genyodectes
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I'm just a Ceratosaur trying to make his way in Alternate History
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 8, 2020 4:58:37 GMT
As War in the western theaters stagnated due to the six armies only fighting battles of attrition instead of battles of movement, the Eastern theatre seemed to be the most active front. Following the Peninsula Campaign and the disaster that it was seen as being, Union President Abraham Lincoln decided it was time for a change. He believed, after all, that the late General McClellan's overly cautious nature brought the Union to defeat when they were just about to take the city of Richmond and many in his military staff agreed with him. As soon as the devastated Army of the Potomac returned to Alexandria and marched back into friendly territory to rest up, President Lincoln had already ordered for two new forces to be organized and march into Virginia. The first army was the Army of Virginia, organized on June 26th and placed under the command of Major General John Pope while the second army was the Army of the Valley, organized on July 3rd and placed under the command of Major General Irvin McDowell. He wanted both men to bring their armies to bear in Virginia, with McDowell advancing and securing the pro-union western portion of Virginia while Pope would march south overland to take Richmond, with the III, IV, and VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac placed under his command for extra aid in battle, each of the three Corps having 8,000 men total in them. Pope's Army of Virginia by itself consisted of 51,000 men and had 3 major corps, a reserve corps, and a cavalry division. Each of the three main corps consisted of 14,000 men while the reserve corps had 7,000 men and the cavalry division had 2,000. Each of the Corps had their own commanders, with Major General Franz Sigel commanding the I Corps, Brigadier General John Buford commanding the II Corps, Brigadier General Rufus King commanding the III Corps, Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis commanding the Reserve Corps, and Brigadier General George Crook commanded the Cavalry Division as Major Generals Phillip Kearny, George Sykes, and William B. Franklin commanded the Army of the Potomac's III, IV, and VI Corps respectfully. The initial plan for General Pope was to march South with the support of the entire Army of the Potomac, numbering at 64,000 men without the aforementioned Corps, but General Heintzelman refused to move, insisting his army had yet to fully recover from the failed Peninsula Campaign of his predecessor. From July 14th-17th, both men argued until Pope finally relented and thanks his counterpart for allowing him three of the Army of the Potomac's Corps instead. This forced Pope to rework his plan, as he wouldn't have completely overwhelming numbers as he would've if Heintzelman had come along and supported him. With an army of 75,000, Pope would begin to march south from Washington until he could successfully besiege Richmond. He would first send out the Cavalry Division under Crook to capture the Virginia Central Railroad and even break it, but this was deemed a complete failure and forced Pope to march southwards without any real assistance from his Cavalry except for Reconnaissance. As he marched southwards, the Army of Virginia would burn local farms, arrest civilians loyal to the South, and free slaves on plantations, ideas deemed unacceptable to the South, including it's president, John C. Breckenridge. As the Union began to march southwards from July 22nd onwards, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia faced a power struggle. The two highest ranking officers of the army following the death of General Lee, James Longstreet and Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson had completely different mindsets on how to deal with Pope's army. Longstreet advocated for a purely defensive strategy, hoping to wear the Army of Virginia down by forcing it into countless costly engagements that would had no real negative side effects for the Confederacy, while Jackson advocated for an offensive strategy, outflanking Pope and going straight for Washington D.C. The idea indeed horrified President Breckenridge, as the 64,000 men in the Army of the Potomac combined with the 10,000 men occupying Maryland and 20,000 men defending Washington would prove more than a match for the 72,000 strong army of Northern Virginia, especially due to the heavy fortifications surrounding Washington. Jackson's idea would also leave Richmond, defended by a small garrison of 15,000 men, at the mercy of Pope, something many in the South were unwilling to see. However, the Confederate Secretary of War, George W. Randolph, came up with a compromise. He saw the merits in the ideas of both Jackson and Longstreet, but he also recognized that both men were incompatible to serve command of a single army together. What Randolph suggested was quite simple. The Army of Northern Virginia was to be placed in two, with 42,000 men being under Longstreet's command while the remaining 30,000 men were under Jackson's. Jackson was to be placed in the Valley and strike at Baltimore should the opportunity present itself while Longstreet would distract and wear down John Pope. After all, Maryland had voted to secede from the Union early on in the War and capturing the Capital of the state would bring the Union Government, the Army of the Potomac, and the Army of Virginia deep in Enemy Territory and liable to devastating sieges. The two generals, despite some concerns, agreed and moved to their respective positions. Under Longstreet's command would be 3 main Corps and a Cavalry Corps, with each corps having 10,500 men in them. the I Corps was under the command of Magruder, the II under the command of Major General Gustavus W. Smith, the III under the command of Major General George Pickett, and Longstreet's cavalry under the command of Major General J. E. B. Stuart. While Longstreet was outnumbered 2 to 1 in Virginia itself, he recognized that, much like Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Joe Johnston, and Jefferson Davis in the South, all he would need to do is conduct a purely defensive campaign and force the Union to withdraw as they lost more and more troops in battle compared to him. General Jackson, however, would have the luck of the draw. Placed in the Valley, the General had 3 main corps and an cavalry corps himself, with each corps having 7,500 men. Jackson's I Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill, his II Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Robert S. Ewell, his III Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, and his Cavalry Corps was under the command of Brigadier General Turner Ashby. His force in the western portion of Virginia would battle against the smaller 11,000 strong Union Army of the Valley under the command of Major General McDowell. McDowell had been ordered by Lincoln and Pope to march into Western Virginia and secure it for Union forces, but under him were just two corps, under the commands of Brigadier Generals Montgomery C. Meigs and Alpheus S. Williams, each 5,500 men strong. As this was going on, Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman began to reorganize the Army of the Potomac and divided it into three pieces (Right-wing, Center, and Left-Wing) and placed two corps in each piece while having a final cavalry corps detached from the army to survey the Area. The Right Wing was under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker, the Center was under the Command of Major General Erasmus D. Keyes, and the Left Wing was under the command of Ambrose E. Burnside. In the Right Wing, the I and II Corps were under the commands of Brigadier General John Reynolds and Major General Israel B. Richardson respectfully, while in the center, the IV and VII Corps were placed under the commands of Major Generals Darius N. Couch and John Adams Dix, and finally, in the Left Wing, the IX and XI Corps were under the commands of Major Generals John Parke and Julius Stanel, with the Cavalry Corps being placed under the command of Brigadier General George Stoneman. Stoneman's Cavalry was given 4,000 men while the remaining three parts were given 20,000 men each, each corps commanding 10,000 men. Combined with the garrisons stationed in Washington, Baltimore, and Dover, the Army of the Potomac seemed impossible to defeat when on their own land.   Confederate and Union Organization for the Northern Virginia Campaign. Note : Jackson, McDowell, and Heintzelman's Western Virginia and Maryland Campaigns are considered to be separate from the Northern Virginia Campaign despite taking place around the same timeFrom July 19th-September 1st, what is known to history as the Northern Virginia Campaign was waged with Union General Pope looking to bring Virginia back into the Union by the end of the year while Confederate General Longstreet looked to see Union Morale crushed and their armies decimated by going against countless defensive positions of his. The Confederate general decided that in order to make it a living hell for the Union Advance, he would construct defensive positions within a 40 mile radius of Washington D.C., preparing multiple trenches, forts, earthworks, and other nigh impenetrable positions. His hope was to make each possible union victory to be as Pyrrhic as possible or for every Confederate Victory to be as decisive as possible, as he knew that the more manpower that died in battle would be less men the Confederates could combat the Union with. The Union Army of Virginia would clash with Longstreet's forces at the Battle of Gainesville from August 1st-2nd, when the Confederate I Corps faced off against the Union's I and II Corps as well as the Potomac's VI Corps. The battle had 36,000 Union Soldiers face off against 10,500 well entrenched Confederates. Just like what was being done in Alabama, the I Corps under Magruder had three trenches in much the same fashion as Davis, though each line had the orders to only retreat when the enemy was about 75 yards away, ensuring as many Causalities as possible. Initially, the Union Corps had considered just outflanking the Confederate position and overwhelming them with sheer numbers from there. Magruder, and Longstreet's other subordinates, however, had thought of a way to prevent that. Around their defensive positions, they dug wide, deep moats with the only flat surface being in front of their defensive positions, forcing the Union to commit to charging head on into Confederate fire. By 9 PM on August 2nd, the Union admitted defeat and withdrew to link up with Pope's main force once more. The Battle of Gainesville had seen the Union suffer 2,783 dead, 5,788 wounded, and 1,090 captured/missing compared to the Confederate's 97 dead, 462 wounded, and 52 captured/missing. For the next two weeks, the Union would engage Confederate positions thrice more times. First, they would engage at the Battle of The Plains, where the Union II Corps and Potomac's IV Corps battled Smith's II Corps on August 7th, leading to 1,096 dead, 3,475 wounded, and 342 captured/missing on the Union Side to 156 dead, 512 wounded, and 85 captured/missing on the Confederate side, then again at the Battle of Sudley Springs on August 12th when the Union's I, II, and III Corps faced off against Pickett's III Corps with Magruder's I Corps, making it 20,389 Confederates against 24,426 Federals. The battle was another disastrous Union defeat, with them getting 2,036 dead, 5,783 wounded, and 1,233 captured/missing to the Confederates' 421 dead, 1,001 wounded, and 101 captured/missing. This left around 15,374 men in the main three corps of Pope's Army and 7,211 of the Potomac's IV and VI Corps left. The only success the Union saw was at the Battle of Farrs Corner on August 14th, where Phillip Kearny was able to successfully lead his fresh 8,000 strong III Corps in defeating Smith's 9,747 strong II Corps at a heavy cost. The Union would suffer 2,411 dead, 3,752 wounded, and 874 captured/missing to the Confederacy's 1,097 dead, 1,754 wounded, and 977 captured/missing. This left Pope with just 23,908 men until combined with his reserve corps of 7,000, which gave him almost 31,000 men combat effective. At the same time, Longstreet had suffered miserably as well. His portion of the Army of Northern Virginia had went from 42,000 to just 24,785 men. General Pope still had the advantage in manpower, but it was quite clear that at this point, both sides were exhausted from the extended fighting. On August 25th, Longstreet and Pope would consolidate all their forces into the Second Battle of Manassas. Situated close to the place where the First Major Battle of the War had taken place the year before, Longstreet's men were well entrenched and had been brought to 27,000 men strong while Pope's force had been brought to 40,000 men strong thanks to Pro-Union Virginians and conscripts from the North joining the Army of Virginia. Settled along a railroad line, Longstreet implemented the same strategy he ordered his three commanders to take in the prior battles, though he gave a small twist. In front of his line was a series of collapse dugouts filled with wooden spikes and two ditches in front, long, open, and exposed to Confederate Fire. At the same time, Each Corps was to hold a position, with the I Corps holding the First Trench, the II Corps holding the Second, and the III Corps holding the last. For three days, Pope attempted to break the Confederate Line and each time, they were pushed back, with both of the first two days seeing no real success in taking any trenches. On The Third Day, the First trench fell, followed two hours later by the Second Trench, but the Third Trench proved too strong a position and soon, the Army of Virginia was forced to withdraw. Major General Kearny and his III Corps was able to take full credit for the capture of the first two trenches while Major General Franklin and his IV Corps could themselves take full responsibility for the disastrous retreat. Just like at the first battle, chaos reigned in the retreat and because of that, the Confederates were able to tally up more causalities on the Union. The Union Causalities numbered to 3,783 dead, 7,908 wounded, and 2,036 captured/missing to the Confederate's 1,915 dead, 4,802 wounded, and 953 captured/missing. Days after the battle, on September 3rd, General Kearny and his Corps held off Longstreet's entire army for two whole days at the Battle of Chantilly before withdrawing with the Army of Virginia back into Maryland, by which they would arrive at Washington D.C. by September 13th, 4 days after the end of Jackson's failed Maryland Campaign. The Battle of Chantilly saw the Union have 842 dead, 1,009 wounded, and 157 captured/missing to the Confederate's 673 dead, 984 wounded, and 63 captured/missing. The Northern Virginia Campaign was a complete disaster for the Union, where they would see 47,432 causalities and the near destruction of Pope's army. However, the Confederates themselves suffered dearly for the campaign as well, suffering 16,653 causalities. Combined, this led to 64,085 men being dead, wounded, or captured/missing. While the campaign wasn't as disastrous for the Confederacy as many would've hoped it have been, it was still a bloody slogfest and combined with the two other campaigns going on in Virginia at the same time, left the Army of Northern Virginia in a very weakened position that they would've originally been in, though they wouldn't reach their lowest point until after the Central Pennsylvania Campaign just a year later. However, for the time being, Virginia was safe, and to Breckenridge, that was all that mattered, though he would later remove Longstreet and Jackson as commanders during the month of October due to their actions nearly destroying the entire Army of Northern Virginia.  Bloody and Brutal, the Second Battle of Manassas was the true end of the Union's second failed attempt to capture Richmond, though it wouldn't be their lastDuring the Northern Virginia Campaign as well as the Campaigns in the Midwest, Missouri, and Alabama, another campaign was being waged by General Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson. His 30,000 man force, having split off from Longstreet's part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Without the will of Robert E. Lee to keep them from fighting, both men's disagreements forced them to separate. However, this would lead to the success, and unfortunately, failure and firings, of both men. On July 25th, news reached him of General McDowell's Army of the Valley arriving to take effective control of Western Virginia and moved to stop him. Initially, the General was shocked to hear that the Union sent only 11,000 men and awaited to see if McDowell was getting reinforcements. After 5 days confirmed to him that 11,000 Federals were all that was sent to occupy such a vast area, General Jackson ordered extra reconnaissance over the area to give him more information. What his cavalry had found had made him extremely giddy and in a prayer to God, he thanked him for the chance to crush an entire Union Army singlehandedly, a feat that hadn't been done since Shiloh when the Grant's Army of the Tennessee and Buell's Army of the Ohio was destroyed by General Albert Sidney Johnston's Army of Mississippi. What McDowell had done confused historians for years to come. Effectively, McDowell has split his army in three, with 1,500 men from both of his Corps being consolidated into his position at a farmhouse in Clay County in the center of the state while his I Corps of 4,000 men under the command of Brigadier General Montgomery C Meigs was sent north to the city of Huntington in order to secure the Virginia/Ohio Border while his II Corps of 4,000, under the command of Brigadier General Alpehus S. Williams, was sent south to capture Princeton to open a more direct route to Richmond from the West. His hope was that there was no Confederate forces in the area that would try and stop him and he could rely on the underground pro-union movement for support. The failure of his cavalry to report of Jackson's force being in the area was what doomed the Western Virginia Campaign from the start, however. On August 3rd, Jackson split his army into three parts, with his I Corps going North, his II Corps going south, and his III Corps going with him as his Cavalry harassed McDowell's supply lines. During the middle of August, Jackson's Army of Virginia were able to force the surrender of all 11,000 soldiers in the Army of the Valley without a single shot fired, a superb victory that left many in Montgomery applauding and many in Washington in shambles. Such a disaster had not been witnessed before and while it was only 11,000 men, McDowell's surrender had left the path to Washington D.C. through Western Virginia open and Jackson sought to exploit that opportunity. On August 22nd, after 5 days of relaxing, he ordered his men to begin marching east, into Maryland, with the hopes of capturing Baltimore and, if given the chance, even Washington itself. By August 25th, he successfully crossed the Virginia/Maryland border and continued his march eastwards. As he did so, more and more Confederate sympathizers rallied to his cause and joined his army, ballooning it to 42,000 by the start of September. Lincoln, aware of the threat he now faced, demanded that General Heintzelman move out of Washington with the Army of the Potomac and engage Jackson, due to the fact that he had 