New Albion: A Different Division of North America

[galanx]

Part 18-New Albion: 1815-1830

Meanwhile, the New Albion colonies have been expanding with the influx of Loyalist refugees joined by new immigrants from Britain. As Spain refused to join France in her wars, relations with Britain have become more cordial. The Spanish have become resigned to Britain’s control of Northern California; now they’re more worried about Americans coming from the east. Some immigrants now make the crossing through Nicaragua, up the San Juan River and across Lake Nicaragua- ideas are being bruited for a canal, but these are mostly idle speculations- for the moment.

Many of the Loyalists who settled in New Carolina brought slaves with them, and an attempt is made to establish a plantation culture in the fertile Central California Valley. However, a new disruption is about to break forth.


Gold! 1815
There have been a few trips made between the coast and the Bitter Sea region, but the fact that the area around the lake has been colonized by a polygamous race-mixing cult (see Butlerites, above) tends to limit interaction, other than some furs being shipped from the mountains and some manufactured goods and seeds being bought by the Butlerites. There is a natural fear among the New Carolinans that their slaves would try to reach New Zion, though the hardships of the journey tends to reduce the threat to a minimum.


The growth of Francistown [San Francisco] has been enough that a library/museum financed by the Clive Foundation is established in 1814.

(Robert Clive died in 1800 at the age of 75, wealthy and respected, though childless. Always subject to fits of depression, and painful gallstones in later life, he had the satisfaction of seeing the massive growth of the north-west colonies with the influx of Loyalist settlers; his estate is dedicated to establishing libraries, museums, and schools in New Albion.)

A young naturalist at the Francistown Clive Museum examines some of the samples collected by the first expedition down the Heartbreak River in 1776, and makes an interesting discovery, which he reveals to a few speculators. They go to the river now referred to by the local Indians as “the river the English came from”, and soon their discovery is shouted in the streets of Francistown:

“Gold! Gold! Gold from the Englishman River!”

Conflicting claims break out between the New Carolinans and the North-West Company, which claims rights to all wealth discovered. The Crown rules in favour of the local settlers, and soon a mad rush is on.

Gold-seekers pour in from Britain- and other parts of Europe and the Americas; even a few ships from China and Hawayee. The British government is alarmed, as are the locals- particularly when Americans begin to show up. Ships sailing from non-British ports are banned, but many foreigners still slip through.

Plus, exceptions are made for those claiming to be Loyalists, though the suspicion is it is the yellow metal they are loyal to.

The discovery also stirs up new interest in Spain, which begins to question British possession- the northern border of Spanish California having never been formally settled.

This leads the government in London to take the whole area more seriously. Government is taken away from the North-West Company, and lodged in the Crown. The Company is reduced to a commercial enterprise; its forts and sea-boy military units are taken over by British officers; regular British troops are dispatched to keep order.Still, the influx is massive- over the next decade about 50,000 people move into New Carolina.

It also puts paid to the dream of re-establishing the plantation system. Not only do the black slaves flee to the gold claims, slave-catchers sent after them tend to drop their whips and chains for shovels and pans.

Soon the would-be plantation owners are having to offer private plots and shares in the crops to keep any kind of labour around. Slavery is dying a natural death.

 

[galanx]

Okay, the continuation of the New Albion Timeline:

Flag courtesy of trejiokla; many thanks!
The Great Bear for defiance to Russians, Spaniards, and Yankees; seven stars for seven provinces; the Pole Star originally for Britain; later came to mean "True North(West) Strong and Free"

A Timeline for those of you who haven’t read up to here (though you should, it’s absolutely brill) or who have forgotten what happened.
As the title shows- New Albion: A Different Division of North America- it’s focused largely on North America, with butterflies elsewhere.

The original (with a few minor retcons)
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...a-different-division-of-north-america.350081/

Quick Summary
A POD in 1740 means that by 1815 North America (north of Mexico) is split East-West rather than North-South.
-In the east is the United States of North America (USNA); Thirteen Colonies, the northwest and southwest territory west to the Mississippi, plus Canada/New France and the Maritimes (but not Rupert’s Land)

-In the West is New Albion, a collection of British Colonies stretching from the Dezhnyez [Bering ] Straits to Francistown [San Francisco], and claiming all lands drained by rivers flowing into the Pacific ( i.e. everything west of the Great Divide)

-Spain still has East and West Florida, the Louisiana Territory, and New Spain, but does not acknowledge the British claims in the north.


Anything in square brackets [ ] is OTL. Bold is for important points; (Bold) in brackets for retcons

New Albion Summary: 1740 to 1775:
OTL
1740: During the War of Jenkin's Ear between England and Spain an expedition commanded by George Anson is sent to the west coast of South America to harass the Spanish and try to capture the annual treasure galleon taking Mexican silver to Manila to trade with China. He is fobbed off with poor ships and men and clashing orders, so he doesn’t arrive on the west coast of South America until June 1741. Alerted, the Spanish don’t send out the galleon. Anson, with only two ships left and few men, makes a harrowing trip across the Pacific, finally reaching Canton. From there he captures the next year’s treasure ship, and sails home to England wealthy and celebrated.
……..


POD: 1740- Pro-war politician William Pitt criticizes the government for lack of ardour pursuing the war, singling out Hanson’s expedition. Stung, the government gives him better men and supplies, and orders him straight off. He arrives off the coast of Mexico earlier and in better shape

1741-Hanson spots the treasure galleon leaving Acapulco and gives chase, but in fleeing it sinks on some rocks in the Reviilagigedos Islands, taking the treasure with it. Empty-handed and with a year to wait, he tries to recover his chances by sailing north to try and discover the fabled North-West Passage

1741-1743- Hanson claims the west coast for Britain, realising that it's Francis Drake's Nova Albion; he doesn't find the Passage , but does find shipwrecked Russians led by Vitus Bering[OTL], and the sea-otter furs they have been collecting. Hanson sells the furs for a large sum in Canton, alerting the British to the value of the trade with China.

1743-1775- British ships engage in fur trade; one trader is young Robert Clive, diverted from a life working for the East India Company
(Without Clive, the French do much better in India, dividing it with the British)

-The North-West Company is created, forts are built and Clive trains Hydah [Haida]Indians as sepoys, using them to attack the Russians and Spanish. The Russians are driven out altogether and the Spanish confined south of Francistown [San Francisco], named after Francis Drake of course

-Captain George Cook is sent to survey the West Coast but is killed by natives. Without Cook, British explorers in the Pacific sail too far south and fail to discover Australia (though they still find Hawayee)

-1767-1769- Hoping to link his eastern and western possessions, George III sponsors Ranger Captain Robert Rogers (hero of the French and Indian War) in an overland expedition to the Pacific. Rogers is successful, but, captured and stripped of all his possessions by the French at St. Louis, has no proof. He escapes and returns to Detroit, but is thrown into prison for embezzlement, fraud, and suspicion of double-dealing with France

1770-1775- Further expeditions follow Rogers' footsteps, reaching the coast and proving his claims, also discovering the Bitter Sea [Great Salt Lake]
………
Geography to Date: The whole area claimed by the British is now called New Albion with various names slowly coming into use (anticipating further developments a bit here for the sake of clarity)

-New Caledonia: [OTL Alaska and northern British Columbia down to the tip of the Alaska Panhandle]
-the coast of the great westward extension is referred to as Alyeska, but is included in New Caledonia.

-New Hibernia: [Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwai] home of the Hydah Sea-Boys (corrupted version of a joking reference to 'sepoys'), recruited as Company mercenaries.

-Anson Island: [Vancouver Island] -Charlotteville [Victoria B.C.], first actual settlement as opposed to fur-trading posts; supplies farm products to the traders of the NWC

Western Columbia: [southern British Columbia and northern Washington State]

-Ft Columbia [Vancouver]- convict lumber camp

-Suquamash [Seattle]-


-Ouragan: from just south of [OTL Puget Sound & Seattle] includingthe Norris River [Columbia]; down to the 42nd Parallel, [OTL Oregon/California boundary] (not established in 1775 ).


British California: from Ouragan border ( 42nd parallel; OTL border) down to Cape Santa Cruz –(37th parallel), just south of Francistown [San Francisco]

As noted, the only actual settlement at this time is a small one on Anson Island, and an even smaller one in Suquamish.

Other Geographical Features: New Albion

-Dezhnyov Straits [Bering Straits]

-Byron Bay [San Francisco Bay]

-Overland expeditions from the east have explored other rivers: the Serpentine [Snake], Norris [Columbia] and William[Willamette]

- Bitter Sea [Great Salt Lake]; overland route along the Heartbreak R. [Humboldt] to Central California Valley.

Elsewhere:

-The British have discovered Hawayee, and established trade

-The Qing Emperor has opened the port of Lushun in northern China [Ft. Arthur/Dalian] to restricted trade in sea otter furs on the comprador system.

-India: The French have the Carnatic region (south-east); the British are confined to small areas of Bengal and Bombay-The British East India Company has established control of Penang and Singa Pura, and has resisted Dutch (VOC) attacks.

-Both Britain and the Netherlands have claimed control of New Holland; the French have put in a claim on the western shore.

