Reform and Liberty

benjamin

Reform and Liberty: A History of the War that Transformed North America

(From the inside flap.)

Today most citizens of North America see the tragic events that engulfed much of the continent for nearly a decade as preordained. That the Liberal movement in Mexico would find allies in the great republic to their north seems only logical. Similarly, an alliance between the rebelling slave states and the Conservatives makes absolute sense. Perhaps some will indeed question whether the intervention of five different European nations, three of them as direct participants in the conflict, could not have been avoided. Yet these assertions have been shaped by over 150 years of hindsight.

Author, Dr. Frederick Gallagher, challenges these long held assertions. In Reform and Liberty Gallagher examines thousands of contemporary sources, private letters and diaries, government documents as well as the newly rediscovered Veracruz archive thought lost during the Mexican Revolution. Dr. Gallagher puts the pieces together to reconstruct a narrative of one of the most studied conflicts that is both groundbreaking and engaging. He follows the lives of several of the most notable personalities to live in the Nineteenth Century. He examines how their beliefs, words and most importantly actions shaped history. Most importantly, Dr. Gallagher, while admitting that both America and Mexico were most certainly heading towards national upheavals, it was far less certain that these crisis would collide into a single conflict.

Dr. Gallagher also questions the inevitability of foreign intervention. Again making extensive use of contemporary first hand sources, he examines how and why the nations of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, and Belgium came to see joint intervention into Mexican affairs, despite the obvious violation of the Monroe Doctrine, as their only recourse during the Mexican Debt Crisis. Following that he examines why the international coalition fell apart with some nations withdrawing after only a short period of time while other nations choose to reinforce their forces in Mexico and thus risk war with the United States.

Throughout Reform and Liberty Dr. Gallagher questions how preordained the events we now take for granite really were. Was the War of Southern Rebellion inevitable? Could the rivalry between the Liberals and Conservatives in Mexico only be solved by bloodshed? Was European intervention in North America necessary to finally decide the fate of the New World? Perhaps most importantly Dr. Gallagher's work forces us to reassess what we think we know about these most crucial events in our continent's history. Yet through it all, and perhaps most importantly, Dr. Gallagher once again reaffirms why those who gave their last full measure of devotion have long since been considered our greatest generation.

NOTE: This is a preview of my new TL. It was originally to be part of my War of the Two Commonwealths TL, but I really wanted to explore this idea separately.

The basic premise came from my wondering how the American Civil War and Mexico's Reform War/French Intervention could become one unified conflict. It will be presented as excerpts from an AH book entitled Reform and Liberty: A History of the War that Transformed North America by Frederick Gallagher.

Work will continue on my other TL, but it may take a little longer.

Benjamin
 
Last edited:

benjamin

Continuation...

Nearly four years after the last of his attempted filibuster expeditions into northern Mexico Santiago Vitaurri continued to view Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal as a threat to his control of Neuvo Leon. Years of semi-autonomous rule had made Vitaurri loath to hand control over to a more powerful central government. In 1855 was officially made governor of Neuvo Leon after declaring his support for the Liberal government under Benito Juarez. For Vitaurri the removal of Santa Anna was a welcome occurrence as he despised the strong central government based in Mexico City.

Carbajal on the other hand saw his fortunes decline. His hometown of Piedras Negras was burnt to the ground by Texas Rangers, and a year later Vitaurri destroyed his estate, known as Camargo Castle, after a custom dispute. Carbajal returned to the United States and settled briefly in Brownsville, Texas. But Vitaurri continued to fear Carbajal's return. In the summer of 1857 he traveled to Laredo, Texas to meet with Santos Benavides. Vitaurri reminded Benavides that Carbajal was making enemies by pressing for restitution regarding his loses in Piedras Negras. He also noted that Carbajal had previously been in trouble due to his past violations of the Neutrality Act of 1818. While the meeting went very well, Benavides informed Vitaurri that there was little he could do as he had no legal power out side of Laredo.