22,000 more soldiers then him. Heintzelman consistently refused the order, however, and thus left the Union Occupation forces of Maryland and Delaware to attempt to push back Jackson. However, these men were poorly trained and equipped and fell rather quickly to Stonewall Jackson's advancing force, now numbering at 44,000 as more flocked to his cause. Aware of the danger that was now being posed, Major Generals Joseph Hooker, Erasmund D. Keyes, Ambrose E. Burnside, and Brigadier General George Meade held a secret meeting on the night of September 3rd and agreed without alerting General Heintzelman of what they were doing. The Entire Army of the Potomac would move out of Washington and onto the field of battle to stop Jackson before he could cause even more turmoil, as several pro-confederate forces had already risen up in the two remaining occupied states and were fighting against pro-union militia. By 7 AM, the Army of the Potomac was completely out of Washington and on their way west as the General Awakened. He was initially shocked upon hearing what his subordinates had done without his permission and demanded they return, but he was simply pushed aside and, effective on the afternoon of September 5th, he was forced to relinquish command of the Army of the Potomac and was dismissed from the Army. The disgraced general would live in New York to live out the rest of his days, though the rise of a new political party, against the Democrats and their treachery and the Republicans and their perceived forever war with the Confederacy, known as the Hidebound party, was able to convince him to run for Senate that year as the Party Nominee for the New York Seat and he was able to successfully win it, becoming the first Hidebound Party member to be elected to Congress, and he would later be the Party's first Presidential Nominee. The Army of the Potomac would meet Jackson at the town of Cooksville just 2 miles west of Baltimore on September 7th and both would line up for the single bloodiest day in the entire war. The Battle of Cooksville would last from 9:30 AM to 10:26 PM when the last Confederate soldier would leave the battlefield in solemn defeat. An entire day of both sides charging headlong into one another lead many to realize how truly terrible the day had become. At several points, various parts of the Union line broke only for the Confederates to waver at other points. By the end, on the Union side, 6,421 had died, 9,524 had been wounded, and 2,105 were captured/missing while the Confederates had 5,736 dead, 10,092 wounded, and 2,763 captured/missing. Combined, the amount of causalities were 36,641, with the Union Army of the Potomac going from 64,000 to 45,950 and Jackson's portion of the Army of Northern Virginia went from 44,000 to 25,409. By all intents and purposes, Jackson's Maryland Campaign had been a disaster with nearly half his entire army devastated from the battle. While many believed the Battle of Cooksville would prove a decisive turning point in the war, both sides knew that this was only one of many more bloodier battles to take place. Following the carnage of the battle, President Lincoln himself and issued a single declaration, stating that since the South has chosen to not surrender and rejoin the union, he would take away the one thing they cared about : their slaves. Two days after the Battle of Cooksville, he declared that starting on January 1st, 1863, any and all slaves in the South were now free, with the right to vote, right to run for office, right to bear arms, and most importantly to the union war effort, the right to join the army. The Emancipation Proclamation had given truth to what southerners had feared Lincoln would be in 1860 and had given the war a true moral purpose, a righteous one that deterred any French or British intervention in the war on the side of the Confederacy. However, a new man would join the battlefield and would give the Union some hope in the coming years : Italian General and man who fought for the rights of all across the world, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi would arrive in the Union in February of 1863 and would become the Military Adviser of the President before being granted command of his own army in the middle of that year.    The Three Major Armies that would serve during the Western Virginia and Jackson's Maryland Campaigns. Note : Heintzelman had been relieved of Duty shortly before the Battle of Cooksville, but news of this didn't reach the Army of the Potomac until after the battleIn the days following of the three largest and most costly campaigns in the war at that point combined, both sides believed it was time to reorganize the Armies. For the Union, President Lincoln, gravely disappointed in General Pope and his Army of Virginia's performance in his Northern Virginia Campaign was dissolved and merged into the Army of the Potomac with Pope himself being dismissed from the military for how badly he had mucked up the campaign. Then, it was made known that Heintzelman had been dismissed as Commander of the Army of the Potomac before he reorganized it entirely into a new structure based on performance in the last two campaigns. First, he elevated Ambrose E. Burnside to become the main commander of the Army of the Potomac, something he had already shown to be capable of at Cooksville. Then, Joseph Hooker was allowed to maintain command of the Right Wing while George Meade was promoted to have command of the Center and Kearny, for his actions during the Virginia Campaign, was given command of the Left Wing, despite repeated warnings from Kearny's contemporaries about him being too aggressive and pointing out how devastated his Corps was in various battles, though Lincoln ignored them, saying " This man does what no one has else has done : He fights!" [1] and with that statement, no one dared to question the President again. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, President Breckenridge was grateful for the repulsing of Union forces from Virginia, but he was very disappointed at the staggering cost that the Campaigns in the east had seen, all the while the Confederacy were still being relatively successful on other parts of the war except for Alabama, where general Davis was slowly falling back. He was even more upset with the fact that both parts of the Army of Northern Virginia had almost been destroyed because of the rivalry between the two generals leading it. He was himself more disappointed with Longstreet, who had the chance to assist Jackson and destroy the Army of the Potomac for good, but he failed to do so. As for Jackson, he had the chance to assist Longstreet in destroying Pope's army but failed to do so due to his own zealousness. Thus, both men were promptly fired from their roles as Generals with Edmund Kirby Smith from the Western Theatre being given command of the Army of Northern Virginia and John Bell Hood being transported to command the I Corps there. While Jackson simply retired for a short time to his Virginia home until he was brought before the President to become his new military adviser, Longstreet became a envious enemy of the President and would run for Governor of Virginia as an Independent in 1863 and would win with 74.21% of the vote. However, he would not challenge Breckenridge in a Presidential Election, as every major politician considered an idea like that political suicide. With both major armies of the Eastern Theatre now given new commands, both were restructured to make them even better, with the Army of the Potomac coming in three parts, each with three Corps, with a Reserve and Cavalry Corps while the Army of Northern Virginia was divided into three parts, each with two corps, and had their own reserve and cavalry corps. By late October, true stalemate had hate the war once again and it seemed the war would drag on for another, bloody, painful year with no true end in sight, though many in the South were hoping to wear the Union down with enough defeats for Lincoln to be ousted in the 1864 Presidential Election. For Lincoln, it had become clear that the public was losing confidence in his ability to win the war. After all, every one of the major offensives into the South had failed miserably.In response to prodding from the Union President and General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck, Burnside decided to intiate a plan that had began under the leadership of McClellan and continued to be developed under Heintzelman. He would concentrate his army near Warrenton in an attempt to trick the Army of Northern Virginia into heading there, then he would move southeast, to Fredericksburg after crossing the Rappahannock River. He hoped that Smith, having only recently given command, wouldn't move as the Army of the Potomac continued to march southwards towards Richmond. Despite initial concerns about the potential success of the plans, Lincoln approved of it, hoping it would give the Union just one victory to end the year on a good note for the Union. Thus, on November 14th, the Army started marching towards their destination. Following Heintzelman's dismissal from the Army, Burnside's force had been reorganized with there being four major parts (Left Wing, Center, Right-Wing, Reserve) with each having three Corps under their command. Major General Joseph Hooker would command the right and would have the I Corps (under John F. Reynolds), the II Corps (under Israel B. Richardson), and the III Corps (under Major General Daniel Sickles), while Major General George Meade would command the Center and would lead the IV Corps (Under George Sykes), V Corps (Under Darius N. Couch), and the VI Corps (Under William B. Franklin), Major General Phillip Kearny would have command of the Left Wing and would lead the VII Corps (under John Adams Dix), VIII Corps (under Major General John Sedgewick), and the IX Corps (Under Major General John Parke) while Major General Erasmus D. Keyes would command the Reserves, leading the X Corps (Under Brigadier General Aplpheus S. Williams), XI Corps (Under Julius Stahel), and the XII Corps (Under Brigadier General John Gibbon). The Cavalry was once again placed under the command of Stoneman while the provost marshal was declared to be Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick. The Army at this time consisted of 130,000 men, with 30,000 men being in each of the major parts while 5,000 men were in the cavalry and 5,000 were serving the prevost marshal. Each Crops enjoyed commanding 10,000 men. With this force, Burnside hoped to quickly sweep aside any resistance the Confederate Army would offer him. However, this was not to be. Smith had figured out Burnside's plan immediately upon taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia and decided to wait out just a mile or two South while issuing out a Corps to create defenses and earthworks that would make the battlefield a literal killing ground for Burnside and his men. Much like the Army of the Potomac, his Army of Northern Virginia had underwent major restructuring in the time between him taking command and the Fredericksburg campaign. In Command of the Right Wing was Lieutenant General John Bell Hood, who would lead the I Corps (under Gustavus W. Smith) and the II Corps (under Major General Jubal Early), while the Center fell towards Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, who commanded the III Corps (under Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill) and IV Corps (Under Lieutenant General A. P. Hill). John B. Magruder was given command of the Left Wing and led the V Corps (Under Major General John G. Walker) and VI Corps (Under Major General Lafayette McLaws) and finally the Reserves were given to Major General David R. Jones and he would lead the VII Corps (under Brigadier General Henry A. Wise). Just like before, the Cavalry had been placed under the command of J. E. B. Stuart and he united the two distinct Cavalry Corps of Ashby and Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III. In total, the New Army of Northern Virginia numbered at 89,000, with the left wing, center, and right wing having 24,000 men and each corps having 12,000 men while the Cavalry was at 5,000 men strong. General Smith had ordered Magruder's Corps to build the earthwork and traps that laid for the Army of the Potomac while he placed the best soldiers in the town of Fredericksburg and ordered them to hold for as long as possible. On November 15th, the Union Army began to move towards their position with the first elements arriving by November 17th. However, there was a major problem that Burnside had to deal with before the Battle could begin. The union general had ordered pontoon bridges be sent to his position from Washington and assembled to quickly cross the river, but due to administrative disorder, his request did not pan out for some time. Burnside had first ordered the bridges, with many more provisions, on November 7th when he first detailed his plan to Halleck, before the plan was sent to the Chief of Staff in Washington on November 9th, with plans calling for both river and overland transport of the bridges. On November 14th, the 50th New York Engineers reported the bridges were ready to move , but the lack of horses caused a major delay. It wasn't until November 25th that the boats had arrived, allowing for Burnside to place his plan in motion. However, the mistake would prove to be disastrous for the Union as it gave the Confederates even more time to properly prepare their defenses. Even worse, General Burnside had fallen for a ploy by General Kirby when he sent his reserves west to give the illusion that he was weakening his position to reinforce other areas, convincing the Union general that a frontal assault would be the best option. It would take an entire bloody day of fighting on December 11th to secure the town itself from the Confederates and it took two more days for the rest of the Army to march across. On all of December 14th, the Union attempted wave after wave of assaults on the heavily fortified Confederate positions but each one were repulsed with greater magnitude and causalities, with many Confederate officers stating that it was a shame that the yankees were too incompetent to just withdraw so many men could live to fight another day. In the Afternoon of December 15th, Burnside was able to convince Smith to allow a truce to take place so he could tend to his wounded and be allowed to withdraw. By December 16th, the last Union soldier had left Fredericksburg and by the Christmas day, they had returned into Maryland. The entire Fredericksburg Campaign had been a sheer disaster for the Union, with them suffering 7,543 dead, 17,326 wounded, and 4,115 captured/missing compared to the Confederate losses of 673 dead, 1,016 wounded, and 79 captured/missing. As a result, Lincoln relieved Burnside of his command and gave it to Major General Joseph Hooker, who took over command of the Army while giving the Right Wing to his and Kearny's friend Daniel Sickles. In Fact, Kearny's Left Wing and Sickles' III Corps had shown great tenacity during the fighting and had actually gotten pretty close to the Union line several times at Fredericksburg only to be repulsed at the last minute and because of that, they suffered the heaviest losses. This did not go unnoticed by Lincoln and he placed Kearny slightly below Meade on a list of possible replacements for Hooker should he failed and placed Sickles under Kearny's potential successor Garibaldi should the Italian fail as a Battlefield commander. The year 1862 ended on a severely sour note for the Union with their only true success being in the opening months of the year only to be followed by consistent disaster after disaster. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, it seemed as if their victory in the war was all but inevitable. They had beaten back every major Union advance and held all but two states that seceded from the Union. To President Breckenridge, it seemed a sure sign that the Confederacy was on the path to victory in the war, with many believing that all it would take was just one massive battle to finally break the Union's will and force them to negotiate. What came next, however, was something nobody expected.   The structures of both forces during the Fredericksburg Campaign. A complete disaster for the Union, it made it seem as if Confederate Victory would happen by the middle of 1863On December 27th, in a desperate attempt to gain a sense of normalcy, President Lincoln decided to take a stroll across the Nation's capital and survey the wreckage the war had brought. In Just two years, things had gone increasingly bad for the Union due to the incompetency of their generals as well as the overestimation of their abilities in battle. All four major theatres of the War had been turned around from potential Union Victories into Confederate blowouts all the while unrest spread across the Union. Lincoln, in a desperate bid to gain more men for the army, instituted a draft in late 1862 that had any man over the age of 18 be pressed into military service for several years. This had caused riots all across the north, with the biggest being in New York City. The draft was a major reason why the Hidebounds would take control of the state throughout the war, with Heintzelman being seen as the figurehead for the party's future expansion outward.
The Union President's popularity had plummeted as all the actions he had taken to ensure the union was kept as one nation under god was becoming increasingly dictatorial, with one of the biggest criticisms seeming to be the suspension of Habeas Corpus as well as the imprisonment of confederate sympathizing journalists. The president could only shake his head in sadness. If only there was a way for peace to reign once more and for the union to come out on top. Unbeknownst to him, a man had been following him for the past half hour and, upon seeing no one in sight, pulled out a pistol and let out several rounds. Seconds later, someone screamed out "The President's been shot!" and a few second after that, Abraham Lincoln fell onto the sidewalk, dead from several gunshots. Hours later, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin would be rushed to take the oath of office and become the 17th President of the United States.
As it turned out, the assassin was a draftee who was enraged upon seeing a war that was seemingly already lost being continued by the President. Thus, when he saw an opportunity to strike, he did so and quite effectively at that. Lincoln had been determined to see the entire war through but he had only seen it halfway. Any hopes the South had of starting peace talks with the new President was dashed, however, with the newly inaugurated President Hamlin promising death and destruction on the south for not giving up when they had the chance. "May god help us all!" President Breckenridge commented, knowing full well that Hamlin's declaration meant that the Confederacy's only hope now was to wait until 1864 and hope the peace candidate won and in order to ensure that, that would mean the Confederacy would have to make the Union believe the war was truly unwinnable and 1863 would be the year to decide if that truly was the case. As the union armies planned, the Confederate forces settled down and readied themselves for two more years of what they saw to be pointless fighting. The only silver lining to many was that their death would bring an end to this horrible war for them.
[1] - A slight variation on Lincoln's quote about Grant. It fits from what I've read about Kearny.
