I mean, the Sally Miller case is pretty much that.
Also this: "They suggested there was no reason why slavery should be limited to blacks. They said that Northern white laborers would actually have better lives as slaves".
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Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond
- Thread starter EnglishCanuck
- Start date
Also this: "They suggested there was no reason why slavery should be limited to blacks. They said that Northern white laborers would actually have better lives as slaves".
The international slave trade is - legally speaking - dead. The Confederacy also agreed to outlaw it, and will not be legally taking part in it. That was, to my understanding, partially economic by slave traders inside the CSA but also because they realized with the British Empire policing the slave trade it would be political suicide to try and do something like keep it alive.
However, there were Fire Eaters who wanted to try and reopen this. It was neither a political or economically popular position for what I think should be obvious reasons. That being said, there were those who did earnestly try and keep it going. There will be some under the table trading (something that did happen historically).
Currently the government which won the war in Richmond is largely composed of men who opposed things like the Morrill Tariff and were opposed to anti-free trade measures like tariffs in the first place. They were adopted during the war as what was seen as extreme measures, so in the immediate post-war world the Confederacy (which off the cotton trade alone is going to be making a killing) so the immediate need to raise tariffs on the Mississippi doesn't exist in 1866. However, in the future that is subject to change.
As for how it would be done, mostly by customs inspectors at docks or those collecting tolls on the river. The revenues would be split between the states and the federal government is my understanding.
The merits of the case though are that she was illegally sold into slavery under the pretext of being 1/16th black. There was precedent for this in that many fell into "blood laws" where people who we would consider white (or white passing) who were born as slaves were kept in bondage. If someone was white and a slaver said they were not legally speaking so, it had to be proven. Elizabeth Keckley (who comes up ITTL and will again) was one such example. Her son was white passing enough to enlist at the start of the war when black people could not legally exist, and she was enslaved from birth based on her heritage of being born to a black slave.
While there were slavery advocates who were fine with enslaving whites, the vast majority of Southerners would not have been fine doing so. Necessarily it would destroy white supremacy, something the founders of the Confederacy - even some of the worst of them - wouldn't countenance.
Chapter 124: Red Clouds on the Horizon
Chapter 124: Red Clouds on the Horizon
“With the end of the war, the United States had been separated into six military commands. These were the Department of New England, encompassing much of the Atlantic Coast up to New Jersey and the states of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire. The commands here included a great deal of overlap with the navy, prompting the men appointed to have to engage in a great deal of teeth clenched teamwork with their counterparts afloat. Inevitably, those who succeeded were often those who got along well with the navy itself. Notably this was General Grant’s last command between 1867 and 1869 when he resigned from the military.
The Department of Maryland, which encompassed the titular state as well as Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia, with the implicit understanding that the purpose was to husband the resources of the United States against a potential invasion like that it had suffered in 1863. It would also prove to be the command which was most politically troublesome. Many a politically inclined general would seek a posting to the location, alongside those who only sought to be close to the halls of power and the command of the Capital Guard that was viewed, until the 1910s, as one of the most prestigious but also least problematic postings in the whole United States military.
The Department of Ohio was all the states which bordered the Ohio River and Missouri, the last and longest border with the Confederacy which, until the Kentucky referendum, had been ill defined. That made it a particular sticking point for some time, with the first commander, Joseph Hooker, having many headaches and a great deal of difficulty in keeping the border well policed, something which would vex commanders in the region for the next half century.
Beyond the Mississippi the Department of the Northwest was a largely sleepy command that overlapped with the much greater Department of the West. This would generate considerable friction in the 1860s and 70s while the conflicts with the plains tribes still raged[1].
Finally, the most far flung command, the Department of the Pacific, encompassed the states which bordered the Pacific Ocean and, as of 1866, remained largely out of touch with Washington save by telegraph. The men sent there were largely left to their own devices, with little input from superiors in Washington. This suited the department’s first commander, William Rosecrans, perfectly fine as the president and he loathed one another on a personal level…” - American Arms from the Indian Wars to the Great War, Matthew Boot, 2004
United States Military Commands, 1866[2]
“...O’Connor’s failed campaign in the Powder River Country had done little to quell the violence in the West. Instead it had inflamed the Lakota nation to greater resistance. The autumn of 1865 proved to be even more violent than the previous year with over 100 settlers and soldiers killed across the Wyoming and Montana territories. This proved to be a major embarrassment for the respective department heads in St. Paul and Omaha.
