Answering the Call of Lafayette: America Intervenes in the Franco-Prussian War
- Thread starter robertp6165
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I will be updating this one soon. I want to flesh out some of the other events of the timeline so far, such as what is going on in Mexico with no French-imposed monarchy; what is happening to Maximilian since he didn't go to Mexico; etc. I may also be writing a revised and expanded version of the Franco-Prussian War itself. Once the first segment is fleshed out to my satisfaction, I will start posting additional segments carrying the timeline forward.
I am also nearing completion on another segment of BRITONS TRIUMPHANT, which I hope to have posted soon.
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If the purpose of this alternative scenario is to wage a war on behalf of France in order to repay France for the Revolution and re-unite North and South, why would we not simply invade Mexico and give Britain and Napoleon III part of whatever we take? Germany could take Alsace-Lorraine with France getting part of Mexico as compensation. This would satisfy the objective of uniting the United States without causing a new civil war between American Germans, Irish and Brits.
Of course with slavery still in place and all that new land in Mexico the question of slavery in the territories would eventually rear up again.
If Napoleon tries to accept this, he's off the throne. You'll never get the alsatians and mosellans to accept this ( unless, like OTL, you go for ethnic cleansing )
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The Alsatians were the German-speaking side of Alsace-Lorraine. They would have more at home in Germany than France, but from what I gather they wanted both sides to just leave them alone.
67th Tigers
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They were Frenchmen (and women), no matter what language was spoken. Alsace-Lorraine (and Schleswig-Holstein for that matter) was incorporated into Germany against the will of the German speaking population of those provinces.
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Because of Germany’s history as small, fragmented states, my 1st year German language textbook made the comment that it has been said that there are no Germans, but rather Bavarians and Swabians and Prussians, etcetera, etcetera. The Alsatians spoke a local dialect of German as their everyday language rather than Hoch Deutsch. They did not feel any strong ties to either Germany or France. Culturally and economically the Alsatians and the people from Lorraine were identical except for language. But the similarities with Lorraine didn’t make the Alsatians French. And after centuries of being fought over, invaded and occupied by foreign powers the Alsatians developed their own Alsatian identity.
Time for a new topic in the TL to discuss lol...I am really wondering might John Wilkes Booth and company still attempt to perform their Coup de Etat with the assassinations of the major heads of state? If he does, survive the attempt...what kind of role might he attempt once he leaves office? I think we say he would be infavor of pressing for the Annexation of the Dominician Republic into the Union along with Grant...But what about other issues such as Grant's Corruption, the "German War" and others?
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The idea that a people could only have one identity is fairly recent, and not accurate. For example, there was no incompatibility between an Irish and a British identity felt by a typical Dubliner in the 19th century. Similarly, Schleswig Germans thought of themselves as both Danish and German.
Indeed, there isn't really a "German language" at the time. The various Germanic languages are so different they are effectively different languages (the same happened in Iberia).
In WW1, it was clear the conscripts from A-L would not fight their French countrymen, and so all conscripts were sent to fight the Russians.....
I wonder which TL you are from, but it's definitely not the same as mine.
What you say may have been true in 1670 but most definitely wasn't in 1870.
The term Alsatian Diaspora means something. I suggest you look it up. Now think a bit about the emotional similitudes.
I also suggest you look at the conditions in the Reich's colony of Elsass-Lothringen after more than a third of the population had had to leave ( and been replaced by 2/3 as much German colonists ). While you're at it, I suggest you check how and why the SOGENAL was created and at what time it went to Reichsmark for internal accounting. You could also look up the Zabern incident and its followups and the statistics of Alsatian deserters on the west front.
BTW, I'm from Alsace and part of what I'm saying is from familly history and the history of friend's familly.
Sorry...I must have missed this, being buried as it was in all the German argumentation going on.
In answer to your questions...
1) No John Wilkes Booth did not attempt an assassination in this timeline. In OTL Booth did not even begin to contemplate kidnapping...much less assassinating...Lincoln until the summer of 1864. While he might have come to the idea faster in the ATL, the war ended quickly enough that he probably never got beyond the "idea" stage. And since Lincoln never issued the Emancipation Proclamation...a major reason why Booth decided on the plan to begin with...Booth is less likely to have gone in that direction anyway. Indeed, since Lincoln supports gentle Reconstruction for the South, Booth probably ends up supporting him after the war anyway.
2) I agree that Lincoln would support Grant's plan for Dominican annexation...which, by the way, I have decided is going to occur (free preview! LOL).
And somewhat ironic that I should be the one to write it.
Except you had the North win...but not the Abolitionists. They lost big time.
Sorry...I must have missed this, being buried as it was in all the German argumentation going on.
In answer to your questions...
1) No John Wilkes Booth did not attempt an assassination in this timeline. In OTL Booth did not even begin to contemplate kidnapping...much less assassinating...Lincoln until the summer of 1864. While he might have come to the idea faster in the ATL, the war ended quickly enough that he probably never got beyond the "idea" stage. And since Lincoln never issued the Emancipation Proclamation...a major reason why Booth decided on the plan to begin with...Booth is less likely to have gone in that direction anyway. Indeed, since Lincoln supports gentle Reconstruction for the South, Booth probably ends up supporting him after the war anyway.
2) I agree that Lincoln would support Grant's plan for Dominican annexation...which, by the way, I have decided is going to occur (free preview! LOL).
Interesting, I definatley can't wait for the next installment...Im just wondering how a Dominican Territory/State would react within the American Political Realm? Also with that many prominent blacks on the island, I still think the issue of Citizenship for Free Blacks is going to be a major issue in the Gilded Age.
With the questions above but most importantly when shall we expect the next installment?
VERSION 2.O
December 1860--South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861--General Pedro Santana, President of the Dominican Republic, asks Spain to annex the country. Spain complies, and the Dominican Republic reverts to a colony under Spanish control.
January 1861--Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana secede from the Union.
February 1861--Texas secedes from the Union. Representatives of the seceded States meet in Montgomery, Alabama, to discuss the formation of a new government. On February 8, a Constitution is adopted and the Confederate States of America is officially declared in existence. Jefferson Davis is sworn in as President of the Confederacy on February 18, with Alexander H. Stephens as his Vice President.
March 1861--On March 4, Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as President of the United States at Washington, D.C. In his inauguration address, he declares secession illegal, and vows to uphold the Union. He does, however, attempt to conciliate the South by denying he has any plans to interfere with slavery where it already exists.
April 1861--A crisis over the status of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, turns violent when Confederate forces open fire on the fort in order to force its surrender before the garrison can be augmented and resupplied by a Federal fleet sent by President Lincoln for that purpose. With these shots, the American Civil War begins. Three days later, President Lincoln issues a call or 75,000 volunteers and asks the States to supply their militias for the purpose of suppressing the “insurrection,” as he calls it. On that same day (April 15), Caleb Huse, Confederate Purchasing Agent, sets sail for England. In reaction to President Lincoln’s request for it’s State Militia, Virginia secedes from the Union on April 17. On April 19, President Lincoln declares a blockade of Confederate ports. This is a blunder, as by declaring a blockade, Lincoln has tacitly granted the Confederacy “belligerent” status under international law. Now foreign nations may legally sell arms and equipment to the Confederacy.
April 1861 onward--The Confederacy initially has little difficulty equipping it’s armies. A supply of almost 300,000 military firearms (a majority of which are obsolete, but still serviceable, smoothbore muskets) had been amassed by the various State governments, most of which become available to the Confederate army at the outbreak of war. The Confederates are able to equip their main field armies for campaigning in 1861 and early 1862 with these weapons. However, the Confederacy has little capacity to produce more, and if the war lasts more than a few months, that lack will soon make itself felt on the battlefield. It is vital that reliable supplies of foreign imported arms be established.
May 1861--North Carolina and Arkansas secede from the Union. Britain declares it’s neutrality in the conflict, but states that it will accord both sides their full rights as belligerents. Caleb Huse takes full advantage of this by signing major arms contracts with all the major British arms makers. The Confederate Congress votes to relocate the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia.
June 1861--Tennessee secedes from the Union. Emperor Napoleon III of France openly declares his support of the Union, saying that France will not support a “rebellion against their lawful government by a cadre of detestable slavers.” He orders Confederate envoys and purchasing agents expelled from France. French diplomats communicate Napoleon’s concern over Britain’s neutral stance vis-à-vis the Confederacy.
July 1861--Following intense diplomatic negotiations between France and Britain, including a personal letter from Napoleon III to Queen Victoria, the British government reverses it’s diplomatic stance toward the Confederacy. Confederate diplomats and purchasing agents are expelled from Britain, and the British government forces all British arms makers to abrogate the contracts which have recently been made with Caleb Huse. The Confederacy will have no access to British arsenals during the war. The Battle of First Manassas proceeds as per OTL. The Confederates win a major victory, but are unable to follow it up by pursuing the beaten Union army.
July 1861-Spring 1862--Events of the American Civil War proceed as per OTL, with one major exception…Confederate arms purchasers, having been kicked out of Britain and France, find their sources of supply limited to Belgian firms (who will sell to anybody, for a price), as well as Austria and Prussia. Belgium provides approximately 50,000 copies of the highly regarded British Enfield rifle musket, while Austria sells about 100,000 modern Lorenz rifle muskets, while Prussia empties it’s warehouses of surplus antiquated flintlocks, most of which saw hard service during the Napoleonic Wars over 40 years before. Most of what is bought from Prussia proves to be completely unserviceable and is a complete waste of money, but the Belgian and Austrian rifles are a welcome addition to Confederate stockpiles. However, it is not enough, and by the Spring of 1862, Confederate armies…especially in the Western Theater, are feeling the pinch.
October 1861--Treaty of London. Britain, France and Spain decide to unite their efforts to collect unpaid debts from the Mexican government.
