Interesting fact on Sickles - the leg he lost at Gettysburg ended up as a specimen in the Army Medical Museum and Sickles, when in Washington, he would make sure to go to the museum to visit his leg. A much better known fact is that Sickles was the first person in the ISA to get acquitted of a criminal charge (in his case murder) with the defense of temporary insanity.
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
- Start date
StephenColbert27
Banned
Another Sickles factoid: when visiting the Gettysburg Battlefield park years after the war, he was asked by a visitor why he did not have a monument like so many other corps commanders. Sickles replied that the park was his monument. To his credit, Sickles was a major proponent of preservation. Ironically, there was money allocated for a bust of him to be placed in the park, but Sickles stole it.
It gets better when you look at his legal team. I wonder if you recognize any of the names...
Edwin Stanton;
James Topham Brady;
Thomas Francis Meagher;
Allen Magruder (I can never get to the bottom of whether he is one of those Magruders);
Daniel Ratcliffe;
Philip Phillips; and
Sam Chiltern.
The next chapter will be about the Indian Wars of the period. Then its will either be the Supreme Court or the Abyssinian Crisis depending on my muse.
Does anyone know of a resource for post civil war photos of the major figures. Its murder trying to find post war pictures of people like Hooker or McClernand and yet I know they exist?
Does anyone know of a resource for post civil war photos of the major figures. Its murder trying to find post war pictures of people like Hooker or McClernand and yet I know they exist?
StephenColbert27
Banned
I'll ask around on my Civil War Forum. Willing to bet someone there has them.
Curiously, his reputation suffered when he actually took his cheating wife back!!!
StephenColbert27
Banned
Found this one of Lee and others. Use it to talk about those in exile maybe? Will make a thread asking for more, specifically Union generals in the '70's and '80's.
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Coming back to this, I noticed that the amendment that you written is gender neutral. Which could have knock on effects.
And reading about it, Alaska not going to the US feels kinda surprising. Mostly in the sense that Russia knew it was untenable and were hoping to sell to the USA to get something out of it while keeping it out of British hands.
And with lot of the maps links going dead, old battles are even more confusing to read.
And reading about it, Alaska not going to the US feels kinda surprising. Mostly in the sense that Russia knew it was untenable and were hoping to sell to the USA to get something out of it while keeping it out of British hands.
And with lot of the maps links going dead, old battles are even more confusing to read.
I think what we're going to be seeing is a U.S. with a rather different colonial focus ITTL. A seemingly earlier and better Great Rapprochement with the U.K. probably won't make the U.S. as concerned with Canada being awarded a vast swath of icy wilderness down the road. But we will probably see instead a greater push into the Caribbean: the leasing of Samana Bay is probably just the beginning, especially so if Mexico becomes a much greater hemispheric geopolitical rival in A Glorious Union. I could see Washington perhaps buying the Bahamas or Jamaica down the line to counter an adventurous Mexican navy. The upcoming Abyssinian military adventure and the looming Emperors' War also suggest that a more outward-looking U.S. might get into the concept of colonialism abroad themselves (I believe it was strongly hinted that in the early 1900s the U.S. has a presence at a Korean port city, for example).
It is less that this USA would want it, but that Russia wants to get some desperately needed funds while depriving their rival of a possible easy land grab in a future war.
Beyond that, the main value for the USA in having Alaska at this time is countering British Canadian expansion and to increase their Pacific presence in future attempts to access markets in East Asia. And contrary to myth, it was generally a popular move.
But then as you noted, we're seeing a more Atlantic focused expansion.
I don't see USA buying British islands, but the Annexation of Santo Domingo(Dominican Republic) is possible as their government did asked for annexation. Considering that we got Samana Bay lease, that may be just be the beginning as you say.
It took me a while but I finally have caught up
Most enjoyable and interesting and the Turtledove is well earned. I look forward to more.
Most enjoyable and interesting and the Turtledove is well earned. I look forward to more.