Benavides and Vitaurri continued to correspond over the next year. The two became fast friends, and in September of 1858 Vitaurri's daughter was engaged to Benavides' half-brother, Cristobal. Carbajal too was busy, and despite professing support for Juarez, he continued to seek funds and men to launch another expedition into Neuvo Leon and Tamaulipas. In November of 1858 he traveled to Laredo. Though Carbajal knew of Vitaurri's meeting with Benavides he was unaware as to how close the two men had become. On November 18th Carbajal was arrested in Laredo and quickly imprisoned. Three days later he died under suspicious circumstances.

Benjamin

NOTES: The friendship between Vitaurri and Benavides is the POD. The consequence, Carbajal's early demise, is the event that really begins to put the alternate in alternate history.
 

benjamin

The occupation of Brownsville by the notorious Juan Cortina did much to heighten tensions along the Rio Grande. Entering the town on September 28, 1859 in search of marshal Robert Shears and his associates, Cortina intended to punish the marshal and others for their poor treatment of the Tejanos living there. Unfortunately, Shears and the others had fled. Cortina remained in Brownsville for nearly a week with a force of nearly eighty men. Despite a public proclamation declaring that he meant the people of Brownsville no harm a group of locals numbering about 25 rose up against Cortina and his men. Gunfire ensued and in the mayhem four of Cortina's men and seven locals were killed.

By October 4th Cortina had had enough and gathered up his men and left Brownsville. Acting upon rumors a group of Anglos from Brownsville calling themselves the Brownsville Tigers traveled to the nearby town of Santa Rita looking for Cortina. They did not find him, but they did burn much of the town and in the process killed Cortina's mother and several other relatives. Upon hearing of this the enraged Cortina returned to Brownsville. This time his occupation was less evenhanded and the homes of several influential Anglos were looted with at least two occurrences of rape.

When word reached Cortina that a large posse consisting of the Brownsville Tigers and a group of Rangers was approaching the town he set up an ambush. In the ensuing fight Cortina lost eight men while killing nearly thirty members of the posse. Survivors of the posse claimed to have seen Cortina's men kill at least fifteen unarmed Anglos who had surrendered. On November 20th, just two days after the Brownsville Massacre, Cortina's men occupied nearby Fort Brown and expelled nearly all Anglos residing in Brownsville. By this time Cortina's Army of the Rio Grande had grown to nearly 200 men.

Benjamin
 

benjamin

By mid 1859 settlement of the San Juan Islands had once again exacerbated the territorial dispute that lingered on there. A little known incident involving an American farmer named Lyman Cutler; Charles Griffin, an Irish man employed by the Hudson Bay Company; and Griffin's free ranging pig exemplified the low level tensions that persisted in the region until the Seward-Lyons Treaty of 1862. Luckily, Cutler was a poor aim and missed shooting Griffin's pig on three separate occasions.

The Cutler-Griffen Feud typified the type of arguments that occurred between American and British settlers throughout the Puget Sound and New Caledonia regions of North America's northern Pacific Coastal regions. In late 1859 a joint Court of Arbitration was established on San Juan Island at Courthouse Harbour [Friday Harbor]. This small town would grow to become a major trading station for sheep, furs, salmon and lumber. But more importantly the Harbor Court, as it came to be known, served as a meeting place and neutral ground for disputes between the British and Americans. Along with the establishment of the court the unofficial agreement of 1859 limited both sides to no more than 100 soldiers to act as lawmen and agents of the court. This was made official by the Treaty of 1862.

The Treaty of 1862 also committed both sides to arbitration concerning the disputed boundary through the Straits of Juan de Fuca. The arbitration was further complicated by the Alaska panhandle dispute, and it would be a eight years before Dutch arbitration panel reached a decision. Finally in April of 1870 the decision was reached wherein the US was awarded all of the San Juan Islands east of the Haro Strait but Courthouse Harbour remained under dual US-British administration, and the US was awarded it's full claim in Alaska. Separate negotiations in the Hague, which took place during the arbitration period, finalized the outstanding Hawaiian, Samoan, Nicaraguan and privateer claims.