Post #7 now finished and I think this is my largest post here yet, detailing the eastern theatre in the aftermath of the Peninsula Campaign. 1862 seems to have been a really crazy year for the war at this point with all that has happened. Please give thoughts down below and if you want to make a DBWI TL of this, feel free to, just credit me with the original ideal. Until next time, Ciao! |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 8, 2020 9:03:56 GMT
As War in the western theaters stagnated due to the six armies only fighting battles of attrition instead of battles of movement, the Eastern theatre seemed to be the most active front. Following the Peninsula Campaign and the disaster that it was seen as being, Union President Abraham Lincoln decided it was time for a change. He believed, after all, that the late General McClellan's overly cautious nature brought the Union to defeat when they were just about to take the city of Richmond and many in his military staff agreed with him. As soon as the devastated Army of the Potomac returned to Alexandria and marched back into friendly territory to rest up, President Lincoln had already ordered for two new forces to be organized and march into Virginia. The first army was the Army of Virginia, organized on June 26th and placed under the command of Major General John Pope while the second army was the Army of the Valley, organized on July 3rd and placed under the command of Major General Irvin McDowell. He wanted both men to bring their armies to bear in Virginia, with McDowell advancing and securing the pro-union western portion of Virginia while Pope would march south overland to take Richmond, with the III, IV, and VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac placed under his command for extra aid in battle, each of the three Corps having 8,000 men total in them. Pope's Army of Virginia by itself consisted of 51,000 men and had 3 major corps, a reserve corps, and a cavalry division. Each of the three main corps consisted of 14,000 men while the reserve corps had 7,000 men and the cavalry division had 2,000. Each of the Corps had their own commanders, with Major General Franz Sigel commanding the I Corps, Brigadier General John Buford commanding the II Corps, Brigadier General Rufus King commanding the III Corps, Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis commanding the Reserve Corps, and Brigadier General George Crook commanded the Cavalry Division as Major Generals Phillip Kearny, George Sykes, and William B. Franklin commanded the Army of the Potomac's III, IV, and VI Corps respectfully. The initial plan for General Pope was to march South with the support of the entire Army of the Potomac, numbering at 64,000 men without the aforementioned Corps, but General Heintzelman refused to move, insisting his army had yet to fully recover from the failed Peninsula Campaign of his predecessor. From July 14th-17th, both men argued until Pope finally relented and thanks his counterpart for allowing him three of the Army of the Potomac's Corps instead. This forced Pope to rework his plan, as he wouldn't have completely overwhelming numbers as he would've if Heintzelman had come along and supported him. With an army of 75,000, Pope would begin to march south from Washington until he could successfully besiege Richmond. He would first send out the Cavalry Division under Crook to capture the Virginia Central Railroad and even break it, but this was deemed a complete failure and forced Pope to march southwards without any real assistance from his Cavalry except for Reconnaissance. As he marched southwards, the Army of Virginia would burn local farms, arrest civilians loyal to the South, and free slaves on plantations, ideas deemed unacceptable to the South, including it's president, John C. Breckenridge. As the Union began to march southwards from July 22nd onwards, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia faced a power struggle. The two highest ranking officers of the army following the death of General Lee, James Longstreet and Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson had completely different mindsets on how to deal with Pope's army. Longstreet advocated for a purely defensive strategy, hoping to wear the Army of Virginia down by forcing it into countless costly engagements that would had no real negative side effects for the Confederacy, while Jackson advocated for an offensive strategy, outflanking Pope and going straight for Washington D.C. The idea indeed horrified President Breckenridge, as the 64,000 men in the Army of the Potomac combined with the 10,000 men occupying Maryland and 20,000 men defending Washington would prove more than a match for the 72,000 strong army of Northern Virginia, especially due to the heavy fortifications surrounding Washington. Jackson's idea would also leave Richmond, defended by a small garrison of 15,000 men, at the mercy of Pope, something many in the South were unwilling to see. However, the Confederate Secretary of War, George W. Randolph, came up with a compromise. He saw the merits in the ideas of both Jackson and Longstreet, but he also recognized that both men were incompatible to serve command of a single army together. What Randolph suggested was quite simple. The Army of Northern Virginia was to be placed in two, with 42,000 men being under Longstreet's command while the remaining 30,000 men were under Jackson's. Jackson was to be placed in the Valley and strike at Baltimore should the opportunity present itself while Longstreet would distract and wear down John Pope. After all, Maryland had voted to secede from the Union early on in the War and capturing the Capital of the state would bring the Union Government, the Army of the Potomac, and the Army of Virginia deep in Enemy Territory and liable to devastating sieges. The two generals, despite some concerns, agreed and moved to their respective positions. Under Longstreet's command would be 3 main Corps and a Cavalry Corps, with each corps having 10,500 men in them. the I Corps was under the command of Magruder, the II under the command of Major General Gustavus W. Smith, the III under the command of Major General George Pickett, and Longstreet's cavalry under the command of Major General J. E. B. Stuart. While Longstreet was outnumbered 2 to 1 in Virginia itself, he recognized that, much like Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Joe Johnston, and Jefferson Davis in the South, all he would need to do is conduct a purely defensive campaign and force the Union to withdraw as they lost more and more troops in battle compared to him. General Jackson, however, would have the luck of the draw. Placed in the Valley, the General had 3 main corps and an cavalry corps himself, with each corps having 7,500 men. Jackson's I Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill, his II Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Robert S. Ewell, his III Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, and his Cavalry Corps was under the command of Brigadier General Turner Ashby. His force in the western portion of Virginia would battle against the smaller 11,000 strong Union Army of the Valley under the command of Major General McDowell. McDowell had been ordered by Lincoln and Pope to march into Western Virginia and secure it for Union forces, but under him were just two corps, under the commands of Brigadier Generals Montgomery C. Meigs and Alpheus S. Williams, each 5,500 men strong. As this was going on, Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman began to reorganize the Army of the Potomac and divided it into three pieces (Right-wing, Center, and Left-Wing) and placed two corps in each piece while having a final cavalry corps detached from the army to survey the Area. The Right Wing was under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker, the Center was under the Command of Major General Erasmus D. Keyes, and the Left Wing was under the command of Ambrose E. Burnside. In the Right Wing, the I and II Corps were under the commands of Brigadier General John Reynolds and Major General Israel B. Richardson respectfully, while in the center, the IV and VII Corps were placed under the commands of Major Generals Darius N. Couch and John Adams Dix, and finally, in the Left Wing, the IX and XI Corps were under the commands of Major Generals John Parke and Julius Stanel, with the Cavalry Corps being placed under the command of Brigadier General George Stoneman. Stoneman's Cavalry was given 4,000 men while the remaining three parts were given 20,000 men each, each corps commanding 10,000 men. Combined with the garrisons stationed in Washington, Baltimore, and Dover, the Army of the Potomac seemed impossible to defeat when on their own land. Confederate and Union Organization for the Northern Virginia Campaign. Note : Jackson, McDowell, and Heintzelman's Western Virginia and Maryland Campaigns are considered to be separate from the Northern Virginia Campaign despite taking place around the same timeFrom July 19th-September 1st, what is known to history as the Northern Virginia Campaign was waged with Union General Pope looking to bring Virginia back into the Union by the end of the year while Confederate General Longstreet looked to see Union Morale crushed and their armies decimated by going against countless defensive positions of his. The Confederate general decided that in order to make it a living hell for the Union Advance, he would construct defensive positions within a 40 mile radius of Washington D.C., preparing multiple trenches, forts, earthworks, and other nigh impenetrable positions. His hope was to make each possible union victory to be as Pyrrhic as possible or for every Confederate Victory to be as decisive as possible, as he knew that the more manpower that died in battle would be less men the Confederates could combat the Union with. The Union Army of Virginia would clash with Longstreet's forces at the Battle of Gainesville from August 1st-2nd, when the Confederate I Corps faced off against the Union's I and II Corps as well as the Potomac's VI Corps. The battle had 36,000 Union Soldiers face off against 10,500 well entrenched Confederates. Just like what was being done in Alabama, the I Corps under Magruder had three trenches in much the same fashion as Davis, though each line had the orders to only retreat when the enemy was about 75 yards away, ensuring as many Causalities as possible. Initially, the Union Corps had considered just outflanking the Confederate position and overwhelming them with sheer numbers from there. Magruder, and Longstreet's other subordinates, however, had thought of a way to prevent that. Around their defensive positions, they dug wide, deep moats with the only flat surface being in front of their defensive positions, forcing the Union to commit to charging head on into Confederate fire. By 9 PM on August 2nd, the Union admitted defeat and withdrew to link up with Pope's main force once more. The Battle of Gainesville had seen the Union suffer 2,783 dead, 5,788 wounded, and 1,090 captured/missing compared to the Confederate's 97 dead, 462 wounded, and 52 captured/missing. For the next two weeks, the Union would engage Confederate positions thrice more times. First, they would engage at the Battle of The Plains, where the Union II Corps and Potomac's IV Corps battled Smith's II Corps on August 7th, leading to 1,096 dead, 3,475 wounded, and 342 captured/missing on the Union Side to 156 dead, 512 wounded, and 85 captured/missing on the Confederate side, then again at the Battle of Sudley Springs on August 12th when the Union's I, II, and III Corps faced off against Pickett's III Corps with Magruder's I Corps, making it 20,389 Confederates against 24,426 Federals. The battle was another disastrous Union defeat, with them getting 2,036 dead, 5,783 wounded, and 1,233 captured/missing to the Confederates' 421 dead, 1,001 wounded, and 101 captured/missing. This left around 15,374 men in the main three corps of Pope's Army and 7,211 of the Potomac's IV and VI Corps left. The only success the Union saw was at the Battle of Farrs Corner on August 14th, where Phillip Kearny was able to successfully lead his fresh 8,000 strong III Corps in defeating Smith's 9,747 strong II Corps at a heavy cost. The Union would suffer 2,411 dead, 3,752 wounded, and 874 captured/missing to the Confederacy's 1,097 dead, 1,754 wounded, and 977 captured/missing. This left Pope with just 23,908 men until combined with his reserve corps of 7,000, which gave him almost 31,000 men combat effective. At the same time, Longstreet had suffered miserably as well. His portion of the Army of Northern Virginia had went from 42,000 to just 24,785 men. General Pope still had the advantage in manpower, but it was quite clear that at this point, both sides were exhausted from the extended fighting. On August 25th, Longstreet and Pope would consolidate all their forces into the Second Battle of Manassas. Situated close to the place where the First Major Battle of the War had taken place the year before, Longstreet's men were well entrenched and had been brought to 27,000 men strong while Pope's force had been brought to 40,000 men strong thanks to Pro-Union Virginians and conscripts from the North joining the Army of Virginia. Settled along a railroad line, Longstreet implemented the same strategy he ordered his three commanders to take in the prior battles, though he gave a small twist. In front of his line was a series of collapse dugouts filled with wooden spikes and two ditches in front, long, open, and exposed to Confederate Fire. At the same time, Each Corps was to hold a position, with the I Corps holding the First Trench, the II Corps holding the Second, and the III Corps holding the last. For three days, Pope attempted to break the Confederate Line and each time, they were pushed back, with both of the first two days seeing no real success in taking any trenches. On The Third Day, the First trench fell, followed two hours later by the Second Trench, but the Third Trench proved too strong a position and soon, the Army of Virginia was forced to withdraw. Major General Kearny and his III Corps was able to take full credit for the capture of the first two trenches while Major General Franklin and his IV Corps could themselves take full responsibility for the disastrous retreat. Just like at the first battle, chaos reigned in the retreat and because of that, the Confederates were able to tally up more causalities on the Union. The Union Causalities numbered to 3,783 dead, 7,908 wounded, and 2,036 captured/missing to the Confederate's 1,915 dead, 4,802 wounded, and 953 captured/missing. Days after the battle, on September 3rd, General Kearny and his Corps held off Longstreet's entire army for two whole days at the Battle of Chantilly before withdrawing with the Army of Virginia back into Maryland, by which they would arrive at Washington D.C. by September 13th, 4 days after the end of Jackson's failed Maryland Campaign. The Battle of Chantilly saw the Union have 842 dead, 1,009 wounded, and 157 captured/missing to the Confederate's 673 dead, 984 wounded, and 63 captured/missing. The Northern Virginia Campaign was a complete disaster for the Union, where they would see 47,432 causalities and the near destruction of Pope's army. However, the Confederates themselves suffered dearly for the campaign as well, suffering 16,653 causalities. Combined, this led to 64,085 men being dead, wounded, or captured/missing. While the campaign wasn't as disastrous for the Confederacy as many would've hoped it have been, it was still a bloody slogfest and combined with the two other campaigns going on in Virginia at the same time, left the Army of Northern Virginia in a very weakened position that they would've originally been in, though they wouldn't reach their lowest point until after the Central Pennsylvania Campaign just a year later. However, for the time being, Virginia was safe, and to Breckenridge, that was all that mattered, though he would later remove Longstreet and Jackson as commanders during the month of October due to their actions nearly destroying the entire Army of Northern Virginia. Bloody and Brutal, the Second Battle of Manassas was the true end of the Union's second failed attempt to capture Richmond, though it wouldn't be their lastDuring the Northern Virginia Campaign as well as the Campaigns in the Midwest, Missouri, and Alabama, another campaign was being waged by General Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson. His 30,000 man force, having split off from Longstreet's part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Without the will of Robert E. Lee to keep them from fighting, both men's disagreements forced them to separate. However, this would lead to the success, and unfortunately, failure and firings, of both men. On July 25th, news reached him of General McDowell's Army of the Valley arriving to take effective control of Western Virginia and moved to stop him. Initially, the General was shocked to hear that the Union sent only 11,000 men and awaited to see if McDowell was getting reinforcements. After 5 days confirmed to him that 11,000 Federals were all that was sent to occupy such a vast area, General Jackson ordered extra reconnaissance over the area to give him more information. What his cavalry had found had made him extremely giddy and in a prayer to God, he thanked him for the chance to crush an entire Union Army singlehandedly, a feat that hadn't been done since Shiloh when the Grant's Army of the Tennessee and Buell's Army of the Ohio was destroyed by General Albert Sidney Johnston's Army of Mississippi. What McDowell had done confused historians for years to come. Effectively, McDowell has split his army in three, with 1,500 men from both of his Corps being consolidated into his position at a farmhouse in Clay County in the center of the state while his I Corps of 4,000 men under the command of Brigadier General Montgomery C Meigs was sent north to the city of Huntington in order to secure the Virginia/Ohio Border while his II Corps of 4,000, under the command of Brigadier General Alpehus S. Williams, was sent south to capture Princeton to open a more direct route to Richmond from the West. His hope was that there was no Confederate forces in the area that would try and stop him and he could rely on the underground pro-union movement for support. The failure of his cavalry to report of Jackson's force being in the area was what doomed the Western Virginia Campaign from the start, however. On August 3rd, Jackson split his army into three parts, with his I Corps going North, his II Corps going south, and his III Corps going with him as his Cavalry harassed McDowell's supply lines. During the middle of August, Jackson's Army of Virginia were able to force the surrender of all 11,000 soldiers in the Army of the Valley without a single shot fired, a superb victory that left many in Montgomery applauding and many in Washington in shambles. Such a disaster had not been witnessed before and while it was only 11,000 men, McDowell's surrender had left the path to Washington D.C. through Western Virginia open and Jackson sought to exploit that opportunity. On August 22nd, after 5 days of relaxing, he ordered his men to begin marching east, into Maryland, with the hopes of capturing Baltimore and, if given the chance, even Washington itself. By August 25th, he successfully crossed the Virginia/Maryland border and continued his march eastwards. As he did so, more and more Confederate sympathizers rallied to his cause and joined his army, ballooning it to 42,000 by the start of September. Lincoln, aware of the threat he now faced, demanded