Time for another update, and we're back to the War Between the States!
Part Thirty-Nine: Finding the Path to the White House
Election Analysis:
The United States 1864 presidential election displayed an important change in the attitudes and political views of the national population. After the death of president Houston put Johnson into office, he was extremely popular among the states that remained in the Union, and his popularity remained fairly high over the first year of his presidency. However, by 1863 it was clear that the war was not going to be a quick affair and this fact polarized the nation. With many of the slave states gone from the Union, support for abolitionism spread and more people turned to the Republican Party. The offensive that Johnson led after the Greeneville Massacre bolstered his popularity initially, as the war dragged on public opinion turned against Johnson taking personal command of a Union army. All these combined to have Johnson ousted by Fremont after only three years in office. Today, however, Andrew Johnson is viewed relatively positively in the United States for his handling of the war and has often been dubbed 'the dictator president'[1] by historians for his decisive actions during the emergency following the assassination of Houston.
In contrast to the increasingly hawkish opinion of the Union, the Confederacy was turning its eye toward a peace gambit. The war had already cost the lives of tens of thousands of young Confederate soldiers and the Confederacy had failed to score any large hits against the Union. Meanwhile, it was becoming clear that the more industrialized Union economy was outclassing the Confederacy's. The Union was also generating far more trade with Europe as British trade for Confederate cotton declined after the war began[2]. Successful Union offensives in Virginia and Arkansaw did not help matters and the Calhoun legislature was almost unable to send in its vote due to the Union occupation of Little Rock. Judah P. Benjamin gained support with his plan to attempt a peaceful negotiation in the war, especially among the states that were being affected by ongoing combat and where armies were being stationed. Cobb had support from the more committed and pro-slavery states in the south such as Georgia and South Carolina. Legislators dismissed questions on Benjamin's Jewish ancestry with an overwhelming response that he had proved himself as Secretary of State and in March of 1864, Benjamin won almost three quarter of the Confederate electoral votes.
Fremont's First Days:
After the election of John C. Fremont to the presidency in November of 1864, a peaceful resolution to the War Between the States seemed to slip away. Unprecedented attempts by Andrew Johnson in his final days in office to arrange a diplomatic meeting with Confederate President Judah P. Benjamin were blocked by Congress, which had turned sharply Republican in 1864. As Johnson left the White House in March of 1865, his farewell address warned the nation of going too radical too quickly and reminded Congress that the citizens of the Confederacy were still Americans at heart and that they should be treated as such.
Fremont began his term in office by strengthening the United States navy. He commissioned two ironclad ships to be built in New England and with the support of a newly Republican Congress, purchased another two ships from France. Outfitted with steel plating and the ability to plant torpedoes[3], these ships gave the Union a clear naval superiority over the Confederacy on the Atlantic coast and not just in the Mississippi-Ohio river system. Later in the year, torpedoes were planted at points along the mouth of Chesapeake Bay while Union soldiers pursued Longstreet and took back much of Kentucky.
Fremont's election also caused some setbacks for the Union. Upon hearing of his inauguration, the population of Chickasaw formally seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy. His election also created unrest across northern Tejas that March, much larger than the one uprising in Dallas a year before. Seguin had to diver a corps to quell the revolt. In April, Fremont created the new Colorado Territory out of the northern half of New Mexico Territory. Ferroplano became the territorial capital and Colorado abolished slavery.
[1] In TTL, dictator does not gain the negative connotation that it has in OTL. ITTL a dictator is someone who takes charge in an emergency, and usually is positive and commenting on a person's quick thinking and leadership.
[2] This is due to British protectionist policies and the growing of cotton in India
[3] Torpedoes are OTL naval mines. Also, a little tidbit that I couldn't fit into the update: The major manufacturer of torpedoes in the Union is Nobel Torpedo Works, founded by Alfred and Ludwig Nobel in Castleton, Staten Island, New Jersey.
