Back via the local library for an hour. I know roughly what I would like to do with each of these. However I would be interested in how you think Britain's rapid move from "ambivalent" to anti-Confederate might effect the Alabama claims? The Alabama was launched in 1862 before the crack down by British authorities and would sail for two years before the Battle of the Bay of Biscay.
A Glorious Union or America: the New Sparta
- Thread starter TheKnightIrish
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Back via the local library for an hour. I know roughly what I would like to do with each of these. However I would be interested in how you think Britain's rapid move from "ambivalent" to anti-Confederate might effect the Alabama claims? The Alabama was launched in 1862 before the crack down by British authorities and would sail for two years before the Battle of the Bay of Biscay.
Economic issues; one lesser know aspect of the Civil War was the perilous state of the American economy which would lead to the issue of "greenbacks" or paper money. I would be curious to see how a surviving Lincoln and his successors deal with the economic issues of the post war period.
Really? I thought the economy went from strength to strength for the next decade (except the South). I thought the US government found it easy to pay down the debt?
Easy in the sense that everyone involved believed in what was then called New London School economics, everyone thought that debt should be paid, and so there was no serious opposition to policies intended to service debt. Manufacturing returned to its 1861 levels in 1869 and grew steadily thereafter, and throughout the postwar period the USA was a major exporter. However, currency convertibility wasn't restored until 1876, and it provoked a wave of bank failures then (although that was largely a result of international banking changes, and waiting further wouldn't have helped). in 1900, the USA was still carrying 80% of its nominal civil war debt; it paid the interest and relied on inflation and economic growth to gradually chip away at it.
In short, while manufacturing did well, a case could be made that the USA has never recovered fiscally from the ACW.
That's an incredible statistic. I'm strongly reminded of the Russia in the World Wars, or Europe in general for that matter. Thanks.
I think the result would be a somewhat more conciliatory Britain. I suspect that a surviving Lincoln could accomplish much with such an asset.
When I was referring to economic issues, I had in mind monetary policy, especially regarding "greenbacks". Also in response to Corder, the economy was not as robust as you might think.
Here's a few articles I found on a "Gold Standard" website which has a history of money and economic policy during and after the war IOTL: What I wonder is what kind of policies will a surviving Lincoln and his successors follow in regards to greenbacks and the money supply?
Also will we see a "Free Silver" movement or its equivalent ITTL?
Here's a few articles I found on a "Gold Standard" website which has a history of money and economic policy during and after the war IOTL: What I wonder is what kind of policies will a surviving Lincoln and his successors follow in regards to greenbacks and the money supply?
Also will we see a "Free Silver" movement or its equivalent ITTL?
Back in the library again for a few minutes. I really appreciate the economic discussions. It is interesting that one of Lincoln's economic advisors was Henry Charles Carey. However regardless of Lincoln's own views or those of his Secretary of the Treasury, Congress will have perhaps the loudest voice in this.
With the ripples in history spreading out you can expect to see changes in the timing of recessions etc. European History is going to see the effects of Lieutenant-General Philip Kearny as soon as I can get back to work. We'll also hear again from the Roosevelt and Bulloch clans.
(I have another interview this week)...
With the ripples in history spreading out you can expect to see changes in the timing of recessions etc. European History is going to see the effects of Lieutenant-General Philip Kearny as soon as I can get back to work. We'll also hear again from the Roosevelt and Bulloch clans.
(I have another interview this week)...
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine The Stained Banner
Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Nine
The Stained Banner
The Stained Banner
From “Man of War - The Life of Jefferson Davis” by Martin Fryer
Bison 1974
"Jefferson Davis, former soldier and statesman, was reduced to an isolated existence during his imprisonment at Fort Warren in Boston. He was held apart from the other prisoners and only had contact with his Union goalers...
The first news brought to Davis was by his regular inquisitor from the Office of Military Intelligence, Colonel George H. Sharpe. Sharpe informed Davis that an attempt had been made of the life of the President and several members of the cabinet but that initial reports suggested the attempts had failed. Colonel Sharpe would later be called upon to testify to Jefferson Davis' comments which he reported as "If it were to be done at all, it were better it were well done." This statement coupled with the subsequent realization that Mrs. Lincoln had been mortally wounded would have condemned Jefferson Davis had no other element of his character been known to the Court...
Colonel George H. Sharpe, OMI officer at Fort Warren
Despite repeated denials by Davis and his attempt to "stand upon his honor and reputation as a gentleman" the prosecution would clearly show, through evidence obtained by the OMI in Richmond, that the so called President of the Confederate States, had personally authorised payments from the Secret Service fund to the Baltimore Spy Ring which had supported the Booth Conspiracy..."
From “The Life of General William J. Hardee - Teach Them How To War” by Christopher L. Pike
Bison 1965
"From his imprisonment at Fort Delaware General Hardee was visibly stunned when the prison commander informed him of the attempted assassination of the President and the wounding of Mrs. Lincoln. Even before the confirmation that Mrs. Lincoln had expired from her injuries reached his ears, General Hardee had composed a letter condemning the act unreservedly and wishing the President Lincoln's wife a speedy recovery...