that General Heintzelman move out of Washington with the Army of the Potomac and engage Jackson, due to the fact that he had 22,000 more soldiers then him. Heintzelman consistently refused the order, however, and thus left the Union Occupation forces of Maryland and Delaware to attempt to push back Jackson. However, these men were poorly trained and equipped and fell rather quickly to Stonewall Jackson's advancing force, now numbering at 44,000 as more flocked to his cause. Aware of the danger that was now being posed, Major Generals Joseph Hooker, Erasmund D. Keyes, Ambrose E. Burnside, and Brigadier General George Meade held a secret meeting on the night of September 3rd and agreed without alerting General Heintzelman of what they were doing. The Entire Army of the Potomac would move out of Washington and onto the field of battle to stop Jackson before he could cause even more turmoil, as several pro-confederate forces had already risen up in the two remaining occupied states and were fighting against pro-union militia. By 7 AM, the Army of the Potomac was completely out of Washington and on their way west as the General Awakened. He was initially shocked upon hearing what his subordinates had done without his permission and demanded they return, but he was simply pushed aside and, effective on the afternoon of September 5th, he was forced to relinquish command of the Army of the Potomac and was dismissed from the Army. The disgraced general would live in New York to live out the rest of his days, though the rise of a new political party, against the Democrats and their treachery and the Republicans and their perceived forever war with the Confederacy, known as the Hidebound party, was able to convince him to run for Senate that year as the Party Nominee for the New York Seat and he was able to successfully win it, becoming the first Hidebound Party member to be elected to Congress, and he would later be the Party's first Presidential Nominee. The Army of the Potomac would meet Jackson at the town of Cooksville just 2 miles west of Baltimore on September 7th and both would line up for the single bloodiest day in the entire war. The Battle of Cooksville would last from 9:30 AM to 10:26 PM when the last Confederate soldier would leave the battlefield in solemn defeat. An entire day of both sides charging headlong into one another lead many to realize how truly terrible the day had become. At several points, various parts of the Union line broke only for the Confederates to waver at other points. By the end, on the Union side, 6,421 had died, 9,524 had been wounded, and 2,105 were captured/missing while the Confederates had 5,736 dead, 10,092 wounded, and 2,763 captured/missing. Combined, the amount of causalities were 36,641, with the Union Army of the Potomac going from 64,000 to 45,950 and Jackson's portion of the Army of Northern Virginia went from 44,000 to 25,409. By all intents and purposes, Jackson's Maryland Campaign had been a disaster with nearly half his entire army devastated from the battle. While many believed the Battle of Cooksville would prove a decisive turning point in the war, both sides knew that this was only one of many more bloodier battles to take place. Following the carnage of the battle, President Lincoln himself and issued a single declaration, stating that since the South has chosen to not surrender and rejoin the union, he would take away the one thing they cared about : their slaves. Two days after the Battle of Cooksville, he declared that starting on January 1st, 1863, any and all slaves in the South were now free, with the right to vote, right to run for office, right to bear arms, and most importantly to the union war effort, the right to join the army. The Emancipation Proclamation had given truth to what southerners had feared Lincoln would be in 1860 and had given the war a true moral purpose, a righteous one that deterred any French or British intervention in the war on the side of the Confederacy. However, a new man would join the battlefield and would give the Union some hope in the coming years : Italian General and man who fought for the rights of all across the world, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi would arrive in the Union in February of 1863 and would become the Military Adviser of the President before being granted command of his own army in the middle of that year. The Three Major Armies that would serve during the Western Virginia and Jackson's Maryland Campaigns. Note : Heintzelman had been relieved of Duty shortly before the Battle of Cooksville, but news of this didn't reach the Army of the Potomac until after the battleIn the days following of the three largest and most costly campaigns in the war at that point combined, both sides believed it was time to reorganize the Armies. For the Union, President Lincoln, gravely disappointed in General Pope and his Army of Virginia's performance in his Northern Virginia Campaign was dissolved and merged into the Army of the Potomac with Pope himself being dismissed from the military for how badly he had mucked up the campaign. Then, it was made known that Heintzelman had been dismissed as Commander of the Army of the Potomac before he reorganized it entirely into a new structure based on performance in the last two campaigns. First, he elevated Ambrose E. Burnside to become the main commander of the Army of the Potomac, something he had already shown to be capable of at Cooksville. Then, Joseph Hooker was allowed to maintain command of the Right Wing while George Meade was promoted to have command of the Center and Kearny, for his actions during the Virginia Campaign, was given command of the Left Wing, despite repeated warnings from Kearny's contemporaries about him being too aggressive and pointing out how devastated his Corps was in various battles, though Lincoln ignored them, saying " This man does what no one has else has done : He fights!" [1] and with that statement, no one dared to question the President again. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, President Breckenridge was grateful for the repulsing of Union forces from Virginia, but he was very disappointed at the staggering cost that the Campaigns in the east had seen, all the while the Confederacy were still being relatively successful on other parts of the war except for Alabama, where general Davis was slowly falling back. He was even more upset with the fact that both parts of the Army of Northern Virginia had almost been destroyed because of the rivalry between the two generals leading it. He was himself more disappointed with Longstreet, who had the chance to assist Jackson and destroy the Army of the Potomac for good, but he failed to do so. As for Jackson, he had the chance to assist Longstreet in destroying Pope's army but failed to do so due to his own zealousness. Thus, both men were promptly fired from their roles as Generals with Edmund Kirby Smith from the Western Theatre being given command of the Army of Northern Virginia and John Bell Hood being transported to command the I Corps there. While Jackson simply retired for a short time to his Virginia home until he was brought before the President to become his new military adviser, Longstreet became a envious enemy of the President and would run for Governor of Virginia as an Independent in 1863 and would win with 74.21% of the vote. However, he would not challenge Breckenridge in a Presidential Election, as every major politician considered an idea like that political suicide. With both major armies of the Eastern Theatre now given new commands, both were restructured to make them even better, with the Army of the Potomac coming in three parts, each with three Corps, with a Reserve and Cavalry Corps while the Army of Northern Virginia was divided into three parts, each with two corps, and had their own reserve and cavalry corps. By late October, true stalemate had hate the war once again and it seemed the war would drag on for another, bloody, painful year with no true end in sight, though many in the South were hoping to wear the Union down with enough defeats for Lincoln to be ousted in the 1864 Presidential Election. For Lincoln, it had become clear that the public was losing confidence in his ability to win the war. After all, every one of the major offensives into the South had failed miserably.In response to prodding from the Union President and General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck, Burnside decided to intiate a plan that had began under the leadership of McClellan and continued to be developed under Heintzelman. He would concentrate his army near Warrenton in an attempt to trick the Army of Northern Virginia into heading there, then he would move southeast, to Fredericksburg after crossing the Rappahannock River. He hoped that Smith, having only recently given command, wouldn't move as the Army of the Potomac continued to march southwards towards Richmond. Despite initial concerns about the potential success of the plans, Lincoln approved of it, hoping it would give the Union just one victory to end the year on a good note for the Union. Thus, on November 14th, the Army started marching towards their destination. Following Heintzelman's dismissal from the Army, Burnside's force had been reorganized with there being four major parts (Left Wing, Center, Right-Wing, Reserve) with each having three Corps under their command. Major General Joseph Hooker would command the right and would have the I Corps (under John F. Reynolds), the II Corps (under Israel B. Richardson), and the III Corps (under Major General Daniel Sickles), while Major General George Meade would command the Center and would lead the IV Corps (Under George Sykes), V Corps (Under Darius N. Couch), and the VI Corps (Under William B. Franklin), Major General Phillip Kearny would have command of the Left Wing and would lead the VII Corps (under John Adams Dix), VIII Corps (under Major General John Sedgewick), and the IX Corps (Under Major General John Parke) while Major General Erasmus D. Keyes would command the Reserves, leading the X Corps (Under Brigadier General Aplpheus S. Williams), XI Corps (Under Julius Stahel), and the XII Corps (Under Brigadier General John Gibbon). The Cavalry was once again placed under the command of Stoneman while the provost marshal was declared to be Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick. The Army at this time consisted of 130,000 men, with 30,000 men being in each of the major parts while 5,000 men were in the cavalry and 5,000 were serving the prevost marshal. Each Crops enjoyed commanding 10,000 men. With this force, Burnside hoped to quickly sweep aside any resistance the Confederate Army would offer him. However, this was not to be. Smith had figured out Burnside's plan immediately upon taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia and decided to wait out just a mile or two South while issuing out a Corps to create defenses and earthworks that would make the battlefield a literal killing ground for Burnside and his men. Much like the Army of the Potomac, his Army of Northern Virginia had underwent major restructuring in the time between him taking command and the Fredericksburg campaign. In Command of the Right Wing was Lieutenant General John Bell Hood, who would lead the I Corps (under Gustavus W. Smith) and the II Corps (under Major General Jubal Early), while the Center fell towards Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, who commanded the III Corps (under Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill) and IV Corps (Under Lieutenant General A. P. Hill). John B. Magruder was given command of the Left Wing and led the V Corps (Under Major General John G. Walker) and VI Corps (Under Major General Lafayette McLaws) and finally the Reserves were given to Major General David R. Jones and he would lead the VII Corps (under Brigadier General Henry A. Wise). Just like before, the Cavalry had been placed under the command of J. E. B. Stuart and he united the two distinct Cavalry Corps of Ashby and Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III. In total, the New Army of Northern Virginia numbered at 89,000, with the left wing, center, and right wing having 24,000 men and each corps having 12,000 men while the Cavalry was at 5,000 men strong. General Smith had ordered Magruder's Corps to build the earthwork and traps that laid for the Army of the Potomac while he placed the best soldiers in the town of Fredericksburg and ordered them to hold for as long as possible. On November 15th, the Union Army began to move towards their position with the first elements arriving by November 17th. However, there was a major problem that Burnside had to deal with before the Battle could begin. The union general had ordered pontoon bridges be sent to his position from Washington and assembled to quickly cross the river, but due to administrative disorder, his request did not pan out for some time. Burnside had first ordered the bridges, with many more provisions, on November 7th when he first detailed his plan to Halleck, before the plan was sent to the Chief of Staff in Washington on November 9th, with plans calling for both river and overland transport of the bridges. On November 14th, the 50th New York Engineers reported the bridges were ready to move , but the lack of horses caused a major delay. It wasn't until November 25th that the boats had arrived, allowing for Burnside to place his plan in motion. However, the mistake would prove to be disastrous for the Union as it gave the Confederates even more time to properly prepare their defenses. Even worse, General Burnside had fallen for a ploy by General Kirby when he sent his reserves west to give the illusion that he was weakening his position to reinforce other areas, convincing the Union general that a frontal assault would be the best option. It would take an entire bloody day of fighting on December 11th to secure the town itself from the Confederates and it took two more days for the rest of the Army to march across. On all of December 14th, the Union attempted wave after wave of assaults on the heavily fortified Confederate positions but each one were repulsed with greater magnitude and causalities, with many Confederate officers stating that it was a shame that the yankees were too incompetent to just withdraw so many men could live to fight another day. In the Afternoon of December 15th, Burnside was able to convince Smith to allow a truce to take place so he could tend to his wounded and be allowed to withdraw. By December 16th, the last Union soldier had left Fredericksburg and by the Christmas day, they had returned into Maryland. The entire Fredericksburg Campaign had been a sheer disaster for the Union, with them suffering 7,543 dead, 17,326 wounded, and 4,115 captured/missing compared to the Confederate losses of 673 dead, 1,016 wounded, and 79 captured/missing. As a result, Lincoln relieved Burnside of his command and gave it to Major General Joseph Hooker, who took over command of the Army while giving the Right Wing to his and Kearny's friend Daniel Sickles. In Fact, Kearny's Left Wing and Sickles' III Corps had shown great tenacity during the fighting and had actually gotten pretty close to the Union line several times at Fredericksburg only to be repulsed at the last minute and because of that, they suffered the heaviest losses. This did not go unnoticed by Lincoln and he placed Kearny slightly below Meade on a list of possible replacements for Hooker should he failed and placed Sickles under Kearny's potential successor Garibaldi should the Italian fail as a Battlefield commander. The year 1862 ended on a severely sour note for the Union with their only true success being in the opening months of the year only to be followed by consistent disaster after disaster. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, it seemed as if their victory in the war was all but inevitable. They had beaten back every major Union advance and held all but two states that seceded from the Union. To President Breckenridge, it seemed a sure sign that the Confederacy was on the path to victory in the war, with many believing that all it would take was just one massive battle to finally break the Union's will and force them to negotiate. What came next, however, was something nobody expected. The structures of both forces during the Fredericksburg Campaign. A complete disaster for the Union, it made it seem as if Confederate Victory would happen by the middle of 1863On December 27th, in a desperate attempt to gain a sense of normalcy, President Lincoln decided to take a stroll across the Nation's capital and survey the wreckage the war had brought. In Just two years, things had gone increasingly bad for the Union due to the incompetency of their generals as well as the overestimation of their abilities in battle. All four major theatres of the War had been turned around from potential Union Victories into Confederate blowouts all the while unrest spread across the Union. Lincoln, in a desperate bid to gain more men for the army, instituted a draft in late 1862 that had any man over the age of 18 be pressed into military service for several years. This had caused riots all across the north, with the biggest being in New York City. The draft was a major reason why the Hidebounds would take control of the state throughout the war, with Heintzelman being seen as the figurehead for the party's future expansion outward.
The Union President's popularity had plummeted as all the actions he had taken to ensure the union was kept as one nation under god was becoming increasingly dictatorial, with one of the biggest criticisms seeming to be the suspension of Habeas Corpus as well as the imprisonment of confederate sympathizing journalists. The president could only shake his head in sadness. If only there was a way for peace to reign once more and for the union to come out on top. Unbeknownst to him, a man had been following him for the past half hour and, upon seeing no one in sight, pulled out a pistol and let out several rounds. Seconds later, someone screamed out "The President's been shot!" and a few second after that, Abraham Lincoln fell onto the sidewalk, dead from several gunshots. Hours later, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin would be rushed to take the oath of office and become the 17th President of the United States.
As it turned out, the assassin was a draftee who was enraged upon seeing a war that was seemingly already lost being continued by the President. Thus, when he saw an opportunity to strike, he did so and quite effectively at that. Lincoln had been determined to see the entire war through but he had only seen it halfway. Any hopes the South had of starting peace talks with the new President was dashed, however, with the newly inaugurated President Hamlin promising death and destruction on the south for not giving up when they had the chance. "May god help us all!" President Breckenridge commented, knowing full well that Hamlin's declaration meant that the Confederacy's only hope now was to wait until 1864 and hope the peace candidate won and in order to ensure that, that would mean the Confederacy would have to make the Union believe the war was truly unwinnable and 1863 would be the year to decide if that truly was the case. As the union armies planned, the Confederate forces settled down and readied themselves for two more years of what they saw to be pointless fighting. The only silver lining to many was that their death would bring an end to this horrible war for them.
[1] - A slight variation on Lincoln's quote about Grant. It fits from what I've read about Kearny.
