Fifty-Four Forty or Bite!
- Thread starter Thespitron 6000
- Start date
yeah. I see the peace giving Britain the Maine border it wants, control of the entire Oregon territory (not the US has much choice on that matter now), some reperations and maybe recognition of the CSA.
Now that Britain has the upper hand, I don't see them stopping until they've effectively reduced the US to something that doesn't constitute a threat for at least the next generation.
As said, northern Maine would be annexed formally. along with the US giving up any claims to the Oregon Territory.
Forcing the US to concede independence to the Confederacy, California and Texas not only reduces them to size, but will more than likely keep them in check given the varied interests and tensions of the respective nations.
Perhaps forcing the US to end slavery as a bone toss to their abolistionists to even out recognizing the Confederacy and Texas as slave holding nations. Though this would be more than symbolic for the most part in the US, being the Confederacy's already bolted. The other border states may yet over this conscription crisis.
Repirations and possible military restrictions are more than likely too.
The US might have to end up accepting a defeat here, and start rebuilding for a 3rd Anglo/American war in about twenty years.
As said, northern Maine would be annexed formally. along with the US giving up any claims to the Oregon Territory.
Forcing the US to concede independence to the Confederacy, California and Texas not only reduces them to size, but will more than likely keep them in check given the varied interests and tensions of the respective nations.
Perhaps forcing the US to end slavery as a bone toss to their abolistionists to even out recognizing the Confederacy and Texas as slave holding nations. Though this would be more than symbolic for the most part in the US, being the Confederacy's already bolted. The other border states may yet over this conscription crisis.
Repirations and possible military restrictions are more than likely too.
The US might have to end up accepting a defeat here, and start rebuilding for a 3rd Anglo/American war in about twenty years.
Sorry I haven't updated today, but I was out all day and just got back home. Working on "The Fields of Slaughter" (Battle of Pelham) and "Crabs in a Bucket" (Battles of the Piney Woods.)
Hopefully I'll have them up tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll have them up tomorrow.
On second thought, it also sounds like a cheesy B-flick along the veins of "Snakes on a Plane". God knows what the plot would be, though.Especially describing the battle of Piney Woods.
Hiatus; I'm trying to finish a novel, and my other TLs are a lot less demanding than this one. Plus I got GREs coming up in a few weeks. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this one!
Hiatus; I'm trying to finish a novel, and my other TLs are a lot less demanding than this one. Plus I got GREs coming up in a few weeks. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about this one!
Thespitron 6000
Best of luck with the exams - suspecting that's what GRE's are
. Looking forward to seeing more when you have the time.Is the novel on this board or somewhere else?
Steve
Thespitron
Interesting. WWII and afters with some super-hero's but not the standard DC or Marvel ones.
Thanks
Steve
The Fields of Slaughter and Crabs in a Bucket:
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Fields of Slaughter: Pelham, Massachusetts
Naught but bodies and mist upon the ground,
And comes the carrion call of the crow
In these dales of dead regiments renowned
Where naught but blood and corpses grow.
--Emily Dickinson, “The Dead Regiments”, 1851
September 30, 1850: Battle of Pelham, Day One: Patterson, a relatively inexperienced and middleweight general, has managed an astonishing feat. In just twelve days, he has marched his army from Maryland to Massachusetts in time to intercept Hardinge. His men are weary and footsore, but Patterson soon has them positioned in the hills surrounding the small hamlet of Pelham, where Patterson has chosen to make his stand.
Pelham, a very small town, is just miles from Amherst, and many of the larger city’s residents have turned out to watch the battle. Among them are former state senator Edward Dickinson and his daughter, Emily. Also present at the battle is William Russell, a journalist with the Times of London who has been traveling with Hardinge and his army.
In a lucky turn of events for Patterson, three days prior Hardinge had detached 22,000 troops under General John Clitherow and sent them northwest. Their mission is to detour around Quebec City and retake Montreal and ultimately, Toronto. For the moment, though, their departure leaves Hardinge at around 72,000 soldiers. Patterson is only outnumbered 3 to 1, not 4 to 1.
“There will be no retreat.” So writes Patterson to his wife, just hours before the battle begins. Hardinge is intent on not making the same mistakes as Raglan; he will attack aggressively with the total of his forces, thus crushing the Americans. At a little after ten in the morning, the British move forward, confident that their vastly superior numbers will be sufficient to send the Americans running.
