Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond

[generalurist]

Well, we had the Fort Sherman massacre already, and an entire corps of African Americans marching south to Richmond is not going to sit well with a lot of Southerners so let's just say that with a 'who's who' of that particular command it will have some very high, and very low, moments as it gets moving.

On the bright side, perhaps their eagerness to destroy the enemy Colored troops might provoke the secesh into making some tactical blunders?

They have an all white officer corps... for now. How many officers tend to die in battle in this era? I wonder if they'll be forced to give colored troops field promotions out of necessity in a drawn out engagement.

 

[edgeworthy]

Oh rest assured, the... interesting events of Tsouras's books will not be taking place here. George Sharpe (more power to him) was a talented man OTL, but not the near demigod that Tsouras made him out to be. Not only will a sudden surge of Sharps Carbines also not be making the Union a force with automatic firepower, but the coffee mill gun was not a pre-modern machine gun and will not be making appearances in vast numbers.

That said, my taste for the guns means I do have one happy little moment for them in 1864 which I hope is appreciated...

With the coming battles in Virginia I think people will see that the outcome is, while not quite pre-ordained, enough to keep everyone in Richmond and Philadelphia biting their nails until November of 1864.

And the odd part is that he's probably the most reasonable of the published works.
(By which I mean in actual dead tree format, or purchasable ebook. Not simply something speculative on a discussion site.)

The other Civil War alternate histories tend to be even more "interesting"?

 

[HMS St.Lawrence]

dead tree format

I'm adopting this one

 

[EnglishCanuck]

On the bright side, perhaps their eagerness to destroy the enemy Colored troops might provoke the secesh into making some tactical blunders?

Something that is more likely than you may expect!

They have an all white officer corps... for now. How many officers tend to die in battle in this era? I wonder if they'll be forced to give colored troops field promotions out of necessity in a drawn out engagement.

The highest ranking black officer is Colonel Martin Delany, on the staff of the XX Corps. No other black soldier however, comes close. There's more black sergeants (both of Frederick Douglas's sons in fact) but none yet who have Delany's rank, or even close sadly.

The chapter header for "Chapter 88: Under a Black Flag" probably gives you a few ideas over how things are going to go!

 

[EnglishCanuck]

And the odd part is that he's probably the most reasonable of the published works.
(By which I mean in actual dead tree format, or purchasable ebook. Not simply something speculative on a discussion site.)

The other Civil War alternate histories tend to be even more "interesting"?

It's still rather egregious. Interesting but egregious.

Robert Conroy's 1862 for instance has Winfield Scott (who credit where credit is due was still very sharp of mind) taking command of the Union armies even though he was too fat to mount a horse and was bad with gout in the period. Clever in mind, but he would not have been able to command an army in the field, and Lord Cardigan would not have been put anywhere near a military command.

It also sadly followed the "USS Monitor changes everything" style that a lot of commentators believe, which is simply silly.

 

[edgeworthy]

It's still rather egregious. Interesting but egregious.

Robert Conroy's 1862 for instance has Winfield Scott (who credit where credit is due was still very sharp of mind) taking command of the Union armies even though he was too fat to mount a horse and was bad with gout in the period. Clever in mind, but he would not have been able to command an army in the field, and Lord Cardigan would not have been put anywhere near a military command.

It also sadly followed the "USS Monitor changes everything" style that a lot of commentators believe, which is simply silly.

And that's nothing on Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes Trilogy. Which appears to have caused some sort of literary PTSD.
Its considered to be more or less the definition of a Wank.

The problem is mostly not did author got anything wrong and more did the author get anything right?
I've read a review where the critic descends into screaming at Harrison to "Do some bloody research!"

 

[Ironshark]

Chapter 88: Under a Black Flag"

oh God the war crimes .
"I myself see in this war, if the North triumph, a dissolution of the bonds of all society. It is not alone the destruction of our property (which both the nation and the States are bound to protect), but it is the prelude to anarchy, infidelity, and the ultimate loss of free responsible government on this continent. With these convictions, I always thought we ought to meet the Federal invaders on the outer verge of just right and defence, and raise at once the black flag, viz., "No quarter to the violators of our homes and firesides!" "


"I have myself cordially accepted the policy of our leaders. They are great and good men. Possibly, too, as things then stood, no other policy was left open to us than the one pursued by President Davis and General Lee. But all this is now suddenly changed by the cruel and utterly barbarous orders of General Pope, "


this is gonna be very very bad

 

[EnglishCanuck]

And that's nothing on Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes Trilogy. Which appears to have caused some sort of literary PTSD.
Its considered to be more or less the definition of a Wank.

The problem is mostly not did author got anything wrong and more did the author get anything right?
I've read a review where the critic descends into screaming at Harrison to "Do some bloody research!"

Yeah, that's fair. The Stars and Stripes trilogy was its' own brand of uniquely bad.