December 1861--Spanish fleet and army arrives at Vera Cruz.
1862--In Prussia, the largest of the German states, a member of the landed aristocracy, Otto von Bismarck, becomes Chancellor. Representing the king, he declares that his government is to rule without parliament.
January 1862--British and French fleets arrive at Vera Cruz.
February 1862--Forts Henry and Donelson fall to Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. With the fall of these forts, central Tennessee becomes undefendable, and Confederate forces withdraw southward to Corinth, Mississippi. The Union Army occupies Nashville on February 25.
March 1862--French army lands in Mexico. President Lincoln removed George B. McClellan from his position as General-in-Chief of Union forces and places him in command of the Army of the Potomac, tasked with the capture of Richmond. Clash between the C.S.S. Virginia…a Confederate ironclad constructed on the burned hulk of the former U.S.S. Merrimac…and the U.S.S. Monitor, a new turreted ironclad designed by John Ericsson. The battle is tactically a draw, but strategically a Union victory. The Virginia had destroyed two wooden U.S. warships the previous day, but the Monitor is able to prevent the Confederate ironclad from destroying the rest of the Union blockade fleet in Hampton Roads. The Virginia returns to port, and the two ironclads will never meet again in battle.
April 1862--A convention of the London Treaty powers decides to withdraw from Mexico. Napoleon III, however, does not immediately go along with the other powers, and French troops remain.
In Virginia, Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, having been transported by sea to Fort Monroe, advances west along the Peninsula toward Richmond. On April 5, McClellan lays siege to Confederate forces at Yorktown, Virginia.
At Corinth, Mississippi, General Albert Sidney Johnston had hoped to gather enough troops to make possible an attack on the army of Major General Ulysses S. Grant, which was then encamped at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. However, the failure of Confederate agents to secure any English or French arms, and the top priority given to arming the troops defending the Confederate capital in Virginia, means that he has not had the same success which he enjoyed in OTL. As a result, he abandons his planned assault on Grant’s army.
On April 6, 1862, Grant is joined by the army of Major General Don Carlos Buell, and together, the combined Union host of over 80,000 advances on Corinth on April 10. Outnumbered almost three-to-one, General Johnston orders the Confederate evacuation of Corinth on April 11. Johnston’s army retreats to Jackson, Mississippi. Meanwhile, on April 8, Island Number 10 surrenders to Union forces under John Pope, opening the Mississippi River to Union forces all the way down to Fort Pillow, Tennessee. And on April 24, Union warships under David G. Farragut run past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River, the only defenses of New Orleans. New Orleans itself falls on April 25.
May 1862--On May 4, Confederate forces slip away from Yorktown toward Williamsburg, Virginia. General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac follows…slowly. McClellan is operating on delusions that he is vastly outnumbered by Confederate forces, due largely to specious intelligence reports provided by Allan Pinkerton, and is very cautious in his pursuit of the retreating enemy.
On May 5, 1862, the Battle of Puebla is fought between Mexican and French forces. French troops suffer a humiliating defeat at the hand of the Mexican forces, although casualties are relatively light.
On May 10, the combined Union armies of Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell move south from Corinth, Mississippi, toward the Mississippi State capital at Jackson, which is defended by General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of Mississippi. Johnston has been reinforced somewhat by refugee troops from New Orleans and from elsewhere, but is still is outnumbered by over two to one. Jackson is the major rail nexus connecting the port of Vicksburg, Mississippi…a vital link between it’s States east and west of the Mississippi River…with the rest of the Confederacy. It must be held. Accordingly, Johnston orders the construction of strong fortifications around the city. His works are repeatedly assaulted by the Union armies over May 27-29, 1862. Although the Confederates fight valiantly, the odds are too great. A Union assault on May 29 pierces the Confederate lines, and Johnston’s army is shattered. Both Johnston and his second in command, General P.G. T. Beauregard, are killed as they brave enemy fire trying to retrieve the situation. Survivors of the Confederate forces retreat toward Vicksburg, where they augment the garrison there, or toward Montgomery, Alabama, where a Confederate relief force is being slowly concentrated.
On May 31, Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston launch an assault against an isolated wing of McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks). General Johnston is severely wounded and forced to relinquish his command.
June 1862--On June 1, Robert E. Lee is placed in command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac, defending Richmond, which he renames the Army of Northern Virginia. However, on that same day, President Jefferson Davis, faced with the collapsing situation in the West, orders the withdrawal of troops from Virginia and sends them west. Among these is The Army of the Valley, commanded by Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, which has, up to now, been bedeviling Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Troops from the main Confederate army protecting Richmond are also diverted west, and even Allan Pinkerton cannot fail to notice that there are not as many Confederates around as previously. He reports this to General McClellan, who is emboldened to speed up his advance on Richmond.
General Robert E. Lee, who had been planning to again attack the Union Army, finds that with his depleted forces, he is unable to do so. McClellan reaches the Confederate fortifications outside Richmond and begins siege operations on June 15. A frustrated Robert E. Lee can do nothing but watch as his army is encircled by vastly superior Union forces.
Meanwhile, on June 6, the Battle of Memphis is fought between Union and Confederate fleets. The Union forces are victorious. Memphis falls to Union troops shortly thereafter. Vicksburg is now the Confederacy’s only remaining link between it’s cis-Mississippi and trans-Mississippi States.
Meanwhile in France, upon learning of the disaster at Puebla, Napoleon III decides that Mexico might not be worth the effort it would take to seize it, and orders the withdrawal of French troops.
June 25-August 2, 1862--The Siege of Richmond. McClellan brings up heavy artillery to bombard the Confederate works and the city itself. Several Union assaults are beaten back with heavy losses during June and July, but finally, on August 2, a major Union assault breaks through into the city. President Jefferson Davis, who had stubbornly refused advice from General Lee to evacuate the city, is caught and killed by rampaging Union cavalry commanded by Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer as he attempts to flee the Confederate White House. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, however, escapes the city, along with most of the rest of the Confederate government. Union forces burn much of the city to the ground. Also killed is another Union cavalry commander, John Buford.
June 1862 onward--Recriminations in France over the defeat at Puebla lead to an earlier reform of the French military. Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon, with the approval of Emperor Napoleon III, closes loopholes in the national conscription regulations, and increases bonuses for reenlistment of veteran troops, both of which greatly increase the strength and quality of the French military.
Meanwhile, with the withdrawal of French forces from Mexico, Archduke Maximilian of Austria never accepts the imperial crown of Mexico, despite being offered it by the Mexican conservative faction. Instead, he goes to Brazil on a botanical expedition (something that he has wanted to do since 1859). Soon after their arrival in Brazil, his wife, Charlotte, is bitten by a fever-carrying mosquito, and dies shortly thereafter. In his grief, Maximilian is consoled by the Brazilian Princess Imperial, Isabel, who finds Maximilian to be very dashing and handsome, as well as intelligent and charming. A romantic attraction gradually develops between them.
July 1862--Union Generals Grant and Buell follow up their victory at Jackson with an advance on Vicksburg, to which they lay siege on July 12. In this they are supported by the Union fleet, coming down from Memphis and up from New Orleans, as well as by another Union Army moving north from New Orleans under Major General Benjamin Butler. Butler’s force is stymied by the garrison of Port Hudson, Louisiana, however, and stops to lay siege to that place. Grant and Buell lay siege to Vicksburg.
Meanwhile, Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the senior officer available in Montgomery upon his arrival there, takes command of the new Confederate Army of Alabama, which is being formed at that place. Jackson finds himself in command of over 40,000 troops, but nevertheless knows he is still greatly outnumbered by the Union forces in Mississippi. He decides to embark on a bold strategy…strike north, into Tennessee, and threaten Nashville, in the hope that most, if not all, of the Union forces now rampaging through Mississippi will be recalled north to defend their supply lines through Tennessee. Jackson marches north from Montgomery on July 9, 1862. By the end of the month he is into Tennessee, and there renames his army as the Army of Tennessee.
August 1862--Upon learning of Jackson’s move northward on August 1, Major General Don Carlos Buell, with his army, is detached from the force besieging Vicksburg and transported by river to Memphis, where they march to intercept Jackson’s Army of Alabama.
As described elsewhere, Richmond falls on August 2, 1862. Confederate General Robert E. Lee manages to extricate most of his army and fall back, along with the Confederate government, to Danville, Virginia, where they can get railroad connections south…the new President, Alexander H. Stephens, has decided to move the Confederate capital back to Montgomery. Union commander McClellan does not vigorously pursue, and the Confederate troops are able to get away by rail. Governor John Letcher vehemently protests this withdrawal, but to no avail. He sets up a State government-in-exile in North Carolina, but his governorship is effectively over. Virginia, abandoned by the Confederate armies, is basically out of the war at this point, and comes under Union occupation.
On August 20, the forces of Buell and Jackson meet near Franklin, Tennessee. Jackson inflicts a severe defeat on the Union army, which is forced to retreat back toward Memphis. Jackson pursues, and catches Buell again on August 25. In fighting near the old Union encampment at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, the Union defeat turns into a rout. Don Carlos Buell is killed, along with several other officers, including one of his Division commanders, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas.
September 1862--By September 1, Confederate government re-establishes itself in Montgomery. President Alexander H. Stephens, however, is a realist, and he feels that Confederate victory is no longer possible. Nevertheless, he believes that Jackson’s victories in Tennessee have given him some possible bargaining power, and he sends envoys to President Lincoln, asking for peace terms. This is the beginning of what will prove to be seven months of on-again, off-again negotiation between Stephens and Lincoln which will eventually lead to the end of the war.