From St. Paul, numerous missives were dispatched by General Burnside to his counterpart, Joseph Hooker, offering assistance. Hooker, who considered his assignment to Omaha a demotion from the president, declined and instead ordered various expeditions by his subordinates against the tribes which were causing the most trouble. He planned an audacious series of expeditions against the Lakota, Comanche and Cheyene. Envisioning a drive through the plains, he expected one expedition to make a path to Santa Fe, driving the Comanche back into Texas. A central campaign would then “clear the way” for the railroad expected to be crossing the continent. The northern prong would build on the 1862 Dakota War and “make right” the deficiencies of the Powder River Campaign.
To do so he appointed George Crook to lead the campaign to establish posts from Fort Atkinson to Santa Fe, with 3,000 men, a mix of infantry and cavalry. Crook, who had spent much of the war in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, had gained a reputation as a man who could use terrain to his advantage, and was something of a tough fighter. He accepted the commission against the Comanche without hesitation…
Campaigning from the center was one of the undisputed stars of the late war, John Buford. Hooker knew how important the railroad project was, and so entrusted a man he considered his star commander to the task of securing the routes between Council Bluffs and Denver City for parties of workmen to commence the great work in the coming year. As such, he was assigned the lion’s share of the cavalry for the coming campaigns, leaving very little for either Crook or Stoneman’s column.
Stoneman, in command of the 22nd Infantry, has often been seen as an odd choice for command of the Bozeman Expedition. However, the closeness with his theater commander, Hooker, is most likely what ensured his position. Though the District Commander, Alfred Terry, thought little of Stoneman, he could hardly disobey orders to send him to build the forts along the Bozeman Trail and secure the US hold on the region…
…the Fort Laramie Council of May 1866 proved to have unfortunate timing. Just as emissaries of the Lakota were arriving, Stoneman’s column appeared. Understandably, the Lakota, especially Red Cloud and Young Man Afraid of His Horses, the two most vocal against the negotiations, proclaimed the US was negotiating in bad faith. With efforts over the last six months to engage them in negotiations having been a long process, the commissioners were loath to simply let them leave without some form of negotiations. When Red Cloud demanded to know whether the forces under Stoneman were departing for the territory claimed by the Lakota, evasive answers by the commissioners resulted in his band departing, followed shortly by others.
Frustrated, the commissioners signed the treaty with groups of Lakota already present and declared to Washington that there was now “a feeling of peace and amity between the white man and the Indian, with cordial feelings between both parties. This news would arrive in Washington just in time for the men in Fort Sherman to fall into a state of siege…
Stonemen set up his headquarters at the rapidly established Fort Sherman, named for the general who had fallen during the Siege of Corinth in 1866. He set out wood cutting parties and small patrols to secure the surrounding countryside, but had only 75 cavalrymen under Cpt. George W. Grummond, and many of them were new recruits. Notably, this was the only unit outfitted with repeating rifles. Despite entreaties to Washington for more such rifles, Stoneman would not receive them. He opted instead to do what he could to entice the Indians closer to his fortifications where his cannon would be decisive against the warriors…
..feints and raids across the summer led to roughly 20 casualties, but only seven killed, by Red Cloud’s warriors between July 6th and November 19th. Two of those killed were civilians in late July along the Bozeman Trail. This attack, under escort by soldiers, effectively stopped traffic on the trail as men feared to move even with an army escort. The news greatly displeased Hooker in Omaha, who sent strongly worded missives north saying that “action must be undertaken to open the Bozeman” to Stoneman, strongly implying he thought the commander wasn’t doing enough.
Stoneman would lament his lack of cavalry, while privately his senior cavalry leader, Grummond[3], would call Stoneman “an old woman who lost his nerve in Virginia and cannot find it again in the West,” and was often reported to be insubordinate to the commander behind his back. Whether Stoneman ever learned of this on the post is questionable, but lacking more senior cavalry officers, he allowed Grummond to lead patrols.
Finally, on November 28th, a large raid by Lakota riders carried off over one hundred horses, killing six soldiers and nine civilian teamsters. At the pressing of Grummond, Stoneman relented and declared that at the next raid he could lead a detachment to pursue the raiders, but not out of sight of Fort Sherman’s guns.