They have not counted on American resolve. For over twelve hours, well into the night, the battle rages. The Americans lack men, lack guns, lack leadership. They do not lack guts. Even hardened soldiers are appalled by the carnage. “I have never seen such death in all my life,” writes Hardinge to his wife.
Cannon fire and rifle shot pound the hills of Pelham. But the Americans have dug in deeply. Despite not having seen combat in Canada, Patterson has been instructed in writing by Taylor on the tremendous casualties modern warfare can inflict, and has taken appropriate measures. As a result, his men are able to hold out longer than the British would have imagined. The hillocks and berms they have erected act like a force multiplier, allowing them to hold the field long into the afternoon.
It is not enough. By sundown, the Americans have taken horrific casualties, and as the British withdraw from the first day’s fighting, the hills echo with the screams and moans of dying soldiers from both sides.
“I could not sleep the last night, but for the screams and death cries of the wounded, who succumbed unmercifully slowly,” writes William Russell. “God have mercy on them all, British or American, for the night surely has not. These are the fields of slaughter.”
October 1, 1850: Battle of Pelham, Day Two: For the Americans, yesterday was apocalyptic. Today will be worse.
Patterson has lost half his command. Many died on the field, but most died in the night of slow festering wounds. Now, as the British advance again, he and his officers can only grit their teeth and dig in.
There is precious little strategy now; both sides have been seriously unnerved by the previous day, and Hardinge simply uses his superior force to club the Americans into submission. Having half the numbers of the previous day, the Americans eventually succumb, but not without inflicting ghastly casualties.
Just before nightfall, the American army finally breaks, not long after Patterson is killed by a stray bullet. The remaining forces retreat in a surprisingly orderly fashion, given how grievously they’ve been decimated. Of Patterson’s original 25,000 man command, just 4,281 remain uninjured and alive. As they pull back, they are forced to leave many of their wounded comrades on the field, to the mercies of the British and the crows.
The British are not unscathed. Over two days of battle, Hardinge has lost 27,897 men. Exhausted and bloodied, the British hold the field victorious.
October 4, 1850: General William Worth’s Army of the Miami arrives in eastern New York. Worth has adopted a radical new strategy for moving his men: rail. Just under three weeks after receiving telegraphed orders to depart for New England, Worth has arrived by train with 35,000 men to save the Union.
October 7, 1850: The Conscription Bill passes the Senate by an extremely narrow margin. The Whigs, as well as the two Texan senators, are incensed. The Texans vocally leave the Senate floor after the final count is announced. The bill must still pass the House before adoption.
October 9, 1850: Taking the extremely circuitous route via telegraph through Kentucky and Missouri, word arrives in Texas that the Senate has passed the Conscription Bill. Rioting breaks out in Austin and Galveston. Governor James Henderson, although supporting the Union, publicly vows that “Texas has done her share; we shall send no more sons to die in the bogs of Louisiana.”
Worse news could not be possible for William Butler. Since the First Battle of New Orleans, he and Twiggs have been rebuilding their respective armies, and Butler has been relying on Texans for recruitment. Now, with the state government and people of Texas hostile to the Federal government and its army, he finds his recruiting running down to a trickle.
Crabs in a Bucket: East Texas and the Piney Woods
October 12, 1850: A Federal recruiting party near Huntsville, Texas, is ambushed by Confederate-sympathizing Texans. The Texans, opposed to the Conscription and supporting slavery and the South, open fire on the recruiters from the shelter of the thick forest. Seven recruiters are killed; the rest, although only lightly armed, return fire and retreat. The Battles of the Piney Woods have begun.
October 13, 1850: David Twiggs, now having replenished his army somewhat, invades Texas from Louisiana. His goal is to find and destroy Butler’s forces, but he finds it hard going, as Butler is elusive.
Riding into Newton, Texas, Twiggs finds evidence that many Newtonians have joined up with Butler’s forces. Seeing the Stars and Stripes still waving from the town flagpole, Twiggs frustratedly orders the flag cut down. The Newton town mayor and many of the townspeople protest, and during the confrontation, which becomes increasingly heated, a gun goes off. Who exactly fired the shot is unknown, but the Confederate troops occupying the town return fire. A short, desultory battle commences between inexperienced and largely innocent townspeople and the Confederate force. Many townspeople are killed, and Twiggs himself is injured with a gunshot wound to the arm. Furious at the Newtonians’ resistance and terrified that he might lose his arm, Twiggs orders his men to put Newton to the torch. This uncharacteristic act of barbarity, triggered by exhaustion, fear, and rage, will come back to haunt “Inferno” Twiggs in the months to come.
