In the late 1820s to 1830 in Virginia slavery was dying a quiet death. There was no "tobacco gin" like Eli Whitney's cotton gin, and small yeoman farms which were not suitable to slavery were cropping up. There were people in the state actually talking of abolishing slavery.
Slavery at the time was also somewhat different slaves were allowed to be educated, they could read and write, they were taught arithmetic, they were allowed off thier "masters land" without written permission, very different from after 1831. (I'm trying to stick with things that can be easily looked up here.)
In 1831 a slave preacher named Nat Turner claimed to see a vision of "a black angel fighting a white angel in the sky". He took this a sign to start a rebellion to throw off slavery. I'm leaving out some of the details as they are easily found. He was caught and executed.
The offshoots of this is that nobody in Virginia is talking about freeing the slaves anymore, the event shocks the south. Even speaking of freeing the slaves is discouraged as it "may give the others an idea". Slave codes were enacted forbidding the education of slaves and restricting the movement of slaves. This act led to the system of slavery we all know and loathe.
My first WI begins here. This is a bit off the cuff so I know there are problems so feel free to offer criticism constructive or otherwise, just realize I only pay attention to to the constructive.
1825: Nat Turner is killed by a horse (trampled) which is spooked by a rattlesnake while on the road to another estate for a sermon. The horses owner reports the incident and Nat Turner is buried by griving fellow slaves. His death leaves a footnote in history.
1831: Serious talks in Virginia about getting rid of the "cumbersome system of slavery". Many of the small white tobacco farmers see the system as undercutting their efforts to make a living. Others who are looking at industrialisation view slavery as less than useful, they actually have to "take care of" these types of workers where they are only responsible to give a free man a wage.
1832-1836: Texas War of Independence
1836: Virginia enacts legislation which provisions that no one born after 1835 in Virginia is or will be a slave "or other indentured person". The law also sets down that any slave born after 1830 will be manumitted with owner being given a "full value" of seven hundred and twenty dollars and that person being educated. Any slave born in 1820 or after before 1830 will be manumitted in 1840 with a value of five hundred dollars being paid to the owner at the time of manumission and must recieve trade training. Any slave born between 1810-1819 will be manumitted in 1842 with a value of three hundred dollars at the time of manumission and will recieve trade training. Any slave born before 1810 can be manmitted at the owners discresion and the own will recieve two hundred dollars and the slave will recive fifty dollars.
Any slave can be freed at any time and the owner will be compensated.
Many in Virginia view this as "disastrously expensive" and there is a wide spread effort to stop enforcement. By the end of 1837 it has gained acceptance if not approval.
This is viewed with alarm in other Southern states and many speeches denouncing it are heard in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware mainly look on with interest. Kansas and Missouri take notice, as does the independent nation of the "Republic of Texas". Northern Abolitionists take heart at the development praising it as a "sound solution to the peculiar institution."
1836-1842 Freed slaves settle in Virginia's cities and start a few small towns filing for rights on unsettled land, in some cases are hired back by their fromer masters. This is a period of struggle in Virginia as there are now many free workers all looking for jobs. There are some racial tensions during this period but nothing as severe as riots. Many things settle down as people find they have more in common with each other than they do differently, plus many blacks working for themselves have proven to be excellent craftsmen, and word spreads in communities of whites.
Industrialization moves in and Virginia has a large shipbuilding industry, Timber in West Virginia speeds the construction of railroads to get at the timber, many timbermill towns spring up to create waw building materials.
1846-8: US annexes Texas, declares war on Mexico. US calls on states to raise an army for the conflict. Many of the freed slaves sign up to fight. Virginia is somewhat surprised by this but decides to create units out of geographical areas rather than create strictly white or black units. The result is mixed units, there is initial friction but people slogging through mud together tend to forget about there differences. After initial training these units are sent to New Orleans under Winfield Scott and the ordered to embark for central Mexico. Campaign proceeds as original timeline commanders comment on the "exceptional bravery" of Virginia's mixed units.