 

[galanx]

There are a few retcons from the earlier thread; if you have read it they're all fairly minor, like George Washington burning New York City
New Albion Ctd.: 1775- 1815:
American Revolution: 1775-1779

(I’m weak on ARW history- basically the Rebels take Quebec, the French and Spanish intervene earlier, and it ends with the Americans holding both Canada and the Maritimes.)

1775- Robert Rogers is vindicated and released from prison, even more of a hero to the American public. Angry at King George III, he re-forms his Rangers, and joined by Ethan Hale and the Green Mountain Boys, takes Ft. Ticonderoga (also joined by Benedict Arnold) When command is given to Gen. Schuyler by Washington, Rogers and Hale team up to follow Rogers’ old war path to St. Francis, between Montreal and Quebec. Meanwhile Arnold has led an expedition north from Boston, but is hampered by the terrain and in weak condition. He arrives at Quebec in October. The British commander in Quebec, unsure of the loyalty of the French-Canadians, decides to make an example of these rag-tag Rebels, and marches out against them, only to be taken entirely unexpectedly on the flank by Rogers and Hale. Rogers is killed in the attack, but the Americans take Quebec. Carleton escapes past them to Halifax.

1776- Heartened by the capture, the Americans send men and supplies. Burgoyne leads an expedition against Quebec in the springBut then the French fleet sails out behind the British (more below). Howe turns from Quebec to Philadelphia to New York.

(Retcon : based on this from Minty_Fresh , George Washington burns New York City

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-washington-abandons-new-york.391627/

It won’t change the course of the war much; increases recruitment for Loyalist partisans in New York State (below) and wanks Montreal (retconned in previous posts) )

Meanwhile Benedict Arnold has teamed up with Nova Scotia farmer Jonathan Eddy to start an uprising; they briefly take Halifax but are pushed into the countryside, more of a nuisance than anything else.

1777- After an American victory at the Battle of Delaware, France recognizes the new country, and officially declares war on Britain, as does Spain.

1778- The French and American army and French and Spanish navy inflict a major defeat on Britain

1779- The French and Spanish launch an invasion of southern England; they occupy ground but are unable to take London.

The British hastily end hostilities with the Americans and pull most of their fleet and what army they can back home.

Benedict Arnold launches a last assault on Halifax even as the British are leaving; he gets his victory but gets killed in the process.

The presence of the French and Spanish causes mass outbreaks of anti-Catholic feeling in Britain; John Paul Jones lands briefly in Ireland; the conjunction of this and the Invasion leads to an uprising among the Irish peasantry, savagely put down by the Protestant Volunteers, massacres on both sides stirs up more anti-Catholic feeling in Britain.
…………

1780 – The Treaties of Antwerp and Philadelphia establish the independence of the United States of North America (named to placate Spain); and give various benefits to mostly Spain and France, but also the Netherlands and Russia (restitution for Clive’s action). Most significantly, Spain gets Gibraltar and Florida; France gets Grenada and Barbados and money.

Massive anti-Catholic riots break out in Britain; Scottish, Irish, and English Catholics flee, at first to France but later to the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata; Scottish and Irish also go to the USNA, many to Canada because of anti-Catholic feeling elsewhere.



The United States of North America to 1812

(This is the final flag showing all 36 states; there only fifteen stars in 1780. The fifteen stripes are for the original Thirteen Colonies, plus Canada and Benedictia, An alternate version had red and white stripes, but Ben Franklin commented "it looked like a barber's pole")
[Again, thanks to trejiokla]

The USNA consists of the Thirteen Colonies, Canada, and the new state of Benedictia ( OTL Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and northern Maine) named after Benedict Arnold, and the land west to the Mississippi. (Southern Maine remains part of Massachusetts; as a sop to the New Yorkers after the burning of New York City and in the absence of Ethan Allen, still in Quebec, Vermont gets split between NY and New Hampshire).

With nowhere else to go, many Loyalists return to England; others take the long trip around Cape Horn to New Albion.

In 1785, President George Washington is assassinated by a crazed anti-Catholic Loyalist; furious reaction drives many more Loyalists out; some to England, some to New Albion, some south to the swamps of Spanish Florida; others west.

One group that had been forced to flee west anyway was a group of Loyalist irregulars led by John Butler and his son Walter; fighting alongside the Mohawks under Joseph Brant, and joined by New Yorkers bitter over the burning of their city, they have been accused of massacres and face hanging. Fleeing west, they are joined by black Loyalists under freedman Colonel Tye who had been offered their freedom in exchange for fighting for the British, who now face a return to slavery.

A long series of defeats and retreats sees them gradually pushed west into Illinois, where they establish their own religion based on polygamy and race-mixing (The Church of the Three-fold Cord; aka Butlerites)

By 1812 they realise they have to move again: a small group head north to the red River country in Rupertsland (still British); others move Southwest into Spanish Louisiana; but the bulk move on into the upper Serpentine [Snake] River and the Bitter Sea [Great Salt Lake], establishing the Loyal Commonwealth of British Montana.

Flag of the Loyal Commonwealth of British Montana: the colours represent the three races; black, white, and red (Native American)

New Albion

1780-1 815-New Albion gains many Loyalist settlers, especially on southern Anson Island[Vancouver Island]; New London [New Westminster] Suquamish [Seattle], Ouragan [ Oregon]; while many southern Loyalists settle in British California, which they rename New Carolina.

1815-Gold is discovered in New Carolina, leading to a further influx of settlers. Slavery basically dies out, though still legal.

1780-1835- Convict labour is brought in, mostly for forestry clearance. A rebellion starts in the convict logging camp of Ft. Columbia [Vancouver B.C.]; it is crushed by newly-appointed Governor William Bligh; Ft Columbia renamed Blighton by grateful settlers.

Europe: France

1780-Louis XVI is hailed in France for the victory over Britain- buoyed by success, he even manages to produce a Dauphin. France is in reasonable shape financially for the moment. Dupleix, victor of India, had managed to push through some reforms as Minister of Finance. The ARW is short; plus France gains the wealth extracted from England.

1786 -Louis enlists Charles III of Spain in a war against the Barbary Corsairs; Spain takes Morocco; France, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.


1788-Louis decides to use his popularity to reform and centralize the tax system; thwarted by the Parlements, he recalls the Estates-General. Backed by the Third Estate, he challenges the nobles. Gaining support from the Church, he pushes through reforms. The higher nobles revolt, but are crushed by the Army, loyal to the King who led them to victory over England.

[French Revolution butterflied away]

Europe: War

1792-1796- Polish War: Impressed by Louis XVI, Catherine of Russia induces Stanislaw of Poland to crush his own nobles, hoping to make Poland a more compliant client state. Prussia supports the nobles, figuring Catherine will eventually agree to partition Poland. Instead she allies with Austria (seeking Bavaria), supported by France, which has been promised the Austrian Netherlands. Prussia is beaten and split between Prussia and Brandenburg (Prussia proper eventually split again between Russia and Poland.)

[In the original thread AussieHawker commented “But sad that Prussia is crushed” ; first time I think I’ve heard that sentiment. ]

1792-1796- War of Southern Netherlands- France takes the Southern Netherlands and pushes her border to the Rhine.

Britain and the Netherlands fight France and Spain at sea; Spain drops out in 1794; France takes the Cape Colony from the Netherlands; Britain retakes Caribbean islands. France claims western Australia; Holland the east.

1796-1800- The Northern League: Brandenburg, Hesse, Saxony and Hannover backed by Britain and Holland fight France and Austria (Russia has dropped out). France is forced to release the Southern Netherlands; it becomes the Kingdom of Belgium (though the new King is Ferdinand of Parma, Louis’ nephew and brother-in-law of Marie Antoinette) The Holy Roman Empire is abolished.

1800-1805- Boer settlers in the Cape revolt against French (Catholic) rule; France defeats them and refuses to allow them to move inland. About 10,000 move to New Holland [eastern Australia]; 3,000 to the USNA.

 

[galanx]

New stuff

New Spain: 1765-1815: The Galvez Brothers (and Son)

Jose de Galvez: Uncle

In 1765 at the age of 45, Gálvez arrived in New Spain, which included all of Spain's colonial possessions in North America. As visitador del virreinato de Nueva España (inspector general for the Viceroyalty of New Spain) he exercised sweeping powers the most in Spanish North America. Playing on long-standing fears in Spain's ruling circles that rival powers would muscle in on territories Spain claimed along the Pacific coast, Gálvez spread rumours of schemes by the British and Dutch rulers to add California to their own empires

[OTL Wiki]”

In 1769, in order to bolster Spain’s claims, he sent an expedition under Captain Caspar de Portola to travel north to establish a presence in the previously explored Monterrey Bay. This led to a clash with traders from the North-West Company, who already built Ft. Drake on Byron Bay [San Francisco]. This led to the ironically-named Battle of St. Francis, in which the British, assisted by timely arrival of John Byron and his flotilla, managed to defeat the Spanish, establishing a de facto border, on the 37th Latitude [Santa Cruz] just south of the newly named Francistown.(see TL above).

