WI: North Carolina remains in the Union during the Civil War?

A simple enough scenario. What if one of the states from OTL's CSA remained in the Union, but was completely surrounded by Confederate states? It doesn't have to be North Carolina, it can be any state from the CSA as long as it doesn't retain any land connection to the United States.
 
Either of two things happens:

1. The CSA jumps on the state at the beginning of the war. This would produce something similar to OTL, although the CS surrender might be a bit quicker
2. The big hole in the CSA leads to the CS logistics being screwed up, and the CS still goes for Washington and Philadelphia. CS surrenders much quicker than OTL.

- BNC
 
If I get this right, the state government of North Carolina was pretty upfront in stating that the only reason it joined the CSA was that Virginia seceded and this meant North Carolina was surrounded by other seceding states. Sherman's army went really easy on them for this reason.

I agree with the other posters that no formal secession would hurt the CSA more than IOTL, but not change all that much. Maryland probably wanted to secede but was kept in by the US army sitting on it. The Confederates invaded Kentucky a few times in the hopes of installing a friendly state government that would secede. Neither side was adverse to sending the army into states to install a friendly government that would be more enthusiastic about joining the federals or the confederacy. North Carolina gets the same treatment. The CSA is able to do this by cancelling one or two of their more peripheral military operations, like the attempt to retake Norfolk or the IOTL 1862 invasion of Kentucky.
 
Assuming that North Carolina announces its support for the Union, the CSA will suffer several major issues.

Firstly, the CSA will be forced to commit troops to invade and occupy the state. North Carolina was historically a very logistically important state for the CSA. Wilmington was the most important port of the CSA. The Confederate Army in Virginia was very dependent on the supplies coming from Wilmington. In April 1864, Lee wrote that "With our present supplies on hand the interruption of the trains on the southern roads would cause the abandonment of Virginia." This emphasizes the logistical importance of North Carolina.

Secondly, the people of North Carolina would be less sympathetic to cause of the CSA due to the invasion by the Confederacy. This would probably mean that there would be less regiments from North Carolina and if the CSA began conscripting people from North Carolina, the desertion rate may be higher than historical, keep in mind that North Carolina regiments had the highest desertion rates in the Confederacy.
 
Maryland probably wanted to secede but was kept in by the US army sitting on it.

This is a popular Southern-apologist myth. There was no secessionist action of any kind in Maryland until after the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for troops to put down rebellion. Troops coming to Washington had to pass through Maryland. One regiment was attacked while changing trains in Baltimore by pro-Southern rowdies, leading to a riot, and the pro-Southerners in control of the the city. A state senator issued a totally unauthorized call for the legislature to convene (and presumably vote on secession). Meanwhile, other Union troops went by steamship to Annapolis and thence to Washington, bypassing Baltimore and its mobs. Governor Hicks called a proper session of the legislature; since the capital, Annapolis, was occupied by Union troops, and Baltimore was in disorder, Hicks summoned the legislature to meet in Frederick, in western Maryland. The legislature met, voted unanimously that it did not have the power to declare secession, and also voted 53-13 against calling a convention with such power. At this time, the nearest Union troops were about 60 km away, at the junction of the Baltimore-Washington railroad and the Annapolis branch line.

It should be acknowledged that later in 1861, Union troops occupied Baltimore, imposed martial law, and arrested hundreds of known or suspected secessionists, including some members of the legislature. Governor Hicks (by then a Senator) said later: "Arrests and arrests alone saved Maryland... I approved them then, I approve them now, and the only thing for which I condemn the Administration... is that they let some of these men out!"

So, while there is no evidence that "Maryland wanted to secede", it is true that the Union Army made absolutely certain that Maryland couldn't secede.
 
What about a neutral North Carolina which could help the Confederates to trade with Europe and get the material they needed to fight the war?
This actually reminds of a serious issue, Confederate troops from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida would have to go a long way around North Carolina to get into Virginia. They would most likely need to concentrate at Chattanooga and move by rail to Richmond. Historically, when the Union pushed into Knoxville on the 3rd of September and 3 days later all of East Tennessee north of the Hiwassee River, the direct rail link between Chattanooga and Virginia was severed. Longstreet's corps, which needed to go to assist Bragg's offensive to Chattanooga was forced to go through North Carolina. So if North Carolina does not join the CSA, then by at least 1862-1863 Virginia might find itself completely isolated assuming that it has not yet fallen to the Union.

In addition, the historic regiments from North Carolina would not be available for the CSA. So with North Carolina out of the CSA, the CSA would be in a very perilous position.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
If I get this right, the state government of North Carolina was pretty upfront in stating that the only reason it joined the CSA was that Virginia seceded and this meant North Carolina was surrounded by other seceding states. Sherman's army went really easy on them for this reason.

Never really bought into this. Sherman's army went easy on North Carolina mostly because the war was obviously almost over when they arrived in the state. And while there was a fair amount of Unionism in North Carolina, it's also worth pointing out that North Carolina sent more men into the Confederate army than any other Southern state. In the absence of anything like modern polling in the 19th Century, it's very difficult to pin things like this down.
 
The most geographically obvious State is Florida, but since in was the third State to secede and had a nearly 50% Slave Population it is unlikely.
Most of the upper south has to be discounted on the geographical grounds of the OP.

(Strangely Texas despite being one of the original seven, has a case for not joining, the reason being Sam Houston. He was the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention ... have we ever had a TL with a non seceding Texas?)

If we go by number in service with the Union Army, after the already suggested NC and non-OP eligible Virginia and Arkansas, its Louisiana.
(If we Hollywood it its Mississippi!)
 
Strangely Texas despite being one of the original seven, has a case for not joining, the reason being Sam Houston. He was the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention ... have we ever had a TL with a non seceding Texas?)

In the TL "Story of a Party" Texas doesn't join with the Confederacy, but that's because Fremont is president during the Civil War.
 
Never really bought into this. Sherman's army went easy on North Carolina mostly because the war was obviously almost over when they arrived in the state. And while there was a fair amount of Unionism in North Carolina, it's also worth pointing out that North Carolina sent more men into the Confederate army than any other Southern state. In the absence of anything like modern polling in the 19th Century, it's very difficult to pin things like this down.

North Carolina was one of the most Unionist of the Confederate states. In March, 1861, over half of the votes were against holding a convention to decide on secession. If it had been held, only 39 of the 120 delegates would have been secessionists. When a secession convention was called, the delegates did vote for secession, but they refused to put it to a popular vote, obviously afraid that the people would still oppose secession. In 1862, Conservative Party candidate Zebulon Vance won a landslide victory for governor, which was "a notable repudiation of the secession Democrats". By 1864, the secessionist Democrats weren't even in the picture, Vance was running against William Holden, who advocated leaving the Confederacy and making a separate peace with the Union. North Carolina led the Confederacy in desertions from the Confederate army, and has been estimates as high as twice the number of deserters from any other Confederate state. North Carolina was also the center of the Unionist group, Heroes of America, who provided intelligence for the Union and encouraged Confederate desertion.
 
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