Post #7 now finished and I think this is my largest post here yet, detailing the eastern theatre in the aftermath of the Peninsula Campaign. 1862 seems to have been a really crazy year for the war at this point with all that has happened. Please give thoughts down below and if you want to make a DBWI TL of this, feel free to, just credit me with the original ideal. Until next time, Ciao! Another great update genyodectes, i think you deserve becoming the newest holder of a Grand Order of the Master Writer is, concratulations. |
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genyodectes
Warrant Officer
I'm just a Ceratosaur trying to make his way in Alternate History
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 8, 2020 11:49:36 GMT
As War in the western theaters stagnated due to the six armies only fighting battles of attrition instead of battles of movement, the Eastern theatre seemed to be the most active front. Following the Peninsula Campaign and the disaster that it was seen as being, Union President Abraham Lincoln decided it was time for a change. He believed, after all, that the late General McClellan's overly cautious nature brought the Union to defeat when they were just about to take the city of Richmond and many in his military staff agreed with him. As soon as the devastated Army of the Potomac returned to Alexandria and marched back into friendly territory to rest up, President Lincoln had already ordered for two new forces to be organized and march into Virginia. The first army was the Army of Virginia, organized on June 26th and placed under the command of Major General John Pope while the second army was the Army of the Valley, organized on July 3rd and placed under the command of Major General Irvin McDowell. He wanted both men to bring their armies to bear in Virginia, with McDowell advancing and securing the pro-union western portion of Virginia while Pope would march south overland to take Richmond, with the III, IV, and VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac placed under his command for extra aid in battle, each of the three Corps having 8,000 men total in them. Pope's Army of Virginia by itself consisted of 51,000 men and had 3 major corps, a reserve corps, and a cavalry division. Each of the three main corps consisted of 14,000 men while the reserve corps had 7,000 men and the cavalry division had 2,000. Each of the Corps had their own commanders, with Major General Franz Sigel commanding the I Corps, Brigadier General John Buford commanding the II Corps, Brigadier General Rufus King commanding the III Corps, Brigadier General Samuel D. Sturgis commanding the Reserve Corps, and Brigadier General George Crook commanded the Cavalry Division as Major Generals Phillip Kearny, George Sykes, and William B. Franklin commanded the Army of the Potomac's III, IV, and VI Corps respectfully. The initial plan for General Pope was to march South with the support of the entire Army of the Potomac, numbering at 64,000 men without the aforementioned Corps, but General Heintzelman refused to move, insisting his army had yet to fully recover from the failed Peninsula Campaign of his predecessor. From July 14th-17th, both men argued until Pope finally relented and thanks his counterpart for allowing him three of the Army of the Potomac's Corps instead. This forced Pope to rework his plan, as he wouldn't have completely overwhelming numbers as he would've if Heintzelman had come along and supported him. With an army of 75,000, Pope would begin to march south from Washington until he could successfully besiege Richmond. He would first send out the Cavalry Division under Crook to capture the Virginia Central Railroad and even break it, but this was deemed a complete failure and forced Pope to march southwards without any real assistance from his Cavalry except for Reconnaissance. As he marched southwards, the Army of Virginia would burn local farms, arrest civilians loyal to the South, and free slaves on plantations, ideas deemed unacceptable to the South, including it's president, John C. Breckenridge. As the Union began to march southwards from July 22nd onwards, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia faced a power struggle. The two highest ranking officers of the army following the death of General Lee, James Longstreet and Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson had completely different mindsets on how to deal with Pope's army. Longstreet advocated for a purely defensive strategy, hoping to wear the Army of Virginia down by forcing it into countless costly engagements that would had no real negative side effects for the Confederacy, while Jackson advocated for an offensive strategy, outflanking Pope and going straight for Washington D.C. The idea indeed horrified President Breckenridge, as the 64,000 men in the Army of the Potomac combined with the 10,000 men occupying Maryland and 20,000 men defending Washington would prove more than a match for the 72,000 strong army of Northern Virginia, especially due to the heavy fortifications surrounding Washington. Jackson's idea would also leave Richmond, defended by a small garrison of 15,000 men, at the mercy of Pope, something many in the South were unwilling to see. However, the Confederate Secretary of War, George W. Randolph, came up with a compromise. He saw the merits in the ideas of both Jackson and Longstreet, but he also recognized that both men were incompatible to serve command of a single army together. What Randolph suggested was quite simple. The Army of Northern Virginia was to be placed in two, with 42,000 men being under Longstreet's command while the remaining 30,000 men were under Jackson's. Jackson was to be placed in the Valley and strike at Baltimore should the opportunity present itself while Longstreet would distract and wear down John Pope. After all, Maryland had voted to secede from the Union early on in the War and capturing the Capital of the state would bring the Union Government, the Army of the Potomac, and the Army of Virginia deep in Enemy Territory and liable to devastating sieges. The two generals, despite some concerns, agreed and moved to their respective positions. Under Longstreet's command would be 3 main Corps and a Cavalry Corps, with each corps having 10,500 men in them. the I Corps was under the command of Magruder, the II under the command of Major General Gustavus W. Smith, the III under the command of Major General George Pickett, and Longstreet's cavalry under the command of Major General J. E. B. Stuart. While Longstreet was outnumbered 2 to 1 in Virginia itself, he recognized that, much like Generals Albert Sidney Johnston, Joe Johnston, and Jefferson Davis in the South, all he would need to do is conduct a purely defensive campaign and force the Union to withdraw as they lost more and more troops in battle compared to him. General Jackson, however, would have the luck of the draw. Placed in the Valley, the General had 3 main corps and an cavalry corps himself, with each corps having 7,500 men. Jackson's I Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill, his II Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General Robert S. Ewell, his III Corps was under the command of Lieutenant General A. P. Hill, and his Cavalry Corps was under the command of Brigadier General Turner Ashby. His force in the western portion of Virginia would battle against the smaller 11,000 strong Union Army of the Valley under the command of Major General McDowell. McDowell had been ordered by Lincoln and Pope to march into Western Virginia and secure it for Union forces, but under him were just two corps, under the commands of Brigadier Generals Montgomery C. Meigs and Alpheus S. Williams, each 5,500 men strong. As this was going on, Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman began to reorganize the Army of the Potomac and divided it into three pieces (Right-wing, Center, and Left-Wing) and placed two corps in each piece while having a final cavalry corps detached from the army to survey the Area. The Right Wing was under the command of Major General Joseph Hooker, the Center was under the Command of Major General Erasmus D. Keyes, and the Left Wing was under the command of Ambrose E. Burnside. In the Right Wing, the I and II Corps were under the commands of Brigadier General John Reynolds and Major General Israel B. Richardson respectfully, while in the center, the IV and VII Corps were placed under the commands of Major Generals Darius N. Couch and John Adams Dix, and finally, in the Left Wing, the IX and XI Corps were under the commands of Major Generals John Parke and Julius Stanel, with the Cavalry Corps being placed under the command of Brigadier General George Stoneman. Stoneman's Cavalry was given 4,000 men while the remaining three parts were given 20,000 men each, each corps commanding 10,000 men. Combined with the garrisons stationed in Washington, Baltimore, and Dover, the Army of the Potomac seemed impossible to defeat when on their own land. Confederate and Union Organization for the Northern Virginia Campaign. Note : Jackson, McDowell, and Heintzelman's Western Virginia and Maryland Campaigns are considered to be separate from the Northern Virginia Campaign despite taking place around the same timeFrom July 19th-September 1st, what is known to history as the Northern Virginia Campaign was waged with Union General Pope looking to bring Virginia back into the Union by the end of the year while Confederate General Longstreet looked to see Union Morale crushed and their armies decimated by going against countless defensive positions of his. The Confederate general decided that in order to make it a living hell for the Union Advance, he would construct defensive positions within a 40 mile radius of Washington D.C., preparing multiple trenches, forts, earthworks, and other nigh impenetrable positions. His hope was to make each possible union victory to be as Pyrrhic as possible or for every Confederate Victory to be as decisive as possible, as he knew that the more manpower that died in battle would be less men the Confederates could combat the Union with. The Union Army of Virginia would clash with Longstreet's forces at the Battle of Gainesville from August 1st-2nd, when the Confederate I Corps faced off against the Union's I and II Corps as well as the Potomac's VI Corps. The battle had 36,000 Union Soldiers face off against 10,500 well entrenched Confederates. Just like what was being done in Alabama, the I Corps under Magruder had three trenches in much the same fashion as Davis, though each line had the orders to only retreat when the enemy was about 75 yards away, ensuring as many Causalities as possible. Initially, the Union Corps had considered just outflanking the Confederate position and overwhelming them with sheer numbers from there. Magruder, and Longstreet's other subordinates, however, had thought of a way to prevent that. Around their defensive positions, they dug wide, deep moats with the only flat surface being in front of their defensive positions, forcing the Union to commit to charging head on into Confederate fire. By 9 PM on August 2nd, the Union admitted defeat and withdrew to link up with Pope's main force once more. The Battle of Gainesville had seen the Union suffer 2,783 dead, 5,788 wounded, and 1,090 captured/missing compared to the Confederate's 97 dead, 462 wounded, and 52 captured/missing. For the next two weeks, the Union would engage Confederate positions thrice more times. First, they would engage at the Battle of The Plains, where the Union II Corps and Potomac's IV Corps battled Smith's II Corps on August 7th, leading to 1,096 dead, 3,475 wounded, and 342 captured/missing on the Union Side to 156 dead, 512 wounded, and 85 captured/missing on the Confederate side, then again at the Battle of Sudley Springs on August 12th when the Union's I, II, and III Corps faced off against Pickett's III Corps with Magruder's I Corps, making it 20,389 Confederates against 24,426 Federals. The battle was another disastrous Union defeat, with them getting 2,036 dead, 5,783 wounded, and 1,233 captured/missing to the Confederates' 421 dead, 1,001 wounded, and 101 captured/missing. This left around 15,374 men in the main three corps of Pope's Army and 7,211 of the Potomac's IV and VI Corps left. The only success the Union saw was at the Battle of Farrs Corner on August 14th, where Phillip Kearny was able to successfully lead his fresh 8,000 strong III Corps in defeating Smith's 9,747 strong II Corps at a heavy cost. The Union would suffer 2,411 dead, 3,752 wounded, and 874 captured/missing to the Confederacy's 1,097 dead, 1,754 wounded, and 977 captured/missing. This left Pope with just 23,908 men until combined with his reserve corps of 7,000, which gave him almost 31,000 men combat effective. At the same time, Longstreet had suffered miserably as well. His portion of the Army of Northern Virginia had went from 42,000 to just 24,785 men. General Pope still had the advantage in manpower, but it was quite clear that at this point, both sides were exhausted from the extended fighting. On August 25th, Longstreet and Pope would consolidate all their forces into the Second Battle of Manassas. Situated close to the place where the First Major Battle of the War had taken place the year before, Longstreet's men were well entrenched and had been brought to 27,000 men strong while Pope's force had been brought to 40,000 men strong thanks to Pro-Union Virginians and conscripts from the North joining the Army of Virginia. Settled along a railroad line, Longstreet implemented the same strategy he ordered his three commanders to take in the prior battles, though he gave a small twist. In front of his line was a series of collapse dugouts filled with wooden spikes and two ditches in front, long, open, and exposed to Confederate Fire. At the same time, Each Corps was to hold a position, with the I Corps holding the First Trench, the II Corps holding the Second, and the III Corps holding the last. For three days, Pope attempted to break the Confederate Line and each time, they were pushed back, with both of the first two days seeing no real success in taking any trenches. On The Third Day, the First trench fell, followed two hours later by the Second Trench, but the Third Trench proved too strong a position and soon, the Army of Virginia was forced to withdraw. Major General Kearny and his III Corps was able to take full credit for the capture of the first two trenches while Major General Franklin and his IV Corps could themselves take full responsibility for the disastrous retreat. Just like at the first battle, chaos reigned in the retreat and because of that, the Confederates were able to tally up more causalities on the Union. The Union Causalities numbered to 3,783 dead, 7,908 wounded, and 2,036 captured/missing to the Confederate's 1,915 dead, 4,802 wounded, and 953 captured/missing. Days after the battle, on September 3rd, General Kearny and his Corps held off Longstreet's entire army for two whole days at the Battle of Chantilly before withdrawing with the Army of Virginia back into Maryland, by which they would arrive at Washington D.C. by September 13th, 4 days after the end of Jackson's failed Maryland Campaign. The Battle of Chantilly saw the Union have 842 dead, 1,009 wounded, and 157 captured/missing to the Confederate's 673 dead, 984 wounded, and 63 captured/missing. The Northern Virginia Campaign was a complete disaster for the Union, where they would see 47,432 causalities and the near destruction of Pope's army. However, the Confederates themselves suffered dearly for the campaign as well, suffering 16,653 causalities. Combined, this led to 64,085 men being dead, wounded, or captured/missing. While the campaign wasn't as disastrous for the Confederacy as many would've hoped it have been, it was still a bloody slogfest and combined with the two other campaigns going on in Virginia at the same time, left the Army of Northern Virginia in a very weakened position that they would've originally been in, though they wouldn't reach their lowest point until after the Central Pennsylvania Campaign just a year later. However, for the time being, Virginia was safe, and to Breckenridge, that was all that mattered, though he would later remove Longstreet and Jackson as commanders during the month of October due to their actions nearly destroying the entire Army of Northern Virginia. Bloody and Brutal, the Second Battle of Manassas was the true end of the Union's second failed attempt to capture Richmond, though it wouldn't be their lastDuring the Northern Virginia Campaign as well as the Campaigns in the Midwest, Missouri, and Alabama, another campaign was being waged by General Thomas J. " Stonewall" Jackson. His 30,000 man force, having split off from Longstreet's part of the Army of Northern Virginia. Without the will of Robert E. Lee to keep them from fighting, both men's disagreements forced them to separate. However, this would lead to the success, and unfortunately, failure and firings, of both men. On July 25th, news reached him of General McDowell's Army of the Valley arriving to take effective control of Western Virginia and moved to stop him. Initially, the General was shocked to hear that the Union sent only 11,000 men and awaited to see if McDowell was getting reinforcements. After 5 days confirmed to him that 11,000 Federals were all that was sent to occupy such a vast area, General Jackson ordered extra reconnaissance over the area to give him more information. What his cavalry had found had made him extremely giddy and in a prayer to God, he thanked him for the chance to crush an entire Union Army singlehandedly, a feat that hadn't been done since Shiloh when the Grant's Army of the Tennessee and Buell's Army of the Ohio was destroyed by General Albert Sidney Johnston's Army of Mississippi. What McDowell had done confused historians for years to come. Effectively, McDowell has split his army in three, with 1,500 men from both of his Corps being consolidated into his position at a farmhouse in Clay County in the center of the state while his I Corps of 4,000 men under the command of Brigadier General Montgomery C Meigs was sent north to the city of Huntington in order to secure the Virginia/Ohio Border while his II Corps of 4,000, under the command of Brigadier General Alpehus S. Williams, was sent south to capture Princeton to open a more direct route to Richmond from the West. His hope was that there was no Confederate forces in the area that would try and stop him and he could rely on the underground pro-union movement for support. The failure of his cavalry to report of Jackson's force being in the area was what doomed the Western Virginia Campaign from the start, however. On August 3rd, Jackson split his army into three parts, with his I Corps going North, his II Corps going south, and his III Corps going with him as his Cavalry harassed McDowell's supply lines. During the middle of August, Jackson's Army of Virginia were able to force the surrender of all 11,000 soldiers in the Army of the Valley without a single shot fired, a superb victory that left many in Montgomery applauding and many in Washington in shambles. Such a disaster had not been witnessed before and while it was only 11,000 men, McDowell's surrender had left the path to Washington D.C. through Western Virginia open and Jackson sought to exploit that opportunity. On August 22nd, after 5 days of relaxing, he ordered his men to begin marching east, into Maryland, with the hopes of capturing Baltimore and, if given the chance, even Washington itself. By August 25th, he successfully crossed the Virginia/Maryland border and continued his march eastwards. As he did so, more and more Confederate sympathizers rallied to his cause and joined his army, ballooning it to 42,000 by the start of September. Lincoln, aware of the threat he now faced, demanded that General Heintzelman move out of Washington with the Army of the Potomac and engage Jackson, due to the fact that he had 22,000 more soldiers then him. Heintzelman consistently refused the order, however, and thus left the Union Occupation forces of Maryland and Delaware to attempt to push back Jackson. However, these men were poorly trained and equipped and fell rather quickly to Stonewall Jackson's advancing force, now numbering at 44,000 as more flocked to his cause. Aware of the danger that was now being posed, Major Generals Joseph Hooker, Erasmund D. Keyes, Ambrose E. Burnside, and Brigadier General George Meade held a secret meeting on the night of September 3rd and agreed without alerting General Heintzelman of what they were doing. The Entire Army of the Potomac would move out of Washington and onto the field of battle to stop Jackson before he could cause even more turmoil, as several pro-confederate forces had already risen up in the two remaining occupied states and were fighting against pro-union militia. By 7 AM, the Army of the Potomac was completely out of Washington and on their way west as the General Awakened. He was initially shocked upon hearing what his subordinates had done without his permission and demanded they return, but he was simply pushed aside and, effective on the afternoon of September 5th, he was forced to relinquish command of the Army of the Potomac and was dismissed from the Army. The disgraced general would live in New York to live out the rest of his days, though the rise of a new political party, against the Democrats and their treachery and the Republicans and their perceived forever war with the Confederacy, known as the Hidebound party, was able to convince him to run for Senate that year as the Party Nominee for the New York Seat and he was able to successfully win it, becoming the first Hidebound Party member to be elected to Congress, and he would later be the Party's first Presidential Nominee. The Army of the Potomac would meet Jackson at the town of Cooksville just 2 miles west of Baltimore on September 7th and both would line up for the single bloodiest day in the entire war. The Battle of Cooksville would last from 9:30 AM