Meanwhile, fighting continues. President Lincoln has placed Major General William S. Rosecrans in charge of the defense of Nashville. Rosecrans works to cobble together another army to defend Tennessee from Stonewall Jackson’s onslaught. Rosecrans competently performs in this role, and after incorporating the survivors of Buell’s army into his force, he successfully withstands a siege by Jackson’s army which goes on until Jackson is forced by events elsewhere to abandon the siege and return to Alabama. One officer who distinguishes himself during this siege is a Confederate cavalry brigadier named Nathan Bedford Forrest, who is released by Jackson to bedevil the Union supply lines into Nashville. He defeats several Union forces which are sent to pursue him, each of them larger than his own, and gains a reputation for his tactical skill.
October 1862--On October 4, 1862, Vicksburg falls to Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Meanwhile, at the demand of President Lincoln, Major General George B. McClellan advances south from Richmond and invades North Carolina. His army begins what will be a virtually unopposed march through the Carolinas, culminating in the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1862. Under McClellan’s leadership, Union foragers molest the local populace of the Carolinas as little as possible during their transit through those States (although, once in South Carolina, he is unable to prevent some pillaging and burning as troops full of hatred for South Carolina as the birthplace of the Confederacy vent their anger against the inhabitants of the State. Nevertheless, compared to the OTL march made by Sherman in 1864, South Carolina is comparatively unscathed by these activities).
November 1862--The Union Army of the Tennessee, under Ulysses S. Grant, begins advancing toward the new Confederate capital at Montgomery. General Robert E. Lee attempts to mount a defense, and orders very strong earthworks dug by his grumbling troops.
President Stephens issues an order promoting Stonewall Jackson to Lt. General, while at the same time ordering him to abandon the siege of Nashville and return to Montgomery, to join the forces defending the city. Jackson abandons his siege on November 21, and retires southward. Major General Rosecrans cautiously pursues Jackson southward.
December 1862--Lt. General Jackson arrives back at Montgomery on December 8, 1862. General Robert E. Lee, upon his arrival, reorganizes the Army of Alabama, as the force defending Montgomery is called. Jackson is given command of the First Corps, while James Longstreet commands the Second. Lt. General John C. Breckinridge, one of the few surviving officers from Albert Sidney’s Johnston’s Army of Mississippi, is given command of the Third Corps. Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart commands the Cavalry Corps, with three divisions (commanded by Wade Hampton, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Joseph Wheeler).
On December 19, the Union Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Ulysses S. Grant, arrives outside Montgomery. Major General Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland arrive six days later, on Christmas Day, 1862. The two armies lay siege to Montgomery.
December 1862-April 1863--The Siege of Montgomery.
1863--Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil announce their intention to marry. John Bozeman and John Jacobs discover the Bozeman trail through the Powder River Country. White migration along this trail to the gold fields in Bannack, Montana, will be a source of increasing irritation to the Lakota Sioux and their allies, the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
1863-1865--The War of the Restoration. Nationalists in the former Dominican Republic throw off the rule of Spain and reestablish the independence of the republic.
January 1863--Charleston, South Carolina falls to the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by George B. McClellan. McClellan goes into winter quarters there, and refuses to move, despite President Lincoln’s constant demands that he do so. However, McClellan is so popular, having captured both Richmond and Charleston, and taken the States of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina out of the war, that President Lincoln does not dare to sack him. Lincoln can do nothing but grumble as the Army of the Potomac sits and does nothing.
February 1863--The Siege of Montgomery continues. The Union Army of the Potomac remains in winter quarters at Charleston.
March 1863--With the coming of Spring, Major General McClellan deigns to take his army out of winter slumber, and advances on Savannah, Georgia, capturing it by the end of the month. He then begins marching slowly toward the major Confederate railroad nexus and supply depot at Atlanta, Georgia. A cavalry raid led by George Armstrong Custer, who, following his performance at Richmond, has been promoted to command of a Cavalry Division, captures Augusta, Georgia, and destroys the Confederate powder works which is in the process of construction there.
April 1863...Negotiations between President Stephens and President Lincoln have been continuing. However, the military situation of the Confederacy has continued to deteriorate, and President Stephens no longer has any bargaining power. On April 12, 1863...exactly two years to the day after the war began at Fort Sumter, he sends another message to Lincoln offering the unconditional surrender of all Confederate forces. All he asks in return is amnesty, or if that cannot be had, the promise of a fair trial, for the Confederate leadership, and mercy for the Southern people during the process of Reconstruction which he knows must follow. To his surprise, he finds that his old friend, Abraham Lincoln, is all too willing to agree to these terms in order to immediately end the bloodshed. A ceasefire is declared as of midnight, April 12, 1863. General Robert E. Lee, on behalf of the President, officially surrenders all Confederate forces the next day. The war is over.
April 1863 onward--At the end of the Civil War, relations between the United States and France are quite possibly better than they have ever been. In a speech before Congress in September 1863, President Lincoln publicly thanks Napoleon III for his support of the Union during the war, and for his respect for the Monroe Doctrine at a time when the United States was unable to directly enforce it. Over the upcoming years, relations between the two countries will continue to improve.
April 1863 onward--The process of Reconstruction proceeds in the United States. President Lincoln attempts to follow a relatively benign Reconstruction policy, and in an effort to regain the loyalty of the recently conquered Southerners, he sponsors a revival of the proposed 1861 Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees that slavery cannot ever be abolished by action of the national government. However, the amendment also contains several key modifications to protect interests considered vital by the North as well. The text of the amendment appears below.
Text of the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment
Section 1. Congress shall have no power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of slaves or other persons held to labor or service under the laws of said State. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that slaves or other persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.
Section 2. No state shall, having ratified the Constitution of the United States and having been admitted into the Union of States by Congress, be permitted to rescind it’s ratification of the Constitution or withdraw from the Union of States without the consent of Congress. A vote of 2/3 of the members of Congress shall be required to approve any such action by a State.
Section 3. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, in any territory which may be owned by the United States, but which has not been organized or admitted into the Union as a State. No State, being organized from said territory, shall be permitted to legalize slavery or involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. No State which has previously abolished slavery or involuntary servitude may pass legislation rescinding the abolition of same.
Section 4. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to the number of free persons, excluding Indians not taxed, which may reside within each State. No person who is held to slavery or involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be counted toward the apportionment of Representatives and direct taxes to any State.
Section 5. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 6. No State shall be required to return to it’s owner a slave who has escaped into said State from another State. However, any State which refuses to return said slave to it’s owner, upon proper claim made to said State by the owner, shall pay just compensation, which shall consist of the regular market value of the slave at the time the claim for said slave was made by the owner, to the owner of the escaped slave. In order to receive compensation, the owner must present satisfactory proof to the State upon which he is making the claim, that the slave has in fact escaped into said State, and of the value thereof. In cases where there is a dispute over the satisfactory nature of proof presented by the owner, the federal courts shall have jurisdiction, and their decision shall be final.
These benign policies, and especially the revival of the Corwin Amendment (now known as the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment), are vehemently opposed by Radical Republicans in Congress, and President Lincoln finds himself in a power struggle with Congress which effectively stymies the whole Reconstruction process.
1864--After Brazil intervenes in a political dispute in Uruguay, the dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, declares war on Brazil.
January 1864--Based on the observations of French military attaches of the Union Army’s use of railroads during the Civil War, French Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon decides that railroads will play a crucial role in any future military crisis as the key to rapid mobilization. He hires the former head of the U.S. Military Railroad Bureau, Herman Haupt, who has recently left the U.S. Army and returned to civilian life, to assist in the design of a plan for the rapid mobilization of the French military. With the blessing of President Lincoln, Haupt goes to France, where his advice proves of great help to French planners.
February-October 1864--The Second Schleswig War proceeds as per OTL. Prussia and Austria emerge as the victors over Denmark. This gives further impetus to French military reform efforts, since French Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon can see that Prussia is an emerging military threat.
July 1864--Congress passes the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment. It is submitted to the States for ratification.
October 1864--In a huge wedding in the Brazilian capital, Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil are married.
November 1864--President Lincoln narrowly defeats Democrat George B. McClellan (who is wildly popular as the General who captured Richmond in the summer of 1862) and is re-elected for a second term. At the same time, many of the most Radical Republican members of Congress are voted out by a weary public which wants a resolution for the Reconstruction issue.
March 1865 onward--The new, less radical Congress begins to cooperate with President Lincoln's Reconstruction proposals. By the end of 1865, all of the defeated Southern States have been re-admitted to the Union.
1865-1867--The War of the Triple Alliance. In May 1865, Argentina and Uruguay sign a treaty of alliance with Brazil and declare war on Paraguay. Prince Consort Maximilian, who was former officer in the Austrian Navy, asks to be assigned to the Brazilian Navy. This request is granted by Emperor Pedro II, and Maximilian serves as second-in-command of the Brazilian fleet under the Marques of Tamandare.
At the battle of Curupaity on September 22, 1866, the Brazilian fleet is assigned to support, with naval gunfire, the attack of the allied armies against the Paraguayan fortifications. Tamandare, not wanting to endanger his ships by placing them too close to the guns of the fortress at Humaita, had placed them in a position where they could not fire accurately into the Paraguayan positions. Maximilian successfully convinces Tamandare to move his ships to a better position, despite the danger from the guns of Humaita, a major fortress where Paraguayan Dictator Francisco Solano Lopez has his headquarters as he directs operations at the front. The Brazilian naval gunfire support is much more effective, and although the Brazilian ships do suffer somewhat from the fire of the guns of Humaita, their fire disrupts the Paraguayan defenders, allowing the allies to over-run the Paraguayan position.
The capture of Curupaity opens the way to Humaita itself, which is placed under siege in October 1866. The fortress town falls after a seven-month siege, in June 1867. Dictator Lopez, who was unfortunate enough to be still in Humaita when it was placed under siege, is captured, and executed. With his death, effective Paraguayan resistance collapses, and by the end of 1867, the war is at an end.
