A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
the Indian American names are fantastic.
I mean, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse. Red Cloud
Kicking Bear. Old Chief Smoke, Iron Tail. Big Mouth....
Some badass names on that list for sure! Mind you, I do sincerely look forward to how Ikíčhize wins his fame on the Plains...
I wonder if those fellows from the 13th Cavalry mentioned way back in Chapter 147 will make another appearance?
StephenColbert27
Banned
I'm hoping Buford doesn't get it for a massacre. But to me "Warhorse" sounds more like a term of grudging respect for a skilled foe.
I would hope so. The nasty little wars on the Plains weren't exactly known for their humanity on many occasions, but if Buford is going to earn their grudging respect I suspect it will be for skill rather than brutality.
One thing I do wonder is if there will be any ex-Confederates south of the border who might be willing to train some of those tribes in guerrilla warfare tactics (or even lead small raiding parties themselves). If I remember correctly, wasn't that actually mentioned a while back as happening at least once?
Anyway: glad to see that one of the site's best Civil War timelines is back in the saddle, TKI!
Anyway: glad to see that one of the site's best Civil War timelines is back in the saddle, TKI!
Thank you for all the kind words. I am hoping to get back to all three timelines - I would have a Prime Minister Forever post up tonight but I left my notebook at work!
I am slowly adding the threadmarks to this over several evenings. Hopefully, if my writer's block stays at bay, a new chapter may appear soon.
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Japhy
Banned
I'm sure this has been covered before but is there a historical basis for Kearney's movement into the Shenandoah, as in did the man himself or anyone around him propose going for the Western Flank or is it an invention of @TheKnightIrish?
Of course I should also mention, best of luck with the Writers Block.
Of course I should also mention, best of luck with the Writers Block.
It was seen as more of a gateway for and in the South than the north. I am not aware of Kearny or his circle proposing this but it is not that dissimilar to the 1864 moves of Sigel/Hunter/Sheridan although more of a subsidiary campaign as Grant moved ever eastwards.
Thank you very much.
I hope adding thread marks gets the ideas flowing! Best of luck!
Threadmarks complete. It is sad to note how many of the illustrations have been lost over the years.
Chapter 153 should be finished on Sunday if not before. The writer's block does seem to have gone.
Chapter 153 should be finished on Sunday if not before. The writer's block does seem to have gone.
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two Military Odds and Sods Part II
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two
Military Odds and Sods
Part II
Military Odds and Sods
Part II
From "Freedmen in Kearny's Army" from an article by Paul Bernouli
North & South Magazine 2006
“In the years immediately following the Civil War the Academy returned to admitting cadets from former Confederate states. Obviously these could only be non-expatriated or re-naturalised persons. Unsurprisingly, given the revised electoral make up of many of these states, the first African American cadet was admitted in 1868 from South Carolina. Cadets from Mississippi and Louisiana would follow in 1869 and 1871. By 1888 twelve African Americans had graduated of 26 admissions. West Point would be at the forefront if integrated education and it would have a profound effect on its future alumni...”
From "Kearny's Army - The United States Army from the Civil War to the Emperors' War"
MacArthur University 2007
“Under the guidance of the new superintendent, William B. Hazen, the focus of the Academy’s curriculum would shift from engineering to strategy, tactics and logistics. Kearny advocated for superintendents from outside the Engineering branch of the army…
Kearny had a very mixed view of the abilities of the West Point alumni during the late war. He had very specific views that the army and the nation should not be running a free school for civil engineers which is what many graduates quickly left the army to pursue…
He was keen that the “fighting experiences of the army should be imparted to the cadets”. In this he was fully supported by John F. Reynolds, the former Commandant of Cadets. “The challenges of the late war must become the lessons of the classroom”…
Reform saw control of the Academy pass from the Corps of Engineers to the Office of the Commanding General...”
From "West Point Recollections" by Major James Danby ret.
