So I can cheerfully say the next Chapter is almost ready, with the rest of the West in 1863 from the Red River to the Pacific getting ready to be wrapped up right after. Then I will be doing one mega chapter for June 1863 before getting to the events in the East and then July-August of 1863.
Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond
- Thread starter EnglishCanuck
- Start date
Chapter 64: A Marathon to Corinth
Chapter 64: A Marathon to Corinth
“Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.” – Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II
“Grant’s failed attempts to cross the Tennessee had raised many voices in anger in Washington. The death of Commodore Foote had been grievously felt given his good service on the Mississippi, and now Grant’s “turn around” was seen as tantamount to failure. Grant however, would not be deterred. He insisted there was a firm strategy to be had, and while he retreated overland, was already looking for a way to strike at the Confederacy…
…news that Polk’s Corps, or at least a portion of it, had marched for Grenada sealed his decision. With some of the foe not defending that strategic location Grant would at once march for the ‘Crossroads of the Confederacy at Corinth.” - On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis McKean, University of Boston, 1996
“Even with Polk’s departure Johntson still had 46,000 men at Corinth, including a strong showing of Mississippi militia which raised that total to just under 50,000. Despite his supposed idleness at Corinth, Johnston had been far from idle in the period between his withdrawal and Grant’s advance. Having been severely disappointed before by his engineers, Johntson personally supervised the construction of works at Corinth. Slaves were drawn from plantations in Confederate hands across Mississippi and Tennessee, and they were set to work building trenches, bunkers and earthworks which would render it ‘a regular Gibralter’ in the words of one southern private.
By the end of March, Johntson’s work parties had extended a crescent of defences from College Hill in the southwest , centered on earthworks fronted by the Corona College, all the way to the hills overlooking Phillips Creek in the southeast. He had his two corps occupying those lines. Bragg’s Second Corps in the southwest as far north as the Memphis Road where the Third Corps under Hardee was in charge to the south east. For all that though, the defences from the College to Memphis road were lightly manned, only a single division of the Second Corps (Ruggles) and filled in by militia wherever practical. Bragg was forced to keep Sterling Wood’s division as the army reserve. Hardee’s two divisions manned the line to the southeast, Hindman’s at the seam where it met Ruggles, and Breckinridge running all the way to the end of the line. Here they covered as much of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad and the Mobile and Ohio as practical, ensuring a constant flow of supplies.
Johntson assumed that Grant would come from the northeast towards him as he retreated from the Tennessee. He would prove fortunately correct in that assumption…” - A Mire of Blood: The Siege of Corinth, Michael Sullivan, Kansas City Press, 1999
“Grant’s advance was far from leisurely, yet it was not as rapid through the early April rains as Grant would have liked. He did not ride his men hard, but he was clearly impatient to be at Corinth.
Often riding with Sherman’s vanguard, the two men would huddle in close coordination, much to the displeasure of McClernand, who felt slighted as the rearguard. The van of Sherman’s division reached the outskirts of the Confederate lines on the 10th of April…
Grant’s army swarmed west and south, Lew Wallace’s troops moving south, Sherman to the west and McClernand’s troops moving to the furthest west to secure the rail lines towards Memphis. Though Forrest had been active in his rear, Grant meant to make as much use of those lines as possible. Nearly a week of hard skirmishing followed as Johnston aggressively sought to disrupt Grant’s preliminary position. This did not bother Grant however. “Johnston will find no surprises to make here. He has dug the grave and I mean to bury him,” Grant wrote to a concerned Dix.
Johnston however, seemed to have been largely snapped out of his lethargy by the appearance of Grant’s army on his own doorstep. Besides the entrenchments already dug, he had sited new guns, and was enthusiastic in ordering spoiling attacks on the Federal preparations. The only worry that Grant felt was that this sudden activity may prompt Johnston to retire rather than stay and fight, and he encouraged preparations with all speed. The heaviest fighting would come at the Widow Surrat’s home, which changed hands three times in the days leading up to the formal investment. After eight days of constant skirmishing, bombardment, and midnight raids back and forth along the lines, Grant’s own siege lines mirrored those of the Confederate defences.” - On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis McKean, University of Boston, 1996
Grant's men fought hard to discomfort the Confederate forces.