Jose quarrels with the new Viceroy, who insists on military cuts to save costs. Returning to Spain in 1772 , he is appointed to the newly-created position of

“Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas, which was to be independent of the viceroy of New Spain. The new political unit included the Provincias Internas of Nueva Vizcaya, Nuevo Santander, Sonora y Sinaloa, Las Californias, Coahuila y Tejas (Coahuila and Texas), and Nuevo México.”

[OTL]

Matias Galvez: Father

Jose also manages to get his younger brother Matias de Galvez appointed Captain-General of Guatemala in 1773. Matias distinguishes himself in leading the fight against the British in Central America during the ARW in 1777-1779, including capturing in battle a young British officer named Horatio Nelson.

Bernardo Galvez: Son

“Bernardo Gálvez, son of Matias and nephew of Jose was born in Macharaviaya, a mountain village in the province of Málaga, Spain, on July 23, 1746. He studied military sciences at the Academia de Ávila and at the age of 16 participated in the Spanish invasion of Portugal, which stalled after the Spanish had captured Almeida. During the conflict he was promoted to lieutenant. He arrived in Mexico, which was then part of New Spain, in 1762. As a captain, he fought the Apaches, with his Opata Indian allies. He received many wounds, several of them serious. In 1770, he was promoted to commandant of arms of Nueva Vizcaya and Sonora, northern provinces of New Spain.

In 1772, he returned to Spain in the company of his uncle, José de Gálvez. Later, he was sent to Pau, France, with the Cantabria regiment. There, he learned to speak French, which served him well when he became governor of Louisiana. He was transferred to Seville in 1775, and then he participated in the disastrous expedition of O'Reilly to Algiers. Gálvez himself was seriously wounded. After capturing the fortress that guarded the city, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.”

[OTL Wiki]

He is appointed interim governor of Louisiana in 1775 and when the AWR breaks out aids the Americans, shipping supplies up the Mississippi. When Spain enters the war he defeats an attack on New Orleans, and then defeats the British at Pensecola, retaking east and West Florida for Spain in 1779 [ up to here the Galvezes are roughly OTL, advanced 2-3 years].

He is then transferred back to Spain and is given a command in the Invasion of Britain. He takes part in the peace talks of 1780, and is then sent back as Governor of Louisiana, now expanded to include the Floridas.

Warm Bodies- The Search For Settlers

At the end of the war, his father Matias is appointed Viceroy of New Spain for his achievements in Central America. All three- Uncle Jose, father Matias, and son Bernardo- are passionately convinced that to hold New Spain they need settlers. Though they all have strongly supported the Americans, they are also alive to the potential power and desire for westward expansion of the new republic, and of eastward expansion by the British in New Albion.

Spain itself could supply some, though the Spanish nobles held on to their peasants as tightly as they could. Plus, there were many more settled parts of Spanish America to settle in. Still, through the efforts of Jose de Galvez, almost 10,000 were rounded up, mostly from the Galvez’s home region of Andalusia, though only about half of them stayed; the rest dispersing to Cuba, Venezuela, or moving further south in Mexico proper.

The Canary Islands were scoured for immigrants; the problem was that other Spanish territories were also recruiting. About another 5,000 were settled in Luisiana and Tejas.

Settlers from America also began to move in; welcome at first, it wasn’t long before they began to seen as forerunners of a swarm that would threaten Spanish control. As well, after the anti-Papist Rebellion in Britain, some English, and more Irish and Scottish Catholic refugees arrived, settling further up the Mississippi in the New Madrid area, with some later moving into the Osarkan mountains to the west, both for the cooler climate and to avoid having to compete with slaves.

A few thousand were also recruited from Sicily and Naples, ruled by Charles III’s second son.

Still, not many compared to the tens of thousands in New Albion and the almost 3 million of the USNA.

Bernardo Galvez 1783-1786: Pirates of the Mediterranean

In 1783 Bernardo Galvez is recalled to Spain and given the post of Governor of Gibraltar. A seeming demotion, he is actually to take command of the Spanish part of the joint expedition against the Barbary Corsairs by Spain and France- joined by Ferdinand of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, who have suffered some of the worst attacks.

The Europeans attack in 1786, and using superior long-range gunnery, totally defeat the Barbary fleet in 1787.

Bernardo had distinguished himself in the otherwise disastrous Spanish attack on Algiers in 1774, commanded by Alexander O’Reilly.[OTL]
Using his knowledge of the Barbary fighting methods, the new expedition is victorious. Both the French and Spanish make good use of their newly recruited Catholic refugee regiments: the Irish Wild Geese and Scottish Highlanders.

The Spanish occupy Tangiers, Rabat and Sale; the French get Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli. The hinterlands are left alone, for now. Bernardo gets the Spanish conquests added to Gibraltar, and is stuck for the next few years with reorganizing the new territory.

One problem is that Louis XVI, in his desire to be hailed as the hero of Christendom, has grandiosely declared freedom for all Christians. Though the capture of European slaves has declined greatly in the latter half of the 18th Century, there are still a fair number of them; they are joined by a much larger number flocking to the cities claiming European ancestry, renouncing Islam, proclaiming their Christianity, and asking for protection. Outraged Muslims demand the return of property that has been theirs for years, even generations; uprisings against the new conquerors break out all over the Maghreb. The French and Spanish manage to hold the attacks off, but still have to deal with the refugee problem. It would hardly be good for the images of their Most Catholic Majesties to be seen forcing wailing Christians back into Muslim slavery- their Protestant adversaries would seize on it with glee, for one thing.

Yet they keep crowding in, penniless, hungry, and idle. Bernardo has a solution- resettle those professing Catholicism either in Luisiana, or especially in the Province Internas on the northern frontier of New Spain: Tejas, Santa Fe, Alta California- after all, at least they’ll be used to the weather.

Muslims taken as prisoners of war in the uprisings are given a choice: conversion, and transportation to New Mexico and Tejas, or slavery in the Caribbean Sugar Islands. (A large number hold true to Islam and take the latter choice: many become overseers and skilled workers; with the eventual abolition of slavery, and conversion to Catholicism, they end up forming a nascent middle class, not to mentioning adding a North African flavour to Caribbean culture.)

As well, with Spain dropping out of the European wars, her British Catholic regiments become redundant; many of the Wild Geese and Highlanders are also deliberately stationed, and then discharged, in Luisiana and New Spain; often marrying Moroccan and Algerian female ex-slaves (after all, having suffered the traditional Fate Worse Than Death, many of them would not be welcomed back in their European homelands).

In 1788, upon the death of his King Charles III, and his own father Matias, Bernardo de Galvez is appointed Viceroy of New Spain at the age of 42. He continues the policy of Uncle Jose (d. 1789) of recruiting settlers wherever they can, including Catholic refugees from the war in Germany.

Still, for all their efforts, the numbers total at most 50,000 by 1810.

 

[galanx]

Spain, Charles IV, Maria Luisa and Friends (no Oxford comma)

Charles III dies in 1788, leaving his amiably incompetent son on the throne.

Background:
In 1762 Jose de Galvez is appointed as personal lawyer to the 14-year-old Crown Prince, a position he holds for three years, before being appointed Visitador to New Spain[OTL]. On his return, he renews his acquaintance with the Prince, now 24, and introduces his nephew, the 26-year-old Bernardo.

Charles is known as ‘El Cazador’, the Hunter, for his lack of interest in anything except the chase. Among the things he appears to lack interest in is his young wife, Queen Maria Luisa. He is, however, fascinated by the big, bluff, genial Bernardo’s tales of hunting pumas and wild rides against the Apaches in the mountains and deserts of New Spain. The 21-year-old Queen also appears quite captivated by the gallant adventurer.

In 1783 Bernardo returns to Spain from North America to take command of the attack against the Barbary Coast; he also renews his…acquaintance with the Queen. In 1784 she gives birth to a son and the King is congratulated on the new Crown Prince’s robust strength and appearance.

“The Queen's confessor Fray Juan Almaraz wrote in his last will that she admitted in articulo mortis that "none, none of her sons and daughters, none was of the legitimate marriage" .

[OTL Wiki]

In 1788 Charles IV ascends to the throne, which he also seems to lack interest in, leaving as much as he can in the hands of his wife- who is rumored to have many interests of her own. One such is a Manuel Goboy, a young courtier who quickly becomes the favorite of the King, and is even more favoured by the Queen- so much so that he is appointed Prime Minister at the age of 25[OTL].

In this position, with the support of the pro-French Queen (Louis XVI is her uncle) in 1792 he pushes Spain into the War of the Southern Netherlands, for Spain fought at sea against England and Holland. The naval war goes badly; the British retake Tangiers, and threaten Gibraltar. Bernardo Galvez is recalled from New Spain to take command; he recaptures Tangiers, and sets about arranging a peace treaty with Britain.

Godoy falls from favour in 1795: Galvez, though at 50 himself somewhat long in the tooth for the Queen, has brought her a present from Florida.

 

[galanx]

The Floridas:1776 to 1792

(And a tip o’ the hat to Stratego’s Risk for informing me about all this.)