Today Courthouse Harbour is a tri-national city divided into British, American and Canadian sectors; Canada having gained a portion of the British sector in the wake of the Canadian Government Act of 1917. Nearby Point Roberts on the mainland is a dual territory governed jointly by Canada and the United States, thus it is very similar in status to the Joint Territory of the Grand Manan Islands off the coast of Maine and New Brunswick. Though the fur and timber trade no longer dominates, the San Juan Islands remain an extremely popular tourist destination.

Benjamin

NOTES: Just bit of butterflies and tidying up of off topic events.
 

benjamin

First maps.

This is a map of the San Juan Island claims. The US received everything east of the blue line [essentially as per OTL]. But the town of Courthouse Harbour [OTL Friday Harbor] was internationalized.

302ad_Pig-War-Map.jpg
 

benjamin

John Brown was a radical abolitionist. By 1859 he was already well known due to his actions in Kansas and Missouri. He had fought along side other anti-slavery men to assure that Kansas remained a free territory and thus became a free state. But guided by religious zeal and an ardent belief that slavery was a mortal sin against the entire nation, he sought to take his crusade to the slave states he so strongly condemned.

...to take those twelve liberated slaves to Detroit an on to Canada. In Chicago he chanced to meet up with famed detective, Allan Pinkerton, also an ardent abolitionist. It is here that the elder Brown became seriously ill. His sons, Oliver and Watson, continued on to Canada with the Dear Apostles while Brown recuperated. In mid-February Pinkerton having made a brief trip to St. Louis returned to find Brown on the way to recovery. With him was soldier turned abolitionist Maj. Nathaniel Lyon. The three men stayed a further month in Chicago awaiting the return of Brown's sons. On March 15th all three Brown men, Lyon and eleven other supporters traveled east to raise funds and gather volunteers for what Brown called his Glorious Exodus.

Over the next four months Brown and Lyon traveled extensively throughout New England and New York signing on volunteers and soliciting donations. These contributions were generally made under the guise of founding a Freedman Aid Society, which was said to help slaves buy their freedom and purchase a plot of land in Canada. Some contributors were undoubtedly informed as to Brown's true intent as it is known that Beecher, Alcott and the Secret Six knew of Brown's impending raid.

By late October Brown had gathered over 350 supporters, hundreds of breech-loading rifles and a large sum of cash. On November 17th, after two weeks of military training, Brown insisted that the mission begin. Lyon argued against this claiming that the men were unready but Brown insisted. Leaving twenty-four men and women behind to protect the surplus weapons Brown's Army left the Kennedy farmhouse that he had rented and moved south.

On November 17th the vanguard of Brown's force captured Great grandnephew of George Washington, Lewis W. Washington, along with his son James. They also freed all of Washington's slaves giving them the option to join their force or head north. Three of the slaves stayed with Brown while the remainder went back to the Kennedy farm. Brown took possession of a heavy pistol given to George Washington by Lafayette and gave Lyon a sword said to have been given to General Washington by Frederick the Great.

Early the next mourning Lyon led the bloodless capture of Harpers Ferry. Inside the armory were over 100,000 rifled muskets Brown hoped to distribute to the slaves he was sure would flock to join his cause. Shortly after the capture of the town Lyon sent men to secure the railroad and wagon bridges that were the only ways into town beyond the rivers. Brown then inexplicably waited for two days before sending parties of men out into the surrounding countryside. Late in the day on November 20th Lyon stopped and captured a train headed into Harpers Ferry.

