. By 2017 during this timeline relations have improved significantly, but citizens of both countries aren't exactly fond of each other. Let's just say that if there's a Yucatan vs. Mexico football game then don't be surprised if there's a few fights among the fans and players.
Texas is having a "we dun goofed" moment when they realize just how much they neglected the Rio Grande and caused the situation. However its fair to say that even if Texas wanted to help, there's not much they could do as they had their own set of problems and had to govern a nation several times larger.
Both Mexico and Texas will see some success by the end of the war, though neither one will be totally happy with what they got, at least Mexico still gets to survive though.
Ike's comment in the quote was basically him being interviewed for a documentary on the Mexican War since its the 100 year anniversary of it. Texas and Mexico will still have several issues by then, but not enough that they're on the verge of going to war. Also while the fight wouldn't be too easy and have some bloodshed, Texas would win for two reasons. They're allied to America and have nukes (spoiler).
Crockett deciding not to go up against Seguin again certainly does add to his reputation as a honorable patriot. By that point Crockett was over 80 years old so I doubt that he'd have the same flare and luster in office that he did a decade earlier. If Davy did decide to run again then he probably would've won and finished the war. However Davy is a veteran and he knows the tribulations of the presidency, Seguin has done absolutely nothing so far to contribute to Texas' failures and part of the causes of war can be laid on Crockett. Davy's accepted his defeat in 59 and he's done with politics right now. Just wants to continue the rest of his years being a badass and writing several memoirs for the Legends of Davy Crockett to be based on. As for him not understanding the Rio Grande situation, he knows that the country was a failure but he thought that the people liked Texas because of their trade and the fact that Texas Rangers and Army regiments would establish order sometimes. Problem was that Texas was a half-hearted ally, they were never fully committed like they are with the Yucatan.
Sadly no. The thing about Alternatehistory is that while some men may rise to greater prominence, others may be granted greater obscurity. This has already happened many times in this TL. Just look at the past presidents. Richard Mentor Johnson went from being a nobody to being one of America's leaders and the first Vice President to succeed the Pres in office. Both Daniel Webster and Stephen Douglas went from being moderately known legislators, to Presidents in their own right. And Robert Toombs is now known as the greatest traitor in American history. Now Grant does have a few more chances to add some glory and prestige in the rest of the war, and some events afterwords, but he'll never achieve fame beyond civil war buffs and military historians, his role having been taken by Robert E. Lee.
Heads up guys, I've got about five updates left for the North American conflicts, two for the Mexican War and three for the Civil War. Will try to write the next update soon.
Nice foreshadowing.
You know, it comes as no surprise to me at least that Texas will have nukes. I'm guessing they'll have them by the mid to late 1950's too. The real question (when we hit the nuclear age in TTL) Is who all will have them? The US, Texas, and Britannia are the obvious ones, but beyond that?
A shame, but understandable. Alternate history can be fickle to ones fortunes.
Anywho, enjoyed the update.
Chapter 88 Surrounded on all Sides
Chapter 88 Surrounded on all Sides
"I present you as a Christmas gift the City of Charleston, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about thirty thousand bales of cotton."- Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson 1862
"Never again shall the Union be divided, from east to west shall it stand tall."- General William Rosecrans 1862
"This was a mistake."- Vice President Jefferson Davis 1863
