He's probably going to have a bit of a faster career TTL, the "American War" will mark him for advancement. Though directly commanding a body of troops will probably take some time as he's been attached to the staff thus far and not yet assigned for even training duties. His first command didn't come until 1870 with the Red River Expedition. Though butterflies may mean that, unlike his historic first command which got overshadowed by the Franco-Prussian War, he may get more time in the spotlight when he finally takes center stage.
Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond
- Thread starter EnglishCanuck
- Start date
He's probably going to have a bit of a faster career TTL, the "American War" will mark him for advancement. Though directly commanding a body of troops will probably take some time as he's been attached to the staff thus far and not yet assigned for even training duties. His first command didn't come until 1870 with the Red River Expedition. Though butterflies may mean that, unlike his historic first command which got overshadowed by the Franco-Prussian War, he may get more time in the spotlight when he finally takes center stage.
Chapter 72: Parting the Waters
Chapter 72: Parting the Waters
“And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.” - Exodus 14:27-28
“Months of ineffective siege would finally end on August 1st. Grant, his army sick and exhausted, ordered a withdrawal in the night. The men would rest throughout the day, but at midnight would begin marching north, back to Memphis and the succor of the river fleet.
Johnston, with many of his own men ill and needing to reorganize after the siege, chose not to pursue. He happily let Grant go. Disease had weakened both sides, and it would be months before Johnston made his own movements north. Grant’s retreat though, did compel the withdrawal of men from the lines at Grenada, concentrating the Federal army at Memphis. Johnston responded by moving to Jackson Mississippi at the end of August, combining with Polk and Beuregard’s troops there…” - A Mire of Blood: The Siege of Corinth, Michael Sullivan, Kansas City Press, 1999
“The growth of the Confederate Mississippi flotilla was in stark contrast to the diminishment of the Union fleet. Since early 1862 Confederate agents had been busily purchasing weapons and warships in Britain. Chief amongst these agents was James D. Bulloch. He had negotiated multiple contracts with private firms in Britain, in Liverpool especially. The outbreak of war between Britain and the Union made his negotiations much simpler, and he was able to rapidly secure permissions to build vessels for riverine and oceanic warfare for the Confederacy. His main obstacle came from the sudden influx of government contracts for vessels for the Royal Navy.
Recognizing the need to, at least indirectly, support the Confederacy, London made certain allowances for warships to be constructed for the Confederates. That allowed for contracts Bulloch had placed to be laid down and delivered. However, with the need for government warships to be constructed, deliveries were delayed until the middle of 1863.
Bulloch had prioritized the delivery of seagoing warships, which paid dividends, but had also contracted for three riverine warships to supplement the Mississippi River Flotilla. This allowed for the delivery of the warships Memphis(7), Vicksburg(7) and Baton Rouge(9). These augmented the growing fleet on the river...
Hollins, since the Battle of Riddle’s Point, had husbanded the strength of the flotilla. In order to support the needs of the army, he had been forced to retreat to Vicksburg as Memphis fell. There he had helped keep the Federal army and navy at bay, shelling and skirmishing with his counterparts in the Federal squadron.
The Federal squadron had been effectively decapitated at Grant’s attempted crossing of the Tennessee River after Confederate guns had sunk Cairo and killed Commodore Foote. In the aftermath Foote had been replaced by Rear-Admiral Charles H. Davis, who had been forced to detach some of his fleet to the mouth of the Tennessee River to protect against the small, but growing Confederate Tennessee River Squadron.
Davis, leaving the ironclads St. Louis and Essex alongside the new turret ironclad Neosho[1], managed to rally his remaining ironclads and gunboats to protect Grant’s retreating forces at Memphis. He had the Philadelphia(Flag), Benton, Carondelet, and Cincinnati available to him now. Unaware of the extent of the Confederate purchases, he believed he had at least parity with the Confederate river flotilla, and as such, was unafraid when Hollins’s squadron appeared south of Memphis on August 30th.