“The problems in the siege showed themselves almost immediately. Though each line was just as long, Grant’s line was a long U shape in which his men had to march the length of it to support one another, while Johnston had merely to march within that line to bring his reserves a much shorter distance. The wet weather complicated matters as men found their rifle pits and trenches transformed into a sea of mud, and Grant’s early efforts to make attacks proved costly as they bogged down in the muck. The men of the army began to jokingly call their redoubts names like “Fort Pea Soup” or “Fort Latrine” and "The Outhouse" among other less savory names.
Matters were not helped by the nature of the environment. Alternating between warm, freezing, and dismal, lines of packed men bred disease. Sherman’s men, encamped across from Hardee’s men, was in densely wooded terrain across a great dismal swamp. He estimated that, after a week, his division had between fifteen and twenty percent of men sick.
Inside Corinth itself, it was not much better. Of the roughly 50,000 men present, ten thousand could be found on the sick lists on any given day. These matters exacerbated the siege, and caused Grant to reflect on his need to bring it to a swift and speedy conclusion…”- A Mire of Blood: The Siege of Corinth, Michael Sullivan, Kansas City Press, 1999
“The main attack Grant had settled on would come on the morning of the 3rd of May. He had spent a week in consultation with his officers, and had decided his hammer blow was going to fall on what her perceived to be the weakest part of the Confederate line. The reconnaissance had convinced him that the lines towards Memphis were more strongly manned, while those directly facing Sherman were lightly manned.
Grant’s confusion is understandable, as is his haste. A long drawn out siege would assuredly weaken both sides, but it was a lamentable intelligence failure that day…” - On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis McKean, University of Boston, 1996
“The attack opened early on the 3rd, the men of Thomas K. Smith’s brigade had spent a miserable night wading through the swamps while artillery thumped over their heads and sharpshooters were taking shots at the defences. They had been lucky in that while their own artillery kept the heads of the defenders down, the defenders also had declined to use flares, instead depending on the illumination of their own guns and those of the enemy to inform the duel. Behind them they had laid plank roads for their comrades to follow.
Spending a cold, fitful night just beneath the Confederate defences, they scaled the hills in the early morning and took the Confederate sentries by surprise. In a vicious series of hand to hand fights, the banners of the 89th Ohio flew on the Southern ramparts.
This had been what the attackers were waiting for, and the ranks of Sherman’s division proceeded to wind their way through the impromptu roadway which had been created for them. With a foothold already established, Sherman rushed to get his men on the earthen redoubts and storm the walls. From there they could open a great gap in the Confederate defences and hopefully decide the battle. Sherman himself was not far behind his troops with his staff observing the advance...
Unfortunately, despite the bravado of Smith’s brigade, their attack could not be missed. Even with Grant applying pressure all along the line, Johnston responded forcefully to this capture of the works. He sent the men of Wood’s division to plug the gap, while holding the offensives along the line. Grant, hoping to peg Johnston’s attention elsewhere, ordered McClerland in to distract Bragg’s men, at 8am, but as the hours ticked by, McClerland did not appear…
With three of his brigades committed, Sherman was frustrated to find that he was stalemated. He sent a rider to Grant at 9am requesting reinforcement to force the attack on, and Grant obliged, but this was where the nature of the Federal siege lines worked against him. He had to request that Hurlbut send his 4th Brigade under BG Jacob Lauman to assist Sherman, so that he might march five brigades against the enemy. Lauman’s men were formed and ready to march, but they had to march outside the line, along a greater distance that it had taken to get Wood’s Confederates to arrive. It ended up taking Lauman two hours of hard marching to reach Sherman’s position, and to Grant’s considerable consternation he found that McClerland was still only lightly skirmishing with Bragg’s troops…
...By 2pm Sherman was stalemated and intensely frustrated. Against the wishes of his staff, he rode forward from the remains of Surrat’s farm to chivy Lauman into the position he desired. His own four brigades had crossed the ground ahead, but by the time Lauman was ready, it had been torn up by shot and shell and Sherman was swearing colorfully at the unfortunate brigadier. But the torrent was cut short as a Confederate cannon blast knocked Sherman from his horse. Both Sherman and Lauman were wounded, and it was feared Sherman mortally…” - A Mire of Blood: The Siege of Corinth, Michael Sullivan, Kansas City Press, 1999
“The news reached Grant an hour after Sherman had been rushed to hospital behind the lines. Grant, seeing that his attacks were doing no good this day, called them off and after ensuring his orders were followed, rushed to see to his wounded general.