October 15 - 18, 1850: Confederate troops moving from Louisiana to Texas find themselves subject to a gauntlet of bushwhacker rifle fire from the woods, sporadic but persistent. The injuries caused by these anti-Confederate guerrillas are minor, barely pinpricks, but they serve to enrage and aggravate the Rebels, who are especially unnerved and irritated by the frequent calls of “Newton and Texas! Republic Forever!”
October 19, 1850: East Texan outrage over Conscription and the Newton atrocity has reached a fever pitch, and by now, word has trickled back to Austin of Twiggs’ actions, where the Texan political leadership is aghast and baffled by this turn of events. Unclear of what course to take, politicians debate endlessly.
In East Texas, however, things seem much less confusing to the residents. The “Rebs” and the “Recruiters” cannot be tolerated. The United States seems distant and callous, the Confederacy brutal. Both must be expelled. Armed bands of Texans begin roaming the woods, picking battles with Union and Confederate troops alike. Texans have not yet begun fighting Texans; that will come later.
At Rusk, elements of the three forces--Rebels, Recruiters, and Texans--fight a bushwhacking, chaotic battle over several hours, each force ducking in and out of the forest, using the old pine trees as cover. The Clausewitzian order of battle is gone; all-out guerrilla warfare has taken hold. Casualties are surprisingly minimal; all three groups have little experience with forest warfare. That will change.
One observer, an old Acadian, barely comprehensible, sums it up best. “All dem Rebs and Yanks and Tex’ns, why dem boys dey fightin’ like crabs in a bucket.”
-------------------------------------------------------------
Your thoughts?
---------------------------------------------------------------
The Fields of Slaughter: Pelham, Massachusetts
Naught but bodies and mist upon the ground,
And comes the carrion call of the crow
In these dales of dead regiments renowned
Where naught but blood and corpses grow.
--Emily Dickinson, “The Dead Regiments”, 1851
September 30, 1850: Battle of Pelham, Day One: Patterson, a relatively inexperienced and middleweight general, has managed an astonishing feat. In just twelve days, he has marched his army from Maryland to Massachusetts in time to intercept Hardinge. His men are weary and footsore, but Patterson soon has them positioned in the hills surrounding the small hamlet of Pelham, where Patterson has chosen to make his stand.
Pelham, a very small town, is just miles from Amherst, and many of the larger city’s residents have turned out to watch the battle. Among them are former state senator Edward Dickinson and his daughter, Emily. Also present at the battle is William Russell, a journalist with the Times of London who has been traveling with Hardinge and his army.
In a lucky turn of events for Patterson, three days prior Hardinge had detached 22,000 troops under General John Clitherow and sent them northwest. Their mission is to detour around Quebec City and retake Montreal and ultimately, Toronto. For the moment, though, their departure leaves Hardinge at around 72,000 soldiers. Patterson is only outnumbered 3 to 1, not 4 to 1.
“There will be no retreat.” So writes Patterson to his wife, just hours before the battle begins. Hardinge is intent on not making the same mistakes as Raglan; he will attack aggressively with the total of his forces, thus crushing the Americans. At a little after ten in the morning, the British move forward, confident that their vastly superior numbers will be sufficient to send the Americans running.
They have not counted on American resolve. For over twelve hours, well into the night, the battle rages. The Americans lack men, lack guns, lack leadership. They do not lack guts. Even hardened soldiers are appalled by the carnage. “I have never seen such death in all my life,” writes Hardinge to his wife.
Cannon fire and rifle shot pound the hills of Pelham. But the Americans have dug in deeply. Despite not having seen combat in Canada, Patterson has been instructed in writing by Taylor on the tremendous casualties modern warfare can inflict, and has taken appropriate measures. As a result, his men are able to hold out longer than the British would have imagined. The hillocks and berms they have erected act like a force multiplier, allowing them to hold the field long into the afternoon.
It is not enough. By sundown, the Americans have taken horrific casualties, and as the British withdraw from the first day’s fighting, the hills echo with the screams and moans of dying soldiers from both sides.
