I got to say I'm really enjoying this timeline so far, its quite detailed and it certainly has a unique twist for an American Civil War Timeline in my humble opinion, although I may be a bit biased since I am a Marylander!
I'm glad you like it!
I'm glad you like it!
I think Lincoln's overzealous response to these crises is going to catch up him eventually, the outbursts are worse than losses on the battlefield.
What do you expect? It's a Confederate victory timeline, the South has to win in glorious detail with every defeat glossed over as Lincoln turns into an insane short-tempered tyrant and the Union recruits gangbangers to rape Confederate women and enrage the Good Southern Boys to greater heights of badassery because apparently no normal people in the North had any reasons to be angry at the very idea of a Confederate secession.
This is essentially the same timeline as the OP previously posted in Chat, except this time it's set in the 1860s so the troop movements, secession pattern, and general themes make a bit of sense instead of no sense at all.
Then you can take those problems up in that thread. Thus far, none of that has taken place.
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My point is, it's obvious exactly how this TL is going to go and why, the Union was never even going to make it close despite having every advantage in real life, and in all likelihood there will be a neat little postscript talking about how the noble Confederacy totes freed the slaves and became a world power and made besties friends forever with the Union 20 years down the line (even though the Confederate constitution explicitly prohibited any state of the Confederacy from banning or restricting slavery, the Confederacy was a decaying aristocratic agrarian oligarchy whose economy relied upon slavery, the Confederacy had a stranglehold on the US's favorite trade artery, and the sheer acrimony among the military rank and file, let alone the civilian populations, as early as 1862 would all but certainly have made the border tenser than the West/East German one of OTL).
I could also talk about how ridiculous it is that Groome is apparently spontaneously turning into a master political manipulator and supreme champion of tactics and strategy who raises a bunch of militias without anyone noticing and easily takes Federal fortifications then does literally the exact perfect political moves at every point, but then again, that's simply not important to the overall thrust of the story. You could kill Groome off and replace him with some random dude off the streets of Baltimore, and the general thrust of the story will not change one bit.
I agree with Worffan101. There is no way that the Confederacy could hold on to Maryland past 1862. Even the end of 1861 is really pushing the odds. How would poorly armed Baltimore mobs capture military forts without cannon?
Except that you already wrote this story once before with different names and details. So yes, we do know what will happen. The Good Old Southern Boys will win despite the Union holding every card, Lincoln will be demonized, the South will free the slaves for no real reason and the US and CS will both become world powers and the best of friends.
Except that as I've stated twice now, it's very clear exactly where you're going with the story, starting by turning Groome into an ASB-assisted master of politics and strategy with supernatural good luck.
Burton K Wheeler
Moderator
Dammit, they took down the video of the guy being asked to name one reason for secession besides slavery, and he sort of stammers and mutters, then says "personal freedom, it's about the principle you shouldn't control someone else's life" and the interviewer says "like slavery?"
It's a classic and I'm very sad it's gone.
Once again, I am going to tell you to walk away from a thread once you have made clear you general disapproval.
Hopefully you recall what happened last time you didn't listen to really good advice.