Despite the best efforts of his surgeons, Sherman would die from his wounds that evening at 7pm…
In the aftermath of the attacks, Grant declined an offer from Johnston to allow a truce to recover the wounded. Grant was determined to make a go of it again on the morning of the 4th, and true to form he did. His men advanced over the bodies of comrades wounded or trapped against the defences of Corinth the next day. However, the attacks again petered out, and Grant at last accepted a truce for the dead and wounded to be collected...
The attacks of May 3rd and 4th had cost Grant some 4,000 men dead, wounded and captured, in exchange for only 1,900 Confederates. Worse, as Grant would later write to his wife Julia “In Sherman I have lost more than a friend, I have lost my right arm.”...
On the 5th Grant reorganized his forces. McClelarland was sacked for ‘failing to perform in the face of the enemy’ and replaced with the more energetic Lauman, while Sherman’s old division was to be reformed under what had been intended to be the temporary command of Smith, but events in the east stalled Grant’s request for a replacement…” - On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis McKean, University of Boston, 1996
William T. Sherman, 1820 - 1863
-x-x-x-x-
"Having left two divisions behind, Thomas was apprehensive about his advance, but enthusiastic regarding his ability to threaten Frankfort. Despite urgent messages from the War Department, Smith constantly flitting about his headquarters in Louisville, Thomas would spend all of March and April organizing his forces. Fiery messages from Stanton could not move him, and Smith’s subdued prodding similarly had little effect. However, when Thomas did move, he moved with irresistible resolve on May 2nd.
Alexander McCook’s division led the way, with a strong cavalry division under William Sanders, wreaking havoc with the Confederate front. Kirby Smith and Johnston had both been dismissive of the Federal capabilities with cavalry, and so the organization of a formal division, both while the best Confederate cavalry was far away in western Tennessee and their own spread out as picketts and garrisons, the sudden swarm of Federal riders came as quite a shock to the Confederate troops defending eastern Kentucky.
Sanders was able to wreak havoc with Confederate communications, and captured numerous small garrisons, with his most successful action being the capture of the entire Confederate garrison at Long Run with all their supplies and munitions…
William Sanders would become the most successful Federal cavalryman of 1863
McCook’s Regular Brigade, under Lt. Col. Shepherd, were the first to attack the outer line of the Confederate defences at Frankfort on May 7th. These probing attacks firmly fixed Smith’s attention in place, causing him to scramble to bring Cleburne’s division up from its positions along the Salt River to reinforce Churchill’s division at Frankfort, convinced that Thomas intended to besiege the state capital and end the legal authority he claimed over Kentucky. While McCook’s men made a great show of preparing to attack the city, Thomas instead crossed the Salt River.
Driving off the now undermanned and disorganized Confederate garrisons, Thomas proceeded to capture the all important crossroads at Bardstown where he had earned his fame the year previous. From there he sent Sanders cavalry out in all directions, raising up uproar. They raided as far south as Munfordsville, before speeding to the east in Harrodstown. Finally his raiders would travel north and east to threaten Lexington, prompting Smith to beg for the recall of cavalry from the west in Mississippi and Tennessee, as his own were only then reforming at Frankfort.