That said, I don't think any published ACW alternate history with Britain involved ever really bucks the trend. Well, not yet...

oh God the war crimes .
"I myself see in this war, if the North triumph, a dissolution of the bonds of all society. It is not alone the destruction of our property (which both the nation and the States are bound to protect), but it is the prelude to anarchy, infidelity, and the ultimate loss of free responsible government on this continent. With these convictions, I always thought we ought to meet the Federal invaders on the outer verge of just right and defence, and raise at once the black flag, viz., "No quarter to the violators of our homes and firesides!" "


"I have myself cordially accepted the policy of our leaders. They are great and good men. Possibly, too, as things then stood, no other policy was left open to us than the one pursued by President Davis and General Lee. But all this is now suddenly changed by the cruel and utterly barbarous orders of General Pope, "


this is gonna be very very bad

Yeah, guess whose still alive in 1864 TTL? Guess whose leading an army into the Valley against John Pope?

 

[generalurist]

How much does the CSA actually hate the Union at this point? IIRC the emancipation proclamation was weaker in TTL so the Union appears less committed to ending slavery, and it has made much less progress invading the CSA so the south has suffered less.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

How much does the CSA actually hate the Union at this point? IIRC the emancipation proclamation was weaker in TTL so the Union appears less committed to ending slavery, and it has made much less progress invading the CSA so the south has suffered less.

If you live in Tennessee, you hate Lincoln with a bloody passion. If you live in Virginia, by the end of the year you will also hate Lincoln with a bloody passion. Grant's 1863 campaign that led him up the Mississippi and to besiege Corinth cut a bloody swathe through territory and set thousands of slaves free, so Mississippi, naturally, dislikes Lincoln and the Union quite a lot, ditto with Arkansas. Enough blood has been shed on both sides of the border that there's hard feelings for 'Northerners' and 'Southerners' because hundreds of thousands have gone to their graves in battle, hospitals, or in prison camps.

There is, however, more open hope for a political solution beyond blind optimism in the Confederacy compared to what we saw OTL. This is easier in places like Texas, the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana where they haven't seen a blue coated soldier in over two years. Other than dead relatives, a shocking amount of the Confederacy hasn't been physically touched by this war come 1864, and is actually doing even better than OTL thanks to British intervention and commerce.

Issuing the Emancipation Proclamation is still a sore spot for the slavocracy that runs the Southern economic system, and it plays on the by now centuries old fears among Southern whites (and many northern whites) of 'racial equality' that they cannot abide. So it's big political hay in Confederate speech making, and lots of people murmur about the 'horrible Emancipation Proclamation' in Southern society. There's a distinct sense of difference being entrenched by these attitudes, which is being reinforced by positive hatred along the battleground states.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

Chapter 87: The Dam Breaks​

It feels a shame to be Alive—
When Men so brave—are dead—
One envies the Distinguished Dust—
Permitted—such a Head—

The Stone—that tells defending Whom
This Spartan put away
What little of Him we—possessed
In Pawn for Liberty—

The price is great—Sublimely paid—
Do we deserve—a Thing—
That lives—like Dollars—must be piled
Before we may obtain?

Are we that wait—sufficient worth—
That such Enormous Pearl
As life—dissolved be—for Us—
In Battle’s—horrid Bowl?

It may be—a Renown to live—
I think the Man who die—
Those unsustained—Saviors—
Present Divinity—
"It Feels a Shame to be Alive" - Emily Dickinson, 1863

“On the morning of May 4th 1864, the guns along the Potomac front opened up as siege howitzers and cannons from the Washington defenses pounded the Confederate entrenchments, and to the blare of trumpets, the V Corps, Army of the Potomac, surged into the teeth of the Confederate works ahead of the city, further north at Poolesville, the II Corps, under the cover of heavy guns as well, struggled to mount a pontoon across the Potomac, the time had come at last for the Union to strike back against their aggressors.

Lee, correctly, intuited that the struggle against his front was merely a feint and rushed the men of Third Corps to support Longstreet’s men closer to his northern flank. For a week now his intelligence had told him that troops were moving north of Washington to a location unknown, with the reports of the attempted crossing of the Potomac Lee believed that Rosecrans meant to try and break his line like Thomas had done and once again split the Army of Northern Virginia in two, confirmation of the attack of II Corps, with what appeared to be another corps in their rear to force the river, made Lee believe that it was along the Potomac where Rosecrans meant to deliver the decisive blow.

By the evening of May 4th, Hancock, against all expectations, had forded the Potomac with an established bridgehead penetrating a hundred meters into the Confederate lines. Heavy cannonade and the deadly work of sharpshooters made it suicide for men to approach. Against the backdrop of such chaos, the Union could be seen applying a second pontoon bridge to the river's edge. Along the banks of Goose Creek, it seemed the pivotal battle of the early campaign would be fought, as in the rear, men identified the banners of III Corps.

On May 5th Lee threw Ewell’s men into the fray and a hard fought battle over the bridgehead ensued, but Hancock’s men, veterans of deadly British fire and trench fighting, gave not an inch. Surprisingly, the endured light casualties despite the fury of the assaults with one staff officer joking to Hancock “these secesh can’t shoot like the British, thank God!” Lee would suffer 2,000 casualties to Hancock’s 600 as he tried to drive the Union back.