The Carolinas: Thanks to the victory in Raleigh the majority of the Tar Heel state would come under Union occupation, and with it nearly a fifth of the Confederate population. Now the route lay open to the Deep South as Lee's Army was close to crossing the border and heading into South Carolina, the Treason state which started it all. In order to make the conquest of the rest of the Atlantic theater more efficient, the Army of Virginia and The Appalachia were combined and then split into three. Stonewall Jackson having proven himself multiple times as Lee's subordinate, was given independent command and ordered to head out along the coast and cut off the Confederates from the Atlantic. Joseph Hooker would be promoted to Lieutenant General and given command of a third of the army to head southwest and begin an invasion of Northern South Carolina with the endgoal being Atlanta. Lee would take the majority and head down south to finish the fight with Cooper and take the remaining major city in North Carolina, Charlotte. Wanting to desperately preserve time and try and bleed the Union forces dry in the hopes of preventing some sort of opposition takeover in Congress (highly unlikely considering the high support for the war and extreme popularity for the Lincoln administration) Cooper sought to make a last stand of sorts at Charlotte. Using man of the same tactics that would be in mirror of Richard Taylor in the east, Cooper liberated nearly all the slaves in North Carolina and sent them to the Union Army as a distraction, while gathering all of his forces in Charlotte for one final battle. Defenses were made within the city and multiple skirmishes took place with Lee's Army to slow him down and draw some manpower away. By the time the Battle took place on November 23rd, Cooper would have 90,000 men while Lee would have 105,000. The Battle to decide the fate of North Carolina began in the early daybreak of the 23rd. For the next week the two armies clashed in multiple duels across a five mile front to decide the fate of the city. Confederate regiments would charge near suicidal in a desperate effort to break the Yankees. Lee's men would hold their ground in trenchworks and only charge forward if Confederate ranks broke, decimating the targeted regiment and falling back. Union artillery would target the city indiscriminately and in return the Confederates fired everything that they had at the Yankee lines. Cavalry on both sides exchanged blows near the roads to control the supplies and reinforcements into the city. For most of the week the battle seemed to be even. Then on the Seventh day two regiments in the Confederate lines committed a mutiny in determination not to die anymore over what was increasingly seen as a losing war. Major General Stuart took advantage of this and led a charge of the 2nd Virginia 3rd, 5th, and Pennsylvania 10th to exploit the gap that had formed in the central lines. Confederate lines soon began to break and Cooper issued a withdraw to Atlanta. The Battle of Charlotte was the bloodiest of the war with 17,00 casualties on the Union side and over 21,000 on the Confederate side. Thankfully it would all be worth it as North Carolina would come under Union control by the end of the year and Lee would begin his march towards Columbia.
Battle of Charlotte
Further West and East the Union Armies were doing good on both fronts. Hooker, having learned from his mistakes earlier in the year in his effort to form a diversion for Grant and Sherman, took to the field again with renewed vigor and set out to inflict his wrath on South Carolina. Much like Sherman's campaign west, a total war policy would be enacted to punish South Carolina for having caused the war with their secession. Token resistance would be provided save for the occasional skirmish by Braxton Bragg due to Bragg having had to charge the defenses of Atlanta and most of the troops in the Carolinas having participated in Charlotte. On the border with the Atlantic ocean Stonewall Jackson would make for some quick movement as a large amount of oceanside defenses was abandoned for the inner counties of the Confederate states. On November 19th Jackson crossed state lines and him and his men made it a race to try and get to Charleston to Christmas. They would receive their wish as Jackson would come outside the city on December 11th and begin laying a siege to it. When word reached Washington of Jackson's progress, Admiral Farragut was sent to Charleston to use the navy to support his efforts. Farragut arrived with a fleet of 45 warships (including 17 ironclads) and managed to eliminate nearly the entire Confederate fleet at the Battle of Charleston Harbor with 16 Confederate ships sunk for 6 Union ships. Farragut would then bombard the city, using up nearly all the reserves of ammunition on the ships, for two whole days. On December 13th the assault on Charleston began as Jackson's men began a charge through the city, while a Marine regiment began an assault on the beacheads to provide for confusion. By the end of the day on the 13th the city of Charleston would surrender, Jackson taking nearly 20,000 Confederate prisoner while he suffered 1,520 casualties. Jackson took the opportunity to present the city as a Christmas present to President Lincoln. Sending him a telegram on Christmas eve with a picture of Jackson and his officers standing in the middle of Fort Sumter, the Stars and Stripes raised high in the place where the war began.