Texas, Florida, and Maryland are now convinced slaves are not the best option. Brevet Brigadier General Robert E. Lee is especially impressed.
Treaty cedes all of original territory plus OTL northern Mexico (this is an attempt to appease southern slave states smarting from the loss of Virginia.
Mainly the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana at this time.)
1849: Texas, Florida, and Maryland all pass legislation similar to Virginia's 1836 legislation effectively ending slavery in their territories. The Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennesee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana howl over this "betrayal". They demand that three more "slave states" be created and admitted. These states are very unhappy with the state of affairs but realize that they must at this point can remain within the union if they can get Kansas, Missouri and one of the Mexican cession territories in as slave states.
1850-1856: Economies show signs of diverifying and improving in the four former "large slave holding" states and the rest of the country outside of the slave states.
Bloody Kansas is far worse in this timeline as pro-slavery elements are far more desperate and vicious, leading the pro-abolition forces the same way. This is a very dark time in Kansas with atrocities committed by both sides.
1856: Republican Party gains seats in the congress. Fremont narrowly loses in non-slave southern states. Southern slave states growing desperate and paranoid at this point. Kentucky is considering slavery ending legislation.
1860: Kentucky enacts slavery killing legislation as does Delaware and New Jersey. In November Lincoln is elected in a landslide as president. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana immediatley secede. They hold a convention in Montgomery, Alabama and declare the "Confederate States of America" with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as interim president.
1861: Lincoln pledges in his inaugaration to "hold the union together to the limit of the abilities of my office and the will of congress."
April: Confederates fire on Fort Sumter beginning "War between the States".
May: Colonel Robert E. Lee accepts command of the United States Army and is promoted to General. His first actions are to divide the Union Army of Southern Virginia three 30,000 man corps(initially he doesn't have the men for this, but this not known to the Confederates.) He places Jackson in charge of one corps, Longstreet in charge of one corps, and John Pope in charge of one corps. In the west he puts Rosecrans in charge with orders to follow a similar setup.(I'm running out of generals I can think of getting a little tired here.)
Confederates placed Braxton Bragg in charge of their Army of North Carolina and Albert Johnston to command the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
The Union puts the "anaconda" plan developed by Winfield Scott into effect, aiming to cut off southern shipping, and occupy the Mississippi, and steadily close a "steel ring" around the Confederacy. The Confederates in this timeline are hoping to field two seventy thousand man armies with smaller units guarding against Texas and Florida. They hope to slip into Virginia destroy the Army of Virginia and then turn North and take Washington D.C.
June-August 1861: Lincoln grows impatient as Lee trains his troops, at one point Lee offers his resignation to Lincoln which Lincoln promptly refuses. Lee does make several fainting moves with his Army and deduces what Confederate strategy will be. As Disinformation he ensures that several dispatches fall into Confederate hands indicating that he will be embarking his troops for Pensacola, Florida on 12 August. The ruse works.
Lee marches his Army into North Carolina on 10 August as Bragg pulls his Army back to prepare for a battle in Southern Alabama. on 11 August Bragg realizes his ruse and turs his Army around to march North and engage Lee.
Rosecrans is making feinting maneuvers to keep the Army of Tennesse from moving to aide North Carolina.
On 12 August Union and confederate forces meet in Raleigh-Durham, the Confederates are dealt a staggering blow, it is clear that there is a general disorganization amongst confederate ranks and the first day retreat becomes a rout as Lee with Jackson forces a rout, The confederate Army is forced out of North Carolina by 3 Sept and North Carolina surrenders on 7 Sept. Rosecrans initial incursion into Tennesse bogs down after several battles as Johnston fights a more defensive style.
15 Sept. Lincoln officially declares all slaves to be freed in the United States. Lee moves into South Carolinaand through a series of maneuvers and small engagements forces Bragg out of the Carolinas alltogether, Bragg has done a better job of keeping his Army together arter the first disaster.
