Saphroneth
Banned
Total, no-tricks non-interference, by either the governments or by private citizens.
Non-interference here means no selling of weapons, ships, powder or generally anything whatsoever that might be counted as blockade contraband... to either power.
That is, that a law ("Neutrality Act 1861"?) makes it illegal to sell any such to either power in the midst of a civil war.
Trade in things like cotton or grain continues as possible.
Obviously this would disadvantage the Union and the Confederacy both (and the British, who aren't getting all the money!).
Quite apart from anything else there's a lot of Enfield rifles which aren't being sold to either side, resulting in a deficit of 341,000 rifles for the Union and some hundred thousand plus for the Confederacy...
The impression I get is that the war has a spot of intensity at the start, then fades rapidly as ready stockpiles of weapons and powder are used up and there's no quick replacements. Both Union and Confederacy are armed with a hodge-podge of weapons to an even greater extent than historically, some of the slow-to-fulfil rifle manufacturers probably get quite badly shouted at, and it takes an extra year or two for things to work up to OTL potency.
Non-interference here means no selling of weapons, ships, powder or generally anything whatsoever that might be counted as blockade contraband... to either power.
That is, that a law ("Neutrality Act 1861"?) makes it illegal to sell any such to either power in the midst of a civil war.
Trade in things like cotton or grain continues as possible.
Obviously this would disadvantage the Union and the Confederacy both (and the British, who aren't getting all the money!).
Quite apart from anything else there's a lot of Enfield rifles which aren't being sold to either side, resulting in a deficit of 341,000 rifles for the Union and some hundred thousand plus for the Confederacy...
The impression I get is that the war has a spot of intensity at the start, then fades rapidly as ready stockpiles of weapons and powder are used up and there's no quick replacements. Both Union and Confederacy are armed with a hodge-podge of weapons to an even greater extent than historically, some of the slow-to-fulfil rifle manufacturers probably get quite badly shouted at, and it takes an extra year or two for things to work up to OTL potency.