Mississippi/Alabama (The Gulf): For the first year of the war the gulf region had not seen any amount of fighting beyond the occasional fight off the coast between blockade runners and the Union armada. Despite there having been no battles, the Gulf suffered all the same. In the start of the war tens of thousands of zealous volunteers made their ways north to "liberate" the Border states and take the fight to Washington in order to secure independence. With this large pool of manpower gone the agricultural economy had to come to rely mostly on the large slave populations, all the while cash flows into the Confederacy dropped thanks to the Union blockade and foreign refusal to make open deals with the rebel nation. Confederate leadership in Montgomery came to foolishly believe that "Cotton is King" and that the need for cotton alone would force European powers to rush into intervention. This myth would prove false as Europe was already in a surplus in 1861 and 1862, plus they had continuous supplies from neighboring Texas at a far cheaper price. What little economic stability that was left virtually collapsed thanks to the slave revolts following the Nassau Uprising and the escape of thousands thanks to Lincoln's emancipation Proclamation. With a large amount of available manpower having died in the fighting up North, and the populous state of Georgia and the Carolinas refusing to send help, the two states of Mississippi and Alabama were largely on their own. In the words of General Sherman in his memoirs "The war had been won in Tennessee and North Carolina, for now it was simply a matter of when the South should fall." Out of the two states Mississippi was the one that was quickest to fall thanks to the Confederates withdrawing into central Alabama to try and uphold a defense around the capitol, leaving the Magnolia state with little more than boys and old men as its defenders. The Army of the Cumberland was then directed towards conquering Mississippi while Grant's Army of Ohio set out to take the Confederate capitol in Alabama. In August Sherman would begin his infamous "March to the Gulf" where he would virtually destroy the Southern infrastructure and agriculture in his preferred total warfare to drive home the point of punishment towards treason. While there were some within Washington, primarily among the Democrats, who denounced Sherman's strategy, most of the general public was in support of it as they saw the Union's cause as righteous and unwavering. During his march Sherman also personally made sure that the Emancipation Proclamation would be universally enforced and freed hundreds of thousands of slaves, many joining the Army either as support of the Quartermaster or as new recruits. Token resistance was put up in Mississippi and the fights seemed to stop altogether after Vicksburg. The state capitol of Jackson fell on October 4th and Sherman would come to reach the sea by the end of the month. What made the situation even worse for the Confederates was the beginning of a second invasion of the Gulf states by the Marines. Thanks to the success of New Orleans and the Bahamas, greater support was given to the Corps by the War department and thousands of recruits would be shifted to the Marines instead of the regular army. It was in the Gulf where the Marine doctrine of amphibious warfare would be born as 30,000 Marines would launch the final phase of the Anaconda plan and cut the snake from its soft underbelly. Three invasions began in October with the Battles of Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on Octobers 10th, 13th, and 15th. Biloxi fell without much effort as the remaining manpower in Mississippi had been dedicated towards Jackson. Pensacola also fell quickly towards the Marines but mostly due to the low population presence in Florida and the majority of Confederate forces stalling against Lee's Army. Mobile would provide for the most resistance as it was the last great port in the Gulf after New Orleans and would see 15,000 men under Major General Bryan Goode to keep the port open. The 7th Marines went in with the Bahamas Division who were eager to prove themselves to their Yankee liberators, Atticus Harris being cited by witnesses as leading the first wave directly on the beach. The fighting lasted for two days and would see Mobile burn thanks to destruction on both sides, the Confederates wanting to prevent any gains and the Union acting in vengeance. Running low on supplies Goode was forced to retreat north as the Marines and Bahamian troops would take charge of what was left. Union casualties were 2,021 killed and 1,387 wounded while the Confederates suffered 1,822 killed and 1,793 wounded and 2,543 captured.
The Bahamas Division assaulting Mobile
Up in Northern Alabama, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had the far more difficult task of striking into the heart of the Confederacy and if possible to capture the Confederate government and end the war. Standing in opposition to him was newly promoted Major General Richard Taylor (son of Oregon War hero Zachary Taylor) who tried to do his best to stop him with 60,000 troops. In leading the defenses Taylor was often harassed and interfered with by the Confederate government who gave numerous conflicting orders from both Congress and the Executive department in their haste to defend the capitol with all that they could, Robert Toombs himself often attempting to journey to the battlefield and take command. Trying to make the best of a hopeless situation, Taylor prevented his army from organizing and facing Grant head on, instead preferring several hit and run attacks designed to hit Union supplies so that the Confederates would buy time to collect food and materials from the land. Another tactic that Taylor used was the purposeful freeing of slaves and setting them towards Grants army. While this was widely met with fury in the capitol, it did buy Taylor some time as it had to slow down Grants army in an attempt to provide for the freed slaves. What should've been a couple of weeks took several as Grant had to march through the hot Alabama countryside in pursuit of an ever elusive Taylor. The only major battle within the state in the latter part of the year (sans Mobile) was the Battle of Birmingham where Taylor stood in wait to meet Grant with 30,000 men. Taylor was hopelessly outclassed against Grant as he had 2 to 1 odds with 60,000 men; but instead used the battle as a means to bleed Grant dry and buy time for the preparing of defenses in Montgomery. The battle began on the night of October 8th as 5,000 men sneaked towards Union lines after dusk and proceeded to launch a surprise attack against Grant's camp throwing his forces into disarray. Grant was able to organize his men and launch a counterattack which caused heavy enemy casualties, also inflected a wide number on Grant's own. Union forces then chased into Montgomery where the Confederates lied waiting in a highly organized defense with several booby traps located within the city, most infamously the use of 3 tons of TNT as explosives. Union forces took heavy casualties thanks to the traps as the Confederates hit in large mobs and then retreated after minutes before the brunt of reinforcements arrived. At dawn Taylor would retreat with his men, his mission having been accomplished. The Battle of Birmingham was one of the heaviest for Grant with 7,236 killed, 5,823 wounded, and 1,358 taken prisoner. Confederate casualties would be lower with 4,996 killed, 4,320 wounded, and 1,832 taken prisoner. Birmingham would cause Grant to slow down for two weeks before he picked up the pace, only to be stopped by a light tropical storm. While the Union Army would reach within 20 miles of Montgomery by the end of the year, Toombs and Congress had already fled to the city of Atlanta, trying to think of a plan that would desperately save the dying Confederacy.
