Part VII
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"Go West, young man."
-Aaron Burr
The immediate aftermath of the Battle of Valhalla, while it had a huge positive reaction in New York and other territories controlled by the Continentals, it had the reverse affect on the United States. General Forsyth, the most experienced American officer on the front lines, was one of many officers killed at Valhalla, leaving General Wheeler once again in charge of the Americans on the front lines. The United States, as well as its citizenry, were heavily demoralized at the defeat at Valhalla, and the death of the country's most valuable military leader. President Watson's promise to defeat the secessionists by the end of the year were also seen as broken, and his support within both the armed forces and the American public, which had already been in decline, had taken a major plunge as the winter set in. With Germany and the United Kingdom officially entering the war in the first week of January, news of this sparked more opposition to President Watson. On January 10th, during a speech to the California delegation to the Continental Congress, Governor Henry Markham announced in Sacramento that California would officially secede from the United States. On January 14th, Texas Governor Jim Hogg proclaimed the Second Texan Republic from Austin, mobilizing militias to take cities and towns across Texas.
Those declarations were a godsend to the Continental Congress and New York, who were anticipating an uneventful winter to be used for bringing up more recruits to what was expected to be a solid front line. Now though, with two large countries entering the war on the side of the Congress, and two large states in the Union siding against the United States, the Continental Army would be able to expand its operations into other parts of the United States, rather than in the Hudson River Valley where most of the violence in the war had taken place so far. On January 20th, 1895, President Watson ordered for troops to be diverted from heading to New York to be moved to put down the rebellions in Texas and California, where fighting would soon break out. On January 21st, Colonel Theodore Roosevelt addressed the full Continental Congress in Downtown Manhattan:
"I have called on this meeting for one reason, and one reason alone, to assure you that New York will be fully defended, and that the interest of our newest allies in the Congress will be protected at all costs. Today, representatives from the United Kingdom and Germany arrived ahead of what is expected to be a large wave of reinforcements for our soldiers on the front lines. This war against President Watson and his anti-populist and anti-union positions will ensure freedom to not only New Yorkers, but also New Englanders, to Texans, to Californians, and even to Americans. This war is like the American Revolutionary War a war to ensure the self-determination of the American people, and to ensure that the people of the continent are separated by the will of a tyrant. This is New York's War of Independence. This is New England's War of Independence. This is California's, and Texas' War of Independence. This is our War of Independence, and now, President Watson is weakened by the death of his most powerful General, and is weakened by the soldiers dying every day in the Hudson River Valley and in the Adirondack Campaign."
Roosevelt's address to the Continental Congress helped to assure the new delegates from California and Texas to fight alongside the Congress and Army for the ultimate goal of independence. It also managed to convince the Congress to support Roosevelt's new risky strategy to move into Staten Island, and to launch an invasion of New Jersey in order to force an American retreat from the Adirondack Mountains while the first foreign troops moved into New York to join the fight. Congress in a secret session announced their support for Roosevelt's planned offensive on January 25th, when the first British troops began to arrive in Buffalo. Roosevelt, along with 60,000 soldiers, moved into New York City to prepare for the new offensive the next day, along with several thousand foreign volunteers from Canada and Mexico, who had expressed interest in supporting the independence movements.
The Roosevelt Offensive was launched on February 1st, 1895, with two major landings on the western side of the Hudson. The first was at Hoboken, where most of the American artillery attacks on Manhattan were launched from. Hoboken within hours had fallen to Roosevelt's well supplied forces. On the same day, Colonel Astor launched an offensive onto Staten Island, quickly creating a beachhead at St. George. While the two had successfully captured Hoboken and St. George, the Americans quickly responded to the invasion, the former being the first time Continental forces had left New York's territory since the previous May. On February 2nd, the Americans attacked Astor's forces at St. George from the south, but were quickly repelled, taking heavy casualties. Astor kept on the American heels, chasing them along the coast of Staten Island towards the south. American forces on Staten Island surrendered on February 6th, after losing over 600 soldiers from their garrison during the fighting. Roosevelt however had a harder time repelling the American attack at Hoboken, being forced to give up ground on February 2nd and 3rd. On February 7th, Roosevelt ordered 15,000 Continental soldiers to land in Weehawken, just to the north of Hoboken, to force the Americans to break their attack, and to surround them on the banks of the Hudson. Roosevelt's strategy was a success, with him encircling 5,000 American soldiers on February 8th.