Sanders raiders vanished as promptly as they had appeared however, and Thomas himself was setting up his headquarters in Danville, well south of Smith’s position by the 21st of May. Determined to drive off the Federals to his front, Smith moved to attack his tormentors, but they too vanished, McCook’s division marching south and west to link with Thomas.
Reasoning he had a chance to attack Thomas in strength before he could link with McCook’s full force, Smith marched with Cleburne and two of Churchill’s brigades southwards to attack Thomas at Danville.
McCook however, easily outpaced Smith, and by the time the Confederate force had arrived, Thomas’s two divisions had formed up to await him on the outskirts of town. Smith, eager as ever, ordered his men in. Thomas, who was prepared for just such an attack weathered the first assault well, with the Regulars providing the best showing that day, standing off two separate attacks by Liddle’s larger brigade, and forcing Cleburne to commit heavily to the right flank they anchored. Crittenden’s troops were hard pressed, and Crittenden himself suffered a grievous wound partway through the fighting....
By midday the Confederate force was spent, and Thomas judged now was the time to counterattack...
...Cleburne’s rearguard action prevented a total rout, but Smith found himself falling back towards Frankfort, with the looming knowledge that Thomas meant to cut him off at the Cumberland Gap, and prevent him from reinforcing from East Tennessee, which would put his units in western Tennessee in jeopardy.
Once again however, as quickly as Thomas appeared, he was retreating. By June his forces had withdrawn back to their positions near Bardstown, and the cavalry was harassing the Confederate forces south and east. Smith was completely baffled, but when Kentucky finally received the news of the Siege of Washington, he understood…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.
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Hi! I still have some updates to read before I've caught up completely, but I've really liked what I've read thus far. Keep up the great job!
Thank you! As a fan of your own excellent timeline I'm thrilled you're liking this one!
Thank you very much! I'll give something away and say that his death has been one of the major events I've been building towards in the West, though the specifics have changed twice since the TL started. I figured that this kind of divergence is something we don't see often, and so I've been happy to play around with it. Lots of people who died historically are still alive, while a few people who lived are currently deceased. One of the biggest changes was back in Chapter 12, which will have a very interesting effect on Lincoln.
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Ficboy
Banned
So far not only are William Tecumseh Sherman and Andrew Foote dead at the Battle of Corinth but Ulysses S. Grant has lost an arm based on this quote. The Confederate States will be emboldened by these events and with the United Kingdom aiding them as far as supplies and the Siege of Washington are concerned it will definitely help lead the Southerners to victory.
As far as what a post-war Confederate States in Wrapped in Flames looks like I can expect that they would reach out to Britain and France heavily given the King Cotton doctrine they espoused not to mention their territory would be comprised of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona and Indian Territory/Sequoyah and possibly Kentucky depending on the terms of the peace treaty since they would definitely want that state to join them. I will say that the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom will be worsened by the Great American War it might go the route of the Revolutionary War in 1775-1783 and the War of 1812 in 1812-1815 in which the two countries were hostile to each other for a while before tensions were reduced and they went back to being friendly neutral partners or perhaps something out of Harry Turtledove where both nations hate each other and fight in another war or two. The Blacks that joined the United States Army and Navy in any Confederate victory scenario will go up North or be recaptured and in so far as how the vast majority of Blacks after slavery fare they won't have much rights and the non-planter white population will definitely not welcome them given what happened so I can expect that freed Blacks would have no choice but to emigrate to the United States since sharecropping wouldn't exist or at least not to the extent we saw in OTL. Granted compared to what we saw in Reconstruction and the events afterwards, the status of the Blacks in the Confederacy while not perfect or good is at least less terrible.
As far as other categories are concerned about a post-war Confederacy, America and other nations:
* Sports: Baseball was played by both Union and Confederate soldiers in our world and Wrapped in Flames so I can imagine that sport will be popular in both the United States and the Confederate States respectively. Football I doubt would ever catch on in the Confederacy given that it is a Union-made sport and originating in New Jersey. Basketball was invented in Massachusetts (a Union state) but a Canadian named James Naismith created it so it's possible for the sport to catch on in the Confederacy though given Anglo-American tensions the circumstances of how it comes into existence will be very different. Others such as Hockey, Soccer, Rugby and Cricket could become fairly popular in the Confederate States since they are from Britain and/or Canada.