Battle of Birmingham (Left). The Confederate Congress in 1862, by the end of the year a majority of legislators were representing states under total Union control (Right).
Arkansas/Louisiana: After the fall of Charlotte and Nashville, Rosecrans once more began resuming his thrust through Arkansas. The renewed offensive would see even greater amounts of success as the invasions into the Deep South virtually eliminated a large amount of volunteers and supplies that were coming from the east, even if the Confederates did hold onto a fraction of the Mississippi. With no further reinforcements, General Beauregard was left on his own with only 40,000 troops to Rosecrans' 85,000, with reinforcements coming in for the Union every week. With New Orleans captured and Western Tennessee under effective occupation, Rosecrans moved the I corps to Vicksburg to commence the Siege of Vicksburg from July 18th to October 2nd while Major General Ambrose Burnside led the remainder II-IV corps to the rest of Arkansas. In the South the Marines were leading the charge up North with Colonel Aaron Holder and two Marine regiments acting as the vanguard up the Mississippi. Acting as support for the Marines would be two divisions with the US 13th and 16th. With each passing day the Confederates would lose miles of territory to the Union. On August 4th Little Rock fell to Burnside after the Battle of Little Rock which saw the five remaining Arkansas regiments make a desperate last stand before being overwhelmed by Union infantry and well coordinated firepower. Baton Rogue would see its fall on July 29th thanks in large part to the Union river fleet which decimated the towns defenses and provided an opening for the Marines to push through. With both capitols having fallen the majority of forces in the Western part of the Gulf summarily gave up and a majority either surrendered or deserted to their homes. Gathering up around 22,000 troops, Beauregard made a desperate last stand in the Battle of Tallulah on September 27th. Tallulah took place due in large part to Rosecrans receiving information from deserters that Beauregard was marching onto Vicksburg to relieve the siege so that some amount of support could reach the west. Wanting to end the war in the west once and for all, Rosecrans made the bold decision of leaving a majority of his artillery units around the city in order to continue the siege and keep up the appearance of an ongoing Union presence. Rosecrans then took 18,000 of his men to Tallulah where an ambush was waited for Beauregard. Under normal circumstances Beauregard would have been more than ready to face his opponent, however he had already lost his heavy artillery trying to defend the capitols and most of his forces were low on morale. What made the situation even worse was the previous presence of a heavy storm the previous week which bogged down the roads in Eastern Louisiana and made horsetravel difficult. Under these circumstances Rosecrans was able to take the Confederates by surprise and the Union troops fought on in continuous onsluaghts while the Confederates could do little to stop them. With his entire army collapsing before him, Beauregard called for a surrender and the battle was over by sundown. The casualties of the battle were heavily against the Confederacy as they had lost 2,137 men along with 1,956 wounded, 1,138 deserted and the rest captured. In contrast the Union lost 1,480 killed and had 1,366 wounded. When news had reached the defenders of Vicksburg about the battle, along with losses of territory in the north, the defenders lost the will to fight on and surrendered on October 2nd. The rest of the year would be spent in mopping operations in the west with deployments after thanksgiving to the Gulf ports of Mississippi and Alabama, while a division headed to Oklahoma to help Kearney deal with the Indians.