MacArthur University 1991
“One of Kearny’s innovations was the involvement of the final year cadets in his annual army exercises…
“We had been placed under the command of a final year classman by the name of Daniel Richardson. He had the field rank of major for the purpose of the exercise…
He ordered the company to dismount and had us crawl through the dirt like damn infantryman. His objective was to flank two companies of the 9th Infantry and he wanted us to use a not particularly deep sunken road to do it. Being captain in both fact and for the purpose of the exercise I questioned the wisdom of using cavalrymen thus. The impudent whelp threatened to horsewhip me if I questioned his orders again, and I’m only half sure he didn’t mean it. Well we flanked the 9th and rolled them up like a blanket according to the umpires of the army staff. The cadet was Bull Richardson’s son and the regiment would have followed him to hell...” (recollections of Major, and later General, Adna Chaffee 14th cavalry of the 1887 army exercises)...”
General Adna R. Chaffee
Grosvenor 2008
“With a membership now well versed in the use of arms in the late war, the Fenians sought to capitalize on this experience with a plan for the invasion of Canada from multiple points within the United States. They hoped their raids would encourage the United States to follow with regular troops in order to establish the St.Lawrence River as its northern border or even to annex the whole of Canada...
The United States government’s interest in the annexation of Canada was ephemeral. There was no appetite for fresh military conflict outside of Benjamin Butler’s congressional office. However matters were not helped nor official United States government policy clarified when William Seward commented in conversation with leading New York Fenians that the government would “acknowledge accomplished facts”. Seward must have felt some sense of the danger in which he had placed the government because he promptly raised the matter of a possible Fenian attack on Canada at cabinet…
This all went too far for President Lincoln. Although courting Irish votes in the midterms, Lincoln was resolutely against turning a blind eye to the Fenians. “I will allow no private citizen nor private army to use American sovereign soil to wage war upon a friendly power...even less to embroil this nation in another life and death struggle”…
The OMI [Office of Military Intelligence under General Charles P. Stone] quickly identified those regular and militia officers offering support to the invasion. Indeed there was very little secrecy about the endeavour. The OMI was also able to assist in the seizure of large stockpiles of arms and several vessels were also impounded…
The Fenian invasion plan was laughably naive and doomed to failure had not the United States government intervened to save them from themselves. The plan had been formed without much regard for Canadian history or the contemporary political scene and was based on completely false assumptions about Canadian loyalty and United States government policy…
After the congressional elections of 1866 it became clear that the Fenians no longer had the influence to direct Irish votes en mass and thus were no longer able to exert significant influence over American politicians.
The wild rumours about the plot to invade Canada were widely circulated and given much credence in Canadian political circles. The theoretical risk of a Fenian/American invasion probably did more to unite the Canadian peoples than the laughable reality of an actual Fenian invasion could ever have done…
Plagued by factional infighting, financial woes, police and army informers, and opposition from the Catholic Church the Fenians faded away as a meaningful organisation in North America within 10 years...”
Canadian Confederation was partially a response to the wild rumours of invasion from the United States that dominated the press in 1866 and 1867
New York 1997
Had anyone other than Philip Kearny been the general officer commanding the armies of the United States, Dan Sickles’ military career would have ended years earlier. Instead Sickles was first military governor of and then general officer commanding in Louisiana…
During his tenure Louisiana experienced the first waves of interstate migration of African Americans into the state from Texas, Arkansas and points further north on the Mississippi River. The outflow of potentially troublesome white ‘incorrigibles’ and an influx of black unionist freedmen made Louisiana one of the more peaceful states of the south to govern – at least outside the Bayou. Nonetheless Sickles managed to generate more than his fair share of trouble in the state...
It was several months before the Bureau of Collectors was properly established in the state. In that time Sickles had, using his broad discretion as military governor, confiscated Confederate State property as well as property owned by senior Confederate government and military figures. Several of these real estate properties turned out to be ‘excess to military requirements’ and were subsequently sold off to various unionists.
