What if James Buchanan fought ?

so basically what if James Buchanan took the same stance Lincoln did in regards to secession and more actively Prepares for the use of military force

Does this impact the civil war in any meaningful way?
 
so basically what if James Buchanan took the same stance Lincoln did in regards to secession and more actively Prepares for the use of military force

Does this impact the civil war in any meaningful way?
Please define this. Where does he start? In his presidential campaign? In office? On his way out?
 
He'd first need to fire his War Secretary, who was feeding arms to the secessionists, and then get a new one confirmed while on his way out, before he could feasibly do much. The guy was fired in December 1860 for unrelated corruption, but that was too late to prevent some damage.
 
I don't see it being very different than OTL. Tennessee and north Carolina were kind on the fence (not much of a POD to keep either in), so perhaps he could convince them to stay in (effectively boxing in Virginia), or maybe not. If not, I don't think much changes, with neither the North or South equipped for a war, in OTL Bull Run the North's Army would not have the capability of perusing an organized retreat if they won the battle, but the South was so close to a total rout one could easily image them being chased all the way to Richmond. I mean at this early stage, short term developments are more like games involving D6s with top decisions makers only slightly altering the odds
 
IMHO even if Buchanan gets aggressive he's going to try to stall while as much war material as possible is evacuated from the Slave States or destroyed. This probably results in more flash points which could spur secession efforts much like Fort Sumter did in OTL.

That being said, depending on how things go down history could be decisively changed. For example, in OTL on April 17, 1861, former governor Henry Wise threatened to use his authority as former governor of Virginia to order the state's militia to seize Federal assets at Harpers Ferry and Norfolk's Gosport Naval yard (link). Would he just stand idly by while Buchanan evacuates these assets in TTL? Maybe, maybe not. He and other secessionists could feel threatened, panic, and force a confrontation anyway. If such a confrontation occurs prior to Virginia voting to secede, it could turn the vote the other way with Virginians voting to fight against reckless lawless secessionists alongside the rest of the country. If Virginia sides with the Union early on, the other border states likely follow its lead. Something like the Corwin amendment is ratified and the nascent Confederacy is rolled up by a massive army headed up by Robert E. Lee.

If Buchanan's withdrawals fail to cause such a spark, when the Civil War does start the South will be in much worse position. Though no CSS Virginia stands out as a possibility, the real impact IMO will be the thousands of rifles and hundreds (?) of cannon that will be denied to the Confederates. Virginia likely gets the lion's share of whatever does manage to be captured but this leaves the Western Theater even worse off than OTL.
 
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