On the evening of the 20th Lyon and Brown had disagreement over how best to proceed. Lyon felt it best to return north given that the attempts at recruiting a brigade of freed slaves 5,000 strong had been an abject failure. He also had second thoughts about capturing federal property and hoped to find a better way to champion abolition. Brown on the other hand wished to head south..."plunging the dagger into the vile den of slavery." The next morning a compromise was reached; Brown would lead the majority of his force southward into Virginia along the Hillsborough Pike, a second group under Lyon would stay at Harpers Ferry while two smaller groups would secure the Bolivar Heights to the west and patrol the routes north of town to stay in contact with the Kennedy farm.

Local authorities finally reacted on the afternoon of November 21st. A local posse reinforced by Virginia militia prevented Brown's from moving through Bolivar and taking the western heights. Fighting was light but the abolitionists were pushed back to Harpers Ferry. Seeing this Lyon had a line of breastworks hastily erected to protect the peninsula and arsenal. Brown, despite learning that all secrecy had now been blown, continued south. Throughout the night and following day Lyon's force continued to skirmish with the growing number of Virginia militia. Casualties were extremely light with only seven deaths.

On November 23rd a contingent of U.S. Marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee arrived at Sandy Hook east of Harpers Ferry. Finding the way blocked to further rail travel Lee at first wished to assault Lyon's lines and take the rail bridge by force, but Marine Lt. Israel Greene suggested that they make use of the old ferries that were nearby. During the night the Marines successfully took control of the two ferries and one barge docked along the Potomac's northern shore. Early the next morning Marines under Lt. Greene landed along the shoreline between the breastworks and the arsenal, thus catching Lyon by complete surprise. Struck from the rear the groggy men manning the breastworks quickly surrendered.

Several of the most radical of Brown's supporters, including his son Oliver, holed themselves up in the sturdy engine house. Lyon, who was still in his tent when the Marines landed, rallied a small force of men around himself and looked for a good defensive. As the Marines besieged the engine house Lyon withdrew to the bridge south of Harpers Ferry that spanned the Shenandoah River. Lyon's small force of 27 brushed aside the Virginia militia left to guard the bridge and made their way into the highlands of the Appalachians. Just before nightfall the Marines, now supported by Virginia militia, demanded the surrender of all those within the engine house.

At daybreak of the 25th Oliver Brown met with Lee's aide-de-camp, J.E.B. Stuart, and agreed to surrender under the assurance that the wounded would be well cared for and no one, including the run away slaves, would be mistreated. As the doors of the engine house opened several members of the Virginia militia fired a volley into the now exposed abolitionists. A scattering of shots were returned, though no Marines or militia were hit, and the militia resumed their fire. After no fewer than four volleys the militia charged into the engine house and bayonetted many of the survivors. The dead included two Virginia militiamen, Marine Lt. Greene (who it is said tried to intercede when the firing began and was thus shot by members of the Virginia militia) along with Oliver Brown and twenty-seven of his followers. Somewhat ironically, Lewis Washington was also killed and his son James wounded.

Conspicuously, absent from the Engine House Massacre were Lee and Stuart. Lee had taken ill and was in his tent being informed of the impending surrender by Stuart. Supporters of Lee have used this to absolve Lee from any wrong doing, while his detractors have criticized him as commanding officer for not retaining control of his troops. Further scorn has been heaped on Lee for allowing the Virginia militia to summarily execute all five of the surviving blacks and three of eight whites that were captured. Adding to that the bodies of many of the dead were mutilated with locals collecting macabre trophies such as ears and fingers.

Just after noon Lee sent Stuart south to pursue John Brown with a force of 100 militia cavalry men. No Marines would go with them. Stuart, reinforced by nearly 500 further militia, 50 cadets from VMI and a company of regulars, caught up with Brown at Leedstown, VA. On November 29th Brown, knowing he had been trapped by Stuart's force, brought his small army of 400 volunteers and escaped slaves to a halt in the small hamlet of Leedstown. Lee with a further 500 militia and a handful of artillery, newly arrived from Washington, reached Leedstown on the last day of November. That evening, despite the civilian population having not been evacuated, they began shelling the town.