* Music: Much of the American tunes such as rock and roll, jazz, R&B and country originate from the South by African-Americans or Southern White Americans. Since the Confederate States wins in this scenario, the songs we hear in the United States will be very different and might be more influenced by European immigrants such as Irish and Germans though given that there are some Blacks that do join the Army and Navy they might bring their influences into the American music scene.
* Fiction: The Western won't have Southern-accented cowboys whatsoever and the Confederate version will be very different. The Confederate film industry could be located in Florida specifically Jacksonville (in OTL it was very much Hollywood before the actual Hollywood) or in Georgia mainly Atlanta (it is a thriving centre of films and is industrialized) and they'd have an even more strict film code on indecency compared to the American Hays Code. The theatre scene in the Confederacy will very much resemble music halls and operettas seen in Britain given their relations. The media from both countries will also be different from one another in terms of themes, quality and views. I can imagine Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind would still exist in the Wrapped in Flames Confederacy but not To Kill A Mockingbird or other books like it or at least not to an extent we saw.
* Politics: Since both pro-Davis and anti-Davis factions existed in the Confederate States during OTL's Civil War they will likely become political parties of their own and in opposition as far as certain policies are concerned in TTL. The Republicans will likely either decline significantly or disband altogether and a new party replaces them after the Great American War and the Democrats will still exist without it's Southern members. Some of the social movements we saw such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Religious Right will not exist or be very different from OTL counterparts. Most other social movements though will remain as is assuming that the rest of the 1800s-1920s aren't altered like the Great American War.
As far as what a post-war Confederate States in Wrapped in Flames looks like I can expect that they would reach out to Britain and France heavily given the King Cotton doctrine they espoused not to mention their territory would be comprised of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas, Arizona and Indian Territory/Sequoyah and possibly Kentucky depending on the terms of the peace treaty since they would definitely want that state to join them. I will say that the relations between the United States and the United Kingdom will be worsened by the Great American War it might go the route of the Revolutionary War in 1775-1783 and the War of 1812 in 1812-1815 in which the two countries were hostile to each other for a while before tensions were reduced and they went back to being friendly neutral partners or perhaps something out of Harry Turtledove where both nations hate each other and fight in another war or two. The Blacks that joined the United States Army and Navy in any Confederate victory scenario will go up North or be recaptured and in so far as how the vast majority of Blacks after slavery fare they won't have much rights and the non-planter white population will definitely not welcome them given what happened so I can expect that freed Blacks would have no choice but to emigrate to the United States since sharecropping wouldn't exist or at least not to the extent we saw in OTL. Granted compared to what we saw in Reconstruction and the events afterwards, the status of the Blacks in the Confederacy while not perfect or good is at least less terrible.
As far as other categories are concerned about a post-war Confederacy, America and other nations:
* Sports: Baseball was played by both Union and Confederate soldiers in our world and Wrapped in Flames so I can imagine that sport will be popular in both the United States and the Confederate States respectively. Football I doubt would ever catch on in the Confederacy given that it is a Union-made sport and originating in New Jersey. Basketball was invented in Massachusetts (a Union state) but a Canadian named James Naismith created it so it's possible for the sport to catch on in the Confederacy though given Anglo-American tensions the circumstances of how it comes into existence will be very different. Others such as Hockey, Soccer, Rugby and Cricket could become fairly popular in the Confederate States since they are from Britain and/or Canada.
* Music: Much of the American tunes such as rock and roll, jazz, R&B and country originate from the South by African-Americans or Southern White Americans. Since the Confederate States wins in this scenario, the songs we hear in the United States will be very different and might be more influenced by European immigrants such as Irish and Germans though given that there are some Blacks that do join the Army and Navy they might bring their influences into the American music scene.