22 October South Carolina surrenders, Lee's supply line is extended but he realizes that Augusta, GA is within reach and with it a major part of the Confederacy's gun powder manufacturing capacity, it's late in the campaign season but one hard push may have huge payoff, Confederate troops would be chronically low on gun powder. Davis realizes this and begins sending all the force he can muster to the defense of Northern Georgia.
Rosecrans ends the season having had "one big bear dance" with the Army of Tennessee, the two Armies have mainly just danced around each other.
25 October Lee attempts to forward a crossing of the Savannah North of Augusta, the crossing is detected by Confederates who rally and throw the Yankees back. The campaign season ends.
November 1861-April 1862: Lee sends Longstreet north to command a seventy thousand man Army in dispatches called the Union army of the Mississippi, this is to throw off the confederates, This Army embarks for the Port of Pensacola on March 19. They arrive and are ready to move out by 5 April, the escort ships from that fleet launch an attack on Mobile 10 April siezing it from the Confederates. Longstreet begins his march on Montgomery on 7 April. Lee renews his assault on Georgia on 7 April and captures Augusta 13 April with the Bragg's Army preparing for a siege at Atlanta. Rosecrans attacks the Army of the Tennessee again mainly to type up forces that are needed elsewhere.
20 April: New Orleans is taken by Union forces.
21 April: after a series of bloody battles the Union Army of Viriginia is exhausted but the Confederate Army of North Carolina has all but evaporated.
22 April: Longstreet encounters and defeats a 30,000 man scratch force near Montgomery and the marches into the city proper.
23 April: The Confederacy officially surrenders, Lincoln hails it as a day for all mankind.
1862-1864: The successful United States spends money on Freedman's bearu's accross the defeated Confederacy. The Union largely disbands its Army, causing a depression in 1863. Lincoln is defeated by a Northern democrat in 1864.
From here on events flow back to original timelin until the WW1 at which point there are no longer noticable diffrences. With the exception of a far less racial based animosities, in fact very little at all.
I know this is a bit of a scratch an I am probably missing things, but I think it is at least probable.
Slavery at the time was also somewhat different slaves were allowed to be educated, they could read and write, they were taught arithmetic, they were allowed off thier "masters land" without written permission, very different from after 1831. (I'm trying to stick with things that can be easily looked up here.)
In 1831 a slave preacher named Nat Turner claimed to see a vision of "a black angel fighting a white angel in the sky". He took this a sign to start a rebellion to throw off slavery. I'm leaving out some of the details as they are easily found. He was caught and executed.
The offshoots of this is that nobody in Virginia is talking about freeing the slaves anymore, the event shocks the south. Even speaking of freeing the slaves is discouraged as it "may give the others an idea". Slave codes were enacted forbidding the education of slaves and restricting the movement of slaves. This act led to the system of slavery we all know and loathe.
My first WI begins here. This is a bit off the cuff so I know there are problems so feel free to offer criticism constructive or otherwise, just realize I only pay attention to to the constructive.
1825: Nat Turner is killed by a horse (trampled) which is spooked by a rattlesnake while on the road to another estate for a sermon. The horses owner reports the incident and Nat Turner is buried by griving fellow slaves. His death leaves a footnote in history.
1831: Serious talks in Virginia about getting rid of the "cumbersome system of slavery". Many of the small white tobacco farmers see the system as undercutting their efforts to make a living. Others who are looking at industrialisation view slavery as less than useful, they actually have to "take care of" these types of workers where they are only responsible to give a free man a wage.
1832-1836: Texas War of Independence
1836: Virginia enacts legislation which provisions that no one born after 1835 in Virginia is or will be a slave "or other indentured person". The law also sets down that any slave born after 1830 will be manumitted with owner being given a "full value" of seven hundred and twenty dollars and that person being educated. Any slave born in 1820 or after before 1830 will be manumitted in 1840 with a value of five hundred dollars being paid to the owner at the time of manumission and must recieve trade training. Any slave born between 1810-1819 will be manumitted in 1842 with a value of three hundred dollars at the time of manumission and will recieve trade training. Any slave born before 1810 can be manmitted at the owners discresion and the own will recieve two hundred dollars and the slave will recive fifty dollars.
