Maryland Secedes

I don't know much about Maryland, but Missouri mostly wanted to just stay out of the fight, but several figures, chief among them Fremont, provoked the Confederate supports, so to speak.

Also, on moving the capital: I think Chicago is too small and remote from the rest of the country at this time to really be a good choice. The city did not take off until after the fire, really.

Chicago had a population of almost 110,000 in 1860 while DC had a population of only around 14,000 according to the US Census of 1860.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Chicago had a population of almost 110,000 in 1860 while DC had a population of only around 14,000 according to the US Census of 1860.

Indeed. There was a reason that Chicago was chosen as the site for the 1860 Republican National Convention and the 1864 Democratic National Convention. It was the future of the country and everybody knew it.
 
The Union moves the capital from DC to a more defensible location. This will probably help it in the long run. Far too many troops were used to defend DC. Move the capital to Chicago or Cleveland and all those troops can be used for the offensive.


Or, at less cost, you can do what Grant did and just take the troops anyways.
 
Indeed. There was a reason that Chicago was chosen as the site for the 1860 Republican National Convention and the 1864 Democratic National Convention. It was the future of the country and everybody knew it.

The future, but not quite ready. The main concern is travel time to the East.
 
In Washington, DC, you have the Federal Army under direct control of the government. It may not be very large in April/May 1861, but it is certainly organized and large. Combined with pro-Union Marylanders and pro-Union state militias elsewhere, Lincoln can probably quickly assert complete control over Maryland.

Though the Federal forces and pro union militias could control the areas surrounding the capital as well as pacify Baltimore, the eastern shore counties were both geographicaly isolated and very pro confederate. Gaining control over that area would probably require a formal military campaign, a campiagn that the Union would not be prepared to launch for a certain period of time.
 
If all slave legal states had seceded, the result of war would be the same, but it would last longer, it would have benn bloodier,and more damaging to the North, because of the proximity of the battlefield.

Maybe ther would be small but bloody raids to the North towns from the south
 
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