The Siege of Vicksburg
Kansas: After a year and a half of continuous bloodshed on the Kansas plains, the war seemed to be finally coming to an end. With Topeka now firmly established in Union hands, the Confederates had no established base of operations upon which to fall back upon in the territory, with General Rosecrans beginning his march into Arkansas and the resources into that state becoming more scare with the attacks on Mississippi and Louisiana, there were few other places to go to for the Confederates. Despite William Quantrill's best efforts, the Confederate war effort in Kansas collapsed. Many Confederates either surrendered to Union forces, or went back to their farms to salvage what little was left thanks to Jayhawker retaliations. Others left to join the tribes of Oklahoma, while a few fled East to fight against the Yankee tide. Governor Quantrill himself refused to flee and stayed with around 2,000 Swashbuckers to continue the fight. Over the summer and early fall of 1862, Stephen Kearney began a brutal and relentless campaign to end the Confederate presence in Kansas permanently. Companies of Union cavalry made daily forays into the plains in search of their pray, while hundreds of Kansas settlers joined together in their own militia, the Kansas 1st, to payback Quantrill and his band for their crimes against the territory. The remaining Union infantry and artillery mostly stayed in place in Topeka and were trained by Kearney so that they would be prepared to join the other theaters. Dozens of skirmishes took place with the only major battle being the Battle of Lake El Dorado on September 20th, or as it is more commonly known as Quantrill's last stand. With approximately 100 followers left, Quantrill was surrounded by Union forces near the lake and was ordered to surrender and face trial at Topeka for his crimes. Seeing the war as lost and not willing to be executed by hanging, Quantrill refused and proclaimed that he would fight to the death with his men. The resulting fighting that would ensue would take nearly two hours and would see all but 9 men of Quantrill's dead while the Union suffered 46 dead and 43 wounded. In the aftermath of the battle Kearney declared Kansas to be secure of Confederate influence, and then proceeded south to Oklahoma to punish the Indian tribes for their "treachery".
"I present you as a Christmas gift the City of Charleston, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about thirty thousand bales of cotton."- Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson 1862
"Never again shall the Union be divided, from east to west shall it stand tall."- General William Rosecrans 1862
"This was a mistake."- Vice President Jefferson Davis 1863
The Carolinas: Thanks to the victory in Raleigh the majority of the Tar Heel state would come under Union occupation, and with it nearly a fifth of the Confederate population. Now the route lay open to the Deep South as Lee's Army was close to crossing the border and heading into South Carolina, the Treason state which started it all. In order to make the conquest of the rest of the Atlantic theater more efficient, the Army of Virginia and The Appalachia were combined and then split into three. Stonewall Jackson having proven himself multiple times as Lee's subordinate, was given independent command and ordered to head out along the coast and cut off the Confederates from the Atlantic. Joseph Hooker would be promoted to Lieutenant General and given command of a third of the army to head southwest and begin an invasion of Northern South Carolina with the endgoal being Atlanta. Lee would take the majority and head down south to finish the fight with Cooper and take the remaining major city in North Carolina, Charlotte. Wanting to desperately preserve time and try and bleed the Union forces dry in the hopes of preventing some sort of opposition takeover in Congress (highly unlikely considering the high support for the war and extreme popularity for the Lincoln administration) Cooper sought to make a last stand of sorts at Charlotte. Using man of the same tactics that would be in mirror of Richard Taylor in the east, Cooper liberated nearly all the slaves in North Carolina and sent them to the Union Army as a distraction, while gathering all of his forces in Charlotte for one final battle. Defenses were made within the city and multiple skirmishes took place with Lee's Army to slow him down and draw some manpower away. By the time the Battle took place on November 23rd, Cooper would have 90,000 men while Lee would have 105,000. The Battle to decide the fate of North Carolina began in the early daybreak of the 23rd. For the next week the two armies clashed in multiple duels across a five mile front to decide the fate of the city. Confederate regiments would charge near suicidal in a desperate effort to break the Yankees. Lee's men would hold their ground in trenchworks and only charge forward if Confederate ranks broke, decimating the targeted regiment and falling back. Union artillery would target the city indiscriminately and in return the Confederates fired everything that they had at the Yankee lines. Cavalry on both sides exchanged blows near the roads to control the supplies and reinforcements into the city. For most of the week the battle seemed to be even. Then on the Seventh day two regiments in the Confederate lines committed a mutiny in determination not to die anymore over what was increasingly seen as a losing war. Major General Stuart took advantage of this and led a charge of the 2nd Virginia 3rd, 5th, and Pennsylvania 10th to exploit the gap that had formed in the central lines. Confederate lines soon began to break and Cooper issued a withdraw to Atlanta. The Battle of Charlotte was the bloodiest of the war with 17,00 casualties on the Union side and over 21,000 on the Confederate side. Thankfully it would all be worth it as North Carolina would come under Union control by the end of the year and Lee would begin his march towards Columbia.