Any slave can be freed at any time and the owner will be compensated.
Many in Virginia view this as "disastrously expensive" and there is a wide spread effort to stop enforcement. By the end of 1837 it has gained acceptance if not approval.
This is viewed with alarm in other Southern states and many speeches denouncing it are heard in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware mainly look on with interest. Kansas and Missouri take notice, as does the independent nation of the "Republic of Texas". Northern Abolitionists take heart at the development praising it as a "sound solution to the peculiar institution."
1836-1842 Freed slaves settle in Virginia's cities and start a few small towns filing for rights on unsettled land, in some cases are hired back by their fromer masters. This is a period of struggle in Virginia as there are now many free workers all looking for jobs. There are some racial tensions during this period but nothing as severe as riots. Many things settle down as people find they have more in common with each other than they do differently, plus many blacks working for themselves have proven to be excellent craftsmen, and word spreads in communities of whites.
Industrialization moves in and Virginia has a large shipbuilding industry, Timber in West Virginia speeds the construction of railroads to get at the timber, many timbermill towns spring up to create waw building materials.
1846-8: US annexes Texas, declares war on Mexico. US calls on states to raise an army for the conflict. Many of the freed slaves sign up to fight. Virginia is somewhat surprised by this but decides to create units out of geographical areas rather than create strictly white or black units. The result is mixed units, there is initial friction but people slogging through mud together tend to forget about there differences. After initial training these units are sent to New Orleans under Winfield Scott and the ordered to embark for central Mexico. Campaign proceeds as original timeline commanders comment on the "exceptional bravery" of Virginia's mixed units.
Texas, Florida, and Maryland are now convinced slaves are not the best option. Brevet Brigadier General Robert E. Lee is especially impressed.
Treaty cedes all of original territory plus OTL northern Mexico (this is an attempt to appease southern slave states smarting from the loss of Virginia.
Mainly the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana at this time.)
1849: Texas, Florida, and Maryland all pass legislation similar to Virginia's 1836 legislation effectively ending slavery in their territories. The Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennesee, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana howl over this "betrayal". They demand that three more "slave states" be created and admitted. These states are very unhappy with the state of affairs but realize that they must at this point can remain within the union if they can get Kansas, Missouri and one of the Mexican cession territories in as slave states.
1850-1856: Economies show signs of diverifying and improving in the four former "large slave holding" states and the rest of the country outside of the slave states.
Bloody Kansas is far worse in this timeline as pro-slavery elements are far more desperate and vicious, leading the pro-abolition forces the same way. This is a very dark time in Kansas with atrocities committed by both sides.
1856: Republican Party gains seats in the congress. Fremont narrowly loses in non-slave southern states. Southern slave states growing desperate and paranoid at this point. Kentucky is considering slavery ending legislation.
1860: Kentucky enacts slavery killing legislation as does Delaware and New Jersey. In November Lincoln is elected in a landslide as president. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana immediatley secede. They hold a convention in Montgomery, Alabama and declare the "Confederate States of America" with Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as interim president.
1861: Lincoln pledges in his inaugaration to "hold the union together to the limit of the abilities of my office and the will of congress."
April: Confederates fire on Fort Sumter beginning "War between the States".
May: Colonel Robert E. Lee accepts command of the United States Army and is promoted to General. His first actions are to divide the Union Army of Southern Virginia three 30,000 man corps(initially he doesn't have the men for this, but this not known to the Confederates.) He places Jackson in charge of one corps, Longstreet in charge of one corps, and John Pope in charge of one corps. In the west he puts Rosecrans in charge with orders to follow a similar setup.(I'm running out of generals I can think of getting a little tired here.)