The ever controversial Daniel Sickles
Unsurprisingly there was ample scope for abuse of this system and rumours of backhanders, under the table incentives and poor accounting of the most dubious sort abounded. Sickles and several senior officers in the state were repeatedly accused of profiting significantly from these confiscation sales. Ironically the first charges were brought by a long standing Louisiana state attorney who Sickles promptly had expatriated and his real property confiscated. Many of the chief complainants were expatriated persons as thus their words were given little weight by the Unionist dominated press or army. All this was further confused by the lack of clarity around the legality of the military’s power following the defeat of the Confederacy but before the Federal recognition of the reconstituted state governments of the south…
Of all the various charges thrown at Sickles, only one came close to sticking. The mansion in Baton Rouge in which Sickles had his headquarters had been confiscated from an expatriated Confederate congressman now in Cuba. It had been judged unnecessary and sold to a consortium of ‘Northern investors’ before Sickles relocated his command there. The Northern investors were found to consist mostly of Union officers in the state who were now receiving rent from the Federal government. It came as no surprise that this consortium had paid nothing like the market price for the property…
It was the Bureau of Collectors who pressed the investigation as they initially sought to claim the property themselves before identifying the new owners. James Wilmer, an Ohioan and chief agent of the Bureau in Louisiana, thought he was close to uncovering a conspiracy to defraud the government and Sickles retention of Ben Butler as his own counsel seemed to reinforce that impression…
However though the investigation would identify two majors (both Pennsylvania Democrats), one in Sickles headquarters and one in the state Office of Proscription, as the prime movers of the fraud no links to Dan Sickles could be proved…
Sickles would never forget how the power of the Bureau of Collectors had been brought to bear against him. In 1868 he lobbied the new president hard to replace the Bureau chief, Jacob D. Cox, with Sickles himself. In the end though, while Sickles remained still the President’s most particular friend, the President knew he had the best man for the post already in the office and Cox remained in place…
Retirement from uniform was not entirely unrewarded that year. Sickles was elected as Captain-General of the New York Legion. It was never clear if he realized the importance of the post at the time. The new president would also not forget him and Sickles was offered a prized position abroad...”
From "War and Politics: The career of John A. McClernand" by Alfonso M. Mitchell
Rushbridge Press 1983
"It was during the year of 1868 when McClernand was lobbying hard to become Captain-General of the Illinois Legion. He had the foresight to see the power of the veterans organisation in Illinois politics and he intended to use it as a stepping stone to some higher office. Privately McClernand seemed unfussy about whether that office was the governorship or a seat in the senate...
Former President Lincoln and Captain-General McClernand at an 'encampment' celebration held by the Illinois Legion
His rival for the role was an old comrade from the armies of the west, Stephen A. Hurlbut. Hurlbut was running on a ticket with David R. Clendenin for Legion State Treasurer. It was too good an opportunity for McClernand to miss...
The Chicago Daily Journal published a story confirming how each of the military judges in the Jefferson Davis murder trial had voted in private. It was most unfortunate that, of the two judges from Illinois, David R. Clendenin voted to acquit while John A. McClernand voted to convict. A furious scandal erupted as it had only been vaguely rumoured in army circles that any of the judges had voted to acquit and now it was known that as many as three had...
David Ramsey Clendenin
Hurlbut sank with Clendenin anchored around his neck and McClernand was elected to the Captaincy-General almost by acclamation. The role would propel McClernand all the way to Washington, while the scandal would come close to wrecking the military careers of Adelbert Ames and William B. Hazen. For the immediate future however the scandal and its obvious source meant that McClernand would remain out of favour with the incoming president and his administration..."
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Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two
Military Odds and Sods
Part II
From "Freedmen in Kearny's Army" from an article by Paul Bernouli
North & South Magazine 2006
“In the years immediately following the Civil War the Academy returned to admitting cadets from former Confederate states. Obviously these could only be non-expatriated or re-naturalised persons. Unsurprisingly, given the revised electoral make up of many of these states, the first African American cadet was admitted in 1868 from South Carolina. Cadets from Mississippi and Louisiana would follow in 1869 and 1871. By 1888 twelve African Americans had graduated of 26 admissions. West Point would be at the forefront if integrated education and it would have a profound effect on its future alumni...”
From "Kearny's Army - The United States Army from the Civil War to the Emperors' War"
MacArthur University 2007
“Under the guidance of the new superintendent, William B. Hazen, the focus of the Academy’s curriculum would shift from engineering to strategy, tactics and logistics. Kearny advocated for superintendents from outside the Engineering branch of the army…
Kearny had a very mixed view of the abilities of the West Point alumni during the late war. He had very specific views that the army and the nation should not be running a free school for civil engineers which is what many graduates quickly left the army to pursue…
He was keen that the “fighting experiences of the army should be imparted to the cadets”. In this he was fully supported by John F. Reynolds, the former Commandant of Cadets. “The challenges of the late war must become the lessons of the classroom”…
Reform saw control of the Academy pass from the Corps of Engineers to the Office of the Commanding General...”