At the request of General Cleburne, General Hardee circulated the letter for the other general officers of the Army of Tennessee incarcerated at Fort Delaware to append their signatures or endorse his sentiments. General Cleburne was the first to do so and General Churchill also endorsed the sentiments. Difficulties arose when a number of junior general officers became aware of the correspondence..."
From “The Irish Corporal – The Life and Battles of Patrick Ronayne Cleburne” by James Fitzgerald Maguire
Trinity Press
"General Cleburne referred to the Booth Conspiracy as "a stain upon our banner and upon this our great cause"...
Tempers frayed when the subject of a letter of repudiation was raised by Cleburne with other former officers of the Western command. Major General Gideon Pillow, incarcerated with the Western Generals, led opposition to the letter as "an improper correspondence with an enemy in time of war...without proper knowledge of the events through proper [i.e. Confederate] channels" (reported by Dabney Maury). Others were more direct "this ring of generals seems bent on currying favor with our captors by swallowing whole whatever Yankee lies are served up to them in the New England papers" (Brigadier General George G. Dibrell)...
Brigadier General George G. Dibrell
On one occasion when an officer from Tennessee questioned General Cleburne's commitment to the cause and referred to him as "a foreigner" General Cleburne and the said officer came to blows only being separated by their Union guards..."
From “The Blue Eyed Prophet of War” by Robert Lee Thomas
Carlotta Press 1906
"General Jackson was deeply moved by the report of the death of Mary Todd Lincoln. He not only wrote a deeply moving letter of condolence to the President which expressed not only Jackson's deep Christian faith but that acknowledged Lincoln's own faith "though we disagree on so much it will never, can never overcome the common bond that we are all children of the one God". It was emblematic of Jackson's deepening faith and his growing belief during his imprisonment that the defeat of the Confederacy was part of God's plan for the Southern people. "Whether we must wander in the desert for 40 years as the Israelites did or whether we will be cast to the wind like the Jews of old...God has a plan for us all...we must hold fast to our faith in this our ultimate time of trial" (Jackson in a letter to his wife)...
General Jackson would go further. When abroad in the camp, and upon hearing expressions of support for the idea of assassination of Union leaders, he would often place the officer speaking on a charge. On one occasion he was to overhear a South Carolinian general officer expressing the view that the death of Mrs. Lincoln, a traitor to her state and her native people, was an inevitable consequence of her allegiance to the Union cause. General Jackson demanded the Court Marshal, in prison, of that officer with a view to having him cashiered as unfit to hold a Confederate commission. It was only through the intercession of General Longstreet and the unreserved apology of the officer, both to Jackson and to the prison commander as representative of the Union power, that the matter was laid to rest..."
From "Lincoln's Confederate Brother in Law - Benjamin Hardin Helm" by Gregory U.T. Withers
Northwestern 1997
"General Helm was in the process of being transferred to Fort Warren in Boston when he heard the news of the death of his wife's sister, Mary Todd Lincoln. The officer charged with his transfer, an Iowan cavalry major, reported that "General Helm wept as a child would. His distress at such terrible news would have moved the hardest heart...of his sincerity I had no doubt. He was a true and Christian gentleman"...
The inconvenience of harboring the unconditional prisoners at Fort Warren was only exacerbated by the "political differences" that frequently arose among the inmates. General Helm was particularly noted for his conversion to the peace party. On more than one occasion he came to blows with other officers held at Fort Warren. The OMI representative at Fort Warren, Colonel Sharpe, reported one incident where General Helm "flew into a rage with another General Officer and beat him severely. General Helm had armed himself with a knife, provided to the officers to dine with, when guards intervened...I have not yet divined the specific provocation for the incident yet beyond its obvious political cause...the other officer was General Robert Barnwell Rhett."
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Quit complaining! Short update while I'm in the library.
I will try to draft something up on Texas next and then the Election.
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In response to a query on another forum I can confirm the fate of Union officer Brigadier General Dixon S. Miles as follows:
Following his transfer to a brigade command in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 he would remain there for the next year. He would last until the Shenandoah Campaign of 1863 still in command of a brigade under Franz Sigel. He was sufficiently mistrusted by Sigel that his brigade was not one of those deployed in the holding action at Kearnysville/Leesburg (Post 400). He would be dismissed from command (due to his inabilities - drunkenness primarily but not exclusively) during the major re-organisation of the army during the winter of 1863 (around the time of Post 563)...
Following his transfer to a brigade command in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862 he would remain there for the next year. He would last until the Shenandoah Campaign of 1863 still in command of a brigade under Franz Sigel. He was sufficiently mistrusted by Sigel that his brigade was not one of those deployed in the holding action at Kearnysville/Leesburg (Post 400). He would be dismissed from command (due to his inabilities - drunkenness primarily but not exclusively) during the major re-organisation of the army during the winter of 1863 (around the time of Post 563)...
Yeah, Rhett just keep making mistakes.
there is a very large hole being dug underneath him.
there is a very large hole being dug underneath him.
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So, Davis is definitely going to hang, then? It looks like Rhett is looking at a noose, too.
I think Rhett is already in a noose. he just doesn't know it yet.
Rhett's been in a noose since the Hunter incident. He might be smart enough to realize that. More likely it's bloodyminded inabililty to tolerate any opinion but his own.