Battle of Charlotte
Further West and East the Union Armies were doing good on both fronts. Hooker, having learned from his mistakes earlier in the year in his effort to form a diversion for Grant and Sherman, took to the field again with renewed vigor and set out to inflict his wrath on South Carolina. Much like Sherman's campaign west, a total war policy would be enacted to punish South Carolina for having caused the war with their secession. Token resistance would be provided save for the occasional skirmish by Braxton Bragg due to Bragg having had to charge the defenses of Atlanta and most of the troops in the Carolinas having participated in Charlotte. On the border with the Atlantic ocean Stonewall Jackson would make for some quick movement as a large amount of oceanside defenses was abandoned for the inner counties of the Confederate states. On November 19th Jackson crossed state lines and him and his men made it a race to try and get to Charleston to Christmas. They would receive their wish as Jackson would come outside the city on December 11th and begin laying a siege to it. When word reached Washington of Jackson's progress, Admiral Farragut was sent to Charleston to use the navy to support his efforts. Farragut arrived with a fleet of 45 warships (including 17 ironclads) and managed to eliminate nearly the entire Confederate fleet at the Battle of Charleston Harbor with 16 Confederate ships sunk for 6 Union ships. Farragut would then bombard the city, using up nearly all the reserves of ammunition on the ships, for two whole days. On December 13th the assault on Charleston began as Jackson's men began a charge through the city, while a Marine regiment began an assault on the beacheads to provide for confusion. By the end of the day on the 13th the city of Charleston would surrender, Jackson taking nearly 20,000 Confederate prisoner while he suffered 1,520 casualties. Jackson took the opportunity to present the city as a Christmas present to President Lincoln. Sending him a telegram on Christmas eve with a picture of Jackson and his officers standing in the middle of Fort Sumter, the Stars and Stripes raised high in the place where the war began.
Mississippi/Alabama (The Gulf): For the first year of the war the gulf region had not seen any amount of fighting beyond the occasional fight off the coast between blockade runners and the Union armada. Despite there having been no battles, the Gulf suffered all the same. In the start of the war tens of thousands of zealous volunteers made their ways north to "liberate" the Border states and take the fight to Washington in order to secure independence. With this large pool of manpower gone the agricultural economy had to come to rely mostly on the large slave populations, all the while cash flows into the Confederacy dropped thanks to the Union blockade and foreign refusal to make open deals with the rebel nation. Confederate leadership in Montgomery came to foolishly believe that "Cotton is King" and that the need for cotton alone would force European powers to rush into intervention. This myth would prove false as Europe was already in a surplus in 1861 and 1862, plus they had continuous supplies from neighboring Texas at a far cheaper price. What little economic stability that was left virtually collapsed thanks to the slave revolts following the Nassau Uprising and the escape of thousands thanks to Lincoln's emancipation Proclamation. With a large amount of available manpower having died in the fighting up North, and the populous state of Georgia and the Carolinas refusing to send help, the two states of Mississippi and Alabama were largely on their own. In the words of General Sherman in his memoirs "The war had been won in Tennessee and North Carolina, for now it was simply a matter of when the South should fall." Out of the two states Mississippi was the one that was quickest to fall thanks to the Confederates withdrawing into central Alabama to try and uphold a defense around the capitol, leaving the Magnolia state with little more than boys and old men as its defenders. The Army of the Cumberland was then directed towards conquering Mississippi while Grant's Army of Ohio set out to take the Confederate capitol in Alabama. In August Sherman would begin his infamous "March to the Gulf" where he would virtually destroy the Southern infrastructure and agriculture in his preferred total warfare to drive home the point of punishment towards treason. While there were some within Washington, primarily among the Democrats, who denounced Sherman's strategy, most of the general public was in support of it as they saw the Union's cause as righteous and unwavering. During his march Sherman also personally made sure that the Emancipation Proclamation would be universally enforced and freed hundreds of thousands of slaves, many joining the Army either as support of the Quartermaster or as new recruits. Token resistance was put up in Mississippi and the fights seemed to stop altogether after Vicksburg. The state capitol of Jackson fell on October 4th and Sherman would come to reach the sea by the end of the month. What made the situation even worse for the Confederates was the beginning of a second invasion of the Gulf states by the Marines. Thanks to the success of New Orleans and the Bahamas, greater support was given to the Corps by the War department and thousands of recruits would be shifted to the Marines instead of the regular army. It was in the Gulf where the Marine doctrine of amphibious warfare would be born as 30,000 Marines would launch the final phase of the Anaconda plan and cut the snake from its soft underbelly. Three invasions began in October with the Battles of Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola on Octobers 10th, 13th, and 15th. Biloxi fell without much effort as the remaining manpower in Mississippi had been dedicated towards Jackson. Pensacola also fell quickly towards the Marines but mostly due to the low population presence in Florida and the majority of Confederate forces stalling against Lee's Army. Mobile would provide for the most resistance as it was the last great port in the Gulf after New Orleans and would see 15,000 men under Major General Bryan Goode to keep the port open. The 7th Marines went in with the Bahamas Division who were eager to prove themselves to their Yankee liberators, Atticus Harris being cited by witnesses as leading the first wave directly on the beach. The fighting lasted for two days and would see Mobile burn thanks to destruction on both sides, the Confederates wanting to prevent any gains and the Union acting in vengeance. Running low on supplies Goode was forced to retreat north as the Marines and Bahamian troops would take charge of what was left. Union casualties were 2,021 killed and 1,387 wounded while the Confederates suffered 1,822 killed and 1,793 wounded and 2,543 captured.
