Trent Timeline with No War

The Trent Affair nearly led to war between Great Britain and USA. Lincoln quickly used his polite manners and humbly apologized for the whole thing and reminded his people to fight one war at time (in NE there was actually an outbreak of uber patriotism wanting to take on both the British and the rebels)

A lot of Trent timelines talk about the outbreak of open war.

OK, that's very interesting and all, but I'm going to go for a different AH with no open war

Timeline

Captain Wilkes catches up to RMS Trent on November 8, 1861. His orders to his crew are to capture "Mr. Mason, Mr. Slidell, Mr. Eustice, any companions, and possesions." US Marines board the Trent and size the men. I don't know why he thought a Eustice would be there (In OTL it was just Mason and Slidell) but let's say he was. An Austrian passenger (Trent seemed to carry passangers and mail) from Havana to England) was seen consorting with the diplomats and also gets arrested. Werp...
 
Timeline Update

On December 1, 1861, Lincoln proposes mediation. The British and Austrians immediately reject. First they had demanded a release of the Austrian and an apology. That was in November, now they want a release of the prisoners, an apology, and material compensation as fines. American legal experts point out the similarities of Trent and the Impressment of Royal Navy deserters who severed on ships with flags of USA.

on January 14, 1862 the Austrian dies of a Salmonella infection in captivity.

February 8, 1862 Lincoln caves. The prisoners are released and the Americans are very, very, very sorry for seizing people as contraband on a British flagged ship. They also promise to never board any more British ships in international waters again. In addition, the ports of New Orleans, a port in NC, and a Gulf Port in Florida will be free for British and Austrian flagged ships to enter without reprisal from the USN as long as they don't carry cannonballs, cannons, or anything with a rifling mechanism. You might notice gunpowder isn't on the no go list. America also pays an undisclosed monetary compensation as apology.
 
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Timeline Update

On May 18, 1862, General Butler's order number 28 causes rioting and one woman stabbed a soldier to death before being shot herself. After a mob charges into the teeth of Northern Bayonets, Butler realizes he doesn't have enough gunpowder to fend off the rioters and he withdraws to the boats, preparing to leave the city.

Meanwhile the Peninsular campaign is going as it was in OTL.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
On December 1, 1861, Lincoln proposes mediation. The British and Austrians immediately reject. First they had demanded a release of the Austrian and an apology. That was in November, now they want a release of the prisoners, an apology, and material compensation as fines. American legal experts point out the similarities of Trent and the Impressment of Royal Navy deserters who severed on ships with flags of USA.

The ultimatum had not arrived in the US by this time. (It arrived 18th December and was presented formally on the 23rd)


If the ultimatum was rejected it would be war.

There's no way to get a Trent timeline which has a result between OTL and War. OTL was the acceptance of the ultimatum; anything less would be war.
 
Timeline Update

After a disastrous battle of second bull run, Lincoln decides to give General Pope, the guy who messed up badly, another chance and puts him in charge of the Army of the Potomac over General McClellan, the guy who Lincoln blamed for moving too slowly to save Pope from Pope's mistake. The lost order isn't found. Meanwhile, Southern cavalry find a warehouse of shoes at Gettysburg and the army marches there.

No really! One author said the Southern problem with shoes was so bad that if Lee's order wasn't found, his scouts would have found the shoes. If they don't grab them quickly, we would have a 1862 battle of Gettysburg.
 
The ultimatum had not arrived in the US by this time. If the ultimatum was rejected it would be war.

There's no way to get a Trent timeline which has a result between OTL and War. OTL was the acceptance of the ultimatum; anything less would be war.

Well aware of that. But... I wanted to try something different. Maybe give the Europeans a bit more patience than OTL counterparts.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Well aware of that. But... I wanted to try something different. Maybe give the Europeans a bit more patience than OTL counterparts.
That's only part of the problem. The ultimatum had physically not arrived by 1st December.

The whole point of an ultimatum is that it's a threat - either do this or it's war. There's no "patience" about it - either the ultimatum is a bluff or it is not, and in OTL it was not.
 
I wanted the incident to reach the brink of war, but the the North making multiple concessions and "buying" off the incident. I wanted the North to miss an opportunity to get away with releasing the diplomats and an apology, get closer to war, and then having the North cave by releasing the diplomats, an apology, and compensation (worse than what they could have gotten away with earlier). Maybe if I replaced the ultimatum with a very angry letter that isn't "accept or war"?

And the Austrian was just to be funny since the Hapsburg Navy doesn't operate outside of the Mediterranean.
 
So the ultimatum is either binary or a bluff. Maybe change that to something demanding an apology but short of an ultimatum...
 

Saphroneth

Banned
Maybe if I replaced the ultimatum with a very angry letter that isn't "accept or war"?
The reason this is tricky is that OTL the letter was heavily toned down to allow the US an out. The British viewed the Trent affair as deadly serious, and OTL was already less harsh than it could have been.
 
The reason this is tricky is that OTL the letter was heavily toned down to allow the US an out. The British viewed the Trent affair as deadly serious, and OTL was already less harsh than it could have been.

I know that. I knew it was deadly serious. I know how close to war it could have been.

But I wanted to explore an AH with punishment and no open war.

Maybe if some moths ate the Union Jack so that the Trent literally couldn't raise the flag?
 

Saphroneth

Banned
I know that. I knew it was deadly serious. I know how close to war it could have been.

But I wanted to explore an AH with punishment and no open war.

Maybe if some moths ate the Union Jack so that the Trent literally couldn't raise the flag?
In that case, it's probably better to do it twofold.

Firstly, make the Brits be harsher from the get go. Demand their recompense in the first note.
Second, have Lincoln's son die earlier. He was the main voice for not complying, so you might be able to swing it with him unable to work due to grief.


But you're very unlikely to get the British setting a precedent for anyone to ignore a blockade. They spent OTL gathering evidence that the US was being very harsh as a blockader simply to make future British blockade on firmer ground in terms of precedent.
 
In that case, it's probably better to do it twofold.

Firstly, make the Brits be harsher from the get go. Demand their recompense in the first note.
Second, have Lincoln's son die earlier. He was the main voice for not complying, so you might be able to swing it with him unable to work due to grief.


But you're very unlikely to get the British setting a precedent for anyone to ignore a blockade. They spent OTL gathering evidence that the US was being very harsh as a blockader simply to make future British blockade on firmer ground in terms of precedent.

Ok, let's try to break this up.

We can have the British demand compensation from the get go.

Lincoln's son can be sick with dysentery, the flu, polio, whopping cough, or something. He's not paying attention to international events. All the doctors tell him rest, fluids, low stress and leeches (we're still in the four humors stage of medicine aren't we?) are the key to recovery. So no one tells him anything of anything outside America. That way he doesn't become a voice for not complying and we can have him as a cabinet member in another decade.

I don't want the British to set up a precedent to ignore a blockade, as that's self defeating for them anyways. I wanted the British to be granted legal right to go through, something like a "license" or something. Remember in the Napoleonic Wars when the British blocked off trade with the continent to give Napoleon a recession? Well, they actually allowed British and Austrian ships through for awhile, and then later just British ones, although only in limited quantities and certain goods were forbidden outright. So not ignoring the blockade to much as legal permission to not be counted
 
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