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Three Military Odds and Sods Part III
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Three
Military Odds and Sods
Part III
From "The Plains Wars" by Marcus TamboroMilitary Odds and Sods
Part III
Burlingame 1985
“Buford's War (also referred to as the Bozeman Trail War or the War Horse Campaign) followed the Stoneman debacle. It would see the United States Army once again square off against the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho, this time in both the Dakota and Montana territories. The war was fought over control of the western Powder River Country – effectively the lands watered by the rivers that flowed north east from the Big Horn Mountains. This land had traditionally been Crow tribal land, but the Lakota had recently driven them out. The Crow tribe held the treaty rights to the disputed area, according to the major agreement reached at Fort Laramie in 1851 and this was to be a significant factor in Buford’s campaigns…
The success of the attack on Stoneman’s command emboldened the Lakota and their allies. Small scale raids and attacks on soldiers and civilians increased. The War Office concluded that decisive action had to be taken...”
Brigadier General J.N.O Buford
From "Kearny's Army - The United States Army from the Civil War to the Emperors' War"
MacArthur University 2007
“E.O.C. Ord, commanding the Department of the Plains, developed a rather plodding campaign plan. Using infantry regiments near at hand he planned to sweep the Powder and Tongue Rivers in two grand marches north east from the Bozeman trail during what was left of the summer and during the fall. John Reynolds, polite and understated as always, simply described it as “an artilleryman’s plan”…
The Plains Sub-Department commander, J.N.O Buford, was asked for his opinion in direct correspondence from Philip Kearny. Buford proposed pulling together the 5th Cavalry from its various detached garrisons in the Dakota Territory, and adding several available companies of the 10th and 13th Cavalry. Colonels John Wynn Davidson of the 10th and Eugene A. Carr of the 13th would both be in command even though their full regiments were not available. The 5th would be commanded by Buford’s old comrade Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Devin, who had signed on from volunteer service to the regulars at the pressing of both Buford and Kearny…
Buford’s objective was to strike against the Lakota alliance while they were at their most vulnerable: when in winter camps. They Fear His Horses, Hump, Crazy Horse and their followers were known to be on the Powder, Tongue, and Rosebud rivers. Buford's force would consist of almost 1,300 men which, aside from the main cavalry force, would include some infantry, civilian packers, and a the odd supernumerary newspaper reporter. One key element of Buford’s plan was the use of the 13th Cavalry. Carr’s initial recruits had been from the Indian Territory but was still short on numbers. Buford proposed encouraging Crow, Pawnee and Omaha recruits. Only a handful of Pawnee and Omaha joined and most of these were army scouts in any event. However at the urging of Wolf Bow many Crow warriors would join the 13th forming company H...
On receipt of Buford’s plan Kearny simply appended the word “THIS” with his signature and sent it on to E.O.C Ord to set the wheels in motion. Time favoured Buford as winter was still almost three months off...”
From "The Plains Wars" by Marcus Tamboro
Burlingame 1985
“Buford's opponents, the nomadic hunting and warrior societies of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho, had advantages in mobility, horsemanship, knowledge of the country, guerrilla tactics, and the capability to concentrate their forces to achieve numerical superiority. They also had many weaknesses as a fighting force, especially in organization and weapons…
During the winter the scarcity of natural resources resulted in the tribes living in small, scattered autonomous groups. In late summer and fall they congregated into large encampments for ceremonies, to make political decisions and to plan collective action. Bands were highly decentralized and individual tribesmen often felt little obligation to obey group decisions. The Lakota consisted of seven independent bands, each made up of numerous sub-bands, all of whom operated independently. The Cheyenne had a more structured and centralized political organization...