From "West Point Recollections" by Major James Danby ret.
MacArthur University 1991
“One of Kearny’s innovations was the involvement of the final year cadets in his annual army exercises…
“We had been placed under the command of a final year classman by the name of Daniel Richardson. He had the field rank of major for the purpose of the exercise…
He ordered the company to dismount and had us crawl through the dirt like damn infantryman. His objective was to flank two companies of the 9th Infantry and he wanted us to use a not particularly deep sunken road to do it. Being captain in both fact and for the purpose of the exercise I questioned the wisdom of using cavalrymen thus. The impudent whelp threatened to horsewhip me if I questioned his orders again, and I’m only half sure he didn’t mean it. Well we flanked the 9th and rolled them up like a blanket according to the umpires of the army staff. The cadet was Bull Richardson’s son and the regiment would have followed him to hell...” (recollections of Major, and later General, Adna Chaffee 14th cavalry of the 1887 army exercises)...”
From "The Fenian Movement in America" by James McGillycuddy
General Adna R. Chaffee
Grosvenor 2008
“With a membership now well versed in the use of arms in the late war, the Fenians sought to capitalize on this experience with a plan for the invasion of Canada from multiple points within the United States. They hoped their raids would encourage the United States to follow with regular troops in order to establish the St.Lawrence River as its northern border or even to annex the whole of Canada...
The United States government’s interest in the annexation of Canada was ephemeral. There was no appetite for fresh military conflict outside of Benjamin Butler’s congressional office. However matters were not helped nor official United States government policy clarified when William Seward commented in conversation with leading New York Fenians that the government would “acknowledge accomplished facts”. Seward must have felt some sense of the danger in which he had placed the government because he promptly raised the matter of a possible Fenian attack on Canada at cabinet…
This all went too far for President Lincoln. Although courting Irish votes in the midterms, Lincoln was resolutely against turning a blind eye to the Fenians. “I will allow no private citizen nor private army to use American sovereign soil to wage war upon a friendly power...even less to embroil this nation in another life and death struggle”…
The OMI [Office of Military Intelligence under General Charles P. Stone] quickly identified those regular and militia officers offering support to the invasion. Indeed there was very little secrecy about the endeavour. The OMI was also able to assist in the seizure of large stockpiles of arms and several vessels were also impounded…
The Fenian invasion plan was laughably naive and doomed to failure had not the United States government intervened to save them from themselves. The plan had been formed without much regard for Canadian history or the contemporary political scene and was based on completely false assumptions about Canadian loyalty and United States government policy…
After the congressional elections of 1866 it became clear that the Fenians no longer had the influence to direct Irish votes en mass and thus were no longer able to exert significant influence over American politicians.
The wild rumours about the plot to invade Canada were widely circulated and given much credence in Canadian political circles. The theoretical risk of a Fenian/American invasion probably did more to unite the Canadian peoples than the laughable reality of an actual Fenian invasion could ever have done…
Plagued by factional infighting, financial woes, police and army informers, and opposition from the Catholic Church the Fenians faded away as a meaningful organisation in North America within 10 years...”
From "The Road to Perdition - the Life of Daniel Sickles" by Jeff Gambley
Canadian Confederation was partially a response to the wild rumours of invasion from the United States that dominated the press in 1866 and 1867
New York 1997
Had anyone other than Philip Kearny been the general officer commanding the armies of the United States, Dan Sickles’ military career would have ended years earlier. Instead Sickles was first military governor of and then general officer commanding in Louisiana…
During his tenure Louisiana experienced the first waves of interstate migration of African Americans into the state from Texas, Arkansas and points further north on the Mississippi River. The outflow of potentially troublesome white ‘incorrigibles’ and an influx of black unionist freedmen made Louisiana one of the more peaceful states of the south to govern – at least outside the Bayou. Nonetheless Sickles managed to generate more than his fair share of trouble in the state...
It was several months before the Bureau of Collectors was properly established in the state. In that time Sickles had, using his broad discretion as military governor, confiscated Confederate State property as well as property owned by senior Confederate government and military figures. Several of these real estate properties turned out to be ‘excess to military requirements’ and were subsequently sold off to various unionists.