Knowing he had to defend the position for the Federal army, Davis sortied with his full squadron to meet Hollins. By the time observers from shore could warn him of the threat posed by true Confederate ironclad numbers, it was far too late to change course…” - On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis McKean, University of Boston, 1996
“The fight below Memphis was brutal and short. The Confederate weight in guns and iron was immense. Though the Union was able to turn their own land based defenses on the Confederate vessels, sinking a wooden cottonclad and heavily damaging the Baton Rouge, the Confederate flotilla swept it’s Union adversaries upriver.
Most notably, the Confederate ironclad Arkansas would once again engage its rival Cincinnati. The two vessels, insofar as was possible, squared off in the confines of the river, their commanders almost straining to take shots at one another. The Arkansas fired upon Cincinnati at near pointblank range, while the Union ironclad did likewise. The fire was immense, but each was so well armored that they damaged each other little. The battle, once again, proved inconclusive, and Cincinnati would retreat north with her sisters when the order was given to withdraw.
For now, the Confederates stood victorious on the Mississippi…
The Cincinnati at rest in late 1864.
After supply failures had compelled his withdrawal from the ineffective siege around Corinth, and the untenable situation at Memphis. Grant was painfully aware that the only option open to him now was to attempt to turn back whatever follow up blow Johnston would place against Kentucky. In doing so, he ordered the destruction of anything which might give succor to the advancing Confederates telling his subordinates to “scorch the earth so that Johnston may find only ashes between Memphis and Paducah.”
His major points to defend were Columbus, and all the other military and industrial centers beyond it. To do so, he prepared outposts along the highlands of the 35th parallel that divided the border between Tennessee and Kentucky, and the Mississippi Squadron withdrew beyond Island No. 10. Grant expected to stymy Johnston’s advance on the river and on land, and he knew one location Johnston could not ignore, Union City, Tennessee. Squatting on the major roadways and railroads, it was an area that any Confederate army would have to march through, and Grant intended for them to have to march over his dead body.
It was here that Grant would mount his defence of Kentucky. The appropriately named Union City would be the lynchpin of the combined armies under Grant’s command (VIII Corps, IX Corps and XII Corps) and blocking Johnston’s path, the Confederate general would have no choice but to commit to battle. Johnston was not long in obliging. On the 19th of September, the similarly united Army of Tennessee and the Army of the Mississippi would be brought to bear.
Having determined that the defenses of Corinth had repelled his own forces, Grant determined that a fortified position would do well to “waste away” the enemy before him. Rudimentary entrenchments circled the town, and Grant covered the roads in and out of the city. With no choice but to attack, Johnston pushed the combined armies forward. Almost predictably, he broke his teeth on Grant’s fieldworks, and over two days of battle was exhausted, leaving his troops easy prey for a counterattack late on the 20th.
Forced to withdraw to Memphis, Johnston put his battered troops on rest, looking for another way to drive Grant entirely from Tennessee…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.
“May of 1863 saw much Federal success in Kentucky, thanks to the brilliant maneuvering of Thomas and his subordinates. He had outmaneuvered Kirby Smith and was in a great position to cut off and isolate Confederate forces in the East of the state. However, with the crisis at Washington, the Lincoln administration needed a proven commander to rectify the situation in Maryland, and recalled Thomas to take command on the Susquehanna. Thus, command of the Army of the Ohio fell to Gordon Granger, Commandant of the Post of Louisville. Granger was a veteran of the Mexican War and had seen action as a staff officer and cavalry commander under John Pope, before being assigned to the Post of Louisville following the Battle of Bardstown. Thus far he had not seen much major action besides frustrating cavalry actions against Forrest’s cavalry.
Gordon Granger, commander of Union forces in Kentucky
Granger wanted to defend Louisville, but political pressure forced him to hold at least some of the gains Thomas had made that May. To hold such a front, he would have needed two corps. However, he only had on hand the divisions of Thomas Wood and Horatio Van Cleve, formerly the garrison of Nashville.