* Fiction: The Western won't have Southern-accented cowboys whatsoever and the Confederate version will be very different. The Confederate film industry could be located in Florida specifically Jacksonville (in OTL it was very much Hollywood before the actual Hollywood) or in Georgia mainly Atlanta (it is a thriving centre of films and is industrialized) and they'd have an even more strict film code on indecency compared to the American Hays Code. The theatre scene in the Confederacy will very much resemble music halls and operettas seen in Britain given their relations. The media from both countries will also be different from one another in terms of themes, quality and views. I can imagine Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind would still exist in the Wrapped in Flames Confederacy but not To Kill A Mockingbird or other books like it or at least not to an extent we saw.
* Politics: Since both pro-Davis and anti-Davis factions existed in the Confederate States during OTL's Civil War they will likely become political parties of their own and in opposition as far as certain policies are concerned in TTL. The Republicans will likely either decline significantly or disband altogether and a new party replaces them after the Great American War and the Democrats will still exist without it's Southern members. Some of the social movements we saw such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Religious Right will not exist or be very different from OTL counterparts. Most other social movements though will remain as is assuming that the rest of the 1800s-1920s aren't altered like the Great American War.
Grant is going to need a big win soon otherwise he might get sacked, and with no Sherman he's even ;ess likely to find one.
There's a lot of Johnson and Johnston being used interchangeably throughout, you might want to take a peek for an edit.
There's a lot of Johnson and Johnston being used interchangeably throughout, you might want to take a peek for an edit.
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I was hoping the war would last longer and perhaps the USA still survives.
Though I suppose, if we are doing a telling of what would actually happen if the UK intervened in the American Civil War in the most realistic way possible, the British/Confederate alliance will win in all non-Ameriwank scenarios. R.I.P Sherman, your march fills my heart with joy in any timeline it graces.
Though I suppose, if we are doing a telling of what would actually happen if the UK intervened in the American Civil War in the most realistic way possible, the British/Confederate alliance will win in all non-Ameriwank scenarios. R.I.P Sherman, your march fills my heart with joy in any timeline it graces.
This work is big enough I need a copy editor and to my horror I haven't kept up with switching out infantry commanders and department heads! I realized I made a mistake when I found I used Buell instead of Smith commanding the department! Buell is currently organizing the Red River Expedition in the Northwest! Thanks for catching my Johnston/Johnson mistakes!
Grant is lucky in that his old mentor Charles F. Smith is back commanding in the West. Smith owes Grant from earlier in the war, and now Smith is going to be watching Grant's back so he won't have the slow ineptitude or interference he found in Halleck or Buell.
Well the war isn't over yet, I assure you! We're only halfway through 1863, and I have quite a few campaigns which still need to be wrapped up! I've got the Red River Expedition, the Pacific Coast and then back to the sieges of Washington and Ticonderoga in the East before we see what comes next. Then I'll have two more major campaigns to write for 1863 and then we're moving into 1864 and maybe the end of the war.
The Confederacy has much to do yet to assure its' independence.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I spent 2 years away fishing, and the day I returned you killed Sherman....
Anyway, great job, @EnglishCanuck ! Keep going, best of luck!
I spent 2 years away fishing, and the day I returned you killed Sherman....
Anyway, great job, @EnglishCanuck ! Keep going, best of luck!
I think, they'd still go to US. It's not like that US would be that poorer without South.
Actually cutting off Cotton Trade, grains, agricultural south, and the New Orleans Trading network is a pretty hefty blow to the American Economy; around 20% of the Economic incentives that America provided would disappear overnight. Plus with the political instability that would follow, i doubt that America would seem like a good place to go.
US would still be relatively better than most of Europe, and political instability would be here for 3-4 electoral cycles, and by 1880-1882 US would be stable. Yes, they would be bitter about what happened, yes there would be a greater militarization, border clashes, but they'll get used to this new position.