“I could not sleep the last night, but for the screams and death cries of the wounded, who succumbed unmercifully slowly,” writes William Russell. “God have mercy on them all, British or American, for the night surely has not. These are the fields of slaughter.”
October 1, 1850: Battle of Pelham, Day Two: For the Americans, yesterday was apocalyptic. Today will be worse.
Patterson has lost half his command. Many died on the field, but most died in the night of slow festering wounds. Now, as the British advance again, he and his officers can only grit their teeth and dig in.
There is precious little strategy now; both sides have been seriously unnerved by the previous day, and Hardinge simply uses his superior force to club the Americans into submission. Having half the numbers of the previous day, the Americans eventually succumb, but not without inflicting ghastly casualties.
Just before nightfall, the American army finally breaks, not long after Patterson is killed by a stray bullet. The remaining forces retreat in a surprisingly orderly fashion, given how grievously they’ve been decimated. Of Patterson’s original 25,000 man command, just 4,281 remain uninjured and alive. As they pull back, they are forced to leave many of their wounded comrades on the field, to the mercies of the British and the crows.
The British are not unscathed. Over two days of battle, Hardinge has lost 27,897 men. Exhausted and bloodied, the British hold the field victorious.
October 4, 1850: General William Worth’s Army of the Miami arrives in eastern New York. Worth has adopted a radical new strategy for moving his men: rail. Just under three weeks after receiving telegraphed orders to depart for New England, Worth has arrived by train with 35,000 men to save the Union.
October 7, 1850: The Conscription Bill passes the Senate by an extremely narrow margin. The Whigs, as well as the two Texan senators, are incensed. The Texans vocally leave the Senate floor after the final count is announced. The bill must still pass the House before adoption.
October 9, 1850: Taking the extremely circuitous route via telegraph through Kentucky and Missouri, word arrives in Texas that the Senate has passed the Conscription Bill. Rioting breaks out in Austin and Galveston. Governor James Henderson, although supporting the Union, publicly vows that “Texas has done her share; we shall send no more sons to die in the bogs of Louisiana.”
Worse news could not be possible for William Butler. Since the First Battle of New Orleans, he and Twiggs have been rebuilding their respective armies, and Butler has been relying on Texans for recruitment. Now, with the state government and people of Texas hostile to the Federal government and its army, he finds his recruiting running down to a trickle.
Crabs in a Bucket: East Texas and the Piney Woods
October 12, 1850: A Federal recruiting party near Huntsville, Texas, is ambushed by Confederate-sympathizing Texans. The Texans, opposed to the Conscription and supporting slavery and the South, open fire on the recruiters from the shelter of the thick forest. Seven recruiters are killed; the rest, although only lightly armed, return fire and retreat. The Battles of the Piney Woods have begun.
October 13, 1850: David Twiggs, now having replenished his army somewhat, invades Texas from Louisiana. His goal is to find and destroy Butler’s forces, but he finds it hard going, as Butler is elusive.
Riding into Newton, Texas, Twiggs finds evidence that many Newtonians have joined up with Butler’s forces. Seeing the Stars and Stripes still waving from the town flagpole, Twiggs frustratedly orders the flag cut down. The Newton town mayor and many of the townspeople protest, and during the confrontation, which becomes increasingly heated, a gun goes off. Who exactly fired the shot is unknown, but the Confederate troops occupying the town return fire. A short, desultory battle commences between inexperienced and largely innocent townspeople and the Confederate force. Many townspeople are killed, and Twiggs himself is injured with a gunshot wound to the arm. Furious at the Newtonians’ resistance and terrified that he might lose his arm, Twiggs orders his men to put Newton to the torch. This uncharacteristic act of barbarity, triggered by exhaustion, fear, and rage, will come back to haunt “Inferno” Twiggs in the months to come.
October 15 - 18, 1850: Confederate troops moving from Louisiana to Texas find themselves subject to a gauntlet of bushwhacker rifle fire from the woods, sporadic but persistent. The injuries caused by these anti-Confederate guerrillas are minor, barely pinpricks, but they serve to enrage and aggravate the Rebels, who are especially unnerved and irritated by the frequent calls of “Newton and Texas! Republic Forever!”
