Time for a new update. No accompanying map with this one since it just explains more of what was going on in the last map.
Part Forty-Three: A Crumbling Confederacy
Jackson Revolts:
With the Union army steadily moving south and President Fremont refusing to enter into peace negotiations with Confederate President Benjamin, the individual southern states started to lose their loyalty to the Confederate government. In the state of Jackson, which had not originally declared itself part of the Confederate States of America but was invaded very early in the war, a popular uprising in support of the United States began in September of 1865. The uprising started in Pensacola as the citizens occupied several government buildings. With aid from the Union Gulf Squadron, the state capitol building in Pensacola fell to the rebels on September 17th. From Pensacola the rebels spread out along the roads around the city using guerrilla tactics.
By the end of September, the uprising had spread to other cities in Jackson. In the first month, the fight against the Confederacy was concentrated in the major population centers where slavery was least popular. A separate group of rebels captured the city of Marianna on September 30th. With more assistance from the Gulf Squadron after the fall of New Orleans, the newly created Jackson militia overran the garrison in the harbor at San Andrés[1] on October 8th. An attempt by rebels to overthrow the Confederates stationed at Tallahassee was put down by the Confederates and the participants in that uprising were hanged. The Jackson militia in San Andrés met up with the Marianna rebels on the 15th as the Second Texas Corps was brought into Pensacola to secure the remainder of western Jackson. Some members of the Second Texas Corps assisted the rebels with setting up defenses along the west side of the Seguin River and by the end of October much of the state west of the river had fallen under Union control. After the remainder of the Gulf Coast was captured by the Union over the next month, Francis Richard Lubbock and the Second Texas Corps would head east toward Tallahassee and the remainder of Jackson.
Veracruz Quits:
After the capture of New Orleans, Jefferson Davis realized that the Confederacy was going to fall and that its reabsorption in to the Union was only a matter of time. Having no desire to give up his power and let the Union capture Veracruz, Davis and Veracruz declared independence from the Confederate States of America. After sending a diplomatic letter to Washington, the independence of Veracruz was recognized by the United States government in exchange for being able to use the port as a naval base.[2]
As the Confederacy continued losing land to the Union forces, Jefferson Davis invited Confederates to leave their homes in the CSA and migrate to Veracruz. Davis encouraged mostly former dockworkers from New Orleans, Mobile, and Havana to enter Veracruz. Over twenty thousand people with an equal distribution in Cuba and the mainland came to Veracruz in the years after the fall of the Confederacy. These immigrants greatly contributed to the economic prosperity of Veracruz around the turn of the 20th century. Through the next thirty years, the city-state became a busy entry port for goods entering the unstable Mexican states as it was one of the only continuously stable countries in the region.
[1] OTL Panama City, Florida. It was originally called Saint Andrew, which I have Hispanicized
[2] The reasoning for Davis' secession from the CSA comes from Jefferson Davis's memoirs in TTL.