With the siege of Corinth ongoing, and the truly titanic fighting in New York and across Maryland raging, there was little possibility of reinforcement, and Granger had to contend with what he had.
Meanwhile, the Army of Kentucky under the cantankerous and glory hungry Kirby Smith, had been refitting and reforming after the embarrassing defeats inflicted by Thomas in May. Taking the time to re-arm his men with proper rifles and take on new Kentucky volunteers, he began to bring the Confederate army up to strength for what he hoped would cement control of all Kentucky, but especially the greatest prize, Louiseville.
Smith also began to receive reinforcements. Two brigades arrived from Mississippi, an all Texan outfit under James Deshler, and a part Tennessee and part Texan brigade under John Gregg. Gregg’s men were veterans of the surrender of Fort Donelson, and had been on garrison duty near Vicksburg whilst their paroles were in place. While in the area, the 10th Tennessee, a predominantly Irish regiment already, received new companies from Irish dock workers from New Orleans, who helped swell the regiment’s strength up to around 800 men. The men took pride in their Irish roots, their green regimental flag bearing the signature golden harp and bearing the words “Sons of Erin”; thus, when they discovered they would serve under an Irishman named Cleburne, the men were ecstatic to serve under one of their own for once.
The Texans of Deshler’s Brigade, however, were anything but ecstatic. His command, mostly dismounted cavalry regiments who wished to defend their home state, were unhappy with being sent across the Mississippi to fight in Mississippi. When they had arrived in Vicksburg, they caused trouble with the locals and began a minor riot, before the men were put under arrest by the order of P. G. T. Beauregard. Because of their behavior, they were sent to Kentucky instead of to the much closer Corinth, because none of A. S. Johnston’s subordinates wanted them under their command. They would soon learn to appreciate this, as many grew attached to their new commander.
Smith added these two brigades to his army, Gregg’s to Cleburne’s division, bringing his division up to 10,000 men. Meanwhile, Smith also received Carter L. Stevenson’s 3 brigades from Central and Eastern Kentucky to reinforce his command. Finally, Smith got the cavalry division of John Hunt Morgan to help counter Sanders’ Horsemen, bringing his Corps-strength army up to 26,000 men and 50 guns. It was with this force Smith moved to try and claim all of the state in late 1863.
John Hunt Morgan, the daring commander who helped make the war international.
Morgan’s Cavalry pushed forward to Shelbyville, to make a direct threat to Louisville. However, Morgan ran into Sanders’ entrenched and well equipped cavalrymen. In what would become known as the Great Shelbyville Races, Sanders utterly routed Morgan’s command. Sanders pursued Morgan’s command on to Frankfort, before being halted by Churchill’s Division.
However, this action was merely a ruse, as Smith marched Cleburne’s and Stevenson’s divisions east to Lexington, south to Nicholasville and on to Danville, where they pushed out Union cavalry videttes attached to Beatty’s Division. This alerted Granger, who had ordered Rousseau to move north to support Sanders near Shelbyville, to the true Confederate intention, and ordered Rousseau and Sanders south to join Beatty at Perryville.
At Perryville, Terrill pulled his small command West of Doctor’s Creek. He placed his 2nd and 3rd Brigade on high ground overlooking Sink Hole Valley, whilst Samuel Beatty’s 1st Brigade on the south side of the Mackville Road. His command was small, with barely 5,000 men in the ranks to 18,000 Confederates.
Cleburne put forth his lead brigade, under John Gregg, to lead the assault across Doctor’s Creek, straight into Sink Hole Valley. Here, the federals cut down Gregg’s command, wounding the commander and resulting in the loss of 600 men. However, on the left, Polk’s and Liddel's Brigades struck Beatty’s Brigade, which collapsed after a heavy melee in open ground. Cleburne followed up by launching his one brigade of Cavalry, under Colonel Adam Johnson, to run down the fleeing Federals. Cleburne then turned Liddel’s and Polk’s Brigades to the right, encircling Terrill’s remaining troops. Terrill was killed, and Brigadier Walter Whitaker, the ranking officer remaining and already wounded himself, surrendered the remnant of his command, resulting in the surrender of around 2400 men.