William Augustus Bowles ( b. 1763) served as an ensign with the Maryland Loyalist Battalion in 1776 at the age of 13, travelling with the battalion when it was ordered to form part of the garrison of Pensecola. Accounts differ as to whether he deserted or was expelled, but he left to move in with the Creek Indians.[OTL] He joined the Creeks in their support of the British, but managed to escape when the Spanish under Bernardo de Galvez took Pensecola in 1778.

He was reinstated in the British Army, and was sent to the Bahamas, then sent back to the Creeks to try and build up support for the British. Bowles would marry two wives, one Cherokee, one a daughter of a Hitchiti Muscogee chief, using this latter marriage to claim a chieftanship himself among the matrilineal tribe. Given supplies , especially gunpowder, he built up a strong base of support- which collapsed in 1780 with the Treaty of Philadelphia, giving independence to the Americans and Florida back to the Spanish.


He struggled on, visiting England in 1783 and being received by George III as 'Chief of the Embassy for Creek and Cherokee Nations'. Though he received some support, it was not much as the British had basically lost interest in the Floridas. Bowles had two main enemies: one was Alexander McGillivray, a powerful chief of the Upper Creek (though only quarter Indian).

McGillivray had fought for the British, and opposed the Americans. He ended up signing a treaty with the Spanish, who supported the Indian land claims against American settlers from Georgia.

He also made an alliance with Bowles’ other chief object of hatred, the Panton, Leslie &Co. trading outfit based in St. Augustine and Pensecola, established by fiercely anti-American Loyalists who lost everything they had in the Revolution, and had petitioned the Spanish for a trading monopoly with the Indians. Since the Spanish had no real interest in developing Florida, they agreed and with their monopoly (especially over gunpowder) the Company quickly got the Indians in the Floridas into huge debts. McGillivray became a silent partner and got a cut of all the deals in exchange for his support in keeping the peace. [OTL up to here, with the conquest of Florida by the Spanish advanced two years].

The assassination of George Washington in 1785 sent a flood of Loyalists fleeing prosecution into the Floridas; while some established peaceful relations with the Indians, others tried to replicate the settler society to the north. McGillivray had tried to establish peaceful relations all round, but in the end felt he had to lead his people in war against the settlers, in spite of Spanish opposition. He was killed in the Muskogee War in 1787; fought in parallel with the Cherokee war against settlers in southern Tennessee.

This gave Bowles his chance to claim leadership, attacking the Panton trading outposts across the Floridas, seizing supplies, burning records of debts, and freeing black slaves which the company had begun to import in numbers. This earned him great support among the Seminoles who had welcomed escaped slaves.

The Spanish were furious. Their trading system was in collapse, and their erstwhile American allies were threatening hostilities over both Indian attacks (defenses) on their lands, and Bowles’ policy of welcoming escaped slaves- not to mention piracy, which his three sloop ‘Navy’ practiced in the Gulf of Mexico, allied with other buccaneers. Spain offered a huge reward for his capture, and he was betrayed and handed over to the Spanish authorities in Penascola in 1792. He is shipped to Madrid in the exalted company of Viceroy Bernardo Galvez, who has just been recalled to Spain to take over the war effort against Britain. The two have interesting conversations on the voyage about Indians, settlers, and pirates among other things (they both speak Spanish, French, and English).

 

[galanx]

Bowles in Madrid: The Noble Savage

De Galvez and Bowles arrive in Madrid in 1794; the Viceroy takes the matter of the war in hand, driving the British out of Tangiers, removing the threat to Gibraltar. At the same time he opens backchannel negotiations with London, seeking a separate peace.

He also hopes to get rid of Godoy, the Queen’s favorite. It is a propitious moment, as the Queen has become noticeably cooler to both the French and Godoy. It is not his disastrous conduct of the war that matters; the Prime Minister could have survived any number of policy bungles [as he did OTL], it is a more personal matter.

Desiring to display his own rise to power, Godoy arranges a summit between Charles IV and Louis XVI to celebrate their great victory as Christian monarchs over the Barbary Corsairs and to confirm their renewed alliance in the War of the Southern Netherlands. Queen Maria Luisa has misgivings, which her favorite overrides. Her forebodings turn out to be justified; the whole affair is a series of humiliations for the Queen. The French almost openly ridicule her simple-minded husband; her imperious uncle Louis treats the Spanish Crown with lofty condescension, obviously regarding them as junior partners; Marie Antoinette and the ladies of the French Court, dressed in the latest neo-Classical fashions from Paris, snigger at the old-fashioned voluminous dress of the Spanish noblewomen- including their Queen.

Plus, Godoy’s rise to power has come from his performance as a courtier, but endless serenades on a guitar have become somewhat cloying; the return of Bernardo brings back memories of more vigorous days- as embodied in his companion/captive, William Augustus Bowles

“His elegant and commanding form, fine address, beautiful countenance of varied expression, his exalted genius, daring, and intrepidity, all connected with a mind wholly debased and unprincipled, eminently fitted him to sway the bad Indians and worse traders among whom he lived.”

- See more at: http://alabamapioneers.com/biography-william-augustus-bowles-born-1763/#sthash.ykNBkKiK.dpuf


Galvez makes sure to present his captive to the court in hybrid Indian/European dress; his appearance sets feminine hearts aflutter- including the one on the throne. History repeats itself: Charles IV is delighted by Bowles’ tales of adventures in the wilderness, and his prowess on the hunt; the Queen delights in his prowess in other ways.

Godoy is dismissed in 1795, and Bernardo de Galvez takes over as Prime Minister.

For the next six years Bowles remains in Spain, punctuated by travels in Europe. Lois and Marie Antoinette are curious about this Noble Savage, and he visits the French court, also observing full-scale European war in the Rhinelands. As part of the peace embassy from Spain, he renews his acquaintance with George III, but unfortunately the latter is in his one of his recurring fits of madness; though recognising Bowles, he insists the latter play "Red Indian" with him in the grounds of Kew Palace.

Bowles visits the Pope in Rome, and has long discussions about the conversion of the Indians, as well as the question of slavery, though he somewhat startles the Pontiff by asking for blessings for both his wives. An experienced sailor from his days in the British navy, he sails with the Spanish Navy against the remnants of the Barbary pirates, and serves in clashes against the Berbers in Morocco, noting the advantages of light cavalry in guerilla warfare against European columns.

Still, by 1800 he is past ready to return home; he is approaching forty, while the Queen is approaching fifty, and her conduct is becoming increasingly embarrassing. She shows up at one Court ball dressed in what she imagines is the costume of an American Indian princess. One person who is embarrassed is her son Prince Ferdinand, now 16, and growing into manhood, though he harbours no grudge against Bowles, whom he has admired from boyhood.

The young Prince had been taken under the wing of Bernardo Galvez, who seems to take an almost paternal interest in him -naturally enough; as Prime Minister he is grooming the boy to be the next King of Spain.

State of Muskogee: 1803-1815

State of Muskogee- 1805 ( OTL/ATL)

Republic of West Florida 1809-1811 (OTL/ ATL)

In 1801 it is agreed that Bowles should return to America; he is offered high position elsewhere in New Spain but insists on returning to his old home in Florida. The situation there has becoming alarming, with American settlers pressing in from Georgia and the Tennessee, antagonizing the local tribes, with open warfare threatening to break out. Bowles is given a series of commissions: in exchange for a generous supply of gifts he is instructed to calm the Indians, reach agreements on limits with the settlers, and return escaped Negro slaves to their masters. While Galvez is not happy with the encroachments in the Floridas, he is anxious to avoid open war with the USNA, whose expansion has reached the Mississippi, and where many are casting eyes on the Luisiana Territory beyond.

Bowles agrees, and over the vociferous objections of the Queen, returns home. After a reunion with his wives and children, he uses the wealth provided by Spain to reclaim a prominent position rallying the tribes around him- and, being Bowles, he promptly tosses out his agreements with Galvez. He declares the establishment of the State of Muskogee, in 1805, with its own flag and (later) Constitution. Feeling that his old grounds around Tallahassee are too vulnerable to attack, he moves northwest to the Alabama River (roughly OTL Selma), and declares himself the President Chief. He welcomes Creeks, Muskogee, Cherokees and Seminoles, including Black Seminoles, as well as erstwhile Loyalists, pirates, and escaped slaves.

Galvez in particular is infuriated by this betrayal; he orders attacks on this putative state. However, even though Spanish forces in Luisiana have been strengthened, they are not well equipped to deal with the swamps and forests of Muskogee, and are driven back.

However, he now has bigger fish to fry. His own policy of shipping Moroccans prisoners to Cuba has backfired. Often literate in a language and script that their masters don’t understand, they have organized a slave revolt, which breaks out in 1808. They are joined by the followers of a slave and ex-militia corporal Jose Aponte, who has been organizing his own revolt, which quickly spreads over the entire island. Himself a Yoruba Muslim, though now a professed Catholic,[Aponte's rebellion as in OTL] he establishes links with thw Berber and Arab rebels.

Some of the Moroccans are former Barbary Corsairs; they seize Spanish navy vessels, and use them to launch pirate attacks against the Spanish in the Caribbean. Bowles uses the opportunity to take the port of Mobile, offering a safe haven for any buccaneers willing to attack the Spanish, including the Lafitte brothers, Jean and Pierre. However, the Spanish forces in Cuba gradually prevail, though it takes more than three years. Towards the end Bowles uses his pirate forces to evacuate rebels from Cuba and bring them back to Muskogee, including, Aponte on the last ship,.