On December 1st, another raid was launched, and Grummond eagerly rode after the raiders who seemed to bunch up and become confused. Several shots from the artillery seemed to support this, and Grummond rode ahead of the field, with Stoneman belatedly ordering a column of infantry after them…
…gunfire was heard from the fort, and a worried Stonemen dispatched another 100 men to support the fight…
Having chosen to, effectively feed three companies into a situation where they were outnumber by upwards of 2,000 Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne warriors, Stoneman had ceded the initiative and lost 232 men from his force. The Battle of the Feeding Ford, as it was known to the Lakota, (or the Stoneman Massacre as it became known to the press) effectively trapped Stoneman’s force in Fort Sherman until he retreated in early January 1867, and the exultant Lakota burned the works behind him…
The embarrassment of the Stoneman Massacre would result in a round of recriminations in Washington, with Stoneman being brought up on charges and eventually cleared but not so subtly pressured into resigning from the service after overseeing one of the worst massacres of the whole Sioux Wars. Hooker would, by throwing his old commander under the bus and taking credit for the campaigns against the Dakota and Comanche, largely came off the victor in both the press and the court of public opinion, which would inform his actions in 1868.
McClellan meanwhile, sought to enforce negotiations rather than undertaking a third expensive campaign into the Powder River Country. The 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty would grant the Great Sioux Reservation domain over much of what is now the southern half of Dakota, resulting in a territory recognized and largely respected through treaty[4].
This was not an eternal solution however, something Red Cloud recognized. He would take his victory and parlay it into local authority, much to the annoyance of the man who had mentored him through the late campaign, Sitting Bull. Though many would take pride in their victory, Sitting Bull refused to do anything other than live on land he considered his and disputed the right of the United States to ‘draw lines through the land of my fathers’ and would come and go from the reservation as he pleased well into the future. This became an imperative as the buffalo began to dwindle[5]…” - The West on Fire, Settling the Plains 1830-1901, John Gadsden, University of Houston, 2002
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1] Consider this a hamfisted insert of more of the post-war US military organization and a way to point out that military bureaucracy is often terrible. I think people will understand why as they see how its laid out.
2] These borders are not representative as I found pruning this map to be a very tedious exercise.
3] If it seems like I’m being hard on the poor relatively unknown George Grummond, well I am. More than the unfortunate Fetterman of history who was killed in Fetterman’s Fight, Grummond was allegedly the instigator of the ride beyond range that allowed the detachment to be ambushed and destroyed, with Fetterman following after because he felt duty bound to support the cavalry. Much of this interpretation is laid out in narrative format into he amazing historic novel Ridgeline by Michael Punke. Well worth a read describing the events of that period!
4] If it seems unlikely to some that McClellan would also pursue a peace policy when two other expeditions have succeeded, remember, he wants a relatively bloodless building of the transcontinental railroad and is actively fighting members of his own party on military matters, so making peace in exchange for the Lakota getting their territory is as good a deal as it was historically to save cash and arguments in Congress.
5] Though more on this later. Presently, the industrial destruction of the buffalo has been on hold for the war and with the line of settlement being driven back. Estimate that their numbers are slightly higher in the late 1860s than OTL, especially without the conscious choices (yet) by Sherman to engage in their destruction.
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That's ominous. The 1910s are going to see a new grand revolt, hopefully one which will finally end slavery. But even then, the CSA will never accept anything close to equality under the law.
With this discussion of the new United States military departments, I'm curious to learn where ol' Pap Thomas ended up.
George Thomas is commanding in the Department of Ohio, District of Cincinnati in an unsubtle dig towards Kentucky. He was one of the men commanding in Kentucky during the referendum and did not appreciate the outcome one bit, but he follows orders.
Currently he's considered one of the premier soldiers in the United States, and is eyed by many for a potential presidential run, which he firmly refuses to consider. He is not in contact with his family as he's widely considered "The Bastard of Bardstown" still for his loyalty to the Union.
Will we be getting a similar organization for the Confederacy? I’m fascinated by how an Independent south would be forced to confront realities of independence
Semi yes. I'm doing a primer on the year 1866 outside the Great Disturbance politically and then a "military balance of power" look at the powers from Mexico to Canada on their organization and distribution for the immediate post-war environment.
Awesome! Thank you for the quick response! I love this timeline!
My pleasure! Many thanks for the interest! I'm hopeful the last acts of 1866 will get people talking because this is the year the butterflies really begin to flap!