The early end to the war (in OTL, it lasted until 1870) means that hundreds of thousands of Paraguayans, as well as tens of thousands of Brazilian and allied soldiers, do not lose their lives in the war. It also means that Brazil does not have to go deeply in debt to British banks, and the postwar financial crisis which this caused in OTL does not occur in the ATL. It will have other important impacts as well.
September 1865--A son is born to Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil and her new husband, Prince Consort Maximilian. The boy is named Pedro Maximilian, after his grandfather, Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, and his father, Prince Consort Maximilian. The young prince will take an early interest in military affairs and will attend military school in Europe during his teen years. He will enter the army at the age of 18 in 1883. He will also, like his father, be of liberal mind with regard to political matters.
December 1865--Buoyed by the votes of the returned Southern States, the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment is ratified and becomes the law of the land as the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
1866--The Seven Weeks War between Prussia and a coalition of Austria and several German states. Prussia inflicts a humiliating defeat on Austria and it’s allies, and effectively emerges as the new leader of Germany. France is still in the process of reorganizing and reforming it’s military, and, as in OTL, does not intervene in the war.
1866-1869--The Red Cloud War. Increasing conflict between whites traveling the Bozeman Trail and the Native American tribes of the lead the U.S. government to decide to establish a string of military forts to secure the trail against the depredations of the Indians. The establishment of these forts results in war with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho which will last for three years.
At first the Indians, under the brilliant leadership of Lakota Chief Red Cloud, have the upper hand, inflicting heavy casualties on the white soldiers and almost cutting off the supply routes to the forts, rendering them untenable. However, in the winter of 1868-1869, President Lincoln, as one of his final acts in office, authorizes Major General William T. Sherman to lead a winter campaign against the Indian villages in the region. Cavalry columns, supported by infantry, move through the region, striking the Indians unexpectedly, driving off their stock herds, and burning their villages, as well as killing large numbers of Indians. The survivors are forced to flee into the frozen wilderness without food, shelter, or horses, where most perish.
This effectively breaks the power of the great Northern Plains tribes. One officer who distinguishes himself during this campaign is Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer of the 5th Cavalry.
1867--Jacques Louis Randon is replaced by Adolphe Niel as French Minister of War. Niel continues the reforms begun by Randon.
1867 onward--In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, Argentina seeks to enforce one of the secret clauses of the Triple Alliance Treaty, according to which Argentina would receive a large part of the Gran Chaco, a Paraguayan region rich in quebracho (a product used in the tanning of leather). The Argentinian negotiators proposed to Brazil that Paraguay should be divided in two, with each of the victors incorporating a half into its territory. The Brazilian government, however, wants to maintain an independent Paraguay, since it serves as a cushion between the Brazilian Empire and Argentina.
The possibility of armed conflict between Brazil and Argentina for control over Paraguay grows as Argentina threatens to seize the Gran Chaco, but is barred by the Brazilian army, which was occupying the region in the aftermath of the war. Finally, in mid-1868, a peace treaty is agreed upon between the new Paraguayan government, Brazil, and Argentina. Argentina is allowed to annex about 1/3 of the land it had originally wanted. Brazil, too, takes some minor territories. Brazil has achieved it's goal. Paraguay, albeit a reduced one, remains independent. But Brazil and Argentina are now suspicious of each other, and tensions in the region remain high.
1868--Buenaventura Baez becomes President of the Dominican Republic. He supports annexation of the Dominican Republic by the United States.
September 1868--Revolution in Spain overthrows Queen Isabella II.
November 1868--Presidential Elections in the United States. A Republican ticket consisting of war heroes Ulysses S. Grant and John C. Fremont handily defeats the Democratic challengers, George B. McClellan (still popular enough to be renominated by his party) and Samuel Tilden.
1869--President Baez of the Dominican Republic makes a formal offer to the United States, offering to allow annexation of the Republic by the United States in exchange for a payment of $1.5 million. The new President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, wants to take the offer, and presents a proposed treaty of annexation to the Senate for ratification.
1869 onward--The states of the Upper South begin emancipating their slaves, starting with Delaware in 1869. By the end of the century, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri will have followed. Virginia, too, will consider emancipation legislation, but it’s legislature will vote it down by a narrow margin in 1898. Slavery remains strong in the Deep South, however, right up to the end of the century, with no sign of emancipation in sight.
1869 onwards--In the aftermath of the Red Cloud War, the pitiful remnants of the defeated Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho…those few who survive the winter of 1868-1869, which becomes known among them as “The Winter of Despair”…are confined on reservations in Dakota Territory. The other tribes in the region, seeing what happened to the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, will make peace with the United States during the Grant Administration, and likewise be settled on reservations during his terms of office.
Likewise, similarly ruthless tactics will be employed to bring the tribes of the Southern Plains, especially the Comanche and Kiowa, and the troublesome Apache of the Southwest, to heel. The Indian Wars will be pretty much over by 1880.
1870--President Grant has difficulty getting approval for annexation of the Dominican Republic from Congress, where Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, one of the few Radicals who survived the nearly clean sweep of Radical politicians in the 1864 elections, leads the opposition to the measure. In the end, the Senate refuses to ratify the proposed annexation treaty. However, Grant’s anger over this defeat is soon deflected by the unfolding events of the war in Europe. Revenge will have to wait.
June 1870--The Spanish government offers the throne of Spain to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. This is vehemently opposed by France.
July 2, 1870--Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen withdraws his candidacy for the Spanish throne in response to French protests.
July 13, 1870--The Ems Dispatch. King Wilhelm I of Prussia is approached by the French ambassador while visiting the resort of Bad Ems. The French ambassador demands that the Prussian King guarantee that no Hohenzollern would ever again become a candidate for the Spanish throne. Wilhelm refuses. Later that day, he authorizes Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to release news of these events to the press. Bismarck, without changing the essential facts of the meeting, edits the press release in such a way that it appears to the French that the Prussian King insulted the French Ambassador, while at the same time appearing to the peoples of the various German states that the French Ambassador insulted the Prussian King.
July 19, 1870--France declares war on Prussia. The Franco-Prussian War begins.
July 1870-May 1873--The Franco-Prussian War (or, as it will be known in the United States, “The German War”). As in OTL, Prussia manages to persuade the south German states to join the war against France, and quickly mobilizes an army of over 1 million men for the invasion of France. The various reforms instituted in the French army since 1862 prove to be of great value, and France manages to mobilize nearly 800,000 well-trained men within a month after the declaration of war, with the goal of an ultimate mobilization of over one million men proceeding and well along toward completion. And, unlike in OTL, the mobilization is much better organized, thanks to the plan devised with the input of Herman Haupt. The French infantry is much better armed than the Prussians, although their artillery is, as in OTL, outclassed by the Prussian Krupp guns. However, the French are able to do much better in the early battles of the war, and although they do not win any outright victories, manage to avoid any major defeats in the early months of the war, which bogs down into a bloody stalemate. Trench lines begin to scar the beautiful French countryside as both sides dig in.
The United States government, in response to French appeals, begins shipping surplus military equipment and other supplies to France almost immediately upon the declaration of war. Newspaper editors throughout the United States are meanwhile whipping up public opinion in favor of France, “our friend during the Great Rebellion, the land of Lafayette, now under the boot of the Teutonic bully.“ In response, the Prussians send out several commerce raiders which begin preying on U.S. shipping in the Atlantic and elsewhere. Public outrage over these depredations leads President Grant, on October 10, 1870, to ask Congress for a declaration of war on Prussia. Congress almost unanimously approves this declaration the next day.
The United States is able to mobilize more quickly than would otherwise be the case by calling upon it’s Civil War veterans…both Union and Confederate…who provide a large reserve of men with military experience and training who will form the core of the expanded army. Thus, within six months, the United States is able to form, equip, and transport to France, an American Expeditionary Force of 250,000 men (commanded by General William T. Sherman), with as many more in the process of training and equipage. The eventual structure of the A.E.F. (from July 1871 to the end of the war) will be as follows…
THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
General William T. Sherman, Army Group Commander
FIRST ARMY--General William Rosecrans
--1st Corps...Lt. General James Longstreet
--2nd Corps...Lt. General John Schofield
--3rd Corps...Lt. General George Meade
--4th Corps...Lt. General Winfield S. Hancock
Approximately 125,000 men, mostly Northern regiments. Later expanded to 275,000 men.
Second Army--General Thomas Jonathan Jackson
--1st Corps...Lt. General Philip Kearny
--2nd Corps...Lt. General Ambrose Powell Hill
--3rd Corps...Lt. General John Cabell Breckinridge
Approximately 100,000 men, mostly Southern regiments. Later expanded to 200,000 men.
Cavalry Corps--Lt. General James Ewell Brown Stuart
--1st Division...Major General Joseph Wheeler
--2nd Division...Major General Judson Kilpatrick
Approximately 25,000 men (later expanded to 50,000 men)
The U.S. forces are armed initially with various versions of the trapdoor Springfield Rifle (primarily Allin conversions of existing Civil War surplus muskets, which can be produced quickly and cheaply), but President Grant soon contacts Oliver Winchester, who has acquired rights to the Spencer Repeating Rifle after purchasing the Spencer company in 1869, to have the Spencer mass-produced (Grant favors the Spencer design over Winchester’s own product, the Henry Rifle, because it fires a much more hard-hitting and longer-ranged cartridge). In cooperation with government arsenals, Winchester’s New Haven Arms Company, in cooperation with various government arsenals and other private contractors, begins churning out Spencer Rifles by the hundreds of thousands by the end of 1871. By the end of 1872, the American Expeditionary Force in France will be equipped almost entirely with the new Spencers.
Units of American troops begin participating in the war well before the main American Army is deployed, with the first of these…an American cavalry division commanded by Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart, with Joseph Wheeler and Judson Kilpatrick as his Brigade commanders…taking part in battles in northern France as early as January 1871 (Stuart will later rise to Corps command, and Wheeler and Kilpatrick to Division command, as the Cavalry arm of the A.E.F. expands). However, they don’t begin to really make themselves felt until May 1871, at the Battle of Verdun, when a major offensive by American troops almost broke the German lines. However, they were inadequately supported by the French, and in the end, the amount of ground gained was not commensurate with the number of men lost.
