I like this TL so far a lot. I just hope and pray that it doesn't fall into a cliché Civil War story of the CSA doing well at first, and then the Union just curbstomping them in '64-'65. With Maryland and it sounds like Kentucky and Missouri support as well, I think the CSA is likely to win their independence. Be that foreign recognition, or more likely just holding out until the '64 election.
The St. Louis arsenal being lost is really going to hamstring recruitment in the short term in the west through want of rifles. Even if Missouri falls early, its still a major blow to the Union, things look pear-shaped right out of the gate .
It also gives the Confederates a lot more territory on the Mississippi, possibly altering their Kentucky plans.
Something I just realized. With Maryland seceeding, that may leave Norfolk, Virginia unmolested by Union troops. Thus, the Confederacy would be able to seize all ships there that they historically were unable to. Also, Baltimore may have ships that the Confederacy can use. Point being, the CSA may have a stronger navy than they did OTL. They would also have a significantly stronger naval presence on the Mississippi River due to holding Missouri and their naval yards.
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Hey, uh, if you could maybe tone back the calls for the enslavement of other human beings, that would be great.
Even as a sarcastic/ironic joke, that one doesn’t fly. And with all the Lost Causers floating around these days, it’s not a guarantee that it is one at all.
There's no context in which that should ever be acceptable to say, period. I'm a black guy who lives in the South and frankly it scares me that we have to tell people that.
Ouch!
To be honest the tone is a bit more drastic than needs to be in reflection....
Oh man, that could have been awesome. Like, really awesome. Stonewall Sherman. I don't think I have ever seen that before.
Then its like, Oh, damn, that didn't last long.
So Beauregard shall forever be anathema to Davis. I will find it even more ironic if Davis and Johnston are best buddies now.
I do wonder if the West would be a bit more secure now in terms of having assurances of secession from Both Kentucky and Missouri, ergo: more men, more supplies and such, especially compared to OTL. Only bad thing about it is that Beauregard really likes those grand campaigns and this actually might make him go and enact one of those said campaigns.
Neatens up the border as well. Well, not that that is really a benefit on a map but it looks tidier. trying to take Delaware may make it a bit tighter as well, if that is even possible - or probable. Missouri always sticks out like a sore thumb though.....
I'm pretty sure that @Darth_Kiryan was mocking Lost Causers by pointing out that the Confederacy's sole and entire raison d'etre was the extension of chattel slavery and white supremacy across as much territory as possible, to the point that the first change the secessionist traitors made to the Constitution was to enforce the legalization of slavery and, ironically, to remove any state's right to ban slavery.
Real Lost Causers almost always cheer for "state's rights", following the myth that the Confederacy itself used that the secession was over state's rights rather than the right of the planter elite to enforce their will upon the nation through unfair counting of slaves as 3/5 of a person for House seats and such. .
I think that’s an unreasonably great length to go to to justify someone shouting “SLAVERY FOREVER!”.
Again, sarcasm radar. You need to understand when someone is poking fun. I mean, I could chastise you for saying it right there. Of course, you didn't mean it, but you you wrote it.
Dude, the entire Lost Cause argument is about legitimizing the Confederacy and dissociating it from its inherently evil basis and raison d'etre, almost always by claiming that the rebellion was over state's rights and emphasizing the "honor" of traitors like Lee, Davis, and Jackson. A Lost Causer would not shout "SLAVERY FOREVER" in public because the entire argument of the Lost Causer is that slavery was a minor part of the war, really, and it was all about state's rights against Evul Federal Tyranny (tm).
Cherry picking at it's finest.
"I don't support slavery, I just support the South's fight for it's right to enslave."
I would have moved out of DC after OTL Antitam if I were Lincoln. Far too many troops were wasted guarding DC. Move it to Pittsburg or Cleveland for its central location and ease of defense. If the CSA ever got that far north (HA!) it would be game over anyways. Get those troops out of DC and move them south.
Nah, staying at DC as long as Maryland was under Federal control was the right move strategically. Abandoning the capital would've been a morale blow, when the Union was already having problems with that.
If Maryland flips, Lincoln probably relocates to Philly and the North sets the South on fire out of sheer rage when we finally get back down there.
Antitham was a victory. I would announce a major offensive coming out of DC at the same time.
This sounds like a recipe for a 2nd Mannassas do over without substantially different Union military leadership/an entirely different union military leadership dynamic in the theater.
With a much larger army, I don't think you realize just how many soldiers were wasted guarding DC.