The Bahamas Division assaulting Mobile
Up in Northern Alabama, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant had the far more difficult task of striking into the heart of the Confederacy and if possible to capture the Confederate government and end the war. Standing in opposition to him was newly promoted Major General Richard Taylor (son of Oregon War hero Zachary Taylor) who tried to do his best to stop him with 60,000 troops. In leading the defenses Taylor was often harassed and interfered with by the Confederate government who gave numerous conflicting orders from both Congress and the Executive department in their haste to defend the capitol with all that they could, Robert Toombs himself often attempting to journey to the battlefield and take command. Trying to make the best of a hopeless situation, Taylor prevented his army from organizing and facing Grant head on, instead preferring several hit and run attacks designed to hit Union supplies so that the Confederates would buy time to collect food and materials from the land. Another tactic that Taylor used was the purposeful freeing of slaves and setting them towards Grants army. While this was widely met with fury in the capitol, it did buy Taylor some time as it had to slow down Grants army in an attempt to provide for the freed slaves. What should've been a couple of weeks took several as Grant had to march through the hot Alabama countryside in pursuit of an ever elusive Taylor. The only major battle within the state in the latter part of the year (sans Mobile) was the Battle of Birmingham where Taylor stood in wait to meet Grant with 30,000 men. Taylor was hopelessly outclassed against Grant as he had 2 to 1 odds with 60,000 men; but instead used the battle as a means to bleed Grant dry and buy time for the preparing of defenses in Montgomery. The battle began on the night of October 8th as 5,000 men sneaked towards Union lines after dusk and proceeded to launch a surprise attack against Grant's camp throwing his forces into disarray. Grant was able to organize his men and launch a counterattack which caused heavy enemy casualties, also inflected a wide number on Grant's own. Union forces then chased into Montgomery where the Confederates lied waiting in a highly organized defense with several booby traps located within the city, most infamously the use of 3 tons of TNT as explosives. Union forces took heavy casualties thanks to the traps as the Confederates hit in large mobs and then retreated after minutes before the brunt of reinforcements arrived. At dawn Taylor would retreat with his men, his mission having been accomplished. The Battle of Birmingham was one of the heaviest for Grant with 7,236 killed, 5,823 wounded, and 1,358 taken prisoner. Confederate casualties would be lower with 4,996 killed, 4,320 wounded, and 1,832 taken prisoner. Birmingham would cause Grant to slow down for two weeks before he picked up the pace, only to be stopped by a light tropical storm. While the Union Army would reach within 20 miles of Montgomery by the end of the year, Toombs and Congress had already fled to the city of Atlanta, trying to think of a plan that would desperately save the dying Confederacy.
Battle of Birmingham (Left). The Confederate Congress in 1862, by the end of the year a majority of legislators were representing states under total Union control (Right).