And we still don't know will CSA get anything except 11 states or no. IIRC, New Orleans is in US hands, and they could keep it after the war.
I am more interested on what would happen to Republican Party. They can probably wave goodbye to any chance of winning Oval Office until 1880 or 1884, due to being discredited because of lost war. However, Democrats are in trouble now too, as they lost their Southern Basin and now have to get competitive in New England and Midwest. It'd be easy for first 3 or 4 elections, when all you have to say to win as democrat would be : "Lincoln. Republicans. War of Secession(whatever it would be called). Loss" . But after that? Not sure at all.
New Orleans is economically one of the most important places in the South and a key port/trade nexus. In anything other than a peace of mutual exhaustion, or A US victory its going back to the CSA.
I am disagreeing with this. CSA has no leverage on US, except of that UK is being their co-belligerent. And I don't think Whitehall would be bothered enough to care about some port city. At best CSA can get 11 States + New Mexico territory+Oklahoma territory+KY State.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
I spent 2 years away fishing, and the day I returned you killed Sherman....
Anyway, great job, @EnglishCanuck ! Keep going, best of luck!
Haha! I'm glad I could provide something monumentous for your return! Sherman's death is, not in and of itself a turning point in the West, but a very deep blow to the commanding officer of the army. Grant not has to sadly settle into a siege of Corinth.
And thank you! You can rest assured I'm going to keep going on this.
War with Britain began in February 1862, so New Orleans is still in Confederate hands. Chapter 16 spells out what happened with the USN and the RN in the early stages of the war in the Gulf, but I went back there in Chapter 46 for some naval action again.
I've got plans for the Republicans and the Democrats both, don't you worry! The 1868 election is going to be a hell of a ride...
But my biggest political plans come in the 1870s.
No maps yet, the fronts are in some cases too broad or narrow for that. I could though, try over the weekend to make a rough mockup of the fronts as of June 1863.
Though to recap:
In the North:
The British have a stranglehold on Maine, holding Portland, Augusta, and most of the coast. Bangor is the only area held in force by the Union outside of Keye's much diminished Army of New England facing the also diminished Army of the Maritimes under Pennefether.
The British have marched southwards with the Army of Canada under Dundas currently trying to hammer it's way through Burnside's Army of the Hudson which is defending a line at Ticonderoga. The British objective is Albany where the headquarters for the Department of the Lakes and Henry Halleck reside. Meanwhile various garrisons are holding the major coastal cities, and in New York Farragut's squadron is currently engaged in a tense stand off with the British fleet, both sides looking to go at it again, but the British a bit less so.
In the South:
The Confederacy, shorn of the need to defend its coasts when the Royal Navy bottled up the USN in early 1862 freed up tens of thousands of men for service on the front and has built the Army of Northern Virginia into a pretty respectable juggernaut. In April and May they smashed McClellan's Army of the Potomac and bottled him up in Washington with a daring joint maneuver with the British fleet capturing Annapolis. Currently the two sides are locked in mortal combat there in a grinding siege.
Out west on the Mississippi, Pope is currently besieging Grenada after Grant's capture of Memphis in February 1863. Grant himself after a failed attempt to cross the Mississippi River from the rear is now besieging Corinth. In Kentucky the rebels control Frankfurt and most points south and east of the Salt River, while the Union controls most everything west and north of it along the banks of the Ohio.
Beyond the Mississippi it's basically a stalemate in Arkansas with Samuel Curtis's forces controlling everything north of the Arkansas River and south of the river the forces under Thomas Hindman oppose them.
In the far west the nebulous Confederate Arizona Territory has been established under Sibley facing off against a force under Harney, which has led to skirmishing and raiding, but the Battle of Glorietta Pass means that the Union still control the north, while the Confederates have a mean little capital in Tuscon.
On the Pacific Coast the British control much of the coastal Oregon Territory, having captured Olympia last summer. Meanwhile most of the American forces are hunkered down defending San Francisco while under blockade by the British Pacific Squadron. The British may need to do something about that...
And that's roughly where we are up to June 1863.