The New World Order 1866 Part 1: The Kingdom of Canada
The New World Order 1866 Part 1: The Kingdom of Canada
“With the creation of the new Kingdom of Canada, Britain’s position in North America had undergone a dramatic shift. No longer could she be a passive observer in North American affairs, but she had become a direct contributor not only to the new status quo, but had now shown little fear of antagonizing the United States. For the young new Canadian state, this had consequences…” - Staking Claims to a Continent: The North American Revolutions of the 1860s, James Latimer, Anansi Press, 2017
“Lack and embarrassment were words which summed up the early months of running Canada in 1866. The needs of the war had meant that many public service projects had gone unattended for nearly three years, one of the most important of these was the Parliament Buildings in the new capital at Ottawa. Lacking workers and funds the project had languished and it was only after the end of the London Conference in 1865 that work resumed, and even then slowly. There had been some hope by politicians the whole edifice might be scrapped and turned into a new fortification on what was then still Barracks Hill, but the military had balked at creating a new citadel so out of the way.
Ottawa itself, a former lumber town chosen to placate both sides of the political and geographic divide in the former United Province of Canada, was still a detested choice for capital. With barely a population of 15,000 in 1860, it had doubled between 1862 and 1866 to 30,000[1] with laborers, soldiers and immigrants coming to work in either the lumber trade or the major war work when the city became a strategic lynchpin of supply between Montreal and Kingstom thanks to its canal and rail connections to the St. Lawrence River. That led it to becoming a lively military town, put at odds with the rowdy French and Irish lumbermen who had made what previously passed for culture in the new capital city. As such, brawls, and even outright riots, were common. Indeed, one of the major reasons for an establishment of a robust police department in the new capital was to reign in both worker and soldier trouble as much to provide security for the new political class.
Goldwin Smith would quip that Ottawa was “a subarctic lumber village transformed by royal mandate into a political cockpit,” a comment has gone down in history as a damning indictment of the city. The coming political classes thought little better of it with Feo Monck calling it “squalid” and “beastly” and Monck himself believing that the city would have to be abandoned in only a few years time. Indeed most hoped it would be so, but the practical reality of doing so was simply impossible. Galt would joke that “Despite the wishes of those who would sink her into the river, Ottawa will become the sad, doughty sister of Washington as the capital of a nation.” In fact, one of the greatest critiques of Joseph Howe, who spent as little time in the city as possible, was that it would become just a “shabby imitation of Washington,” which in a way was true, as it grew into the national political center[2].
With Ottawa’s previous industries having been transportation and lumber, the city was often full of noise and sawdust, alongside jostling wagons and horse teams. That led to a loud and raucous atmosphere, and a city made almost entirely of wood. The new and chronic need for accommodations was sorely felt. Construction would be an ongoing issue in the city well into 1870 as it expanded to meet the needs of the political class, and then its growing trade with Montreal as the South and North Shore railroads were completed[3]. This meant a growing need for workers, which meant more buildings, and so on.
The matter of where the new legislature should meet was of considerable concern for the assembling members of Parliament in 1866, as well as the Senate whose chambers were also unfinished. As such, there were many rumours that the House would not sit until 1867, which though refuted, meant that the first meeting of the Canadian Parliament would be considered a somewhat farcical affair. The newly elected MPs themselves were from various backgrounds and provinces, and oftentimes rubbing shoulders with new members of the chamber for the first time. That led to much talk and little action, something the first meeting would often be caricatured for in the press at the time.
Crammed into boarding houses and then a single dining room at the Russell House Hotel, the meeting members would jostle, shove and curse one another in a disorderly meeting starting on the 7th of November. The news that the United States had declined to renew the Reciprocity Treaty and ending free trade between the two countries had just arrived. This would have an immediate effect on the economy, driving prices higher in the post-war market. While most correctly assessed that this was a revenge tactic for the reparations they had to pay, there was precious little thought as to what might be done about it.
Galt was immediately working to rationalize the Canadian tax system for the next fiscal year, while easing the burden on the population recovering from the war. The opening of less odious trade networks between the provinces would also provide some relief, but the high cost of American goods would almost certainly lead to economic strain that only might be alleviated by government spending. Thus the urge to parcel out as much land as possible that could be claimed, and send as many demobilized militiamen and soldiers back to their factories and farms as possible. So much would depend on the economic engine of 1867 and the harvest of that year.
