Napoleon on the Mississippi

Now, one of the secondish popular ideas of AH is somehow Napoleon either wins and retains Louisiana or he loses but still flees to Louisiana where he establishes his own independent realm. I wish to re-visit the possibilities of this happening or not. Of course the primary POD would have to occur before Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States and in ways we do have some possible PODs to work with here and there.

One of which I wrote about was "Napoleon sides with Haiti' in that he, puts on a Republican masque once more and charges T'oussaint with providing control of Santo Domingo and working with Leclerc to stir up trouble for the British in Norh America and the Caribbean while ensuring French economic interests in both. Given my short attention span I somewhat floundered on it but the basis would provide a solid ground for France to make use of revolutionary zeal to mess around in the region as well as establish a base in New Orleans for Napoleon to go to should he fail in Europe again and again-as well as helping Haiti be less...a failure.

Another opportunity arises with the Enlightenment figure of Volny who suggested to Napoleon that Leclerc's expedition to restore order in Santo Domingo would fail and that France would be better off using those troops to entrench in New Orleans and making Louisiana a viable bastion. Which I think also plays into the previously mentioned POD which would require trade with France's former colony.

As those two possible PODs establish, a key component to France's limited European population in the region would require Napoleon to make use of false Republican promises and revolutionary ideas as he did in OTL to help establish his family in the region.

The concern is that Napoleon would never just abandon France for Louisiana outright, he would likely still be defeated by Great Britain and Company but be able after these defeats to ferry his family and himself to the New World.
 
Another opportunity arises with the Enlightenment figure of Volny who suggested to Napoleon that Leclerc's expedition to restore order in Santo Domingo would fail and that France would be better off using those troops to entrench in New Orleans and making Louisiana a viable bastion. Which I think also plays into the previously mentioned POD which would require trade with France's former colony.

I tried to google him but found only Eastern European villages and telecom companies. Could you please provide a link to information about this person?
 
I tried to google him but found only Eastern European villages and telecom companies. Could you please provide a link to information about this person?

My mistake he was Comte de Volney, the man was Constantin-François Chassebœuf.
 
If Napoleon manages to successfully flee to Louisiana in 1815, somehow, how will he finance the government? I could see him selling large chunks of the country to the US to sustain himself, but also to avoid a border with British North America. Now the US was shocked about the low price of the territory, but the real value to them was New Orleans. So how much might he get for it? How much would he sell?

Furthermore, if he can sneak out of France, would there be a British blockade of Louisiana? Would they not try to attack New Orleans to capture him? Would they try to get the US to attack and capture him as a precondition to ending the War of 1812? The Spanish?
 
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I can see them selling the top half perhaps the Missouri River. Which he would probably sell for cash and diplomatic recognition and alliance.

The key of course would be holding Santo Domingo which was the real moneymaker of the French Empire.

I can imagine them sending a expedition under Wellington to bring Napoleon to Justice, only for them to underestimate Napoleon who they assume has fled and is cornered like a rat and he delivers them one more defeat outside of New Orleans in an ironic parallel twist to the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans. Then either a settlement is reached or they keep going at it.

Well, the War of 1812 ended in February of 1815 and the Seventh Coalition ended in November 1815. Though if he traveled to Louisiana after the Sixth Coalition in 1814...the British and Americans were negotiating peace but they kept doing things that outraged the public and nearly derailed peace talks several times.
 
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Jasen777

Donor
Now the US was shocked about the low price of the territory, but the real value to them was New Orleans. So how much might he get for it?

The U.S. might not be willing to offer much without New Orleans. They were willing to offer at least $10 million (probably more) for New Orleans alone, and Napoleon only got $15 million for the whole thing, so either that was stupendously bad negotiating by him (certainly a possibility) or the rest just wasn't seen as very valuable.
 
Hmm, that's what I wondered.

But that aside, maybe in ITTL Adams-Onis counterpart, which has to be made with Louisiana to resolve the border, maybe Louisiana can gain the Floridas. Or does Spain just give it to the US. Maybe as a compromise, W. Florida can go to the US?
 
Louisiana's eventual borders? Would it even be called that? Bonapartes in the bayous...

theincredibleshrinkinglouisiana_zps5db3bc1b.png
 
They would probably fight or deal with Spain/Mexico to extend the border along the Red River.

British might move Canada down a few parallels
 
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