Chapter Thirty-Three: The Beginning of the Confederate-American War
A depiction of a recruiting station, which often featured cannon from the Civil War and veterans from that war paid large sums of money to tell eager volunteers stories of honor and glory of war
Despite both the U.S. and CSA having presidents hostile to the other nation, war did not break out immediately as both expected. Instead, both sides learned their lessons from the Civil War, and raised and trained their volunteer armies before the declaration of war. This gave time for the Peace Republicans in the United States, and Liberty Party in the Confederate States to try and stop the rapidly approaching war. In the U.S., the Peace Republicans found a base in New England, where many of their most famous members hailed from. Despite voting for Conkling in the election, New England had mixed opinions about war, and now with the Peace Republicans focusing all their efforts on that region, instead of the Midwest like the previous election, they were now becoming more anti-war. Many believed that the true test of New England's feeling would be shown in who Massachusetts would choose to nominate to fill a vacant Senate seat caused by the resignation of George S. Boutwell. Two of the candidates were former Secretary of the Interior and former Postmaster General Henry L. Dawes, who was a Peace Republican, and fervent Conkling supporter and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Henry C. Lodge, who was War Republican. Ultimately, Massachusetts would choose Dawes, confirming to many that New England was now in Peace Republican hands. Conkling would find that Peace Republican opposition to his goals most strongly concentrated in the Senate, with many of their leaders former members of the Garfield administration, including Garfield himself, now a senator from Ohio, and Senators James Blaine, Hannibal Hamlin, George Edmunds, Henry Dawes, George Hoar, John Sherman, Lyman Trumbull, John Logan, and Benjamin Harrison also among them. Despite this, his legislative agenda would still be able to be continued as his faction posessed enough votes in the Senate to get it passed, as most evidently seen with his expansion of the Supreme Court to nine seats and appointment of his naval secretary Levi P. Morton to fill the newly created one.
The Leaders of the Peace Republicans in the Senate: Garfield, Blaine, Hamlin, Edmunds, Dawes, Hoar, Sherman, Trumbull, Logan, and Harrison
In the CSA, meanwhile, the Liberty Party found a harder time finding a base of support. Some states that had traditional supported them, including Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland were beginning to support the Democrats more and more as they feared invasion, and viewed the Democratic policy of expanding the military as the best defense, instead of diplomacy. This forced the Liberty Party into more of states deeper in the CSA, including the Carolinas, Georgia, and Arizona. Much to their dismay, the Liberty Party's hold on the Legislative Branch of the government was lost shortly after Early's election, with even such long serving and established members such as Robert M.T. Hunter, Zebulon Vance, and John H. Reagan struggling to gain reelection. From this, many newer Democratic politicians who had been held out from national office by Liberty Party dominance began to take seats in the national government, with such men as Benjamin Tillman, Roger Q. Mills, John T. Morgan, Matthew C. Butler fitting this description.
Benjamin Tillman, Roger Q. Mills, John T. Morgan, and Matthew C. Butler
As both countries kicked off recruitment in preparation for war, both sides found themselves lucky in terms of the men who they had as their Secretaries of War to oversee the process. For the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, former General-in-Chief and experienced Secretary of War under three administrations was at the helm. For the Confederacy, eager and bright John Pegram oversaw the preparation for war. The U.S. followed a similar strategy to recruiting soldiers as it had in the Civil War, with the president, in this case Roscoe Conkling, sending out a list of the number of men each state must provide for the army. Several states exceeded their quotas as they had in the Civil War, and the recruited men were formed into same state brigades, which formed the base for multi-state divisions, corps, and armies. The CSA, however, tried a different approach. Early, on the advice of Pegram, would also send at a man requirement from each state, but instead of ordering individual regiments, he ordered that each state furnish a corps, consisting of three divisions, which would be formed into armies. This approach very much reflected on Early's support for states rights, as he allowed each state to chose the officers who would lead their men into battle, and allowed each state to have their own seperate men.
Ulysses S. Grant and John Pegram
Ultimately, the U.S. would form their corps, which were larger than those of the CSA, into 2 armies. One would be the Army of the Susquehanna, under the command of Major General Benjamin Butler, who was appointed as part of the fulfillment of Conkling's promise to put leading Gold and Silver Party members in high positions. The other, the Army of the Cumberland, would be led by General-in-Chief William T. Sherman. Though both armies waited in their positions in Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively, both commanders had already been given their objectives. Butler was march through Maryland and lay siege to the CSA capital of Washington, and once it was captured, he and his army would march south through Virginia, capturing Richmond before moving south into the Carolinas. Sherman's goals, meanwhile, where to march on Nashville, capturing it before moving on to Knoxville and Chattanooga to secure Tennessee. With that completed, he was to move into Georgia, with Conkling himself telling Sherman that his final objective in the war should be "the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean from Savannah's port."
Major General Benjamin Butler and General-in-Chief William T. Sherman
The Confederacy would similarly divide their forces into two main armies, both under the receiving orders from, but not being under the direct observation of General-in-Chief Joseph Johnston. The first would be the Army of Virginia under General "Stonewall" Jackson, and stationed in Washington's defenses. Their goal was to repulse any invasion from the Army of the Susquehanna before invading into Southern Pennsylvania to capture to U.S. capital of Philadelphia. The other would be the Army of Tennessee under General Edmund Kirby Smith. They were to invade Kentucky, capture its major cities, and hopeful cause it to declare secession and join the CSA. Following this, they were to move north in Indiana and Ohio, and break the morale of the U.S.'s public similar to the Civil War.
Stonewall Jackson and Edmund Kirby Smith
With both armies ready for war, and both publics clamoring for it to start, Conkling would get the jump on Early, and declare war first, giving CSA ambassadors Judah Benjamin, John G. Walker, and Benjamin H. Helm one hour to vacate their embassy and a week to return to the CSA, and promptly ordering both of his invasions to begin. With that, the Confederate-American Civil War had started.
Conkling and his cabinet:
President: Roscoe Conkling
Vice-President: Carl Schurz
Secretary of State: Thomas C. Platt
Secretary of the Treasury: Chester A. Arthur
Secretary of War: Ulysses S. Grant
Attorney General: Frederick T. Frelinghuysen
Postmaster General: Timothy O. Howe
Secretary of the Navy: Levi P. Morton
Secretary of the Interior: Henry M. Teller
Early and his cabinet:
President: Jubal A. Early
Vice-President: Richard Coke
Secretary of State: Thomas Clingman
Secretary of the Treasury: Thomas C. Hindman
Secretary of War: John Pegram
Secretary of the Navy: Stephen Mallory II
Attorney General: Ambrose Wright
Postmaster General: Samuel D. McEnery