The ever controversial Daniel Sickles
Unsurprisingly there was ample scope for abuse of this system and rumours of backhanders, under the table incentives and poor accounting of the most dubious sort abounded. Sickles and several senior officers in the state were repeatedly accused of profiting significantly from these confiscation sales. Ironically the first charges were brought by a long standing Louisiana state attorney who Sickles promptly had expatriated and his real property confiscated. Many of the chief complainants were expatriated persons as thus their words were given little weight by the Unionist dominated press or army. All this was further confused by the lack of clarity around the legality of the military’s power following the defeat of the Confederacy but before the Federal recognition of the reconstituted state governments of the south…
Of all the various charges thrown at Sickles, only one came close to sticking. The mansion in Baton Rouge in which Sickles had his headquarters had been confiscated from an expatriated Confederate congressman now in Cuba. It had been judged unnecessary and sold to a consortium of ‘Northern investors’ before Sickles relocated his command there. The Northern investors were found to consist mostly of Union officers in the state who were now receiving rent from the Federal government. It came as no surprise that this consortium had paid nothing like the market price for the property…
It was the Bureau of Collectors who pressed the investigation as they initially sought to claim the property themselves before identifying the new owners. James Wilmer, an Ohioan and chief agent of the Bureau in Louisiana, thought he was close to uncovering a conspiracy to defraud the government and Sickles retention of Ben Butler as his own counsel seemed to reinforce that impression…
However though the investigation would identify two majors (both Pennsylvania Democrats), one in Sickles headquarters and one in the state Office of Proscription, as the prime movers of the fraud no links to Dan Sickles could be proved…
Sickles would never forget how the power of the Bureau of Collectors had been brought to bear against him. In 1868 he lobbied the new president hard to replace the Bureau chief, Jacob D. Cox, with Sickles himself. In the end though, while Sickles remained still the President’s most particular friend, the President knew he had the best man for the post already in the office and Cox remained in place…
Retirement from uniform was not entirely unrewarded that year. Sickles was elected as Captain-General of the New York Legion. It was never clear if he realized the importance of the post at the time. The new president would also not forget him and Sickles was offered a prized position abroad...”
From "War and Politics: The career of John A. McClernand" by Alfonso M. Mitchell
Rushbridge Press 1983
"It was during the year of 1868 when McClernand was lobbying hard to become Captain-General of the Illinois Legion. He had the foresight to see the power of the veterans organisation in Illinois politics and he intended to use it as a stepping stone to some higher office. Privately McClernand seemed unfussy about whether that office was the governorship or a seat in the senate...
Former President Lincoln and Captain-General McClernand at an 'encampment' celebration held by the Illinois Legion
His rival for the role was an old comrade from the armies of the west, Stephen A. Hurlbut. Hurlbut was running on a ticket with David R. Clendenin for Legion State Treasurer. It was too good an opportunity for McClernand to miss...
The Chicago Daily Journal published a story confirming how each of the military judges in the Jefferson Davis murder trial had voted in private. It was most unfortunate that, of the two judges from Illinois, David R. Clendenin voted to acquit while John A. McClernand voted to convict. A furious scandal erupted as it had only been vaguely rumoured in army circles that any of the judges had voted to acquit and now it was known that as many as three had...
David Ramsey Clendenin
Hurlbut sank with Clendenin anchored around his neck and McClernand was elected to the Captaincy-General almost by acclamation. The role would propel McClernand all the way to Washington, while the scandal would come close to wrecking the military careers of Adelbert Ames and William B. Hazen. For the immediate future however the scandal and its obvious source meant that McClernand would remain out of favour with the incoming president and his administration..."
So glad to see this back. Very well done, you didn't miss a beat. Threadmarks are an excellent addition.
Excellent update! I like how the Fenians ended with a whimper rather than a bang and saved lives all around.
By far I've loved how you have breathed life into these historical figures, Dan Sickles sordid career just feels so real, warts and all, which is something you've managed to put into every figure to a degree I envy. Can't wait to see you do the election of 1868!
By far I've loved how you have breathed life into these historical figures, Dan Sickles sordid career just feels so real, warts and all, which is something you've managed to put into every figure to a degree I envy. Can't wait to see you do the election of 1868!