Nevertheless, the weight of American manpower begins to tell, and from May 1871 until the end of the war two years later, the Germans are gradually forced back. The increased firepower which the Americans experience as a result of their gradual re-equipping with Spencer rifles, and their use of Gatling Guns (which they use more effectively than the French use their Mitralleuses, having developed better doctrine for their use) also plays a significant role in this. By the Spring of 1873, the Germans have been pushed completely out of France and Franco-American forces are advancing into Germany itself. Seeing the inevitability of defeat, King Wilhelm I of Prussia asks for the resignation of Chancellor Bismarck, which he receives. He then asks for an armistice. This is granted on May 16, 1873. Treaty negotiations then begin, mediated by the King of Belgium, at Brussels. They will drag on until August 1873.
1872--Senator Charles Sumner introduces a resolution into Congress stating that the names of Civil War battles should not be inscribed upon the flags of Army regiments. This causes much outrage in the country, and especially among the Civil War Veterans organizations which have sprung up since the end of the war in both North and South. President Grant cleverly uses this outrage to engineer the ouster of Sumner as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also works with friends in the Massachusetts State government to engineer Sumner’s recall from his Senate position. Sumner retires to Massachusetts, a broken man, in September 1872. He will die the next year.
November 1872--Presidential Elections in the United States. President Grant wins re-election over a Democratic Ticket consisting of Samuel Tilden and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. Tilden and Johnson had run on a peace platform, citing the high casualties of the war in France. They lost by a landslide, and President Grant takes this as a mandate to continue the war to it’s conclusion.
August 1873--The Treaty of Brussels is signed between Prussia (representing itself and it’s allies), France, and the United States. By terms of this treaty, France is allowed to absorb Luxembourg, and receives a large indemnity from Prussia, which the United States shares as compensation for the damage to it's commerce caused by Prussian raiders. Prussia also is forced to give up it’s control of the North German Confederation, with the complete sovereignty of the various German states within it to be recognized. German unification is effectively derailed.
The following is a revised edition of this timeline, including some international butterflies which were not included in the earlier edition, as well as other changes. It is being posted in preparation for the posting of a second part of the timeline, covering the period up to the year 1900, which I hope to have posted within the next week.
ANSWERING THE CALL OF LAFAYETTE
America Intervenes in the Franco-Prussian War
An Alternate History Timeline
by Robert Perkins
America Intervenes in the Franco-Prussian War
An Alternate History Timeline
by Robert Perkins
December 1860--South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861--General Pedro Santana, President of the Dominican Republic, asks Spain to annex the country. Spain complies, and the Dominican Republic reverts to a colony under Spanish control.
January 1861--Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana secede from the Union.
February 1861--Texas secedes from the Union. Representatives of the seceded States meet in Montgomery, Alabama, to discuss the formation of a new government. On February 8, a Constitution is adopted and the Confederate States of America is officially declared in existence. Jefferson Davis is sworn in as President of the Confederacy on February 18, with Alexander H. Stephens as his Vice President.
March 1861--On March 4, Abraham Lincoln is sworn in as President of the United States at Washington, D.C. In his inauguration address, he declares secession illegal, and vows to uphold the Union. He does, however, attempt to conciliate the South by denying he has any plans to interfere with slavery where it already exists.
April 1861--A crisis over the status of Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, turns violent when Confederate forces open fire on the fort in order to force its surrender before the garrison can be augmented and resupplied by a Federal fleet sent by President Lincoln for that purpose. With these shots, the American Civil War begins. Three days later, President Lincoln issues a call or 75,000 volunteers and asks the States to supply their militias for the purpose of suppressing the “insurrection,” as he calls it. On that same day (April 15), Caleb Huse, Confederate Purchasing Agent, sets sail for England. In reaction to President Lincoln’s request for it’s State Militia, Virginia secedes from the Union on April 17. On April 19, President Lincoln declares a blockade of Confederate ports. This is a blunder, as by declaring a blockade, Lincoln has tacitly granted the Confederacy “belligerent” status under international law. Now foreign nations may legally sell arms and equipment to the Confederacy.
April 1861 onward--The Confederacy initially has little difficulty equipping it’s armies. A supply of almost 300,000 military firearms (a majority of which are obsolete, but still serviceable, smoothbore muskets) had been amassed by the various State governments, most of which become available to the Confederate army at the outbreak of war. The Confederates are able to equip their main field armies for campaigning in 1861 and early 1862 with these weapons. However, the Confederacy has little capacity to produce more, and if the war lasts more than a few months, that lack will soon make itself felt on the battlefield. It is vital that reliable supplies of foreign imported arms be established.
May 1861--North Carolina and Arkansas secede from the Union. Britain declares it’s neutrality in the conflict, but states that it will accord both sides their full rights as belligerents. Caleb Huse takes full advantage of this by signing major arms contracts with all the major British arms makers. The Confederate Congress votes to relocate the Confederate capital from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia.
June 1861--Tennessee secedes from the Union. Emperor Napoleon III of France openly declares his support of the Union, saying that France will not support a “rebellion against their lawful government by a cadre of detestable slavers.” He orders Confederate envoys and purchasing agents expelled from France. French diplomats communicate Napoleon’s concern over Britain’s neutral stance vis-à-vis the Confederacy.
July 1861--Following intense diplomatic negotiations between France and Britain, including a personal letter from Napoleon III to Queen Victoria, the British government reverses it’s diplomatic stance toward the Confederacy. Confederate diplomats and purchasing agents are expelled from Britain, and the British government forces all British arms makers to abrogate the contracts which have recently been made with Caleb Huse. The Confederacy will have no access to British arsenals during the war. The Battle of First Manassas proceeds as per OTL. The Confederates win a major victory, but are unable to follow it up by pursuing the beaten Union army.
July 1861-Spring 1862--Events of the American Civil War proceed as per OTL, with one major exception…Confederate arms purchasers, having been kicked out of Britain and France, find their sources of supply limited to Belgian firms (who will sell to anybody, for a price), as well as Austria and Prussia. Belgium provides approximately 50,000 copies of the highly regarded British Enfield rifle musket, while Austria sells about 100,000 modern Lorenz rifle muskets, while Prussia empties it’s warehouses of surplus antiquated flintlocks, most of which saw hard service during the Napoleonic Wars over 40 years before. Most of what is bought from Prussia proves to be completely unserviceable and is a complete waste of money, but the Belgian and Austrian rifles are a welcome addition to Confederate stockpiles. However, it is not enough, and by the Spring of 1862, Confederate armies…especially in the Western Theater, are feeling the pinch.
October 1861--Treaty of London. Britain, France and Spain decide to unite their efforts to collect unpaid debts from the Mexican government.
December 1861--Spanish fleet and army arrives at Vera Cruz.
1862--In Prussia, the largest of the German states, a member of the landed aristocracy, Otto von Bismarck, becomes Chancellor. Representing the king, he declares that his government is to rule without parliament.
January 1862--British and French fleets arrive at Vera Cruz.
February 1862--Forts Henry and Donelson fall to Union forces commanded by Major General Ulysses S. Grant. With the fall of these forts, central Tennessee becomes undefendable, and Confederate forces withdraw southward to Corinth, Mississippi. The Union Army occupies Nashville on February 25.
March 1862--French army lands in Mexico. President Lincoln removed George B. McClellan from his position as General-in-Chief of Union forces and places him in command of the Army of the Potomac, tasked with the capture of Richmond. Clash between the C.S.S. Virginia…a Confederate ironclad constructed on the burned hulk of the former U.S.S. Merrimac…and the U.S.S. Monitor, a new turreted ironclad designed by John Ericsson. The battle is tactically a draw, but strategically a Union victory. The Virginia had destroyed two wooden U.S. warships the previous day, but the Monitor is able to prevent the Confederate ironclad from destroying the rest of the Union blockade fleet in Hampton Roads. The Virginia returns to port, and the two ironclads will never meet again in battle.
April 1862--A convention of the London Treaty powers decides to withdraw from Mexico. Napoleon III, however, does not immediately go along with the other powers, and French troops remain.
In Virginia, Major General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac, having been transported by sea to Fort Monroe, advances west along the Peninsula toward Richmond. On April 5, McClellan lays siege to Confederate forces at Yorktown, Virginia.
At Corinth, Mississippi, General Albert Sidney Johnston had hoped to gather enough troops to make possible an attack on the army of Major General Ulysses S. Grant, which was then encamped at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. However, the failure of Confederate agents to secure any English or French arms, and the top priority given to arming the troops defending the Confederate capital in Virginia, means that he has not had the same success which he enjoyed in OTL. As a result, he abandons his planned assault on Grant’s army.
On April 6, 1862, Grant is joined by the army of Major General Don Carlos Buell, and together, the combined Union host of over 80,000 advances on Corinth on April 10. Outnumbered almost three-to-one, General Johnston orders the Confederate evacuation of Corinth on April 11. Johnston’s army retreats to Jackson, Mississippi. Meanwhile, on April 8, Island Number 10 surrenders to Union forces under John Pope, opening the Mississippi River to Union forces all the way down to Fort Pillow, Tennessee. And on April 24, Union warships under David G. Farragut run past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on the Mississippi River, the only defenses of New Orleans. New Orleans itself falls on April 25.
May 1862--On May 4, Confederate forces slip away from Yorktown toward Williamsburg, Virginia. General McClellan’s Army of the Potomac follows…slowly. McClellan is operating on delusions that he is vastly outnumbered by Confederate forces, due largely to specious intelligence reports provided by Allan Pinkerton, and is very cautious in his pursuit of the retreating enemy.