to 10:26 PM when the last Confederate soldier would leave the battlefield in solemn defeat. An entire day of both sides charging headlong into one another lead many to realize how truly terrible the day had become. At several points, various parts of the Union line broke only for the Confederates to waver at other points. By the end, on the Union side, 6,421 had died, 9,524 had been wounded, and 2,105 were captured/missing while the Confederates had 5,736 dead, 10,092 wounded, and 2,763 captured/missing. Combined, the amount of causalities were 36,641, with the Union Army of the Potomac going from 64,000 to 45,950 and Jackson's portion of the Army of Northern Virginia went from 44,000 to 25,409. By all intents and purposes, Jackson's Maryland Campaign had been a disaster with nearly half his entire army devastated from the battle. While many believed the Battle of Cooksville would prove a decisive turning point in the war, both sides knew that this was only one of many more bloodier battles to take place. Following the carnage of the battle, President Lincoln himself and issued a single declaration, stating that since the South has chosen to not surrender and rejoin the union, he would take away the one thing they cared about : their slaves. Two days after the Battle of Cooksville, he declared that starting on January 1st, 1863, any and all slaves in the South were now free, with the right to vote, right to run for office, right to bear arms, and most importantly to the union war effort, the right to join the army. The Emancipation Proclamation had given truth to what southerners had feared Lincoln would be in 1860 and had given the war a true moral purpose, a righteous one that deterred any French or British intervention in the war on the side of the Confederacy. However, a new man would join the battlefield and would give the Union some hope in the coming years : Italian General and man who fought for the rights of all across the world, Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi would arrive in the Union in February of 1863 and would become the Military Adviser of the President before being granted command of his own army in the middle of that year. The Three Major Armies that would serve during the Western Virginia and Jackson's Maryland Campaigns. Note : Heintzelman had been relieved of Duty shortly before the Battle of Cooksville, but news of this didn't reach the Army of the Potomac until after the battleIn the days following of the three largest and most costly campaigns in the war at that point combined, both sides believed it was time to reorganize the Armies. For the Union, President Lincoln, gravely disappointed in General Pope and his Army of Virginia's performance in his Northern Virginia Campaign was dissolved and merged into the Army of the Potomac with Pope himself being dismissed from the military for how badly he had mucked up the campaign. Then, it was made known that Heintzelman had been dismissed as Commander of the Army of the Potomac before he reorganized it entirely into a new structure based on performance in the last two campaigns. First, he elevated Ambrose E. Burnside to become the main commander of the Army of the Potomac, something he had already shown to be capable of at Cooksville. Then, Joseph Hooker was allowed to maintain command of the Right Wing while George Meade was promoted to have command of the Center and Kearny, for his actions during the Virginia Campaign, was given command of the Left Wing, despite repeated warnings from Kearny's contemporaries about him being too aggressive and pointing out how devastated his Corps was in various battles, though Lincoln ignored them, saying " This man does what no one has else has done : He fights!" [1] and with that statement, no one dared to question the President again. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, President Breckenridge was grateful for the repulsing of Union forces from Virginia, but he was very disappointed at the staggering cost that the Campaigns in the east had seen, all the while the Confederacy were still being relatively successful on other parts of the war except for Alabama, where general Davis was slowly falling back. He was even more upset with the fact that both parts of the Army of Northern Virginia had almost been destroyed because of the rivalry between the two generals leading it. He was himself more disappointed with Longstreet, who had the chance to assist Jackson and destroy the Army of the Potomac for good, but he failed to do so. As for Jackson, he had the chance to assist Longstreet in destroying Pope's army but failed to do so due to his own zealousness. Thus, both men were promptly fired from their roles as Generals with Edmund Kirby Smith from the Western Theatre being given command of the Army of Northern Virginia and John Bell Hood being transported to command the I Corps there. While Jackson simply retired for a short time to his Virginia home until he was brought before the President to become his new military adviser, Longstreet became a envious enemy of the President and would run for Governor of Virginia as an Independent in 1863 and would win with 74.21% of the vote. However, he would not challenge Breckenridge in a Presidential Election, as every major politician considered an idea like that political suicide. With both major armies of the Eastern Theatre now given new commands, both were restructured to make them even better, with the Army of the Potomac coming in three parts, each with three Corps, with a Reserve and Cavalry Corps while the Army of Northern Virginia was divided into three parts, each with two corps, and had their own reserve and cavalry corps. By late October, true stalemate had hate the war once again and it seemed the war would drag on for another, bloody, painful year with no true end in sight, though many in the South were hoping to wear the Union down with enough defeats for Lincoln to be ousted in the 1864 Presidential Election. For Lincoln, it had become clear that the public was losing confidence in his ability to win the war. After all, every one of the major offensives into the South had failed miserably.In response to prodding from the Union President and General-in-chief Henry W. Halleck, Burnside decided to intiate a plan that had began under the leadership of McClellan and continued to be developed under Heintzelman. He would concentrate his army near Warrenton in an attempt to trick the Army of Northern Virginia into heading there, then he would move southeast, to Fredericksburg after crossing the Rappahannock River. He hoped that Smith, having only recently given command, wouldn't move as the Army of the Potomac continued to march southwards towards Richmond. Despite initial concerns about the potential success of the plans, Lincoln approved of it, hoping it would give the Union just one victory to end the year on a good note for the Union. Thus, on November 14th, the Army started marching towards their destination. Following Heintzelman's dismissal from the Army, Burnside's force had been reorganized with there being four major parts (Left Wing, Center, Right-Wing, Reserve) with each having three Corps under their command. Major General Joseph Hooker would command the right and would have the I Corps (under John F. Reynolds), the II Corps (under Israel B. Richardson), and the III Corps (under Major General Daniel Sickles), while Major General George Meade would command the Center and would lead the IV Corps (Under George Sykes), V Corps (Under Darius N. Couch), and the VI Corps (Under William B. Franklin), Major General Phillip Kearny would have command of the Left Wing and would lead the VII Corps (under John Adams Dix), VIII Corps (under Major General John Sedgewick), and the IX Corps (Under Major General John Parke) while Major General Erasmus D. Keyes would command the Reserves, leading the X Corps (Under Brigadier General Aplpheus S. Williams), XI Corps (Under Julius Stahel), and the XII Corps (Under Brigadier General John Gibbon). The Cavalry was once again placed under the command of Stoneman while the provost marshal was declared to be Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick. The Army at this time consisted of 130,000 men, with 30,000 men being in each of the major parts while 5,000 men were in the cavalry and 5,000 were serving the prevost marshal. Each Crops enjoyed commanding 10,000 men. With this force, Burnside hoped to quickly sweep aside any resistance the Confederate Army would offer him. However, this was not to be. Smith had figured out Burnside's plan immediately upon taking command of the Army of Northern Virginia and decided to wait out just a mile or two South while issuing out a Corps to create defenses and earthworks that would make the battlefield a literal killing ground for Burnside and his men. Much like the Army of the Potomac, his Army of Northern Virginia had underwent major restructuring in the time between him taking command and the Fredericksburg campaign. In Command of the Right Wing was Lieutenant General John Bell Hood, who would lead the I Corps (under Gustavus W. Smith) and the II Corps (under Major General Jubal Early), while the Center fell towards Lieutenant General Richard S. Ewell, who commanded the III Corps (under Lieutenant General Daniel H. Hill) and IV Corps (Under Lieutenant General A. P. Hill). John B. Magruder was given command of the Left Wing and led the V Corps (Under Major General John G. Walker) and VI Corps (Under Major General Lafayette McLaws) and finally the Reserves were given to Major General David R. Jones and he would lead the VII Corps (under Brigadier General Henry A. Wise). Just like before, the Cavalry had been placed under the command of J. E. B. Stuart and he united the two distinct Cavalry Corps of Ashby and Lieutenant General Wade Hampton III. In total, the New Army of Northern Virginia numbered at 89,000, with the left wing, center, and right wing having 24,000 men and each corps having 12,000 men while the Cavalry was at 5,000 men strong. General Smith had ordered Magruder's Corps to build the earthwork and traps that laid for the Army of the Potomac while he placed the best soldiers in the town of Fredericksburg and ordered them to hold for as long as possible. On November 15th, the Union Army began to move towards their position with the first elements arriving by November 17th. However, there was a major problem that Burnside had to deal with before the Battle could begin. The union general had ordered pontoon bridges be sent to his position from Washington and assembled to quickly cross the river, but due to administrative disorder, his request did not pan out for some time. Burnside had first ordered the bridges, with many more provisions, on November 7th when he first detailed his plan to Halleck, before the plan was sent to the Chief of Staff in Washington on November 9th, with plans calling for both river and overland transport of the bridges. On November 14th, the 50th New York Engineers reported the bridges were ready to move , but the lack of horses caused a major delay. It wasn't until November 25th that the boats had arrived, allowing for Burnside to place his plan in motion. However, the mistake would prove to be disastrous for the Union as it gave the Confederates even more time to properly prepare their defenses. Even worse, General Burnside had fallen for a ploy by General Kirby when he sent his reserves west to give the illusion that he was weakening his position to reinforce other areas, convincing the Union general that a frontal assault would be the best option. It would take an entire bloody day of fighting on December 11th to secure the town itself from the Confederates and it took two more days for the rest of the Army to march across. On all of December 14th, the Union attempted wave after wave of assaults on the heavily fortified Confederate positions but each one were repulsed with greater magnitude and causalities, with many Confederate officers stating that it was a shame that the yankees were too incompetent to just withdraw so many men could live to fight another day. In the Afternoon of December 15th, Burnside was able to convince Smith to allow a truce to take place so he could tend to his wounded and be allowed to withdraw. By December 16th, the last Union soldier had left Fredericksburg and by the Christmas day, they had returned into Maryland. The entire Fredericksburg Campaign had been a sheer disaster for the Union, with them suffering 7,543 dead, 17,326 wounded, and 4,115 captured/missing compared to the Confederate losses of 673 dead, 1,016 wounded, and 79 captured/missing. As a result, Lincoln relieved Burnside of his command and gave it to Major General Joseph Hooker, who took over command of the Army while giving the Right Wing to his and Kearny's friend Daniel Sickles. In Fact, Kearny's Left Wing and Sickles' III Corps had shown great tenacity during the fighting and had actually gotten pretty close to the Union line several times at Fredericksburg only to be repulsed at the last minute and because of that, they suffered the heaviest losses. This did not go unnoticed by Lincoln and he placed Kearny slightly below Meade on a list of possible replacements for Hooker should he failed and placed Sickles under Kearny's potential successor Garibaldi should the Italian fail as a Battlefield commander. The year 1862 ended on a severely sour note for the Union with their only true success being in the opening months of the year only to be followed by consistent disaster after disaster. Meanwhile, for the Confederacy, it seemed as if their victory in the war was all but inevitable. They had beaten back every major Union advance and held all but two states that seceded from the Union. To President Breckenridge, it seemed a sure sign that the Confederacy was on the path to victory in the war, with many believing that all it would take was just one massive battle to finally break the Union's will and force them to negotiate. What came next, however, was something nobody expected. The structures of both forces during the Fredericksburg Campaign. A complete disaster for the Union, it made it seem as if Confederate Victory would happen by the middle of 1863On December 27th, in a desperate attempt to gain a sense of normalcy, President Lincoln decided to take a stroll across the Nation's capital and survey the wreckage the war had brought. In Just two years, things had gone increasingly bad for the Union due to the incompetency of their generals as well as the overestimation of their abilities in battle. All four major theatres of the War had been turned around from potential Union Victories into Confederate blowouts all the while unrest spread across the Union. Lincoln, in a desperate bid to gain more men for the army, instituted a draft in late 1862 that had any man over the age of 18 be pressed into military service for several years. This had caused riots all across the north, with the biggest being in New York City. The draft was a major reason why the Hidebounds would take control of the state throughout the war, with Heintzelman being seen as the figurehead for the party's future expansion outward.
The Union President's popularity had plummeted as all the actions he had taken to ensure the union was kept as one nation under god was becoming increasingly dictatorial, with one of the biggest criticisms seeming to be the suspension of Habeas Corpus as well as the imprisonment of confederate sympathizing journalists. The president could only shake his head in sadness. If only there was a way for peace to reign once more and for the union to come out on top. Unbeknownst to him, a man had been following him for the past half hour and, upon seeing no one in sight, pulled out a pistol and let out several rounds. Seconds later, someone screamed out "The President's been shot!" and a few second after that, Abraham Lincoln fell onto the sidewalk, dead from several gunshots. Hours later, Vice President Hannibal Hamlin would be rushed to take the oath of office and become the 17th President of the United States.
As it turned out, the assassin was a draftee who was enraged upon seeing a war that was seemingly already lost being continued by the President. Thus, when he saw an opportunity to strike, he did so and quite effectively at that. Lincoln had been determined to see the entire war through but he had only seen it halfway. Any hopes the South had of starting peace talks with the new President was dashed, however, with the newly inaugurated President Hamlin promising death and destruction on the south for not giving up when they had the chance. "May god help us all!" President Breckenridge commented, knowing full well that Hamlin's declaration meant that the Confederacy's only hope now was to wait until 1864 and hope the peace candidate won and in order to ensure that, that would mean the Confederacy would have to make the Union believe the war was truly unwinnable and 1863 would be the year to decide if that truly was the case. As the union armies planned, the Confederate forces settled down and readied themselves for two more years of what they saw to be pointless fighting. The only silver lining to many was that their death would bring an end to this horrible war for them.
[1] - A slight variation on Lincoln's quote about Grant. It fits from what I've read about Kearny.
Post #7 now finished and I think this is my largest post here yet, detailing the eastern theatre in the aftermath of the Peninsula Campaign. 1862 seems to have been a really crazy year for the war at this point with all that has happened. Please give thoughts down below and if you want to make a DBWI TL of this, feel free to, just credit me with the original ideal. Until next time, Ciao! Another great update genyodectes, i think you deserve becoming the newest holder of a Grand Order of the Master Writer is, concratulations. Thanks. I'm honored to receive the reward, as I said. Hopefully I keep up doing great in your view. |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 8, 2020 11:53:34 GMT
Another great update genyodectes, i think you deserve becoming the newest holder of a Grand Order of the Master Writer is, concratulations. Thanks. I'm honored to receive the reward, as I said. Hopefully I keep up doing great in your view. Well you deserve it, reading this TL i see you take time and effort into creating it, thus my only reward i can give you is by giving you the Grand Order of the Master Writer, so keep it up. |
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genyodectes
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 8, 2020 11:56:32 GMT
Thanks. I'm honored to receive the reward, as I said. Hopefully I keep up doing great in your view. Well you deserve it, reading this TL i see you take time and effort into creating it, thus my only reward i can give you is by giving you the Grand Order of the Master Writer, so keep it up. I'll continue to do so. I already have the next few posts planned out all the way to mid 1864. Fun fact : I didn't post it until after Midnight EST |
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genyodectes
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 8, 2020 23:19:32 GMT
Apologies to all who wanted an update today. I got carried away doing a Google Spreadsheet for TTL's 1864 Election. It'll be quite something, let me tell you.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 9, 2020 7:56:43 GMT
Apologies to all who wanted an update today. I got carried away doing a Google Spreadsheet for TTL's 1864 Election. It'll be quite something, let me tell you. no problem, just take your time. |
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genyodectes
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 9, 2020 23:16:41 GMT