By this time the American settlers in Spanish Florida, Georgia, and Franklin are at the end of their patience. Muskogee has become a safe haven for Indian tribes fighting against land theft, and escaping slaves. In 1810 the largely American settlers (many of them are former Loyalists, but time -and money-heals wounds) of West Florida revolt and establish the short-lived Republic of West Florida, and ask for annexation by the USNA. Bowles leads his rag-tag forces and quickly crushes the rebellion.

He then claims sovereignty over all the Floridas; upholds tribal land claims against the whites- and abolishes slavery. This divides the Indian tribes, particularly the Cherokee. Many of the more assimilated are themselves slave-owners, and have become involved in the commercial agricultural system of the whites. Bowles remains firm: no slavery in Muskogee (which actually only takes in a small portion of central West Florida along the Alabama and Tombigee Rivers.

 

[galanx]

Andrew Jackson

After the defeat of Tecumseh’s Rebellion in 1809, attention is turned to the situation in the Southwest. A prominent Franklin slave-owner named Andrew Jackson leads a militia attack on the Creek Indians in the Tallapoosa area (Bowles’ old stomping grounds. By no means have all of the anti-American anti-Spanish Indians have joined forces with Muskogee; many of them are going through the same traditionalist revival that drove Tecumseh.) After their defeat, Jackson turns his attack on Muskogee, but is driven back.

In 1812 USNA attention turns to the Seminoles in East Florida, who have also been resisting encroachment on their land, and providing refuge for runaway slaves. It takes two years of fighting, but they are defeated by the Georgian and Franklinite militias. Many retreat to the swamps; others flee east to join Bowles, who has not been idle.


For one thing he has penned a Declaration of Independence.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men- red, black, and white- are created equal,”

which, needless to say, doesn’t go down well with the North Americans.

Jackson and the united Georgia and Franklin militias then turn their attention to the State of Muskogee itself, inflicting severe defeats on it in 1814 and 1815.

Meanwhile, after the crushing of the slave revolt in Cuba in 1810, Spain turns its attention towards Florida. It attacks Mobile (held by the State of Muskogee), and, while able to drive off Bowles’ makeshift pirate navy, has not been able to take the port. (Bowles has meanwhile discovered that some of his supposed pirate allies like the Lafittes have been, instead of freeing the slaves on the ships they seized, simply selling them elsewhere.)

1815: By now Bernardo Galvez is 68, and has been Prime Minister for twenty years, running the country on behalf of the simple-minded Charles IV. He is ready to lay this burden down. For one thing, he is heartily sick of the Floridas which have been nothing but a sink of men and money since he took them back from the British. He is also somewhat anxious about Ferdinand, whom he has taken an interest in- “ almost like a son” is the usual expression in Spain- since he became Prime Minister. Now he fears the young man’s desire for martial glory- just like his own at an earlier age- will lead him into a war with the USNA. While Galvez is confident that the Spanish Navy can easily handle the North Americans at sea, plus hold New Spain, he is aware of the growing pressure on Luisiana, and anxious to avoid any provocation. He arranges the transfer of the Floridas to the USNA in an exchange for a settlement of all claims on Luisiana (guaranteeing free passage through New Orleans.)

This at last brings his downfall, as younger and more aggressive advisers around the Crown Prince urge him to dismiss the aging Prime Minister for this insult to the honour of the nation. (It’s not very popular among the western North Americans, either.) Galvez is dismissed in 1816, and at the age of 70 returns to his native home in Malaga, where he dies two years later, one of the most noted figures in Spanish history. Ferdinand pushes his father to abdicate. Charles IV also died two years later, survived for a few years by his wife, deprived of power by her son. It was noted that the new king Ferdinand VII
was far more affected by the death of the man who had been his mentor and…?

Westward Ho: State of Muskogee 1815-1824

With the transfer of the Floridas to the USNA, Bowles knows his quasi-state is doomed- where it is. With the Spanish having driven off his privateers, Mobile is open to attack by the USNA Navy, and their Marines storm the fortifications (leading to the famous song “From the icy shores of Newfoundland, to the banks of the Tombigbee”). Attacks from the militias of Georgia and Franklin push him west; the threats from the Spanish in New Orleans push him north. The motley nation- composed of Creeks, Cherokee, Seminoles, Black Seminoles, other escaped or freed blacks, Cuban ex- slaves, Moroccans, Loyalists, renegades, and pirates- crosses the Mississippi at Natchez, seizing the flatboats and keel boats there, and burning the town to the ground in the process. (Though the great majority of the white inhabitants had already fled, tales of the horrible ‘Natchez Massacre’ became a staple, especially in the South.)

They continue to move north-west, to avoid the Spanish at Fort San Fernando[Memphis] built by the Spanish on the Mississippi, settling around the area on the Arkansas River named “La Petite Roche” by French fur traders, (the name is later corrupted to ‘Pettyrose”[Little Rock] Though the Spanish launch a few attacks, they gradually peter out; the scattered Irish and Catholic settlers to the north in the Osarkan Mountains have no quarrel with them, and things gradually settle down, other than the odd clash with the Indians of the Arkansas and Oklahoma territories- and increasingly with North American settlers crossing the Mississippi into Luisiana, with or without Spanish permission.

A few years after the settlement, Bowles is advised of the arrival of a party of visitors from the north. He goes out to meet the group, which, like his own, appears to be a mix of blacks, whites, and Indians. They wear tri-coloured woven cords of red, white, and black over their shoulders, and follow what seems at first to be a very dirty version of an old familiar flag. They are led by a tall middle-aged woman of mixed Indian and white blood.

“Greetings, Brothers and Sisters! My name is Christine Tye-Brant. I bring you the Doctrine of the Three-fold Cord, and the words of the Prophet John Brant, and of the Young Prophet Walter Butler.”

 

[galanx]

Beaver Wars 1780-1821


With the Conquest of Canada ratified in 1780, North American interest in the northern fur trade began to grow, with Montreal as the main center. The North American Fur-Trading Asociation (NAFTA) began to grow rapidly, hooking up Yankee money with French-Canadian voyageurs.

They were soon joined by North Americans, and then an influx of Irish and Scottish Catholics, fleeing the anti-Popery riots in Britain. Their great rival was of course the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The HBC had received its Charter in 1670, and with a monopoly on the vast area draining into Hudson’s Bay was content to sit on the shore, waiting for the Native Indians to bring their furs in every year. It discouraged exploration, settlement, and even missionary activity- anything that might upset the trade.

For example, in the 1740s competition from the French, plus declines in the beaver population, led to an exploratory mission being sent out under Anthony Henday, which travelled up the Saskatchewan almost to the foothills of the Rockies [OTL Red Deer Alberta]. However, it was not till 1774 that the HBC finally established Cumberland House as their most westerly trading point- still a thousand kilometers east of where Henday reached. [HBC and Henday as in OTL].



Now competition with the NAFTA became fierce. Peter Pond (b 1740), a noted trapper who had begun trading out of the Detroit region with his father, started exploring further north, reaching the Arctic Ocean in 1785 by following the great river [OTL Mackenzie]. He returns to Montreal to present his findings to NAFA Company headquarters; shocked by news of Washington’s death (and hoping to get Congressional support) he names the great river flowing into the Arctic the Washington [OTL Mackenzie]

In response, the HBC sent out an expedition headed by Alexander Mackenzie (b 1764), a young Scot whose father had died fighting in a Loyalist regiment during the American Revolution [OTL].

In 1785 Mackenzie reaches two great lakes in the Arctic area: Lake Mackenzie and Lake Grizzly [OTL Great Slave and Great Bear].

In 1787 he crosses North America, following the Cook River south, and making contact with the New Albion settlement of New London at its mouth [Fraser; New Westminster].

He returns to Britain by sea, where he is acclaimed as the discoverer of what he calls the Mackenzie River, either being ignorant of, or deliberately ignoring, the claims made by Pond After all, Mackenzie had never actually set eyes on the river he claimed; he had approached Pond (or Mackenzie) Lake from the east, and only explored the eastern shore, and had only seen the outflow river of Grizzly Lake. Nevertheless, Britain claims the entire area between Rupert’s Land, the Arctic Ocean, and the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide.

Both Pond and Mackenzie continue fur-trading in the North-West to the Rocky Mountains. They meet on the Athabasca River in 1793. Mackenzie demands to know what Pond is doing in HBC territory; Pond points out he claimed the area before Mackenzie set foot in it. Still, replies Mackenzie, you must have crossed Rupert’s Land to get here, and that means you’re trespassing.

"Who said I did?" says Pond

"So how did you get here," asks the exasperated Mackenzie, "on Aladdin’s magic carpet?"

(The story of Aladdin was the subject of a popular play staged in 1788 by John O'Keefe for the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden [OTL]; Mackenzie had seen it in London .)

“Yes, I summoned a djinn," sneers Pond, "The same way you reached your ‘Mackenzie River’.”