After this, Smith began processing the captured men to the rear, when a courier reported Rousseau’s division marching down the Benton Road. Smith sent forth Stevenson’s Division to take and hold the Open Knob. Rousseau managed to overrun Tracy’s and Barton’s Brigades, before coming upon Widow Gibson’s Hill, where Stevenson had placed Cumming’s Georgian and Alexander Reynolds’ mixed Virginia and North Carolina Brigades, as a second line. The fighting was brutal, but eventually, with Barton’s and Tracy’s men reforming to support Stevenson’s line, as well as supporting fire from the right from Liddell’s Division, Rousseau was forced to withdraw his command, seeing that the situation was irreversible.
The Battle of Perryville was a well fought victory by General Smith,: at the loss of around 2750 men, Cleburne had destroyed Terrill’s division, capturing 2500 men and 18 guns, and inflicting another 2900 casualties upon Terrill and Rousseau. Beatty’s 1600-man Brigade, the sole remaining contingent of Terrill’s command, soon was forced to surrender to Adam Johnson’s Cavalry Brigade at Lebanon, after Johnson had employed stovepipes to mimic real canons and making Beatty believe the full Confederate army was about to destroy his force; for this, Johnson’s command became known as “The Stovepipe Brigade”, and it’s commander, promoted to Brigadier General, became known in the press as Stovepipe Johnson.
The disaster at Perryville unsettled Granger. Fearing that Cleburne’s command would fall upon Louisville and unseat the last bastion of Federal control in East Kentucky, he pulled back Rousseau to Louisville, with Sanders fighting a rearguard at Shepherdsville. Only now did Granger receive authorization to move Horatio Van Cleve’s Divisions to his aid. Thus, Smith was unable to move to exploit the success and take Louisville. However he had denied any possibility for the Federals to take the offensive in Kentucky.” - The War in the Bluegrass State, Luke Freet, University of Columbia 1985[2]
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1] TTL the materials which would go to building her sister ship have been detailed elsewhere to provide for the Lake Ontario Squadron and Lake Champlain Squadron. The Union is woefully behind on ironclads in the Mississippi.
2] Attribution to this section to another wonderful civil war fan who wrote some 'fan fiction' which I thought was too cool not to include, with some light edits overall.
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Damn, the CSA is actually winning in the Missisipi. The Union is going to have very little leverage in the peace negotiations once this war ends.
ah the western theater how i missed you.
Seems like all fonts are at a delicate balance and nearing a endgame .I hope whoever wins all sides put up a glorious fight.
out of of topic I just learned stonewall jackson OTL visited the UK and Canada before the war.Wonder if lee or davis took him aside to learn about there new Allies at one point.
would have been a cool scene.
Great chapter again!
Seems like all fonts are at a delicate balance and nearing a endgame .I hope whoever wins all sides put up a glorious fight.
out of of topic I just learned stonewall jackson OTL visited the UK and Canada before the war.Wonder if lee or davis took him aside to learn about there new Allies at one point.
would have been a cool scene.
Great chapter again!
Indeed. US will never forgive Britain for this. 1776-1783, 1812-1814 and now 1861-186(-)? And if first two ended up either in victory or draw, the last one would probably end in a defeat.
There would be little of OTL US-UK friendship ITTL. And that's mildly saying.
Depending on how the post-war treaty develops, Anglo-American undoubtedly ties will recover as trade between the two recovers. Theres still gonna be hard feelings probably up to mid 20th century imo.
