Been toying around with this idea in my head for the last couple days. After the Seccession Convention overruled Governor Sam Houston's veto, Houston urged the convention not to send delegates to Montgomery to join the Confederacy but to return to it's former status as an independent nation.
What effects would it have on the war if Texas didn't join the Confederacy? Sam Houston and Abraham Lincoln were, if not political allies, at least cordial to each other, he even got some votes to be his VP. Given that, and Texas' former status as a soverign nation, might he be willing to conceed Texan independence in exchange for not joining the war?
Of course this means some 70,000 Texans don't join the Confederate Army, including some such as John Bell Hood and Albert Sidney Johnson.
Texas and Britian were friendly during it's brief independence, so it's possible they could get diplomatic recognition without having to fight a war as well.
This doesn't neccisarily hinder the Confederacy, as it seems there would be some benefits to Texan independence for them. If the US doesn't contest their seccession there's a fortune to be made with Galveston as a free port.
Texas could very easily be the proverbial middle man between the Confederacy and Europe in trading. At the time the South produced a very signifigant portion of the world's cotton. And weapons and supplies could be sent back in return.
Endless amounts of butterflies to consider in this one, and I haven't even really gotten to thinking how the war would go. With the Trans-Mississippi suddenly more important to the strategic picture for the Confederacy, it's possible they forgo violating Kentucky's neutrality making the two primary fronts Virginia and Missiouri/Arkansas. Though Kentucky is very likely to go Union eventually in that scenario anyways.
All kinds of things to consider as the war goes. What kind of strategy does the North take being they cannot get to the eastern side of the Mississippi right away? Who commands the west since Johnson almost certainly becomes senior general in the Texan army?
Just fishing for thoughts and ideas on the scenario.
What effects would it have on the war if Texas didn't join the Confederacy? Sam Houston and Abraham Lincoln were, if not political allies, at least cordial to each other, he even got some votes to be his VP. Given that, and Texas' former status as a soverign nation, might he be willing to conceed Texan independence in exchange for not joining the war?
Of course this means some 70,000 Texans don't join the Confederate Army, including some such as John Bell Hood and Albert Sidney Johnson.
Texas and Britian were friendly during it's brief independence, so it's possible they could get diplomatic recognition without having to fight a war as well.
This doesn't neccisarily hinder the Confederacy, as it seems there would be some benefits to Texan independence for them. If the US doesn't contest their seccession there's a fortune to be made with Galveston as a free port.
Texas could very easily be the proverbial middle man between the Confederacy and Europe in trading. At the time the South produced a very signifigant portion of the world's cotton. And weapons and supplies could be sent back in return.
Endless amounts of butterflies to consider in this one, and I haven't even really gotten to thinking how the war would go. With the Trans-Mississippi suddenly more important to the strategic picture for the Confederacy, it's possible they forgo violating Kentucky's neutrality making the two primary fronts Virginia and Missiouri/Arkansas. Though Kentucky is very likely to go Union eventually in that scenario anyways.
All kinds of things to consider as the war goes. What kind of strategy does the North take being they cannot get to the eastern side of the Mississippi right away? Who commands the west since Johnson almost certainly becomes senior general in the Texan army?
Just fishing for thoughts and ideas on the scenario.