On December 2, 1859 Lee ordered the Virginia militia, now under his direct command, to assault the town from the west. With them were the VMI cadets and Stuart's cavalry. By noon the Virginians had broken through Brown's hasty defenses, but the breech loaders had taken a heavy toll. Unfortunately, no one had ordered the artillery on the west bank of the Shenandoah to cease-fire and several Virginians were killed by their own artillery. Brown was found wounded in a local house and bayonetted multiple times. He died surrounded by the bodies of several slaves he had recently freed. Most of the other members of Brown's army were treated in a similar manner and once again many of the bodies were mutilated and unarmed people trying to surrender were killed. Of Brown's closest associates only John Kagi was taken alive though he suffered from multiple beatings.

Two weeks later at Kagi's trial James Washington testified that he had indeed been kidnapped, but he had been treated well. He further stated that his farther had been killed by Virginian militia and not by Oliver Brown as members of the militia had asserted. He also spoke out against the killing of unarmed prisoners and the mutilation of their bodies. A Virginian judge struck his testimony from the record and all the captured survivors of John Brown's Invasion were found guilty. On December 12th all fifty-three captured survivors were executed in Richmond, Virginia. Their executions were preceded by a long speech by Gov. Wise and followed by a carnival like celebration that swept cities of the South.

Lyon and twenty-five others escaped through Pennsylvania and made their way to Canada by way of a steamer out of Erie. He would not return to America for nearly two years. In the South the celebrations over Brown's death hid a feeling of panic. Rumors of slave uprisings swept the region and over the course of the next few months over 200 slaves would be executed due to supposed plots to rebel. Virginia and most slave states quickly enacted harsher slave codes and passed further laws making the distribution, printing or in some cases even possessing abolitionist literature, including books such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, a crime. Only in Delaware, where the small number of slaves limited the fear of uprising, and Missouri, where Gov. Robert Stewart vetoed what he termed..."heavy handed attempts to suppress both freedom of press and speech."

Overall, John Brown's Invasion did much to increase the sectional tension that was overtaking the nation.

Benjamin

NOTES: Further house cleaning. This time things go a bit worse than OTL.

Once again I tried to stick fairly close to OTL but kick it up a notch. There were reports of bodies being mutilated by the Virginia militia. I just figured if Brown had someone with actual military skills with him than he may have done a bit better. I also delayed him a bit to allow him to gather more supporters.

century_1_115_harpers_ferry.gif
 

benjamin

Assault on Fort Brown

Upon hearing that Brownsville was occupied and that the local force of Rangers had been defeated the Army garrison in San Antonio finally responded. It would take nearly a week for a mixed company of cavalry and infantry to make ready and reach the outskirts of Brownsville. Led by Major Samuel Heintzelman, the men from the 1st Infantry Regiment met up with a growing force of locals and Texas Rangers led by Captain John "Rip" Ford. Several of Ford's friends had been killed in the previous ambush and he was eager to lead an assault to retake the town and fort.

The two men disagreed. Heintzelman wanted to wait until a few canons arrived from San Antonio but Ford demanded immediate action. Heintzelman convinced Ford to wait for a day, but when the canons still did not arrive by the morning of November 29th Ford became restive. Just before noon a rider arrived from San Antonio to inform Heintzelman that his canons had been delayed for at least four days due to a shortage of powder. Ford was infuriated and demanded that the attack proceed without them.

By November 29th, Cortina's force in Brownsville had grown to just over 300 in Brownsville and a further 100 at Fort Brown. Cortina also had the support of almost all of the town's residents, but due to the expulsions the population of Brownsville had sunk from nearly 2,700 to just over 1,800. Most of the Anglos had fled to either San Antonio or Corpus Christi. Cortina lacked any real artillery but most of his men had rifled muskets with modern percussion caps. Many of Ford's posse members on the other hand had smoothbore muskets and a few even had flintlocks.