Arkansas/Louisiana: After the fall of Charlotte and Nashville, Rosecrans once more began resuming his thrust through Arkansas. The renewed offensive would see even greater amounts of success as the invasions into the Deep South virtually eliminated a large amount of volunteers and supplies that were coming from the east, even if the Confederates did hold onto a fraction of the Mississippi. With no further reinforcements, General Beauregard was left on his own with only 40,000 troops to Rosecrans' 85,000, with reinforcements coming in for the Union every week. With New Orleans captured and Western Tennessee under effective occupation, Rosecrans moved the I corps to Vicksburg to commence the Siege of Vicksburg from July 18th to October 2nd while Major General Ambrose Burnside led the remainder II-IV corps to the rest of Arkansas. In the South the Marines were leading the charge up North with Colonel Aaron Holder and two Marine regiments acting as the vanguard up the Mississippi. Acting as support for the Marines would be two divisions with the US 13th and 16th. With each passing day the Confederates would lose miles of territory to the Union. On August 4th Little Rock fell to Burnside after the Battle of Little Rock which saw the five remaining Arkansas regiments make a desperate last stand before being overwhelmed by Union infantry and well coordinated firepower. Baton Rogue would see its fall on July 29th thanks in large part to the Union river fleet which decimated the towns defenses and provided an opening for the Marines to push through. With both capitols having fallen the majority of forces in the Western part of the Gulf summarily gave up and a majority either surrendered or deserted to their homes. Gathering up around 22,000 troops, Beauregard made a desperate last stand in the Battle of Tallulah on September 27th. Tallulah took place due in large part to Rosecrans receiving information from deserters that Beauregard was marching onto Vicksburg to relieve the siege so that some amount of support could reach the west. Wanting to end the war in the west once and for all, Rosecrans made the bold decision of leaving a majority of his artillery units around the city in order to continue the siege and keep up the appearance of an ongoing Union presence. Rosecrans then took 18,000 of his men to Tallulah where an ambush was waited for Beauregard. Under normal circumstances Beauregard would have been more than ready to face his opponent, however he had already lost his heavy artillery trying to defend the capitols and most of his forces were low on morale. What made the situation even worse was the previous presence of a heavy storm the previous week which bogged down the roads in Eastern Louisiana and made horsetravel difficult. Under these circumstances Rosecrans was able to take the Confederates by surprise and the Union troops fought on in continuous onsluaghts while the Confederates could do little to stop them. With his entire army collapsing before him, Beauregard called for a surrender and the battle was over by sundown. The casualties of the battle were heavily against the Confederacy as they had lost 2,137 men along with 1,956 wounded, 1,138 deserted and the rest captured. In contrast the Union lost 1,480 killed and had 1,366 wounded. When news had reached the defenders of Vicksburg about the battle, along with losses of territory in the north, the defenders lost the will to fight on and surrendered on October 2nd. The rest of the year would be spent in mopping operations in the west with deployments after thanksgiving to the Gulf ports of Mississippi and Alabama, while a division headed to Oklahoma to help Kearney deal with the Indians.
The Siege of Vicksburg
Kansas: After a year and a half of continuous bloodshed on the Kansas plains, the war seemed to be finally coming to an end. With Topeka now firmly established in Union hands, the Confederates had no established base of operations upon which to fall back upon in the territory, with General Rosecrans beginning his march into Arkansas and the resources into that state becoming more scare with the attacks on Mississippi and Louisiana, there were few other places to go to for the Confederates. Despite William Quantrill's best efforts, the Confederate war effort in Kansas collapsed. Many Confederates either surrendered to Union forces, or went back to their farms to salvage what little was left thanks to Jayhawker retaliations. Others left to join the tribes of Oklahoma, while a few fled East to fight against the Yankee tide. Governor Quantrill himself refused to flee and stayed with around 2,000 Swashbuckers to continue the fight. Over the summer and early fall of 1862, Stephen Kearney began a brutal and relentless campaign to end the Confederate presence in Kansas permanently. Companies of Union cavalry made daily forays into the plains in search of their pray, while hundreds of Kansas settlers joined together in their own militia, the Kansas 1st, to payback Quantrill and his band for their crimes against the territory. The remaining Union infantry and artillery mostly stayed in place in Topeka and were trained by Kearney so that they would be prepared to join the other theaters. Dozens of skirmishes took place with the only major battle being the Battle of Lake El Dorado on September 20th, or as it is more commonly known as Quantrill's last stand. With approximately 100 followers left, Quantrill was surrounded by Union forces near the lake and was ordered to surrender and face trial at Topeka for his crimes. Seeing the war as lost and not willing to be executed by hanging, Quantrill refused and proclaimed that he would fight to the death with his men. The resulting fighting that would ensue would take nearly two hours and would see all but 9 men of Quantrill's dead while the Union suffered 46 dead and 43 wounded. In the aftermath of the battle Kearney declared Kansas to be secure of Confederate influence, and then proceeded south to Oklahoma to punish the Indian tribes for their "treachery".
Map of the American Civil War circa January 1st, 1863. Republic of Texas (Green).Confederacy (Red). Union (Blue).
Yeah, the Confederate-supporting tribes are so screwed its not even funny, as is the South in general; Toombs is going to be right up there with Benedict Arnold as a traitor, while he will top the list of America's worst presidents ITTL...
And I love this quote:
Gee, Jeff, that's an understatement if ever I heard one...
And I love this quote:
Gee, Jeff, that's an understatement if ever I heard one...
The Mexican War circa January 1st, 1863. Republic of Texas (Blue). Mexico (Red). Republic of the Yucatan (Green).