On May 5, 1862, the Battle of Puebla is fought between Mexican and French forces. French troops suffer a humiliating defeat at the hand of the Mexican forces, although casualties are relatively light.
On May 10, the combined Union armies of Ulysses S. Grant and Don Carlos Buell move south from Corinth, Mississippi, toward the Mississippi State capital at Jackson, which is defended by General Albert Sidney Johnston’s Army of Mississippi. Johnston has been reinforced somewhat by refugee troops from New Orleans and from elsewhere, but is still is outnumbered by over two to one. Jackson is the major rail nexus connecting the port of Vicksburg, Mississippi…a vital link between it’s States east and west of the Mississippi River…with the rest of the Confederacy. It must be held. Accordingly, Johnston orders the construction of strong fortifications around the city. His works are repeatedly assaulted by the Union armies over May 27-29, 1862. Although the Confederates fight valiantly, the odds are too great. A Union assault on May 29 pierces the Confederate lines, and Johnston’s army is shattered. Both Johnston and his second in command, General P.G. T. Beauregard, are killed as they brave enemy fire trying to retrieve the situation. Survivors of the Confederate forces retreat toward Vicksburg, where they augment the garrison there, or toward Montgomery, Alabama, where a Confederate relief force is being slowly concentrated.
On May 31, Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston launch an assault against an isolated wing of McClellan’s Union Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks). General Johnston is severely wounded and forced to relinquish his command.
June 1862--On June 1, Robert E. Lee is placed in command of the Confederate Army of the Potomac, defending Richmond, which he renames the Army of Northern Virginia. However, on that same day, President Jefferson Davis, faced with the collapsing situation in the West, orders the withdrawal of troops from Virginia and sends them west. Among these is The Army of the Valley, commanded by Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, which has, up to now, been bedeviling Union forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Troops from the main Confederate army protecting Richmond are also diverted west, and even Allan Pinkerton cannot fail to notice that there are not as many Confederates around as previously. He reports this to General McClellan, who is emboldened to speed up his advance on Richmond.
General Robert E. Lee, who had been planning to again attack the Union Army, finds that with his depleted forces, he is unable to do so. McClellan reaches the Confederate fortifications outside Richmond and begins siege operations on June 15. A frustrated Robert E. Lee can do nothing but watch as his army is encircled by vastly superior Union forces.
Meanwhile, on June 6, the Battle of Memphis is fought between Union and Confederate fleets. The Union forces are victorious. Memphis falls to Union troops shortly thereafter. Vicksburg is now the Confederacy’s only remaining link between it’s cis-Mississippi and trans-Mississippi States.
Meanwhile in France, upon learning of the disaster at Puebla, Napoleon III decides that Mexico might not be worth the effort it would take to seize it, and orders the withdrawal of French troops.
June 25-August 2, 1862--The Siege of Richmond. McClellan brings up heavy artillery to bombard the Confederate works and the city itself. Several Union assaults are beaten back with heavy losses during June and July, but finally, on August 2, a major Union assault breaks through into the city. President Jefferson Davis, who had stubbornly refused advice from General Lee to evacuate the city, is caught and killed by rampaging Union cavalry commanded by Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer as he attempts to flee the Confederate White House. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, however, escapes the city, along with most of the rest of the Confederate government. Union forces burn much of the city to the ground. Also killed is another Union cavalry commander, John Buford.
June 1862 onward--Recriminations in France over the defeat at Puebla lead to an earlier reform of the French military. Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon, with the approval of Emperor Napoleon III, closes loopholes in the national conscription regulations, and increases bonuses for reenlistment of veteran troops, both of which greatly increase the strength and quality of the French military.
Meanwhile, with the withdrawal of French forces from Mexico, Archduke Maximilian of Austria never accepts the imperial crown of Mexico, despite being offered it by the Mexican conservative faction. Instead, he goes to Brazil on a botanical expedition (something that he has wanted to do since 1859). Soon after their arrival in Brazil, his wife, Charlotte, is bitten by a fever-carrying mosquito, and dies shortly thereafter. In his grief, Maximilian is consoled by the Brazilian Princess Imperial, Isabel, who finds Maximilian to be very dashing and handsome, as well as intelligent and charming. A romantic attraction gradually develops between them.
July 1862--Union Generals Grant and Buell follow up their victory at Jackson with an advance on Vicksburg, to which they lay siege on July 12. In this they are supported by the Union fleet, coming down from Memphis and up from New Orleans, as well as by another Union Army moving north from New Orleans under Major General Benjamin Butler. Butler’s force is stymied by the garrison of Port Hudson, Louisiana, however, and stops to lay siege to that place. Grant and Buell lay siege to Vicksburg.
Meanwhile, Major General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, the senior officer available in Montgomery upon his arrival there, takes command of the new Confederate Army of Alabama, which is being formed at that place. Jackson finds himself in command of over 40,000 troops, but nevertheless knows he is still greatly outnumbered by the Union forces in Mississippi. He decides to embark on a bold strategy…strike north, into Tennessee, and threaten Nashville, in the hope that most, if not all, of the Union forces now rampaging through Mississippi will be recalled north to defend their supply lines through Tennessee. Jackson marches north from Montgomery on July 9, 1862. By the end of the month he is into Tennessee, and there renames his army as the Army of Tennessee.
August 1862--Upon learning of Jackson’s move northward on August 1, Major General Don Carlos Buell, with his army, is detached from the force besieging Vicksburg and transported by river to Memphis, where they march to intercept Jackson’s Army of Alabama.
As described elsewhere, Richmond falls on August 2, 1862. Confederate General Robert E. Lee manages to extricate most of his army and fall back, along with the Confederate government, to Danville, Virginia, where they can get railroad connections south…the new President, Alexander H. Stephens, has decided to move the Confederate capital back to Montgomery. Union commander McClellan does not vigorously pursue, and the Confederate troops are able to get away by rail. Governor John Letcher vehemently protests this withdrawal, but to no avail. He sets up a State government-in-exile in North Carolina, but his governorship is effectively over. Virginia, abandoned by the Confederate armies, is basically out of the war at this point, and comes under Union occupation.
On August 20, the forces of Buell and Jackson meet near Franklin, Tennessee. Jackson inflicts a severe defeat on the Union army, which is forced to retreat back toward Memphis. Jackson pursues, and catches Buell again on August 25. In fighting near the old Union encampment at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, the Union defeat turns into a rout. Don Carlos Buell is killed, along with several other officers, including one of his Division commanders, Brigadier General George Henry Thomas.
September 1862--By September 1, Confederate government re-establishes itself in Montgomery. President Alexander H. Stephens, however, is a realist, and he feels that Confederate victory is no longer possible. Nevertheless, he believes that Jackson’s victories in Tennessee have given him some possible bargaining power, and he sends envoys to President Lincoln, asking for peace terms. This is the beginning of what will prove to be seven months of on-again, off-again negotiation between Stephens and Lincoln which will eventually lead to the end of the war.
Meanwhile, fighting continues. President Lincoln has placed Major General William S. Rosecrans in charge of the defense of Nashville. Rosecrans works to cobble together another army to defend Tennessee from Stonewall Jackson’s onslaught. Rosecrans competently performs in this role, and after incorporating the survivors of Buell’s army into his force, he successfully withstands a siege by Jackson’s army which goes on until Jackson is forced by events elsewhere to abandon the siege and return to Alabama. One officer who distinguishes himself during this siege is a Confederate cavalry brigadier named Nathan Bedford Forrest, who is released by Jackson to bedevil the Union supply lines into Nashville. He defeats several Union forces which are sent to pursue him, each of them larger than his own, and gains a reputation for his tactical skill.
October 1862--On October 4, 1862, Vicksburg falls to Union forces under Major General Ulysses S. Grant. Meanwhile, at the demand of President Lincoln, Major General George B. McClellan advances south from Richmond and invades North Carolina. His army begins what will be a virtually unopposed march through the Carolinas, culminating in the capture of Charleston, South Carolina, in January 1862. Under McClellan’s leadership, Union foragers molest the local populace of the Carolinas as little as possible during their transit through those States (although, once in South Carolina, he is unable to prevent some pillaging and burning as troops full of hatred for South Carolina as the birthplace of the Confederacy vent their anger against the inhabitants of the State. Nevertheless, compared to the OTL march made by Sherman in 1864, South Carolina is comparatively unscathed by these activities).
November 1862--The Union Army of the Tennessee, under Ulysses S. Grant, begins advancing toward the new Confederate capital at Montgomery. General Robert E. Lee attempts to mount a defense, and orders very strong earthworks dug by his grumbling troops.
President Stephens issues an order promoting Stonewall Jackson to Lt. General, while at the same time ordering him to abandon the siege of Nashville and return to Montgomery, to join the forces defending the city. Jackson abandons his siege on November 21, and retires southward. Major General Rosecrans cautiously pursues Jackson southward.
December 1862--Lt. General Jackson arrives back at Montgomery on December 8, 1862. General Robert E. Lee, upon his arrival, reorganizes the Army of Alabama, as the force defending Montgomery is called. Jackson is given command of the First Corps, while James Longstreet commands the Second. Lt. General John C. Breckinridge, one of the few surviving officers from Albert Sidney’s Johnston’s Army of Mississippi, is given command of the Third Corps. Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart commands the Cavalry Corps, with three divisions (commanded by Wade Hampton, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Joseph Wheeler).
On December 19, the Union Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Ulysses S. Grant, arrives outside Montgomery. Major General Rosecrans and the Army of the Cumberland arrive six days later, on Christmas Day, 1862. The two armies lay siege to Montgomery.
December 1862-April 1863--The Siege of Montgomery.
1863--Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil announce their intention to marry. John Bozeman and John Jacobs discover the Bozeman trail through the Powder River Country. White migration along this trail to the gold fields in Bannack, Montana, will be a source of increasing irritation to the Lakota Sioux and their allies, the Cheyenne and Arapaho.