Roosevelt's successful offensive continued when he moved south to capture Jersey City on February 11th, and further south into Bayonne on February 12th. Foreign forces began to arrive in New York City on February 15th, with the Royal Navy's expeditionary force arriving in New York Harbor to defend the city from American raids from the sea, and to protect supply lines into the trading hub of the continent. On the same day, in the south, Texan forces successfully repelled an attempted invasion into Texas, inflicting nearly 20,000 casualties to the Americans at the Battle of Beaumont, and moving into portions of Louisiana. The first portions of the British Expeditionary Force to New York had arrived in the city on February 18th, joining Roosevelt's and Astor's ranks in New Jersey and Staten Island. On February 20th, Roosevelt launched an attack on the American troops on the Palisades, which had been used as an observation point for American action in the Hudson River Valley. The Palisades fell without much violence as General Wheeler returned to the region to lead the defense against the Continentals. On February 25th, Roosevelt met with British and other Continental military leaders to discuss a possible offensive further into New Jersey.
The New Jersey Offensive was launched on March 1st, with British and Continental troops crossing into Woodbridge, New Jersey, from Staten Island. The Americans were forced to retreat from Woodbridge after being overwhelmed by the Continental and British forces. Roosevelt, along with British assistance, launched an attack on Newark, New Jersey. Newark quickly fell thanks to his superior numbers and supplies. Continental General Leonard Wood meanwhile forced an American retreat from the Adirondacks as British and German troops began to arrive in the region to assist with operations to liberate Albany and Schenectady. General Wood launched his attack across the Mohawk River in between Schenectady and Albany, driving over 35,000 soldiers in between the weakened American lines along the river. General Wheeler realized that he risked losing an additional 40,000 soldiers to the Continentals, and ordered a retreat from Schenectady and Albany to the south. On March 4th, Schenectady was liberated by General Wood, and on March 6th, fighting began in Albany as the American retreat continued, forcing Wheeler to leave behind valuable ammunition dumps, cavalry, and thousands of wounded soldiers. Continental offensives that same day began all along the Hudson River, with General Nelson Miles commanding the Continentals in the region to cross en-masse with 100,000 volunteers from New England and New York, along with 15,000 British and German soldiers sent to support him. Wheeler's forces immediately fell back from the western bank of the Hudson as Miles made a massive drive towards Middletown, where Wheeler had relocated his headquarters.
On March 10th, General Miles had reached Middletown, the last major town in New York under American occupation. The Battle of Middletown was a quick Continental victory, but casualties were heavy on both sides, with 5,000 Continentals and 12,000 Americans being killed in the largest battle since Valhalla in December. The battle however forced Wheeler to order a retreat back to the Delaware River, abandoning the remaining footholds he had left in New York and New Jersey. His retreat of now over 40,000 soldiers along the entire front lines left him outnumbered on the Delaware, and with Texas and California beating back the Americans on their respective fronts, it seemed all but inevitable that the United States was forced back along all fronts. President Watson ordered a draft on March 12th of all American citizens of military age, and on March 14th, he placed General Wheeler in command of all American forces in the country, naming him General of the Armies. By March 15th, the Continentals had regained control of all of New York, almost all of northern New Jersey, Texas, California, portions of Louisiana, and had control over most of the trade routes in the Atlantic thanks to support from the Royal Navy. The war was for the Americans a failure, and to many, it was only a matter of time before the Americans were forced to consider the long and drawn out conflict to be a total and abject failure.