Confederates placed Braxton Bragg in charge of their Army of North Carolina and Albert Johnston to command the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
The Union puts the "anaconda" plan developed by Winfield Scott into effect, aiming to cut off southern shipping, and occupy the Mississippi, and steadily close a "steel ring" around the Confederacy. The Confederates in this timeline are hoping to field two seventy thousand man armies with smaller units guarding against Texas and Florida. They hope to slip into Virginia destroy the Army of Virginia and then turn North and take Washington D.C.
June-August 1861: Lincoln grows impatient as Lee trains his troops, at one point Lee offers his resignation to Lincoln which Lincoln promptly refuses. Lee does make several fainting moves with his Army and deduces what Confederate strategy will be. As Disinformation he ensures that several dispatches fall into Confederate hands indicating that he will be embarking his troops for Pensacola, Florida on 12 August. The ruse works.
Lee marches his Army into North Carolina on 10 August as Bragg pulls his Army back to prepare for a battle in Southern Alabama. on 11 August Bragg realizes his ruse and turs his Army around to march North and engage Lee.
Rosecrans is making feinting maneuvers to keep the Army of Tennesse from moving to aide North Carolina.
On 12 August Union and confederate forces meet in Raleigh-Durham, the Confederates are dealt a staggering blow, it is clear that there is a general disorganization amongst confederate ranks and the first day retreat becomes a rout as Lee with Jackson forces a rout, The confederate Army is forced out of North Carolina by 3 Sept and North Carolina surrenders on 7 Sept. Rosecrans initial incursion into Tennesse bogs down after several battles as Johnston fights a more defensive style.
15 Sept. Lincoln officially declares all slaves to be freed in the United States. Lee moves into South Carolinaand through a series of maneuvers and small engagements forces Bragg out of the Carolinas alltogether, Bragg has done a better job of keeping his Army together arter the first disaster.
22 October South Carolina surrenders, Lee's supply line is extended but he realizes that Augusta, GA is within reach and with it a major part of the Confederacy's gun powder manufacturing capacity, it's late in the campaign season but one hard push may have huge payoff, Confederate troops would be chronically low on gun powder. Davis realizes this and begins sending all the force he can muster to the defense of Northern Georgia.
Rosecrans ends the season having had "one big bear dance" with the Army of Tennessee, the two Armies have mainly just danced around each other.
25 October Lee attempts to forward a crossing of the Savannah North of Augusta, the crossing is detected by Confederates who rally and throw the Yankees back. The campaign season ends.
November 1861-April 1862: Lee sends Longstreet north to command a seventy thousand man Army in dispatches called the Union army of the Mississippi, this is to throw off the confederates, This Army embarks for the Port of Pensacola on March 19. They arrive and are ready to move out by 5 April, the escort ships from that fleet launch an attack on Mobile 10 April siezing it from the Confederates. Longstreet begins his march on Montgomery on 7 April. Lee renews his assault on Georgia on 7 April and captures Augusta 13 April with the Bragg's Army preparing for a siege at Atlanta. Rosecrans attacks the Army of the Tennessee again mainly to type up forces that are needed elsewhere.
20 April: New Orleans is taken by Union forces.
21 April: after a series of bloody battles the Union Army of Viriginia is exhausted but the Confederate Army of North Carolina has all but evaporated.
22 April: Longstreet encounters and defeats a 30,000 man scratch force near Montgomery and the marches into the city proper.
23 April: The Confederacy officially surrenders, Lincoln hails it as a day for all mankind.
1862-1864: The successful United States spends money on Freedman's bearu's accross the defeated Confederacy. The Union largely disbands its Army, causing a depression in 1863. Lincoln is defeated by a Northern democrat in 1864.
From here on events flow back to original timelin until the WW1 at which point there are no longer noticable diffrences. With the exception of a far less racial based animosities, in fact very little at all.
I know this is a bit of a scratch an I am probably missing things, but I think it is at least probable.