I mean on the other hand we're besties with japan and germany and ww2 is way more recent .plus in the 1800s alliances and feuds were very shaky.the great game was one generation away from the triple entente the russo-japanese war only 10 years from japan and Russia fighting together in said entente.
The US can't afford to hold eternal grudges, and I doubt they'd want to.
There are plenty of countries OTL who experienced catastrophic defeats at the hands of another country, and then went on to become friends with them (France and Germany after WWII, Germany and the US, Japan and the US, etc.). There are even more countries that, despite not becoming friends, managed to work together when it suited their interests (e.g. Ireland and the UK, South Korea and Japan, Germany and Russia).
Germany, if it forms, its going to be massive benefited by this.
If Germany forms, and if it gets into a rivalry with Britain, and if the US still wants revenge on Britain several decades later, and if the US wants revenge enough to make more than a token effort to help Germany. That's a lot of ifs.
No, you need just one if: Germany forming.
You don't need the US to enter the war on Germany's side so that Berlin can benefit from the situation, even if the Great War is one that Britain sits out.
No, you still need the US to want revenge on Britain. Otherwise Germany gets nothing. The US also has to want revenge enough that Germany gets meaningful help.
Wrong. The simple fact that the US is not going to intervene with full strength or maybe at all in a European war against Germany is more than enough benefit.
Having them side with Germany is just surplus.
Cryostorm
Monthly Donor
On the other hand Japan and Germany didn't get to have troops on US soil, at least not any part that actually counted, or responsible for devastating so much of the US. There are going to be a lot of people, if not the vast majority, who will have lost a family member or been injured in some way due to this which will have an effect on popular sentiments.
Japan and Germany both had US troops on their soil, and it didn't stop them from becoming US allies. France had German troops on their soil, and they become allies.
And the US has had British troops on its soil before, when Washington was burned in the War of 1812.
Clearly, this war will lead to American hatred of Britain and an inevitable alliance against it.
Look at France and Britain- from the seventeenth century to 1815 both countries were locked in a series of brutal conflicts and attempted invasions, which ended up forming the very core of the English national identity. That was why, despite the best efforts of diplomats, France and Britain were never able to act as allied powers since.
Or Russia and France- after thirty years of war that ended with the Tsar in Paris, and then the Crimean War forty years after that, Paris and Moscow never managed to form an entente.
Or the Ottomans and Austria- I know there was some suggestion that they could have fought on the same side in WW1, but they'd been rivals for centuries. Clearly it was ridiculous.
It's like suggesting that the Americans could switch from recognising Taiwan, a wartime ally, to the PRC who they'd fought an expensive and humiliating war with- or that they'd back Pol Pot after bombing the hell of out of him, just because he stood against Vietnam. Or that they'd end up backing Vietnam again after they decided they didn't like the PRC after all!
Ridiculous.
Look at France and Britain- from the seventeenth century to 1815 both countries were locked in a series of brutal conflicts and attempted invasions, which ended up forming the very core of the English national identity. That was why, despite the best efforts of diplomats, France and Britain were never able to act as allied powers since.
Or Russia and France- after thirty years of war that ended with the Tsar in Paris, and then the Crimean War forty years after that, Paris and Moscow never managed to form an entente.
Or the Ottomans and Austria- I know there was some suggestion that they could have fought on the same side in WW1, but they'd been rivals for centuries. Clearly it was ridiculous.
It's like suggesting that the Americans could switch from recognising Taiwan, a wartime ally, to the PRC who they'd fought an expensive and humiliating war with- or that they'd back Pol Pot after bombing the hell of out of him, just because he stood against Vietnam. Or that they'd end up backing Vietnam again after they decided they didn't like the PRC after all!
Ridiculous.
I wonder if the Confederacy will survive the war, the USA giving some territory and paying war reparations is nothing compared to a surviving CSA.
An alliance against Britain is pretty likely but it probably won't be the Central Powers as we know it.
Well, it does make sense to think that some territory and war reparations should help the CSA survive.