The year 1863 began with the Union in an unenviable situation. While they still outnumbered the Confederacy and still had a chance of achieving complete victory, they had failed in just about every campaign the previous year. Even worse for them, At the very end of the year, they had lost their President and the man who was determined to see the war to its end, Abraham Lincoln, due to a draftee. Because of this, morale across the Union was low and many began demanding peace talks, with the biggest group being the rising Anti-War Hidebound Party. Founded in New York City on September 17th, 1862 in retaliation to Lincoln's draft and how badly the war was going, the Hidebounds were against the war but also did not favor the Democrats, considering them traitors for what they did to the nation, though they did accept former Democratic politicians into their party. On several occasions, President Lincoln, and later President Hamlin, attempted to ban them, but the supreme court always ruled against a ban, declaring it unconstitutional. President Hamlin himself now knew that 1863 and 1864 would be key years in the Union War Effort. If they could turn their current situation around by mid 1864 and have the Confederates be on the backburner and losing badly, then he would win in 1864 and in a year minimum, the Confederacy would be forced to rejoin the Union. Thus, he got in contact with the four main generals of his army : John C. Fremont in Iowa, William Rosecrans in Indiana, Joseph Hooker in Maryland, and Benjamin Butler in Alabama. As soon as he got into contact with them, he ordered all four of them to construct military plans as quickly as possible for Union success, putting the most pressure on Hooker and Butler as he considered their fronts key to winning the war. While each General discussed their own plan, Benjamin Butler's plan will be the topic of this chapter. His failed March to Montgomery Campaign had cost the Union dearly and Hamlin had briefly considered firing him and replacing him with General Phillip Kearny, but he was able to be convinced by his staff to allow the General to continue to command the Army of the Gulf. Butler had responded, stating that he learned from his mistakes in the March to Montgomery and that he promised by the middle of 1863, Montgomery would be in Union hands. Under his command was 240,000 men while he faced off against 145,000 men in Confederate General Jefferson Davis' Army of Southern Alabama and he had divided the Army into several categories, mainly the Left, Center, and Right wings of the standard Army along with the Reserves, and now he was determined to use the lessons he learned in 1862 against Davis. His first major goal was to force Davis to split his army in two. On March 27th, he ordered the I Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Alfred Terry, II Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Andrew J. Smith, and the IV Corps, under the command of Brigadier General Edward Canby, to march West from the Union headquarters in Mobile into Mississippi before moving North and then East into Northern Alabama. The plan was for the 3 Corps, totaling at 140,000 men strong, to force Davis to split his forces in two equal portions of 72,500 men, which would allow Butler to then move North and capture Montgomery when it was relatively undefended. Once that was settled, Butler and his corps would meet and destroy Davis' Army before moving North into Tennessee, effectively cutting the Confederacy in two while General Albert Sidney Johnston in Kentucky would have to send crucial men from the Ohio River to try and stop his advance Northward. As the men started marching, Morale was high, as it seemed unlikely that the Confederates would be able to stop such overwhelming numbers. They were wrong, however, due to the intelligence of Major General Patrick Royanne Cleburne. Cleburne, having proved to be a genius on and off the battlefield with his victories against Union forces in Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, and now Alabama and now many within the Confederacy held great respect for him. His masterful diversion of the Union's III Corps had given Davis crucial time and his attack on Mobile saved Montgomery. This didn't mean he was general material, however, as there were still some naysayers who doubted his abilities as a commander, citing that an Irishman had no right to be a general and that his battles were far too costly. They would all change their minds, however. When news reached the Confederate Army on April 3rd of the 3 Union Corps' march to the west, many became worried. The spy network set up in D.C. that had helped them very in Early-mid 1862 had been carefully dismantled by the Union and thus, the Confederate forces were practically blind to all federal operations and plans. Many feared that Butler planned to kill two bird with one stone, taking the lightly defended Mississippi before taking over Alabama as well, which would spell the end of the Confederacy. Davis, fearful of what may come should his home state fall into Federal hands, briefly considered leaving Montgomery undefended for a time and marching to meet the 3 Corps, thinking it to be the main Union Army. President Breckenridge heavily protested the plan, however, and for several hours both men entered a heated argument about what the Army of Southern Alabama should do in this circumstance, with neither side coming to a compromise. Eventually, Cleburne, a trusted friend of General Davis and Adviser to President Breckenridge entered the tent and offered his own compromise. He would march with his 35,000 strong I Corps with assistance from Marmaduke's 5,000 strong Cavalry to harass and halt any movement of the Union forces before sending them back to Mobile. Both of the two leading men were initially reluctant of the plan, considering that what Cleburne was proposing would eliminate a crucial portion of Davis' Army from the battlefield should General Butler attack, especially when it was the heavily experienced, well trained, well equipped I Corps under Cleburne, but eventually, they relented, believing it was worth the risk and could open an opportunity to attack and retake Mobile. On April 5th, Cleburne's men would march out of Montgomery, looking to engage the Federals. He had divided his men into four divisions, each with 8,750 men. The first division was under the command of his trusted friend, Brigadier General Samuel Clemens, the second division was placed under Brigadier General Lucius M. Walker, the third was placed under Major General Thomas C. Hindman, and the last was given to Brigadier General Lucius E. Polk. Of Cleburne's subordinates, it was Hindman who believed himself Cleburne's better and he hoped to show it in the campaign, much to Cleburne's irritation. It wouldn't take long for the two forces to collide against the other, as at the town of Leakesville on April 13th, the 2nd Division of Cleburne's I Corps would engage with the first and third Divisions of Terry's I Corps, having it be a little over 33,000 men against 8,750. However, Brigadier General Walker was able to surprise the Federals with the first major victory of the campaign, one that would become known as Cleburne's Coastal Plain Campaign. The battle of Leakesville would see relatively light casualities for both sides, with the Confederates suffering 24 dead, 85 wounded, and 6 captured/missing compared to the 74 dead, 167 wounded, and 35 captured/missing on the Union side. It was fortunate that the count was so light as Cleburne could not risk long engagements against Union forces. The next battle would take place at Avera (April 18th), where Clemens' First Division and Polk's fourth engaged Terry's Second Division, seeing the Federals suffer another defeat with 326 dead, 598 wounded, and 79 captured/missing to the Confederates 109 dead, 213 wounded, and 37 captured/missing. This would be followed by the Battle of Clara on April 27th, where the First, Second, and Third Divisions of Cleburne's men challenged Smith's entire Corps. While another Confederate victory, this one came at a steeper cost due to the reckless actions of Hindman, with the confederates suffering 473 dead, 917 wounded, and 126 captured/missing to the Union's 829 dead, 2,005 wounded, and 233 captured/missing. The final main engagement of the Union offensive march of the campaign would serve as Hindman's future downfall. On May 2nd, near Chapel Hill, Hindman's entire division, still bloodied from the battle of Clara, would engage Canby's entire IV Corps. The battle would be the only Confederate defeat in the campaign, with Hindman suffering 360 dead, 1,012 wounded, and 99 captured/missing to Canby's 121 dead, 215 wounded, and 19 captured/missing. Hindman would be dismissed after the campaign for his actions, but as of now, Cleburne would have to deal with him. As the days went by, Cleburne believed he had bitten off more than he could chew and the Federal force continued to march, now to Montgomery instead of the expected target of Jackson. However, on May 18th, news arrived from Marmaduke's Cavalry. As it turned out, the Three Union Corps had encamped themselves near a small body of water called Sweet Water Creek and was unaware of the Confederate presence just an hour away at Aimwell. With such information at hand, Cleburne decided now was the time for his men to strike. He ordered his men to sleep at 4 PM so they would be well rested and able to battle early in the morning. at 1 AM the next morning, he began his march to Sweet Water Creek, which he would arrive at by 2:30 AM. after spending half an hour being organized and situated, at 3 AM, he ordered a general assault on the Union lines. However, he ordered everyone to not fire and instead, surround and either kill the sleeping federals or take them prisoners. Thus, the Battle of Sweet Water Creek, also known as Cleburne's Shiloh or Patrick's First Masterpiece, began quietly as the Confederate I Corps silently stormed into the camp of Canby's IV Corps nearest to the woodland in the area. Slowly, carefully, and quietly, the Confederates would maneuver themselves through the Union camp, killing union soldiers by bayonet or knife while also taking several prisoner. By 5 AM, three-quarters of the IV Corps was gone while General Canby was unaware, sleeping in his own tent. At 5:07 AM, he would be captured by General Cleburne himself and slowly, the rest of the IV Corps was mopped up by 6 AM. In just three hours, 40,000 men were either dead or captured by the Confederate Corps of 35,000. It wasn't until 6:30 AM that General Terry, who had become the Union center, awoke and ordered a few patrols, none of which reported anything out of the ordinary. From 6-7 AM, Cleburne allowed his men some rest before ordered them to attack once more and the Confederates began to sweep through the Federal Camp. It wasn't until 7:30 in the morning that the first true shots of the battle were fired as a squadron of federal soldiers, having just exited their tents, saw the massive Confederate force converging on them and immediately reacted by firing their muskets, alerting the rest of the Union center of what was going on. However, the element of surprise, while broken, still allowed the Confederates a golden opportunity as yankee soldiers awakened to immediate chaos as Confederate soldiers overran their camp, taking prisoners and killing many others with ease. When General Terry had been alerted as to what was happening, he attempted to get on his horse to rally his men only to be shot dead by a Confederate sharpshooter. With their general dead and half their camp overrun, the remnants of the I Corps routed into the camp of the II Corps under Smith. While not as disorganized as the I Corps was do them hearing the sounds of battle, they had no idea what was going on until the Confederate Corps let out a rebel yell, frightening every yankee soldier in the area. It wasn't long until Cleburne's men approached the II Corps' camp and began to open fire. With their being no reports of any rebel soldiers in the area, the entire union line was caught off guard and immediately pulled back in an attempt to reorganize their line and offer some resistance. In the chaos of the battle, General Smith was wounded and just an hour and a half later, the rest of the Union force would withdraw in panic. The Battle of Sweet Water Creek was decisive by any measure of the word with nearly 33,456 federals dead, 45,926 federals wounded, and 10,923 captured/missing compared to Cleburne's 956 dead, 1,479 wounded, and 76 captured/missing. Losing 90,305 men in the span of 12 hours was unheard of at the time, especially when compared to the Confederate losses of 2,511, a loss ratio of 36:1 for the Union. With the IV Corps now prisoners of war and the I Corps nearly completely destroyed with every high ranking officer dead, the remnants of the Union Army elected Brigadier General Christopher C. Andrews to lead them back to Mobile. Cleburne's Corps would continue to harass the Union line, engaging them at Fulton on May 23rd and McIntosh on June 2nd before pulling back from assaulting the Union line for good. Cleburne and his men would return to Montgomery seen as undefeated titans of war, considering that they had taken on a Union Force that outnumbered them 4:1 and still came out on top with the most disastrous causality count for the Union in the entire war at that point. Around 123,894 Unions men were killed, wounded, went missing, or were captured in the entire campaign compared to the Confederates' 6,783 dead, wounded, missing, or captured, a margin of 18:1. Many historians agree that the end result of the campaign was due to Union overconfidence in their numerical superiority and Cleburne's early morning strike at Sweet Water Creek.   The Two main forces in Cleburne's Coastal Plain Campaign" Great God! What will the country say?!" - Hannibal Hamlin (R-ME), 17th President of the United States (1862-?), upon seeing the results of Cleburne's Coastal Plain Campaign The immediate aftermath of the campaign was swift for both sides. In the Confederacy, Hindman was sent to Confederate Arizona due to Incompetence and Cleburne was promoted to the rank of General, with many applauding his work in the battlefield and wartime adviser Thomas J. Jackson praising the Irishman, saying " He seems to be the best damn general we got in this army." Giving up command of his beloved I Corps, Cleburne was able to convince Breckenridge to promote Samuel Clemens to the Rank of Major General and give him command of the I Corps while ord replaced his command of the First Division and Brigadier General Charles D. Anderson replaced Hindman's command for the 3rd Division. Cleburne was now declared to be Davis' Second in Command and that should he fall in battle and President Breckenridge placed him on the official list for Generals-in-Chief. Now with his confidant being the same rank as him, Generals Davis and Cleburne began to discuss how they would counter the Union Strategy and agreed on the best way to do so would be a strong defensive position followed by constant offensive assaults before they retook Mobile and hopefully forced the Army of the Gulf in bulk to surrender to the Confederate cause. President Breckenridge approved of the plan and on June 14th, the Army of Southern Alabama left Montgomery for Georgeville and began awaiting the Union Advance. On the Union Side, however, things weren't as festive. While recent breakthroughs in Kentucky and Missouri looked promising to the Union Cause in the West, the failure of General Hooker in Virginia was made even worse by the official report of the campaign that took place. The numbers that were reported made General Butler pale and President Hamlin himself became horrified at the massacre that had taken place. Many in Hamlin's staff blamed Butler for the disaster, but those in the Army of the Gulf defended their superior officer, asking how it was fair that their commander be blamed for the incompetence of his subordinates. Hamlin listened to their voices instead allowed Butler to continue with his plans, though he warned him that another disaster much like the campaign they had seen would result in his firing, something that the General completely understood. The result of the campaign had shrunk his army down to barely being under 116,000 men, far fewer than Davis' Army of Southern Alabama. He was able to get a request for a further 64,000 men, though this was his last reinforcement call. President Hamlin wanted results and if Butler failed to deliver them by Mid July, he would order the Army of the Gulf to be pulled out of Alabama before being dissolved and placed into the Army of the Potomac, now under the command of Major General Phillip Kearny. Hamlin attempted to keep the results of the catastrophe from leaking to the press, but somehow, the true cost was revealed and several dozen riots broke out across the nation in reaction. Almost immediately, his political opponents pounced at the opportunity. " This is why we are continuing to fight?" Asked former General and current New York Senator from the Hidebound Party, Samuel P. Heintzelman. " So we can send hundreds of thousands of more young men to die against southerners? I believe it is time we say that we should halt the war for good! Not one more drop of blood should be spilled!" and almost immediately, " Not One More Drop!" became the unofficial Hidebound slogan as their party quickly grew to prominence. Despite the successes in the upper west, there were still major concerns about how the East and Gulf was going, with President Hamlin himself knowing full well that the war would be won or lost in Virginia and Maryland, not any other theatre. He believed that if Richmond and Montgomery fell to the Union forces by the end of the year, then popular support would swing back to him and he could barely win the 1864 election. It was a massive gamble, but it was one he was willing to take. In Mobile, Alabama, General Butler was devastated by the lost of an entire corps and half of another one in just a few months. While he was able to raise General Andrews to Major General and have him placed in command of the II Corps, the old I Corps was merged into the II Corps while two new I and IV Corps were formed from the reinforcements given to him by the President. His army by now had 180,000 men to Davis' and Cleburne's 160,000 and he knew he needed to make a quick strike on Montgomery now or his chance would be forever lost. Reorganizing his army into three main parts, led by Major Generals Banks (Left), Edward Ord (Center), and William B. Franklin (Right-Wing) with each wing having two corps in them as well as 57,500. Each Corps would then have 28,750 men in them. He would have an Independent Engineer Division of 2,500 men and another 5,000 men serving as his cavalry attached to his army, giving him 180,000. He planned to begin his campaign on June 15th, 10 days after the return of the devastated II Corps and a week after the arrival of Butler's 64,000 reinforcements. This would allow his army to reorganize and prepare for battle. This time, he would take an alternate route than his March to Montgomery Campaign. Using his Cavalry to the best of their ability, he decided to use a path that would become known as 20 Days' Street, named after the 20 Days Campaign that would take place on it. He hoped that by using this path, he would bypass Cleburne and Davis and have easy access to Montgomery without either of them knowing it. He hoped he would reach the city of Evergreen in two weeks and from there, he would continue to advance to Montgomery with his force being unmolested by the Confederates. Unknown to him, Marmaduke's Cavalry had already discovered his forces moving as soon as they reached Stockton on the 17th and alerted the main army. The army, when excluding their cavalry, had 155,000 men total with each of the four corps consisting of 38,750 men each. Davis and Cleburne had agreed to split command equally, with both leading 77,500 men. Under Cleburne's command would be Clemens' I Corps and Major General Jones M. Withers' III Corps while Davis would lead Major General William H. T. Walker's II Corps and Brigadier General Alfred Mouton's IV Corps and they both agreed it would be wise to stop Butler before he could reach his destination. Looking around the area, they found the perfect positioning to be Little River, Alabama, a small community with Little River running through it. On June 20th, they arrived and came up with a plan. While Davis, who was the more defensive minded general, would set up trenches similar to the ones he had set up in 1862 in several positions while General Cleburne would hide his men in the roads and await the right moment to strike. Butler's men wouldn't arrive until June 24th, which gave Davis and his men plenty of time to prepare defensive positions. The Battle of Little River was what many would call a turning point in the Gulf Theatre and for the Civil War itself. The river itself was more of a small creek and allowed for the Union to easily cross it, except there was one problem. The vast woodland in the area had caused the Union Army to be disorganized and unruly, with men from other corps entirely falling into another Corps in the confusion. Butler himself could only hear reports of what was going on by his generals, so he wouldn't know the full extent of the field until the battle was nearly over. When reports came in that he heavily outnumbered Davis' portion, Butler believed that Cleburne had been left behind to guard Montgomery and so, he ordered the Union Army to commit to a full frontal assault. At the time, it seemed like a smart idea, as it was clear that the Confederates would not be able to hold out long against the mass of Federal troops charging at them. However, they made the same mistake they did at Grover Hill and didn't realize the full extent of Davis' Trench network until it was too late. From Butler's own biography, titled " Servant of the Union" in the chapter titled " Failure in the Gulf", he stated " ...I believe it to be my mistake and mine alone for committing too many troops into such an obvious trap. My own cavalry had failed to report to me about the surrounding area and my observers hadn't told me of the many thousands of Confederate troops under that man, Cleburne, waiting to ambush my soldiers. Had I known of it, I wouldn't have allowed an engagement at all..." It wasn't until 5:30 PM that the First Trench fell and 7:30 PM until the second Trench fell. By 8 PM, both sides were exhausted, having done to nearly six hours of non-stop fighting. It was hoped that one final push would break the Confederate line but Major General Banks refused to give the order to charge as he realized that something was off. Sure enough, 15 minutes into the attack on the final trench, Cleburne's men poured out of the woods with a mighty yell, well rested and eager for battle and quickly overwhelmed the exhausted northerners. By 10:55 PM, the Union Army would be in full retreat and it was only due to the Left Wing acting as a vanguard for the retreat that the causalities didn't get any higher than they already war. In all, in the Battle of Little River, around 9,843 Federals died, 16,532 were wounded, and 3,608 were captured/missing while the Confederates had 1,099 dead, 4,516 wounded, and 754 captured/wounded. A disastrous defeat like that would force Butler to be on the back foot for the rest of the campaign as anti-union militia harassed the retreat until they reached the relative safety of Mobile on June 26th only to see a siege hit them 2 days later. The day after, Confederate ironclads, fresh from the port, blockaded the city and continued to wait out the Union men. By the End of the week, on July 5th, General Butler was forced to surrender unconditionally, ending a major threat posed to the Confederacy and ending any immediate danger their capital was in. The Gulf Theatre was effectively over and that would mean that the Army of Southern Alabama would be free to assist General Albert Sidney Johnston in the critical Battle of Knoxville several days after the surrender of Mobile. However, for a time, the Confederates were allowed to celebrate their victory over superior odds, with Jefferson Davis discussing future plans with the President in the capital while General Cleburne left the Montgomery area with his friend, Major General Samuel Clemens, and what happened next would be detailed in his biography " My Service under the Titan of Arkansas"...   The Two Armies in the 20 Days Campaign, which would end in complete disaster for the UnionMy Service under the Titan of Arkansas by Samuel Clemens (Published : 1875)Excerpt from Chapter 9 : Victory in Alabama, Glimpse for the Future