The final potential problem facing Macdonald, at a political level, was the leaders of the new provinces. Through an adroit combination of patronage towards allies, and not a little bit of political bribery, he managed to get the men he wanted in power. In Ontario he sponsored his long time former rival John Sandfield Macdonald, who as an ardent liberal could not be accused of simply being a catspaw for the Prime Minister, but a man who was at that time still committed to the Great Coalition as it existed. In Quebec Gédéon Ouimet was propelled to the leadership on the back of a firm conservative majority, but as a distinct second choice due to the nature of the senate and Macdonald and Cartier needing their firmest allies in that body. Ouimet would prove to be a sober choice, and a reliable man who both greatly fought for French rights under the law and someone Macdonald could lean on in an emergency.
In the Maritimes, New Brunswick carried to power the fiery anti-American and expansionist Peter Mitchell, a bulldog of a man who seemed to hate Americans as much as he hated political corruption[4]. The long serving premier would soon become something of a thorn in Macdonald’s side, but dutifully sent loyal men to Canada’s first senate. Nova Scotia, barely, elected Hiram Blanchard who would send Charles Tupper to serve as the chief advocate of Macdonald’s government in the Maritimes to the Senate. In Prince Edward Island, James C. Pope would be elected in what was declared “an act of blatant bribery” as he brought the Federal trough to buy out the Cunards and lofty promises of a railroad for the island. It was a landslide victory that represented nothing less than the pinnacle of the effective control of the Conservative coalition over the country.
As such, heading into 1867, Macdonald would run the country with an effective supermajority in the Senate and the House of Commons, and hoped that legislative offices would exist for them soon rather than the shamble of boarding rooms and hotel lobbies which were utilized in those first sittings of what would become the Saloon Parliament…
To round out the year 1866, Macdonald made one more fateful decision, he got married. The wedding was as much a cynical union of convenience as it was a union of love. Macdonald, now as the chief executive of a putative new kingdom in North America, needed a wife who could act as a hostess and chatelaine for the new social station he had sought. Agnes Bernard, his new bride and sister of his chief military secretary and soon head of staff at the Attorney General’s Department[5], desired a step up in the social world of the new Canada. At 30 years of age, she dreaded becoming a spinster.
One thing which complemented the couple was their love of power. As Agnes herself would write “I also know that my love of power is strong, so strong I sometimes dread it; it influences me when I imagine I am influenced by a sense of right.” This attitude suited Macdonald just fine, and an ambitious woman as his bride would be a key asset in the struggles to come. This was especially true as his old rival George Brown returned with his new bride from Britain, now more than ready to enter the political struggles of the new Canadian nation…” – Nation Maker: The Life of John A. Macdonald, Richard Chartrand, Queens University Publishing, 2005
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1] Numbers it would not reach until nearly the turn of the century OTL.
2] Honestly I could have just called this chapter “Everyone hates Ottawa” and it would have been an accurate reflection of the animus towards the city in that time. It’s hardly improved here with politicians, soldiers, laborers, and lumberjacks jostling elbows in the streets and taverns every day.
3] Something only possible because British investors are looking for “safe” investments outside the United States and the subsidizing of the Canadian economy thanks to the money the US must pump in until 1869 from the treaty.
4] Close to his character in real life. He reputedly carried a gun to threaten prohibition supporters and constructed gunboats to harass Americans fishing in Canadian waters. Not a man for whom middle ground seemed to exist!
5] Hewitt Bernard was for quite a long while Macdonald’s principal secretary, but in 1861 or 1862 may have ceased to be that and pursued a career in law and the militia. However, I chose to promote him to Macdonald’s military secretary role for convenience and it is historic that the two maintained a close working relationship throughout their lives.
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With this talk of setting out the situation in orth America it does bring up one question: What will the fate of Russian Alaska be?
Reading about the formation of Canada in this TL makes me want to learn more about Canadian history. I'm ashamed to say I know quite little.
The Parliament Buildings being "just in time" OTL instead being "late and over budget" in WiF seemed like the most Canadian thing I could possibly do! Hence the lovely Saloon Parliament setting the stage for early Canada.
Well one thing I can tell you is that it won't be sold to the US in 1867...
Though Russian Pacific ambitions are about to have their horizons broadened.
Thank you! It's a mite less violent than TTL, but its something I find interesting for the personalities all the same!