The Little Man's War:
The French capture of New Orleans had officially brought France on the American Civil War, or as the French press called it, “La Guerre du Petit Homme” (Little Man’s War), as the war was seen by part of the French elites as a caprice of the Emperor. Indeed, only Napoleon III’s ambitions led to France’s intervention on the American Civil War. By breaking the blockade and launching an attack on the Union held city of New Orleans on October 18th 1862, without a casus belli, the Confederates got France’s official support. Britain, who had a standing alliance with France since the signing of the London Pact, condemned France’s actions.
France’s attack on New Orleans resulted successful, and 20,000 French troops landed at the Mississippi River Delta. The city got taken by French troops, and in the following days, all Union-held territory on the state of Louisiana. The 20,000 French troops deployed at Louisiana went on to Tennessee, and joined 10,000 French troops already there. The French reinforcement showed to be vital, as the Union abandoned Tennessee before the end of the year.
As Maximilian of Austria was crowned Emperor of Mexico on December 1862, the newly established Mexican Empire recognized the Confederate States, followed by the Brazilian Empire, where slavery was still legal. Brazil showed military support to the Confederacy, sending over 2,000 troops to fight alongside the Confederates. Meanwhile, the Second Mexican Empire, backed by the London Pact, was gaining control over the western and northwestern provinces. After fleeing Mexico City, Benito Juárez’s government established itself at Chihuahua. The Mexican conservatives and the Church backed the Mexican Empire and were fighting alongside the forces of the London Pact. As Austrian troops were being deployed to Mexico, France was trying to mobilize its troops stationed at Mexico to fight against the United States.
The Union’s blockade over the Confederacy was broken by the French Navy, the Confederacy’s exports rose up again, to levels as before the war. 120,000 French troops arrived on January 1863, and 75,000 more the following month. Following the Union’s defeats at Tennessee, the Confederacy, along with the French troops led an offensive through Kentucky, with more than 400,000. The Confederate and French troops laid siege to Bowling Green, which fell two weeks later. Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee, after a series of defeats, was left in chaos, and Grant fled North. The joint French-Confederate Army took advantage of the situation and gained control of Southern Kentucky by February 1863. The Union got defeated again, this time at Louisville, but emerged victorious at the Battle of Lexington, halting the Southern advance at the Western Front.
By May 1863, the number of French troops on the American continent nearly reached 500,000 men, most of them north of the Rio Bravo, making half of the Confederate forces. While the Union struggled at the Western Front, the Army of the Potomac was having relative success at the Eastern Front. The Union controlled Western & Northern Virginia. Union forces under General George McClellan profited from the lack of Confederate forces on the Eastern Front, as most of them had been redirected to Tennessee and Kentucky following the French entry on the War. Washington D.C bordered the seceded state of Virginia, and as capital of the Union, was a strategical city.
The Confederacy secured Kentucky by June 1863. Kentucky was the birthplace of US President Abraham Lincoln, who took the invasion of Kentucky as a personal insult. The same month, Robert E. Lee planned a joint French-Confederate invasion to Maryland, and received French approval. Lee seeked to attack Maryland in order to surround Washington D.C and the Union’s troops at West Virginia. General Stonewall Jackson moved on with 70,000 men under his command and French support on the sea to retake the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina on June 21st 1863. 105,,000 men under General Lee, joined by Stonewall’s men awaited to cross the Potomac River, as it was in control of the Union. On July 9th 1863, the French fleet fought the US Navy over control of the Potomac River. The Battle of the Potomac was won by the French on July 10th, and on July 13th Lee’s army crossed the river. George McClellan thought Lee would attack Washington D.C first, so he stationed 110,000 troops under his command at Alexandria. McClellan was wrong, as Lee’s forces stroke through Maryland reaching Annapolis on July 23rd.
Lee’s army was at the gates of Baltimore, besieging said city. Baltimore held on to the Confederacy’s efforts to take the city, which would let Lee focus on attacking Washington D.C. As Lee’s forces laid siege to Baltimore, the Union’s forces mobilized. The Army of the Potomac under General McClellan came from the south, and additional reinforcements came from the east, as 60,000 troops led by Ulysses S. Grant. Lee’s army was now surrounded. The Battle of Baltimore, or the Disaster of Baltimore (as it would be know in the South) begun on August 1st 1863, and ended 3 days later. The Confederates suffered a great defeat, with huge losses. Of Lee’s 110,000 men army before the battle, over 30,000 died. The French fleet arrived on August 4th to evacuate Lee’s troops, but the French only managed to evacuate 15,000 troops, leaving 65,000 troops to the Union’s mercy.
Following the Confederacy’s defeat at Baltimore, over 80,000 Confederate troops retreated from Maryland. The triumph at Baltimore was seen as a great military victory in the North, as the Southern Invasion was repelled, but also returned hope to Northern troops. Lee’s strategy had failed, but the Confederacy was hopeful to win the war with France’s support. The Confederates turned their eyes to the West, and attacked Missouri, striking Branson and Springfield. . Grant’s Army quickly mobilized to halt the Confederate advance over Missouri. Grant was defeated, as the joint French-Confederate army was superior to Grant’s Army. Most of the Union’s troops were still at Maryland, fighting the remaining Confederate troops North of the Potomac.
Despite the Confederate loss at Baltimore, Napoleon III stayed firm. The Mexican liberal leader, Benito Juárez, was found dead in Coahuila in mid-August 1863, along with some members of his cabinet. The death of Juárez sparked the beginning of the end of the liberales, as the rest of the liberales’ leadership was fighting for power, leaving them at mercy of Maximilian’s armies. As the liberals were losing power, France withdrew most of their troops south of the Río Bravo to fight the United States. The War between the States was far from over.
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I was planning to end the War Between the States on this chapter, but I will need one more chapter to end it.