"...It wasn't until after our victory over General Butler in Mobile that we in the Army of Southern Alabama were given time for ourselves. It was three days before the start of the Battle of Snowshoe in Pennsylvania [1] began and just five days before we were called to assist General Johnston against the Federals in the Battle of Knoxville [2] but to many of us, it was a long enough break to return home to our loved ones and spend some time with them. Of course, I had no real family left to me except my mother. My father died just 16 years before, my older brother, Orion, was a Secretary for the Union in Nevada while my younger brother Henry hied just 5 years prior, my sister Pamela was living all fine by herself however. Most of my family were firm Unionists and my sister and brother disowned me as soon as I began official service under General Cleburne while my mother remained neutral about the whole thing. My true family lie in the Army of Southern Alabama, specifically with my old regiment, the Marion Rangers of Missouri, but as so happens in war, soon all my old friends perished in battle until there were none left, the last one having died at Sweet Water Creek. Throughout everything, however, there was one man I could always consider my brother and my friend. That was General Patrick Royanne Cleburne. Both of us cared not for Slavery like what many Federals would paint us as. Instead, the two of us cared more for our states freedom and right to choose its own destiny. I cannot say the same for the entire Confederate Military, for we were millions and I dare not speak for them all. When we both had first met, it was shortly after Shiloh, ten days after it, and Patrick saw me as another man, another Colonel, who'd die before my time in battle. I was just 26 when we first met while he was 34, He never expected to get so close to me and I never believed I would become to him what he was to General Davis in due time. A year after we first met, we had greatly bonded over a love of alcohol and singing as well as patriotism for our states. Both of us were men loyal to the Confederacy and not one thing could ever change our minds. I remember that it was the day after the end of the Siege of Mobile, something that should've happened just a few months prior, when we were all given leave for at most a week and at minimum, two days. Most men stayed in the army and near Montgomery, determined to stay and wait to be called upon to defend their nation once more. General Cleburne, however, decided to spend his time well with me and a few other people instead of remaining with the stuffy generals in the swampy Alabama woodlands. He pulled me aside with two rail tickets to Chattanooga and said in his thick Irish voice " Mr. Clemens, I have some friends I would like for you to meet, but I ask you as a friend and you have the right to refuse : would you like to go with me to Chattanooga?" I simply replied with " Sir, I am your friend and I believe it would be a privilege to meet any friends of yours." He simply smiled and we both entered the train. It wouldn't until Early in the morning the day after that we arrived to the City, but even then, our journey was not yet finished. " Samuel," he began, using my first name as the two of us got on a horse and began to ride north, " I believe you will not regret going with me for this." I simply replied that with anything that General was bringing me along on, I could never be disappointed. As we arrived, I remembered reading how badly the Union General, Don Carlos Buell, had punctured deeply into Kentucky and Tennessee with General Albert Sidney Johnston being forced to withdraw east with his Army of Mississippi as the Federal Army of Indiana captured Nashville after reoccupying Kentucky and was now advancing on the city of Knoxville. The General assured me that we were going nowhere close to the front and true to his word, we weren't going anywhere near there. By five thirty in the afternoon, we arrived at a small little town known as Dunlap, with a population of 57, none of them plantation owners. We continued to ride our horses until we arrived at a small, green wooden house with a lady on the front porch, watching the horizon. She was beautiful, pleasant to look at, wearing a sparkling blue dress and a glowing blue hat. Upon spotting our arrival, she smiled gleefully before stepping down onto the dirt road. As myself and General Cleburne came to a stop, getting off our horses and tying them to a nearby halter to make sure they wouldn't wander off without else, she began to approach the general. Almost immediately, like I was acting on instinct, I motioned to stop her. After all, there were a great many Federal agents across the South that President Breckenridge had yet to terminate and each one would be eager to take the opportunity to demoralize us all by taking out a national hero like Patrick. Before my hand could stop her, however, the general took her gloved hand in his own and brought it to his face, softly kissing it. " It's been too long, Patrick." The woman spoke, her Tennessee accent thick and the General simply laughed at her. " Indeed it has been, Clara. But the war constantly calls." The woman nodded in understanding and just two seconds later, the two were kissing each other deeply. I cleared my throat a little and the General suddenly composed himself. " Ah, yes, of course. I believe introductions are in order." He gave a small cough. " Clara, this is my good friend and Second-in-Command, Major General Samuel Clemens." I nodded my head to her. " It is wonderful to make your acquaintance, Miss Clara." The General continued once I finished speaking. " Samuel, this woman is the one I believe I am meant to spend my life with and has been my fiance for the last four months. Meet Clara Hale Parlow." She bowed fancifully to me. " How do you do, Major General?" It then occurred to me as to the reason we were both there. The General had wanted me to meet the woman he was going to make his wife eventually. I had seen the General write letters on occasion, which would always confuse me considering he always preferred to do things in person, but now I knew the reason why. Examining her features, I determined to be at most two years older than me and at least a few months younger than myself. Her hair was a wonderful brown and her eyes the brightest pair of green I ever did see. She seemed an excellent woman to be with my friend. I smiled right at her and offered my hand, which she took in her own before I kissed it myself. " I am honored to finally meet you, Clara." I stated before continuing with " The General is very near and dear to the hearts of many across the South. I hope you and he do well together." My friend and the woman smiled and nodded before Clara turned to speak to her fiance. " I assume you've heard about General Johnston's retreat and General Hood's invasion of the North?" He nodded. " I believe everyone from here to Buenos Aires knows about what is going on, my dear." The woman tilted her head at him carefully, careful as to not accidentally have her hat fall off her head. " Than am I correct in assuming that General Davis will bring the Army to aid in Tennessee's Defense?" She asked, tilting an eyebrow as she examined General Cleburne's features. The General simply grinned and gave a sly chuckle. " Yes, my dear, you are correct. When, I do not know, but I assume it will be soon. General Johnston has been sending many telegrams to ask, requesting our aid and while before we had a reason to stay in Alabama to defend the Capital, I believe now President Breckenridge will be placed under more pressure to have the Army of Southern Alabama assist him against Buell." She nodded and we began to walk inside until I noticed someone I had yet to have seen. A second woman was on the porch, in a golden dress while having blonde hair and she was currently in the process of reading a book, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I could not, for the life of me, take my eyes off her, for whatever reason. Suddenly, she brought her head up, as if she noticed someone was looking at her, and stared back at me with glowing blue eyes. For lack of a better word, I was immediately smitten with this woman. Miss Clara noticed my interest and gave a soft smile before speaking to the woman, addressing her by name. " Violet, don't be shy. This is Major General Samuel Clemens, one of the men who serves with dignity under General Cleburne." The General softly smirked as he realized what was going on. " Major General Clemens, that is my good friend Violet Cheyne Priest." it was then that my stomach decided to be a burden, growling like a pack of angry hounds. " Oh, you two must be starving. Please, go inside as me and Violet fix you up something." She stated and me and the General did as asked. All four of us ate a good long meal, Cornbread and Fried Fish, before we began a discussion. As it turned out, the General had met Clara during leave shortly after the liberation of Kentucky and both had been maddeningly in love with one another ever since. Upon being asked when they would marry, they both agreed that it was scheduled to be on September 21st of 1863, funnily enough a week after his best Victory at Tacketts Mill [3]. I was glad for my friend and was happy he found a person he could live his life with. As for Miss Violet, in just three years, she would become my loving wife..."   Samuel Clemens (Left) would be life long friends with Patrick Cleburne (Right) until the latter's death in 1900The Gulf Theatre that had ended in disaster for the Union gave even more ammunition for the Hidebound Party to use in their elections and use them they did. President Hamlin knew that while the Victories in Kentucky and Tennessee were excellent news, the only real news that could get the public to rally around him was a victory in the East against the Army of Northern Virginia, in which it was completely destroyed by the Army of the Potomac. However, the AoNV's Commander at the time, General John Bell Hood, who replaced Edmund Kirby Smith after his failure to destroy the Army of the Potomac at Chancellorsville, had surprised everyone, including the new AotP Commander, Major General Phillip Kearny, when he launched an invasion of the North. After the disaster that was Jackson's Maryland Campaign, many in the Union believed the South wouldn't dare attempt an invasion a second time, but they had been taken off guard and now had quickly mobilize and destroy Hood.
As Celebrations erupted in Montgomery at the news of Butler's surrender, the White House was in panic. The largest surrender in U.S. History had just happened on the President's watch and while Major Generals Banks, Andrews, and Franklin were able to just barely escape with around 17,000 men total, many believed it wouldn't be enough to stem the tide. With Fremont and later Davis' failure to take St. Louis, Missouri and Admiral David Farragut's four prior failures at taking New Orleans that had left Pensacola and Mobile practically open to Confederate forces, many in the North believed that it was becoming slimmer and slimmer to snatch Victory from the Jaws of Defeat and it was made even worse when, two days after Butler's surrender, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands had all declared that it was now impossible for the North to win.
The Union President knew he didn't have much longer and so, he could only hope that the use of the Emancipation Proclamation would give him pretty of men to fight the Confederate Army with. He believed that it was only a matter of time before the Confederates were pushed to the brink and he would use that moment to crush them once and for all. He just had to hope that by that time, he was still President as Election Season was only a year away and he had little to no support. As he would later write in his memoir, "The South had victories that were considered impossible by my staff and because of them, the public was losing faith in the idea that the North could win this war...that I could win it. I just needed one key victory to convince them that it was possible and that hope would come from General Buell and his battle with General Johnston in Tennessee. If he won, I rightly believed, he would be able to push on South to Atlanta and later Savannah and bring three entire states back into the Union. I just prayed to god that it would be so."
And that is Post #8 everyone. Feel free to give thoughts down below. Now, what would you guys like to see in the next update? The Western Theatre all the way up to the Battle of Knoxville or the Eastern Theatre all the way up to the Battle of Snowshoe? Also, would you like to see more book excerpts be posted in each chapter? As I believe it adds some flavor to the TL, but I'm not 100% sure as of yet. Anyway, Ciao for now!
Also, all the notes are to denote the alternate major battles that'll happen ITTL. |
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genyodectes
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 10, 2020 1:22:49 GMT
Voting closed. Western Theatre has been picked and that means I will cover the Battle of Knoxville in detail.
Expect the first post in a few hours.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 10, 2020 4:03:51 GMT
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genyodectes
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Post by genyodectes on Feb 10, 2020 4:05:53 GMT
Thanks. Wdyt of the new update? Think I should add more book excerpts to the Timeline and slowly phase out the history textbook style for it? |
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 10, 2020 4:06:35 GMT
Thanks. Wdyt of the new update? Think I should add more book excerpts to the Timeline and slowly phase out the history textbook style for it? Well looking at it now it is already very detailed and looking good. |
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jjohnson
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Post by jjohnson on Feb 11, 2020 5:46:20 GMT
Interesting points of departure. I hope you keep the timeline going to the present day and beyond! I would like to recommend a few readings: 1. Truth of the War Conspiracy of 1861 - Lincoln did conspire to start a war with some in his cabinet. 2. The Real Lincoln and Lincoln Unmasked There are also a number of places which cite Lincoln as having ordered the arrests of Maryland legislators, the mayor of Baltimore, a sheriff, and a number of others, including Francis Scott Key's grandson, to prevent Maryland from voting on secession and cutting the capital off from the rest of the country. I don't think Maryland would be able to vote to secede with Lincoln right there. The 1860 Election had the highest turnout in history due to the realization this would be the last election the United States would vote as one.The result was almost immediate as on December 20th, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. It wouldn't be the last however. And for Vice President Breckenridge, the 1860 election wasn't the end of his political career either. Following the secession of South Carolina, he advocated for Kentucky to be neutral despite his southern sympathies and, secretly, as a back up, he was convinced to purchase a settlement in Alabama and sent most of his stuff and his family to the new home. [2] It turned out he was right to be worried as on December 27th, he was told by a concerned citizen that several unionists were considering on marching to his residence and executing him for treachery. [3] Panicked, Breckenridge quickly got onto a nearby horse and fled Kentucky for his new home in Alabama, where he would arrive the day before the state became the fourth one to secede from the Union (following Mississippi and Florida). The day after, he declared himself a citizen of Alabama and was quickly sent as a member of Alabama's delegation to a congress of the states that had seceded from the union, with Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas having joined them at this point, on February 4th, 1861. On that day, the Confederate States of America was declared and Breckenridge decided to declare himself a citizen of the new nation.
For the next three days, the new nation's provisional government would create the new constitution and founding laws in Montgomery, Alabama. On February 9th, the provisional government opted to elect two persons to the office of Provisional President of the Confederate States of America. The two leaders for the presidency was Former Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis and the Former Union Vice President himself. Davis, uncomfortable with politics, endorsed Breckenridge and thus, the former Vice President of the Union was chosen as the Provisional President of the Confederacy. [4] His Vice President was voted to be President of the provisional Congress Howell Cobb of Georgia.
Upon taking office, Provisional President Breckenridge took a very cautious stance, not wanting to seem like the aggressor in any possible war against the Union. Throughout the South, there were various positions that the Union President had refused to abandon.Thus, sieges were brought on and both sides turned their guns on one another, with the biggest and most impactful being at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. For months, Union and Confederate men held a standoff as the Union harassed shipping heading for Confederate ports. It was silent until finally, on April 14th, a soldier from inside the fort, perhaps anxious about was might happen, accidentally lit his cannon and opened fire on the Confederates. [5] Almost immediately, the Confederacy returned fire and within a day, the fort had fallen. Without even knowing it, the young Union soldier had effectively started the War of Southern Independence.
 The Battle of Fort Sumter, The First Battle, unofficially, of the War of Southern IndependenceAlmost immediately, Provisional President Breckenridge sent a letter to Lincoln to request a formal apology, in an attempt to avoid war, only for Lincoln to refuse to apologize. Breckenridge sent him another two letters, only for Lincoln to continue to reject them. In fact, in Early May, The United States Congress began to raise troops, with Lincoln calling for 75,000 men with the order to crush the rebelling states. Because it was the Union who fired first and not the Confederacy, the states of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland all voted to leave the Union However, almost immediately, troops were sent to halt the secession of Kentucky and Maryland as the president believed both would be vital to the Union War Effort. Due to this occupation, resentment would build up against the Union as the other states joined the Confederacy and recognized Breckenridge as their new President, along with the exiled governments of Kentucky and Maryland. For 3 hours, Breckenridge, gave an impassioned speech condemning the Union for all that they did and Lincoln's refusal to apologize for the instigation of Conflict and almost immediately, the Confederate Congress voted in favor of war, thus leading Breckenridge to officially declare war on the United States on June 17th, 1861 and hours later, Breckenridge called for 100,000 men. The declaration took the world by storm and Europe watched as America began to fight in a war of brothers. A war that would last for several years and end with the deaths of hundreds of thousands and the independence of half the Untied States, had begun.
[1] - Dred Scott, 60 U.S. at 404–05
[2] - This is something made up that I had Breckenridge do as a Just in Case Scenario
[3] - This never happened and ITTL, there was never going to be attack on the Vice President when on his residence, but no one would want to tempt fate like that, especially when considering the lead up to the Civil War
[4] - I think it's true that Davis never really wanted the job of President but he was thrust upon it. Here, they have someone acceptable, Breckenridge, as a contender, so Davis has no real need of running.
[5] - This is too make the Union Aggressor, though so far, this is the only major change for most of 1861 asides from Breckenridge being CSA President. The votes of MO, KY, and MD happen as a result of it do to them now seeing the Union as an aggressor in a war that they declared neutrality in. Delaware is left in a weird state of limbo while KY and MD is occupied.
Really hope you guys enjoyed this. As for the explanation, this was really just the background information with the end having the important changes from OTL. This post serves as an introductory into the Timeline and by 1862, the first real changes will begin. If anyone wants to help me with this Timeline (Such as Armies, Commanders, etc, etc.) feel free to message me here and I'll send you a messge to my Discord profile. Any reviews/critiques are welcome. Thank you and ttyl!
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Feb 11, 2020 19:11:01 GMT
Interesting points of departure. I hope you keep the timeline going to the present day and beyond! That is going to be a lot of work and a bucket load of butterflies to deal with. |
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jjohnson
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Post by jjohnson on Feb 11, 2020 20:23:17 GMT
Interesting points of departure. I hope you keep the timeline going to the present day and beyond! That is going to be a lot of work and a bucket load of butterflies to deal with. Oh yeah. But that's also the fun part - what changes? what remains the same? what do we gain and what do we lose? what changes, but still pulls back to something similar to what we have in our timeline? Just thinking through the changes and what could be is pretty fun in itself. |
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