(Pond had seen a re-staging in Montreal in 1791)

That was enough; the fighting starts, both men draw knives Pond soon lies dead, and his party is driven off.

This starts the so-called Beaver War with men fur-traders and their various Indian allies ambushing each other’s parties, stealing furs, and burning trading posts.

This was exacerbated after 1800, when beaver pelt prices slid as silk hats became more popular in Europe, following the Neo-Classical fashion trend inspired by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Remember the Red River Valley

While the majority of Butlerites (Church of the Three-Fold Cord) had followed the Young Prophet Walter Butler through the Rogers Pass and into the safety of British-held (or at least British-claimed) territory on the upper Serpentine River and around the Bitter Sea [Snake R. and Great Salt Lake] some had lingered around their home at Ft. Resolution [La Salle, Illinois]. It soon became clear their time was strictly limited. Aware of their presence, the new government of Indian Territory passes orders expelling all polygamists, and, though slavery was banned in the North-West, also expelling all ex-slaves who had not legally obtained freedom. Thus, even this small remnant was expelled, though some whites chose to stay, being bitterly denounced as apostates by their fellows.

A small group of Butlerites decide to head north and take refuge in British territory in Rupert’s Land, settling in the Red River Valley south of Lake Winnipeg, naming their colony Brant, after the Prophet.

Here they settle once again, farming and supplying the fur traders of the North American Fur Trading country with food, especially pemmican.

Their settlement was in the main path of the of the fur traders operating out of Montreal, who leave Lake Superior at the lakehead settlement of Ft. William, crossing though Rupert’s land into the vast drainages of the Saskatchewan and Washington (Mackenzie R. to the British) Rivers.

(Those heading to the foothills of the Rockies left from Duluth, into the Spanish held Luisiana Territory.)

The Butlerites had previously established friendly relations with the French-Canadian voyageurs, with whom they traded supplies out of Ft. Resolution, and some of whom even converted (at least while out in the backcountry), as did more of the Indian women they had taken as wives. The custom of marriage “a la facons du pays” (‘after the customs of the country’) are recognized as legitimate marriages by the Butlerites, even if the voyageur had a wife back in Canada or his home country. Their children re also recognized as legitimate. This, and its encouragement of race-mixing, make the new religion popular among the Metis, the mixed Indian-white people who are gradually becoming a distinct culture.

The Scottish and Irish traders of the Association, mostly Catholics who had fled the anti-Papist outbreaks in Britain, are at first naturally hostile to the appearance of the Union Jack, but when made aware of the meaning of its colours (white and red on a black field) they relax, making ribald comments on the “’Black Jack’ ( and much worse).

Lord Selkirk, a Scottish nobleman, has long been looking for a place to settle impoverished peasants from his estates and other parts of Scotland and Ulster.. He had pressured the HBC, but, following their long term policy they strongly resisted, especially after the Beaver Wars had broken out. However, they came around to the idea that to protect their business from the North Americans, a stronger presence was necessary, and a colony is established to the north of the Butlerites, but still south of Lake Winnipeg. The governor, Miles MacDonnell, an imperious ex-soldier, orders the Butlerites to vacate the area. The Butlerites stoutly refuse, pointing out they had served the Crown loyally in the American Revolution just as MacDonnell’s father had done, and had been persecuted for thirty years after. Besides, they are of greater strength than the fragile new colony, both in numbers and having gained hard experience of the country in their travails.

While the fur traders of the NAFTA had come to a modus vivendi with the Butlerites at Fort Brant, the new settlement at Fort Douglas (named after Thomas Douglas, Lord Selkirk) is different. Coming under the authority of the HBC, it presents a great threat to the passage of the North American traders into the Saskatchewan and Assiniboia region beyond. “A thumb on our windpipe” is how the Director of the Association in Montreal describes it.

Worse, to the Scottish and Irish traders of the Association, the fact that the settlement is composed of Scottish and Ulster Presbyterians, same as the people who had driven them from their homes during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots, is a red rag to a bull. In 1817, two years after the arrival of the main body of settlers, Association traders attack Ft. Douglas, burning it to the ground. With many of the male settlers killed either in the fighting, or out of hand afterward (though the Association denies it), the remaining women and children are forced to take shelter at Ft. Brant, where, following Butlerite practices of polygamy, some of them become wives of the men there- black, white, Indian, and mixed blood.

It is another five years before Selkirk, this time backed by Alexander Mackenzie, is able to send another group of colonisers out. This time they were more heavily armed, backed by HBC traders, and included Swiss and German veterans of the Rhineland Wars (Northern League plus Mainz vs Austria and the Confederation of the Rhine: 1805-1810).

In 1820 they establish themselves slightly farther north, calling their new settlement Selkirk. It once again comes under attack by the traders of the Association, this time joined by their local Metis and Indian allies. The settlers are besieged, when, answering the call of their old loyalty (and hoping for new advantage) the Butlerite forces from Ft. Brant arrive, scattering the Association forces and saving the day.

In return, and in acknowledgement that their assistance may be necessary in the future, they are granted acceptance for their settlement. In return, the women who have taken shelter with them are to be released. Since it is a prime teaching of the Three-fold Cord that women have equal rights in marriage, any woman who chooses to leave or divorce is, as always, granted that right. A surprisingly large number, especially those who have already born mixed-blood children, choose to stay.

Now the Directors in Montreal face a real problem. In order to reach the northern trapping grounds, their traders have to leave from Duluth, and take the longer and more costly land route through the Dakota territory to reach their goal. They appeal to the government, citing the killing of Peter Pond, an innocent trader peaceably going about his business (ignoring his long history of violence, including two previous murder charges https://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewards...e_winnipeg/images/lake-winnipeg-watershed.jpg [OTL].) In response, in 1822 Congress declares

a) Recognition of the prior claims of Pond to the discovery of the Washington R. (which the British call the Mackenzie), and the claiming of all the lands of the rivers flowing into it for the USNA.

b) More startlingly, proclaiming that the watersheds of the rivers flowing into Lake Winnipeg were not part of Rupert's Land, as the Nelson River running out of the north part of the lake was not tributary to Hudson's Bay, but merely an ‘overflow’- a somewhat innovative geographical doctrine.

Both are of course immediately rejected by Britain, and it looks like war might be brewing over these ‘few miserable acres of ice and snow’ (well, not few). But then, attention turns southward, where there are much bigger fish to fry.

[Fur trade and Red River Colony including the burning of Ft. Douglas much as OTL, minus the Butlerites. The HBC and the North-West Company -operating out of Montreal- conducted their own private war over much of western Canada for twenty years, even though they were both under British rule]

 

[galanx]

Afrikaaners in Amerika! 1805-1824

During the War of the Southern Netherlands (France vs Britain and the Netherlands 1792-1796), France takes the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch, but the Boers are not happy about coming under foreign rule- especially Catholic rule. A revolt breaks out but is suppressed. Furthermore, France makes agreements with the Xhosa nations to the north to prevent the Boers from trekking on, not wishing to see hostile settlements established in the open veldt.

Most of the recalcitrant Afrikaaners, as they have begun to call themselves, head to New Holland, the Dutch territory in the eastern part of the continent of AustraIia, acquired by the Treaty of Antwerp in 1780. However, France, which has claimed the western half (or at least the south-west corner [Perth]) to protect its possessions in southern India, becomes alarmed at the numbers and shuts down the voyages. As a result, rather than take an extended voyage first to Holland, and then all way back around either of the Capes( plus a number not being particularly fond of VOC rule)many choose to settle in the new country of the United States of North America. Preferring both warmer weather and slave-holding territory, they disembark at Savannah or Charleston, and move inland to the newly-established states of Kentucky or Franklin. (Canada and Benedictia being the deciding votes to admit Franklin in 1796).

The Boers, bound together by ancestry, language and religion, try to settle in exclusive colonies, separate from the “English”, as they call them. Even by 1800, though, the rich bluegrass lands in the center of the new states have begun to fill in. The bottomlands of the Mississippi don’t appeal to them, especially the new arrivals who are composed more of the original trekkers from the open mountains around Swellentop and Graaf Reinet. They begin to look hungrily at the lands across the Mississippi in Spanish Luisiana.

While North Americans have been crossing the Mississippi from the Illinois Territory south in dribs and drabs, the Spanish have generally accepted them as long as they accepted Spanish authority. However, the dam breaks with the crossing by the followers of William Bowles, and their declaration of the establishment of the Free State of Muskogee.

The settlement ceding the Floridas to the USNA confirmed the Mississippi as the boundary between the two sides; as a result the Spanish were forced to abandon their strongpoints at Fort San Fernando [Memphis] and Fort Nogales [Vicksburg]. As the west side of the Mississippi was nothing but swamps and lowlands often flooded by the shifting river, the Spanish side was essentially undefended from New Orleans to the Guanche (Canary Islander)/Andulusian settlement at New Madrid.

The first to take advantage is a group of Boers led by Marthinus Prinsloo, a leader of the rebellion against the French, bringing their slaves with them- Khoikhoi and others from South Africa, and those newly-acquired in Kentucky and Franklin. Avoiding the State of Muskogee , they move north and west, where they establish New Swellentop [Springfield, Missouri].