October 19, 1850: East Texan outrage over Conscription and the Newton atrocity has reached a fever pitch, and by now, word has trickled back to Austin of Twiggs’ actions, where the Texan political leadership is aghast and baffled by this turn of events. Unclear of what course to take, politicians debate endlessly.
In East Texas, however, things seem much less confusing to the residents. The “Rebs” and the “Recruiters” cannot be tolerated. The United States seems distant and callous, the Confederacy brutal. Both must be expelled. Armed bands of Texans begin roaming the woods, picking battles with Union and Confederate troops alike. Texans have not yet begun fighting Texans; that will come later.
At Rusk, elements of the three forces--Rebels, Recruiters, and Texans--fight a bushwhacking, chaotic battle over several hours, each force ducking in and out of the forest, using the old pine trees as cover. The Clausewitzian order of battle is gone; all-out guerrilla warfare has taken hold. Casualties are surprisingly minimal; all three groups have little experience with forest warfare. That will change.
One observer, an old Acadian, barely comprehensible, sums it up best. “All dem Rebs and Yanks and Tex’ns, why dem boys dey fightin’ like crabs in a bucket.”
-------------------------------------------------------------
Your thoughts?
Thespitron 6000
Ouch! That was bloody. Hardinge should have sought to flank his enemy and force them to withdraw. Patterson's gallant defence may have saved the US position in the NE, although it could simply make the war longer and bloodier for both sides. Hopefully Hardinge will be somewhat more inventive in future battles, or possibly he can draw Worth's army onto a frontal assualt itself. Also if Clitherow clears the occupied parts of Canada it might persuade the Americans to reconsider their position.
Have to see how thing develop.
Steve
Ouch! That was bloody. Hardinge should have sought to flank his enemy and force them to withdraw. Patterson's gallant defence may have saved the US position in the NE, although it could simply make the war longer and bloodier for both sides. Hopefully Hardinge will be somewhat more inventive in future battles, or possibly he can draw Worth's army onto a frontal assualt itself. Also if Clitherow clears the occupied parts of Canada it might persuade the Americans to reconsider their position.
Have to see how thing develop.
Steve
Frankly, given that a british army of this size would have a cavalry wing of several thousands, who would have nothing to do in this scenario but go around and cut off the retreat of the americans, i don't see any of Patterson's force getting away. Not if they try to hold that long.
Hell, how do the americans withdraw from contact in the first place? By the end they are outnumbered 10 to 1. Which should mean the Brits are around both flanks, and should have fresh reserves plus a big pile of cavaly to attack the withdrawing americans in the open.
The pursuit should utterly destroy what Patterson has left.
Hell, how do the americans withdraw from contact in the first place? By the end they are outnumbered 10 to 1. Which should mean the Brits are around both flanks, and should have fresh reserves plus a big pile of cavaly to attack the withdrawing americans in the open.
The pursuit should utterly destroy what Patterson has left.
Your sword, Sir Hardinge, if you please!
IMHO Sir Hardinge deserves to be sacked for gross incompetence! But he is too high in the aristocracy to get what he has coming! Here's an idea -- he's transferred to a "fever island" posting in the West Indies -- a virtual death sentence in OTL. Off course Sir Hardinge will refuse and go onto half-pay status instead, but he will effectively be "beached" and unable to do any serious harm to the fine lads of the British Army.
Hero of Canton
IMHO Sir Hardinge deserves to be sacked for gross incompetence! But he is too high in the aristocracy to get what he has coming! Here's an idea -- he's transferred to a "fever island" posting in the West Indies -- a virtual death sentence in OTL. Off course Sir Hardinge will refuse and go onto half-pay status instead, but he will effectively be "beached" and unable to do any serious harm to the fine lads of the British Army.
Hero of Canton
Last edited:
Well, Texas appears to be totally SNAFU. They don't want to join the Confederacy, they don't want to help the Union, and they don't want to be Independent because they're still broke. Unfortunately, that's not totally accurate -- there is no singular "They". Fun little Three-Cornered micro-civil-war brewing there.
Between the Brits, the Texans, the Californians, the Mexicans (maybe) and the Confederacy, if things get any worse for the USA this TL will resemble less the OTL American Civil War and more the 1930s Spanish Civil War!
Between the Brits, the Texans, the Californians, the Mexicans (maybe) and the Confederacy, if things get any worse for the USA this TL will resemble less the OTL American Civil War and more the 1930s Spanish Civil War!