After a long argument Ford had finally had enough. Just after lunch Ford gathered his men together and asked them if they were ready for a fight. They shouted their response and made ready to charge the fort. Ford accompanied by 18 Texas Rangers and 156 others charged Fort Brown at 1:50 PM. Only a few men made it to the Fort's outer wall. After taking heavy casualties the wounded Ford pulled his me back to regroup. At around 3:00 he was reinforced by a further 100 locals, thus bringing his effective force to just over 200. He hoped to try again, but this time Maj. Heintzelman dissuaded him from doing so. In return for waiting until morning of the next day Heintzelman agreed to use his men to clear the town of Cortina's forces and then isolate the fort. This would compel its defenders to surrender or give them time to bring up the canons.

It is known that sometime late in the afternoon one of the locals who was serving Ford's camp went back into Brownsville and informed Cortina of the upcoming attack. Given that the Rangers and the surviving Brownsville Tigers were going out of their way to mistreat the many Tejanos that were serving as cooks, porters and servants it is no surprise that many of them secretly supported Cortina. Very early on the morning of the 30th about 40 of Cortina's supporters, including some of the last surviving members of the Karankawa, moved out of the town and attacked both Ford and Heintzelman's camps. Heintzelman's men were quick to react, but Ford's inexperienced militia was thrown into disarray.

As the men of the 1st Infantry Regiment were forming up a further group of fifty Tejanos came from the force and hit Ford's force. The militia scattered in a panic. The men of the 1st, their flank now exposed to fire, fought a careful defensive battle through the night. By daybreak the fighting was over. Heintzelman ordered a counterattack into the town and found it largely abandoned. Only 500 people were left in Brownsville and Fort Brown was also abandoned. A pursuit of Cortina's men was planned but given that the powder reserve had been burned Heintzelman held back. Fort Brown had been demolished and the bridges across the Rio Grande had been torched.

In the aftermath both sides were charged with committing war crimes such as killing captives and desecrating bodies. Given the feeling of ill will between the Texans and Tejanos it is likely that both sides behaved poorly. It is also highly likely that the reports of ritualistic cannibalism on the part of the Karankawa was not an exaggeration. Captain John Ford died during the night raid; his heart cut out of his body and partially consumed. Major Heintzelman remained in Brownsville for just over a week before being called back to San Antonio to stand before a court martial. He choose to resign instead of being demoted. His replacement, Major George Henry Thomas, took command of the unit on December 11, 1859.

Benjamin

NOTES: I'm not really sure what type of guns Cortina's men were using, but it is likely they could have repulsed an uncoordinated attack by an undisciplined posse.

Yes, the Karankawa were known to practice ritualistic cannibalism. Makes for great propaganda latter and it sound cool in a story. I was tempted to post a picture of a real heart with this post, but I refrained.
 

Unknown

My hometown (Corpus Christi) has a street named after the Karankawa (look up Corpus Christi on Mapquest).
 

King Henry

A much bloodier fiasco with John Brown is probably going to radicalize both sides even more, and it looks like a border war with Mexico is in the cards as well.
 

benjamin

Unknown said:
My hometown (Corpus Christi) has a street named after the Karankawa (look up Corpus Christi on Mapquest).
Click to expand...

Pretty cool. Central PA and western NY, where I've spent most of my life, have a lot of name places from the Iroquois languages. My favorite word ever is Susquehanna (or Susquehannock, it's a toss-up) but Karankawa's pretty cool too. Thanks for posting.

As an aside, Unknown you're worse than I am. Join date of Jan. 2004 and only 666 some posts. I joined in Oct. 2004 and still have less than 800 posts. You're slower than me. Heck some of the upstart young'ens joined in 2011 and already have 1000+ posts. We old timers have to put down the walkers, clean the dentures, grab another Ensure and get posting.

Nah, I think I'll just change my Depends and go play some canasta at the social club.

Benjamin
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Top