1863-1865--The War of the Restoration. Nationalists in the former Dominican Republic throw off the rule of Spain and reestablish the independence of the republic.
January 1863--Charleston, South Carolina falls to the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by George B. McClellan. McClellan goes into winter quarters there, and refuses to move, despite President Lincoln’s constant demands that he do so. However, McClellan is so popular, having captured both Richmond and Charleston, and taken the States of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina out of the war, that President Lincoln does not dare to sack him. Lincoln can do nothing but grumble as the Army of the Potomac sits and does nothing.
February 1863--The Siege of Montgomery continues. The Union Army of the Potomac remains in winter quarters at Charleston.
March 1863--With the coming of Spring, Major General McClellan deigns to take his army out of winter slumber, and advances on Savannah, Georgia, capturing it by the end of the month. He then begins marching slowly toward the major Confederate railroad nexus and supply depot at Atlanta, Georgia. A cavalry raid led by George Armstrong Custer, who, following his performance at Richmond, has been promoted to command of a Cavalry Division, captures Augusta, Georgia, and destroys the Confederate powder works which is in the process of construction there.
April 1863...Negotiations between President Stephens and President Lincoln have been continuing. However, the military situation of the Confederacy has continued to deteriorate, and President Stephens no longer has any bargaining power. On April 12, 1863...exactly two years to the day after the war began at Fort Sumter, he sends another message to Lincoln offering the unconditional surrender of all Confederate forces. All he asks in return is amnesty, or if that cannot be had, the promise of a fair trial, for the Confederate leadership, and mercy for the Southern people during the process of Reconstruction which he knows must follow. To his surprise, he finds that his old friend, Abraham Lincoln, is all too willing to agree to these terms in order to immediately end the bloodshed. A ceasefire is declared as of midnight, April 12, 1863. General Robert E. Lee, on behalf of the President, officially surrenders all Confederate forces the next day. The war is over.
April 1863 onward--At the end of the Civil War, relations between the United States and France are quite possibly better than they have ever been. In a speech before Congress in September 1863, President Lincoln publicly thanks Napoleon III for his support of the Union during the war, and for his respect for the Monroe Doctrine at a time when the United States was unable to directly enforce it. Over the upcoming years, relations between the two countries will continue to improve.
April 1863 onward--The process of Reconstruction proceeds in the United States. President Lincoln attempts to follow a relatively benign Reconstruction policy, and in an effort to regain the loyalty of the recently conquered Southerners, he sponsors a revival of the proposed 1861 Corwin Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees that slavery cannot ever be abolished by action of the national government. However, the amendment also contains several key modifications to protect interests considered vital by the North as well. The text of the amendment appears below.
Text of the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment
Section 1. Congress shall have no power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of slaves or other persons held to labor or service under the laws of said State. No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that slaves or other persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.
Section 2. No state shall, having ratified the Constitution of the United States and having been admitted into the Union of States by Congress, be permitted to rescind it’s ratification of the Constitution or withdraw from the Union of States without the consent of Congress. A vote of 2/3 of the members of Congress shall be required to approve any such action by a State.
Section 3. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, in any territory which may be owned by the United States, but which has not been organized or admitted into the Union as a State. No State, being organized from said territory, shall be permitted to legalize slavery or involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. No State which has previously abolished slavery or involuntary servitude may pass legislation rescinding the abolition of same.
Section 4. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to the number of free persons, excluding Indians not taxed, which may reside within each State. No person who is held to slavery or involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment for a crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be counted toward the apportionment of Representatives and direct taxes to any State.
Section 5. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 6. No State shall be required to return to it’s owner a slave who has escaped into said State from another State. However, any State which refuses to return said slave to it’s owner, upon proper claim made to said State by the owner, shall pay just compensation, which shall consist of the regular market value of the slave at the time the claim for said slave was made by the owner, to the owner of the escaped slave. In order to receive compensation, the owner must present satisfactory proof to the State upon which he is making the claim, that the slave has in fact escaped into said State, and of the value thereof. In cases where there is a dispute over the satisfactory nature of proof presented by the owner, the federal courts shall have jurisdiction, and their decision shall be final.
These benign policies, and especially the revival of the Corwin Amendment (now known as the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment), are vehemently opposed by Radical Republicans in Congress, and President Lincoln finds himself in a power struggle with Congress which effectively stymies the whole Reconstruction process.
1864--After Brazil intervenes in a political dispute in Uruguay, the dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez, declares war on Brazil.
January 1864--Based on the observations of French military attaches of the Union Army’s use of railroads during the Civil War, French Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon decides that railroads will play a crucial role in any future military crisis as the key to rapid mobilization. He hires the former head of the U.S. Military Railroad Bureau, Herman Haupt, who has recently left the U.S. Army and returned to civilian life, to assist in the design of a plan for the rapid mobilization of the French military. With the blessing of President Lincoln, Haupt goes to France, where his advice proves of great help to French planners.
February-October 1864--The Second Schleswig War proceeds as per OTL. Prussia and Austria emerge as the victors over Denmark. This gives further impetus to French military reform efforts, since French Minister of War Jacques Louis Randon can see that Prussia is an emerging military threat.
July 1864--Congress passes the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment. It is submitted to the States for ratification.
October 1864--In a huge wedding in the Brazilian capital, Archduke Maximilian of Austria and Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil are married.
November 1864--President Lincoln narrowly defeats Democrat George B. McClellan (who is wildly popular as the General who captured Richmond in the summer of 1862) and is re-elected for a second term. At the same time, many of the most Radical Republican members of Congress are voted out by a weary public which wants a resolution for the Reconstruction issue.
March 1865 onward--The new, less radical Congress begins to cooperate with President Lincoln's Reconstruction proposals. By the end of 1865, all of the defeated Southern States have been re-admitted to the Union.
1865-1867--The War of the Triple Alliance. In May 1865, Argentina and Uruguay sign a treaty of alliance with Brazil and declare war on Paraguay. Prince Consort Maximilian, who was former officer in the Austrian Navy, asks to be assigned to the Brazilian Navy. This request is granted by Emperor Pedro II, and Maximilian serves as second-in-command of the Brazilian fleet under the Marques of Tamandare.
At the battle of Curupaity on September 22, 1866, the Brazilian fleet is assigned to support, with naval gunfire, the attack of the allied armies against the Paraguayan fortifications. Tamandare, not wanting to endanger his ships by placing them too close to the guns of the fortress at Humaita, had placed them in a position where they could not fire accurately into the Paraguayan positions. Maximilian successfully convinces Tamandare to move his ships to a better position, despite the danger from the guns of Humaita, a major fortress where Paraguayan Dictator Francisco Solano Lopez has his headquarters as he directs operations at the front. The Brazilian naval gunfire support is much more effective, and although the Brazilian ships do suffer somewhat from the fire of the guns of Humaita, their fire disrupts the Paraguayan defenders, allowing the allies to over-run the Paraguayan position.
The capture of Curupaity opens the way to Humaita itself, which is placed under siege in October 1866. The fortress town falls after a seven-month siege, in June 1867. Dictator Lopez, who was unfortunate enough to be still in Humaita when it was placed under siege, is captured, and executed. With his death, effective Paraguayan resistance collapses, and by the end of 1867, the war is at an end.
The early end to the war (in OTL, it lasted until 1870) means that hundreds of thousands of Paraguayans, as well as tens of thousands of Brazilian and allied soldiers, do not lose their lives in the war. It also means that Brazil does not have to go deeply in debt to British banks, and the postwar financial crisis which this caused in OTL does not occur in the ATL. It will have other important impacts as well.
September 1865--A son is born to Princess Imperial Isabel of Brazil and her new husband, Prince Consort Maximilian. The boy is named Pedro Maximilian, after his grandfather, Brazilian Emperor Pedro II, and his father, Prince Consort Maximilian. The young prince will take an early interest in military affairs and will attend military school in Europe during his teen years. He will enter the army at the age of 18 in 1883. He will also, like his father, be of liberal mind with regard to political matters.
December 1865--Buoyed by the votes of the returned Southern States, the Corwin/Lincoln Amendment is ratified and becomes the law of the land as the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
1866--The Seven Weeks War between Prussia and a coalition of Austria and several German states. Prussia inflicts a humiliating defeat on Austria and it’s allies, and effectively emerges as the new leader of Germany. France is still in the process of reorganizing and reforming it’s military, and, as in OTL, does not intervene in the war.
1866-1869--The Red Cloud War. Increasing conflict between whites traveling the Bozeman Trail and the Native American tribes of the lead the U.S. government to decide to establish a string of military forts to secure the trail against the depredations of the Indians. The establishment of these forts results in war with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho which will last for three years.
At first the Indians, under the brilliant leadership of Lakota Chief Red Cloud, have the upper hand, inflicting heavy casualties on the white soldiers and almost cutting off the supply routes to the forts, rendering them untenable. However, in the winter of 1868-1869, President Lincoln, as one of his final acts in office, authorizes Major General William T. Sherman to lead a winter campaign against the Indian villages in the region. Cavalry columns, supported by infantry, move through the region, striking the Indians unexpectedly, driving off their stock herds, and burning their villages, as well as killing large numbers of Indians. The survivors are forced to flee into the frozen wilderness without food, shelter, or horses, where most perish.
This effectively breaks the power of the great Northern Plains tribes. One officer who distinguishes himself during this campaign is Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer of the 5th Cavalry.
1867--Jacques Louis Randon is replaced by Adolphe Niel as French Minister of War. Niel continues the reforms begun by Randon.