Not all the Boers fit the stereotypes often attributed to them. One such outlier was Coenraad de Buys. Born in 1761, he established a relationship with a Baster woman ( KhoiKhoi/Boer mix) with whom he had seven children, as well as others with various Xhosa women (some captured in cattle raids). He fought the Xhosa, other Boers, the Dutch East-India Company, and the French [OTL, except substitute British for French]; the latter packed up him and his variety of offspring and wives. Not wishing to live under VOC rule, he chose the ‘westzeetrek’ to Amerika, settling with his numerous progeny in the State of Franklin in the area of Nashborough (later shortened to Nashburg [OTL original name of Nashville].

Tennessee was originally fairly hospitable to blacks, even allowing free Negroes to vote. With the increase in numbers of both whites and blacks, relations begin to deteriorate, especially with the establishment of cotton plantations in the lowlands bringing in many more slaves.
along the Mississippi.

In 1816, an incident occurred in Nashburg between General Andrew Jackson and de Buys. Though de Buys was a slaveholder himself, he believed his multi-racial family had been insulted by the general. Always happy to be in a fight, he led his offspring and followers in an attack on Jackson’s plantation, The Hermitage (in Jackson’s absence), freeing Jackson’s slaves, so he claimed; kidnapping them or running them off, Jackson countered.

Incensed, Jackson called out the militia; de Buys and his clan fled across the Mississippi, settling to the north of Muskogee. When Christine Tye-Brant showed up from Powwow on her missionary quest, de Buys and his clan, along with many of the Muskogans converted, attracted by the new religion's approval of race-mixing and polygamy (the anti-alcohol bit, not so much).

From this point on, the river frontier and beyond erupts in a series of conflicts. The Boers fight the de Buys and Muskogans, who fight settlers from Kentucky and Franklin either trying to settle or launching raids to try and recover their slaves who take refuge across the river. Local Indian tribes are drawn into it, as well as eastern tribes being constantly pushed out of their lands by the increase in the white population in the USNA. The Spanish are mostly helpless to deal with it, while facing constant demands by the North Americans to bring the situation under control. The situation becomes more intense, especially with the election of General Andrew Jackson as President in 1824, propelled into power by the land-hunger of the westerners.

USNA: States and Presidents: 1780-1824

References to [OTL]; State’s names in bold

1780: the new United States of North America

-Thirteen colonies: [OTL with southern Maine remaining part of Massachusetts; Vermont split between New York and New Hampshire]

-Benedictia, formerly Sunbury County, named posthumously for Benedict Arnold, killed in the Siege of Halifax, 1779 [Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, north-eastern Maine: not Newfoundland island, which remains British ]

-Canada [New France: Quebec and Ontario south of Rupert’s Land]

-Kentucky 1792 [same as OTL]

-Franklin 1796 [Tennessee border adjusted south to 34 parallel after the cession of the Floridas, in exchange for agreeing to Georgia's claims to OTL Florida Panhandle , plus eastern Alabama. Georgia has also ceded northern strip to South Carolina for the same reason.]

-Niagara 1796[Southern Ontario, plus strip around western Lake Superior to include Duluth]

-Ohio 1805 [Ohio plus eastern half of Lower Michigan Peninsula. Claimed by Ohio OTL]

-Mississippi 1816 [ Mississippi plus western Alabama to Alabama and Coosa Rivers; lands east go to Georgia, which cedes part of Carolina strip the South Carolina, but gets western Florida panhandle to the Apalachicola River]

-Indiana 1816 [Indiana plus western half of Lower Michigan]


- North Illinois 1819 [central and northern Wisconsin – from 44th parallel, eastern Minnesota, Upper Michigan Peninsula, western Ontario around Lake Superior to Lake Nepigon

-South Illinois 1819/ Kaskaskia 1820 [Illinois plus southern Wisconsin]

In 1817, in preparation for statehood, the Illinois Territory was split in two, over the objections of the southern half. The original territory was enlarged after a petition from the inhabitants of Duluth and the surrounding area, protesting being part of a state with its capital on Lake Ontario.

To protest that decision, the inhabitants of South Illinois changed the name of their state to Kaskaskia in 1820,

Presidents: George Washington 1784-1785 (assassinated)

John Adams 1785-1788 (vice-president at time of Washington’s election by Congress)

1788-1792

Thomas Jefferson 1792-1800

Aaron Burr 1800-1804 (impeached)

James Madison 1804-1812

James Monroe 1812-1820

John Quincy Adams 1820-1824

Andrew Jackson 1824-1832

 

[RMcD94]

Part 5-Alta California: The Battle of Saint Francis
to touch the southern mainland of New Holland, which he claims for England. He then returns to Hawayee, confirms friendly relations, then sails

Pretty sure you mean claim for Great Britain as it has been 50+ years since the Kingdom of England was subsumed by the Kingdom of Great Britain. Unless you haven't mentioned the change

 

[RMcD94]

Part 5-Alta California: The Battle of Saint
Portola is forced to retreat. Clive, not feeling conciliatory toward anyone after his victory over the Russians at Kodiak, wants to drive the Spaniards back to Baja California but Byron objects. Aiding fellow Britons is one thing, but England and Spain are officially at peace, and

Well I guess England is conducting foreign policy I imagine that there is no longer a Kingdom of Great Britain after all. Definitely think that should have been mentioned

 

[galanx]

Sorry- you are of course correct. . I'm of English descent, and so have a tendency to overlook the other parts. I understand there's a lot of that going around lately. (Edited: I realised that the original reply could have been seen as a bit snarky or dismissive. Apologies.)

Still, nice to know somebody's been reading it that closely. I'll jump into The Wayback Machine and make the correction with acknowledgement

 

[Mac Gregor]

Is there a map for this TL?

 

[VANRIDERFAN]

Beaver Wars 1780-1821




b) More startlingly, proclaiming that the watersheds of the rivers flowing into Lake Winnipeg were not part of Rupert's Land, as the Nelson River running out of the north part of the lake was not tributary to Hudson's Bay, but merely an ‘overflow’- a somewhat innovative geographical doctrine.

Both are of course immediately rejected by Britain, and it looks like war might be brewing over these ‘few miserable acres of ice and snow’ (well, not few). But then, attention turns southward, where there are much bigger fish to fry.

[Fur trade and Red River Colony including the burning of Ft. Douglas much as OTL, minus the Butlerites. The HBC and the North-West Company -operating out of Montreal- conducted their own private war over much of western Canada for twenty years, even though they were both under British rule]

On your map you have the Souris River identified as the Assiniboine River. The Assiniboine rises further north and west and then joins with the Souris between Brandon and Portage La Prairie. The Assiniboine carries on and meets the Red at Winnipeg.
Enjoying the story very much. Keep them dirty yanks out of the Prairies!!!!

 

[galanx]

On your map you have the Souris River identified as the Assiniboine River. The Assiniboine rises further north and west and then joins with the Souris between Brandon and Portage La Prairie. The Assiniboine carries on and meets the Red at Winnipeg.

Yeah, checking up on it, it's a pretty crappy map- doesn't even show the upper Assiniboine. OTOH, the original map is of the watershed of Lake Winnipeg, so while they don't show the upper part of the river, the label is for the drainage area of the Assiniboine, not the actual river. I should have used a better one, but basically I was concerned with the claims based on watersheds ( which tend to predominate in this ATL.)

Enjoying the story very much. Keep them dirty yanks out of the Prairies!!!!

Thanks a lot. Unfortunately that's going to be hard with what happens next.

 

[galanx]

Is there a map for this TL?

No, sad to say I can't make maps.

In 1820 it would look basically like this,
[which is OTL North America after the Treaty of Paris 1763. The green is all British; purple is Russian; and purple/brown striped, disputed between Russia and Spain]

-ATL differences

The United States of North America
-would be all the green territory south and east of the line separating New France and Rupert's Land (HBC), from Labrador curving around the west edge of Lake Superior, including the Maritimes but not Newfoundland Island (13 Colonies + New France + Maritimes)
-including East and West Florida, ceded by Spain 1815
- including all lands east of the Mississippi as in OTL

-Louisiana Territory, New Spain, still Spanish, just as here.

-New Albion,the purple and purple/brown striped areas, are British colonies on the west coast from Alaska down to the 37th parallel. The border between New Albion and New Spain is roughly where it is on this map, except for that southern dip as it approaches the Pacific: should be a straight line

[In OTL terms: The border is from Monterey, the 37th parallel just south of San Francisco, straight eastward across California, along the Utah/Arizona boundary, then continuing east along the Colorado/New Mexico border to the Continental Divide.

Basically all the boundaries are watersheds
-Everything draining into the Atlantic is USNA; plus land east of the Mississippi
-Into Hudson's Bay is British;
-Into the Pacific from San Francisco north to Alaska is New Albion (British)

Disputed: the USNA and Britain both claim the area drained by the Mackenzie (British name)/Washington(USNA name)R., draining into the Arctic.

More outrageously, the USNA has also made claims to the watershed of Lake Winnipeg, including the Red, Assiniboine, and Saskatchewan Rivers.
And the green bits in the Caribbean and Central America are of course still British

Or even more basically, flip Rupert's Land and the West Coast to the standard British pink and you've got it.