Some historians have estimated that the warriors in the Powder River area numbered up to 4,000 men. The total number of Lakota was estimated to be about 14,000. The Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho numbered about 3,000, adding up to a total of about 17,000 Indian men, women, and children, but thousands of the people in all three of those tribes were not in the Powder River country. Many others stayed aloof from the on-going strife fearing retribution…
As had been typical of United States militias, tribal warriors were part-time warriors. They had to spend much of the summer and fall each year hunting buffalo and other game to feed their families. In the late winter and spring, they were limited in mobility until the grass turned green and their horses could recover their strength after the severe winters of the northern Great Plains. The effectiveness of Indian forces were diminished by their lack of cohesion and organization…”
Buford's plan for a winter campaign was a brave one
From "A Soldier’s Life" – the Biography of J.N.O. Buford by James W. Pelham
Buffalo 2001
“Snow had fallen the day before Buford and his command left Fort Reno. The troops marched north on the Bozeman Trail toward the Powder River. This column, the larger of the two, included 14 full companies of cavalry, 80 wagons pulled by mules, six ambulances filled with forage and a pack train consisting of five divisions of 80 mules each. The newly raised Crow company of the 13th accompanied Buford well…
Sword in the Bear was the unofficial ‘company sergeant’ of Company H under Captain George Wynstra, primarily as he was considered the fiercest warrior. However he was also an exceptional tracker and knew the country well. He and Hump had raided one another in the past and he had an unerring sense of where Hump’s camp could be found…
Buford and his men attacked the Miniconjou camp of Hump on the Powder River in what is now southern Montana. Carr recalled that the village “was bountifully provided with all that a tribesman could desire, and much besides that a white man would not disdain to class among the comforts of life.”…
The village was situated under some bluffs, and the Miniconjou gained the higher ground from which they drove Buford’s force back. The undisciplined nature of the newly recruited tribesmen was largely responsible. Buford was not deterred and while Carr kept the hostiles fixed on the bluffs, Buford personally led three companies of the 5th on to their flank and up an unguarded defilade…
The defeat of Hump’s band heartened the troops who, though suffering from the bitter cold, also had an ample supply of meat and furs thanks to Buford’s preparations. From there they marched north west toward the mouth of the Rosebud river…
Carr observed “the long line of mounted men, white, black and red, stretched for more than a mile like a river of color against the somberness of the white snow.” The wagons formed “an undulating streak of white that seemed to merge with the color of both snow and clouds”.
To Buford’s surprise the first force they encountered was 16 Shoshone warriors, dispatched by their chief, Washakie, to help the army fight their old enemies, the Lakota. That was only part of the story. Washakie had also tasked them with observing how the warriors who had joined the ‘long knives’ were treated. A far sighted chief, he wished to know whether the Shoshone warriors should be encouraged to join or not…
According to Carr, Buford said of his objective, “We don’t want to kill the Indians, we only want to make them behave themselves.” His Crows had found three camps along the Rosebud in close proximity guarding two large pony herds. This was an opportunity to strike a crippling blow…
The soldiers struck at dawn; they found a narrow entry through the natural shelter of bluffs and ridges and bountiful cottonwoods and willows that provided protection to the village along the creek such that two companies of the 10th were able to deploy to charge.
Forty Lakota died in that first charge, as the rest scrambled for the bluffs. Buford’s troops burned their tipis while taking possession of their clothing and winter food supplies. As the temperature plunged Buford sent out a proposal to the beleaguered Lakota: surrender your arms and agree to be taken to Fort C.S. Smith and the army would provide food, furs and warmth. The Lakota refused and the temperature that night fell to thirty below zero. Two men, four women and nine babies froze to death that night the Lakota confirmed when they surrendered the next day. While giving no outward sign, Carr believed Buford stricken by their count of the dead. The men of the 13th believed it their “just fate” (Sword in the Bear). The Shoshone warriors reported back to Washakie that War Horse (Buford) was a great war chief but he was generous to his enemies to the point of foolishness...”
Buford’s victories at the Battles of Hump’s Camp and the Rosebud, along with Wynn Davidson’s successes along the Bighorn River, as well as the loss of several pony herds would cripple a large proportion of the Ogalala, Hunkpapa and Miniconjou warbands for many seasons to come...”
Chief Washakie would come to see the 13th Cavalry as a lifeline for the Shoshone
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At this point in the late 1860s the 13th Cavalry is made up of:
A - Cherokee
B - Cherokee and some Seminoles
C - Creek
D - Choctaw
E - Delaware, Shawnee and some Choctaws
F - Catawba, Lumbee, and some Tuscarora
G - Various tribes of the mid-west and 'odds and ends'
H - Crow
I - Pawnee and Omaha (significantly under strength)
J - not recruited
All under Colonel Eugene A. Carr and Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Gibbs (he took a promotion from Major to join the initially unpopular assignment to the 13th).
The nature of the company recruitment will shift dramatically over the subsequent decades...
Perhaps not as blatant as that. It will certainly stifle the old "the only good injun is a dead injun" attitude. Especially in an army without Sheridan and with Sherman in a reduced role.
Kearny, Reynolds and Buford still hark back to a different era of 'honourable' warfare in many ways.
I suspect Kearny would rather raise a glass with a Choctaw trooper than a New York attorney who paid for a substitute...
The next chapters will deal with Hancock, Custer, Ames and the difficult to make plausible Abyssinian adventure...