1867 onward--In the aftermath of the War of the Triple Alliance, Argentina seeks to enforce one of the secret clauses of the Triple Alliance Treaty, according to which Argentina would receive a large part of the Gran Chaco, a Paraguayan region rich in quebracho (a product used in the tanning of leather). The Argentinian negotiators proposed to Brazil that Paraguay should be divided in two, with each of the victors incorporating a half into its territory. The Brazilian government, however, wants to maintain an independent Paraguay, since it serves as a cushion between the Brazilian Empire and Argentina.
The possibility of armed conflict between Brazil and Argentina for control over Paraguay grows as Argentina threatens to seize the Gran Chaco, but is barred by the Brazilian army, which was occupying the region in the aftermath of the war. Finally, in mid-1868, a peace treaty is agreed upon between the new Paraguayan government, Brazil, and Argentina. Argentina is allowed to annex about 1/3 of the land it had originally wanted. Brazil, too, takes some minor territories. Brazil has achieved it's goal. Paraguay, albeit a reduced one, remains independent. But Brazil and Argentina are now suspicious of each other, and tensions in the region remain high.
1868--Buenaventura Baez becomes President of the Dominican Republic. He supports annexation of the Dominican Republic by the United States.
September 1868--Revolution in Spain overthrows Queen Isabella II.
November 1868--Presidential Elections in the United States. A Republican ticket consisting of war heroes Ulysses S. Grant and John C. Fremont handily defeats the Democratic challengers, George B. McClellan (still popular enough to be renominated by his party) and Samuel Tilden.
1869--President Baez of the Dominican Republic makes a formal offer to the United States, offering to allow annexation of the Republic by the United States in exchange for a payment of $1.5 million. The new President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, wants to take the offer, and presents a proposed treaty of annexation to the Senate for ratification.
1869 onward--The states of the Upper South begin emancipating their slaves, starting with Delaware in 1869. By the end of the century, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri will have followed. Virginia, too, will consider emancipation legislation, but it’s legislature will vote it down by a narrow margin in 1898. Slavery remains strong in the Deep South, however, right up to the end of the century, with no sign of emancipation in sight.
1869 onwards--In the aftermath of the Red Cloud War, the pitiful remnants of the defeated Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho…those few who survive the winter of 1868-1869, which becomes known among them as “The Winter of Despair”…are confined on reservations in Dakota Territory. The other tribes in the region, seeing what happened to the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, will make peace with the United States during the Grant Administration, and likewise be settled on reservations during his terms of office.
Likewise, similarly ruthless tactics will be employed to bring the tribes of the Southern Plains, especially the Comanche and Kiowa, and the troublesome Apache of the Southwest, to heel. The Indian Wars will be pretty much over by 1880.
1870--President Grant has difficulty getting approval for annexation of the Dominican Republic from Congress, where Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, one of the few Radicals who survived the nearly clean sweep of Radical politicians in the 1864 elections, leads the opposition to the measure. In the end, the Senate refuses to ratify the proposed annexation treaty. However, Grant’s anger over this defeat is soon deflected by the unfolding events of the war in Europe. Revenge will have to wait.
June 1870--The Spanish government offers the throne of Spain to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. This is vehemently opposed by France.
July 2, 1870--Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen withdraws his candidacy for the Spanish throne in response to French protests.
July 13, 1870--The Ems Dispatch. King Wilhelm I of Prussia is approached by the French ambassador while visiting the resort of Bad Ems. The French ambassador demands that the Prussian King guarantee that no Hohenzollern would ever again become a candidate for the Spanish throne. Wilhelm refuses. Later that day, he authorizes Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to release news of these events to the press. Bismarck, without changing the essential facts of the meeting, edits the press release in such a way that it appears to the French that the Prussian King insulted the French Ambassador, while at the same time appearing to the peoples of the various German states that the French Ambassador insulted the Prussian King.
July 19, 1870--France declares war on Prussia. The Franco-Prussian War begins.
July 1870-May 1873--The Franco-Prussian War (or, as it will be known in the United States, “The German War”). As in OTL, Prussia manages to persuade the south German states to join the war against France, and quickly mobilizes an army of over 1 million men for the invasion of France. The various reforms instituted in the French army since 1862 prove to be of great value, and France manages to mobilize nearly 800,000 well-trained men within a month after the declaration of war, with the goal of an ultimate mobilization of over one million men proceeding and well along toward completion. And, unlike in OTL, the mobilization is much better organized, thanks to the plan devised with the input of Herman Haupt. The French infantry is much better armed than the Prussians, although their artillery is, as in OTL, outclassed by the Prussian Krupp guns. However, the French are able to do much better in the early battles of the war, and although they do not win any outright victories, manage to avoid any major defeats in the early months of the war, which bogs down into a bloody stalemate. Trench lines begin to scar the beautiful French countryside as both sides dig in.
The United States government, in response to French appeals, begins shipping surplus military equipment and other supplies to France almost immediately upon the declaration of war. Newspaper editors throughout the United States are meanwhile whipping up public opinion in favor of France, “our friend during the Great Rebellion, the land of Lafayette, now under the boot of the Teutonic bully.“ In response, the Prussians send out several commerce raiders which begin preying on U.S. shipping in the Atlantic and elsewhere. Public outrage over these depredations leads President Grant, on October 10, 1870, to ask Congress for a declaration of war on Prussia. Congress almost unanimously approves this declaration the next day.
The United States is able to mobilize more quickly than would otherwise be the case by calling upon it’s Civil War veterans…both Union and Confederate…who provide a large reserve of men with military experience and training who will form the core of the expanded army. Thus, within six months, the United States is able to form, equip, and transport to France, an American Expeditionary Force of 250,000 men (commanded by General William T. Sherman), with as many more in the process of training and equipage. The eventual structure of the A.E.F. (from July 1871 to the end of the war) will be as follows…
THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
General William T. Sherman, Army Group Commander
FIRST ARMY--General William Rosecrans
--1st Corps...Lt. General James Longstreet
--2nd Corps...Lt. General John Schofield
--3rd Corps...Lt. General George Meade
--4th Corps...Lt. General Winfield S. Hancock
Approximately 125,000 men, mostly Northern regiments. Later expanded to 275,000 men.
Second Army--General Thomas Jonathan Jackson
--1st Corps...Lt. General Philip Kearny
--2nd Corps...Lt. General Ambrose Powell Hill
--3rd Corps...Lt. General John Cabell Breckinridge
Approximately 100,000 men, mostly Southern regiments. Later expanded to 200,000 men.
Cavalry Corps--Lt. General James Ewell Brown Stuart
--1st Division...Major General Joseph Wheeler
--2nd Division...Major General Judson Kilpatrick
Approximately 25,000 men (later expanded to 50,000 men)
The U.S. forces are armed initially with various versions of the trapdoor Springfield Rifle (primarily Allin conversions of existing Civil War surplus muskets, which can be produced quickly and cheaply), but President Grant soon contacts Oliver Winchester, who has acquired rights to the Spencer Repeating Rifle after purchasing the Spencer company in 1869, to have the Spencer mass-produced (Grant favors the Spencer design over Winchester’s own product, the Henry Rifle, because it fires a much more hard-hitting and longer-ranged cartridge). In cooperation with government arsenals, Winchester’s New Haven Arms Company, in cooperation with various government arsenals and other private contractors, begins churning out Spencer Rifles by the hundreds of thousands by the end of 1871. By the end of 1872, the American Expeditionary Force in France will be equipped almost entirely with the new Spencers.
Units of American troops begin participating in the war well before the main American Army is deployed, with the first of these…an American cavalry division commanded by Major General James Ewell Brown Stuart, with Joseph Wheeler and Judson Kilpatrick as his Brigade commanders…taking part in battles in northern France as early as January 1871 (Stuart will later rise to Corps command, and Wheeler and Kilpatrick to Division command, as the Cavalry arm of the A.E.F. expands). However, they don’t begin to really make themselves felt until May 1871, at the Battle of Verdun, when a major offensive by American troops almost broke the German lines. However, they were inadequately supported by the French, and in the end, the amount of ground gained was not commensurate with the number of men lost.
Nevertheless, the weight of American manpower begins to tell, and from May 1871 until the end of the war two years later, the Germans are gradually forced back. The increased firepower which the Americans experience as a result of their gradual re-equipping with Spencer rifles, and their use of Gatling Guns (which they use more effectively than the French use their Mitralleuses, having developed better doctrine for their use) also plays a significant role in this. By the Spring of 1873, the Germans have been pushed completely out of France and Franco-American forces are advancing into Germany itself. Seeing the inevitability of defeat, King Wilhelm I of Prussia asks for the resignation of Chancellor Bismarck, which he receives. He then asks for an armistice. This is granted on May 16, 1873. Treaty negotiations then begin, mediated by the King of Belgium, at Brussels. They will drag on until August 1873.
1872--Senator Charles Sumner introduces a resolution into Congress stating that the names of Civil War battles should not be inscribed upon the flags of Army regiments. This causes much outrage in the country, and especially among the Civil War Veterans organizations which have sprung up since the end of the war in both North and South. President Grant cleverly uses this outrage to engineer the ouster of Sumner as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also works with friends in the Massachusetts State government to engineer Sumner’s recall from his Senate position. Sumner retires to Massachusetts, a broken man, in September 1872. He will die the next year.
November 1872--Presidential Elections in the United States. President Grant wins re-election over a Democratic Ticket consisting of Samuel Tilden and Andrew Johnson of Tennessee. Tilden and Johnson had run on a peace platform, citing the high casualties of the war in France. They lost by a landslide, and President Grant takes this as a mandate to continue the war to it’s conclusion.
August 1873--The Treaty of Brussels is signed between Prussia (representing itself and it’s allies), France, and the United States. By terms of this treaty, France is allowed to absorb Luxembourg, and receives a large indemnity from Prussia, which the United States shares as compensation for the damage to it's commerce caused by Prussian raiders. Prussia also is forced to give up it’s control of the North German Confederation, with the complete sovereignty of the various German states within it to be recognized. German unification is effectively derailed.
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