 

[VANRIDERFAN]

Thanks a lot. Unfortunately that's going to be hard with what happens next.

Damn-it

 

[galanx]

Damn-it

I was born in Edmonton, spent my childhood in Grande Prairie, worked for CN in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and spent quite a few years working the oil patch from Estevan and Manyberries north to Norman Wells and Tuktoyaktuk, so, yeah.

OTOH, we do get the Napa Valley, Oregon Coast, and I may get greedy and take Big Sur and even Hawaii, so.....

 

[galanx]

Louisiana War 1826-1830

North Americans had been starting to drift across the Mississippi since 1800, but only in small family groups. The Spanish had tried to restrict this; Bernardo de Galvez in particular (Prime Minister 1795-1815) had wanted to fill the Louisiana Territory with Spanish, or at least Catholic, settlers. However he had been unable to dredge up more than 50,000 or so- small numbers compared to the explosive growth among the North Americans, especially considering only about 20,000 among them were Peninsulares. The rest were a motley collection of Canary Islanders, discharged Irish Wild Geese and Scottish Highlanders, Christian ex-slaves from Morocco, though joined later by French and Italian emigrants.

The flood-gates begin to break with the crossing of the Mississippi by Augustus Bowles and his fellow citizens of the State of Muskogee- themselves a collection of British Loyalists; Creek, Cherokee, Seminoles, and members of other tribes pushed west; Black Loyalists, Black Seminoles, freedmen and escaped slaves, even pirates. They were followed by a migration of about 300 Boers newly-settled in Kentucky and Tennessee, but looking for better lands across the Mississippi, soon joined by 500 more.

(There were also some mixed-race among the Boers, including the de Buys clan, who gravitated to the Muskogans.)

King Ferdinand VII (reign started 1815) is forceful and capable, but with a strong tendency to belligerence. He dispatched troops to Luisiana, but the problem remained. There were over 2,000 miles of river to patrol, with much of it on the west side low-lying and swampy. Not only were there North Americans pushing across the river, the white settlers to the east were trying to seize as much Indian land as possible, and forcing the tribes across the river even over the objections of the Spanish was one solution.

Another irritant is the existence of the State of Muskogee, which attracts runaway slaves. The growth of sugar and cotton farming in the bottom lands adjoining the Mississippi leads to a large increase in the slave population. Muskogans encourage them to cross the river. Slave-hunters cross the river to re-capture them; Muskogans challenge them, and establish the so-called ‘Midnight Ferry’ to transport runaway slaves.

Butlerite Missionaries in Muskogee

During the Great Tramp, the Butlerites had crossed the Missouri River just north of where the Nebraskier [Platte] joined it. Many, daunted by the distance ahead, and feeling safe from both North Americans and Spanish, wished to stay here. After a general council, Walter Butler gave his permission. The new settlement then took the name of Powwow [OTL Council Bluffs]. Though the Spanish tried to launch an attack from St. Louis to drive them out, they failed to gain many volunteers from the mostly French inhabitants, and, after being subject to attacks by the Pawnee, they arrived at Powwow in poor shape. After the first attack failed, they reached an agreement. The Butlerites agreed to abandon polygamy and proselytizing among the local tribes, and swear allegiance to Spain, and the Spanish withdrew, having been resupplied. (Walter Butler had declared it was permissible to lie to unbelievers if necessary for survival).

One of the stay-behinds was Christine Tye-Brant, widow of Colonel Tye, leader of the Black Brigade, black Loyalists fighting for the British. The two had married upon the death of Christine’s first husband, the Prophet Joseph Brant, but had no surviving children. Already 40 at the time of his death in 1812, she decided not to make the crossing, and became the leader of the community at Powwow. In 1817 she did undertake the arduous journey to Pettyrose to spread the word among the similarly mixed Indian, black, and white inhabitants of the State of Muskogee.

The new religion spreads quickly, adding the fire of religious zealotry to the general anti-slavery feeling among the Muskogans.

Memphis: 1821

In 1821, a posse hired by slaveholders crosses the Mississippi to recover some escaped slaves; they seize some from a farmstead established by one of Coenraads de Buys’ sons, Pieter de Buys. One of them is a young woman originally taken from Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage, who has since been married to Pieter and who has had several children by him- who are also taken back into slavery.

Further, Pieter is also the son of one of Coenraad’s wives, Mila Afrikaaner, herself daughter of Jager Afrikaaner, Captain of the Oorlam people, whom he has led to Amerika after their failed uprising against the French.

[

OTL Wiki: Oorlam clans were originally formed from mixed-race descendants of indigenous Khoikhoi, Europeans and slaves from Madagascar, India, and Indonesia. Similar to the other Afrikaans-speaking group at the time, the Trekboers, Oorlam originally populated the frontiers of the infant Cape Colony, later living as semi-nomadic commandos of mounted gunmen.

]

A raid is launched across the Mississippi led by Conraad himself and Jonker Afrikaaner, son of Jager; the commandos ride through Franklin to Nashburg, where they burn down Jackson’s newly-built two-storey house (Jackson is not in residence at the time).

They head back across the state, liberating many slaves, plus anything else they can lay their hands on, including many fine horses. The state militia finally catches up to them before they cross the river; old Coenrad is captured and taken back to Nashburg where he is tried and hanged.

This leads to the famous painting “Conrad Buys Going to His Hanging" by the renowned North American folk artist John Rose, who had moved west after his own plantation had been burned out by Loyalists in 1786 after the assassination of George Washington. It is suggested that the dark figure in the corner is supposed to be Mila Afrikaaner and the figure beside her Jonker Afrikaaner, though certainly neither were there.. (Compare the style in his 1785 painting “The Old Plantation”. As well, compare earlier engraving of Jonker )

"The Old Plantation" : John Rose 1787

"Conrad Buys Going to His Hanging": John Rose 1822

Jonker Afrikaaner

[A bit of sleight of hand here- while “The Old Plantation” is an authentic work by Rose, an example of early American folk art painted sometime around 1785-1795, the painting of ‘Conrad’ is actually “John Brown Going to His Hanging” by African-American artist Horace Pippin in 1942; the woman is his own grandmother who supposedly was present; engraving is Jonker OTL.]

The Hermitage raid leading to the hanging of Conraad leads to further retaliation from both sides, culminating in a raid on the new city of Memphis, est. 1819. This was the work of Muskogans, especially followers of the new religion of the Church of the Three-Fold Cord, who add religious zealotry to the mix.

As well as de Buys and Oorlamites, they are joined by dissident Chickasaws objecting to the forced sale of their lands along the east side of the Mississippi.

Andrew Jackson had been one of the government-appointed commissioners involved in the negotiation of the purchase, which, with the subsequent founding of the city of Memphis, greatly enriched him, his partners, and the Chickasaw chiefs involved- at the expense of the Chickasaw people [as in OTL]. In revenge the Chickasaws in particular burn the city to the ground.

Jackson, not one to take such events lying down, calls out the Franklin militia; they are joined by the Kentucky and Mississippi militias. They clear out all settlers from the Mississippi bottomlands who are Muskogan, de Buys, Oolam or hostile Indian tribes, local or displaced from the east. The North Americans are joined by the majority of the Afrikaaners on both sides of the river, most of whom are strongly pro-slavery. The Kentuckians, carried away, attack the Spanish settlement at New Madrid which has been blocking the movement of North American settlers across the Mississippi.

In gratitude, the Franklinites put Jackson in the Senate in 1822, and nominate him for President in 1824 (and later rename the town of Memphis Jacksonville in his honour).

Presidents: Bowles of Muskogee, Jackson of the USNA

Not only are the North Americans and the Spanish furious about all these raids and counterraids, so is President William Bowles (of the Free State of Muskogee). Now in in his late 50s, he has been trying to mend fences with the Spanish; offering to swear allegiance and fight unruly Indian tribes on behalf of the Spanish crown.

(The Spanish are not overly impressed by this offer, as the unruly tribes are Osages, with whom the Spanish had good relations before the Muskogans, including Cherokees, moved into the Arkansaw Territory.)

Bowles is known to have had, um, intimate relations with the Spanish court, though Maria Luisa has been long pushed out of power by her son. Still, Bowles has a habit of casually dropping stories about days spent riding and hunting with “Ferdy”, then Crown Prince Ferdinand, currently His Majesty King Ferdinand VII. However his anti-slavery stance rankles especially as the sugar (and now, cotton) is just getting started in lower Luisiana: the Cote des Allemandes uprising in 1817, leading to a large number of slaves fleeing to the State of Muskogee, is held up as a an example of the chaos being inspired by the Free State in the north.

President John Quincy Adams had been elected in 1820 partly on the promise of purchasing the Luisiana Territory from Spain, and opening it to American settlement, just as he had arranged with the Floridas. Given that Ferdinand VII had forced his legitimate father, King Charles IV, to abdicate, and his putative father, Prime Minister Bernardo de Galvez, to resign, both over the ceding of the Floridas to the USNA, this never seemed likely. In the election of 1824 Jackson sweeps the south and west and takes the Presidency.