Then, on the 6th, word came that Harper’s Ferry had fallen…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.

Hancock crosses the Potomac at Poolesville​

“Rosecrans wide flanking maneuver was, in part, based on Lee’s own campaign from the year before. Reconnaissance from Lowe’s aeronauts had caused him to despair of assaulting Lee’s works directly, but he had no clue where a weak point might be found. However, scouting from the cavalry across March and April had revealed that Lee’s forces were perilously thin to the north.

Lee had effectively ceded all the ground north of the Potomac in his flight from Washington, but the presence of Stuart’s cavalry, and regular pickets in the mountain passes had, for a time, masked that. In the spring though, Lee had moved all but a single brigade of cavalry and infantry south to thicken his lines. Not wishing to reveal he had learned of this fact, Rosecrans was careful to only delicately probe Lee’s pickets, instead, making it look for all the world like his army was concentrated immediately in the vicinity of Washington. While two of his best corps fought doggedly to pin Lee in place, Rosecrans instead took III Corps and IV Corps north, and in a lightning attack overwhelmed the small number of defenders in the passes and seized Harper’s Ferry while Lee’s attention was fixed firmly on the Potomac.

Upon receiving the news that Harper’s Ferry was in enemy hands, Lee knew the positions south of the Potomac directly were untenable. He gave the order for his forces to break contact with the enemy and begin the long retreat south towards the Rappahannock…

Despite early success, Rosecrans did not get all he wanted. Fears for the safety of Washington meant that the XVIII Corps was held back to protect the city and block any attempted counterattack by the remaining Confederate divisions at Annapolis. Meanwhile, he had failed to pin any of Lee’s forces in place, which allowed the Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw in relatively good order, even despite the casualties incurred at Poolesville. As such, Jackson’s First Corps was able to withdraw after a hard fought rearguard action towards Centreville.” - At the Sign of Triumph: The Rapidan Campaign, Dylan Gordon, Boston University Press, 1982

“The small rearguard actions continued for roughly two weeks as Lee’s army removed itself from the seemingly inexorable juggernaut that was the Army of the Potomac. Rosecrans five corps (II, III, IV, V, XIV) moved rapidly, retaking ground which had not been in Union hands for over a year. The greatest fight of this Great Retreat came at Rappahannock Station as Lee managed to concentrate his Second and Fourth Corps against the II, III and IV of the Union.

In conversation with Longstreet, Lee and his ‘Old Warhorse’ agreed that a swift delaying action here may buy time for the remainder of the army to be concentrated at Fredericksburg. Once again ‘the King of Spades’ dug in, and on the morning of the 17th of May awaited an attack by the Army of the Potomac. Rosecrans and Hooker both determined that now was the time to attack, Hancock however, advised caution, having seen the damage even ad-hoc fortifications could inflict on an overconfident enemy. In a council of war that morning Hooker and Ord both counseled assault, which Rosecrans, eager to defeat Lee at his own game, acceded to.

The Battle of Rappahannock Station was a positive result for the Army of the Potomac. While Hancock was correct that, in the face of prepared defences, an enemy was very ready to inflict casualties, it also showed the weaknesses of Lee’s new corps. The assault by III Corps against Longstreet’s entrenchments was repulsed with heavy losses, but the green and ad hoc nature of A. P. Hill’s Fifth Corps was on full display. A ferocious assault by superior numbers from IV Corps penetrated Hill’s trenches, and only the heroic countercharge of Hood’s division stemmed the tide, at the cost of Hood’s arm. A flanking maneuver by the II Corps unhinged Lee’s line, and he was forced into a precarious withdrawal which was only saved by the cavalry harrying any Union pursuit. It was a defeat, with the loss of 4,000 men Lee could not replace.

While not buying the time Lee sought, it did allow him to meet up with his remaining corps at Fredericksburg…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.

Lee's retreat​

“Rosecrans, now coordinating with all five of his corps, moved more slowly at the end of May than he had in the rapid advances in the early month. This was, partly, thanks to the rapid expansion of his supply lines, the harrying of the Confederate cavalry, and Lee’s own quick withdrawal, which had proceeded more rapidly than even Rosecrans expected. In order to properly provision his army for a movement further into Virginia, he shifted his forces to the Potomac, establishing a base of operations at Aquia Landing, and establishing his headquarters at Suffolk Court House. Come the 30th of May he had gathered all his troops north of the Rappahannock, five corps who, with a few days of rest and provisioning, Rosecrans judged could easily take the attack to Lee’s ‘dispirited’ army.

Intelligence reports and aerial observation confirmed that Lee had gathered his men at Fredericksburg, with scouting elements spread along the whole of the Rappahannock, and Lee was rapidly entrenching in the old fortifications that had been erected in 1862. Rosecrans, well remembering the disastrous Confederate assaults in November of that year, he had no intention of hurling his army towards Marye’s Heights to suffer a similar inglorious fate.

However, swift action would be delayed by news that a significant force of Lee’s men were moving away from Fredericksburg. This, gave Rosecrans pause. If Lee had somehow divined where he meant to attack, then his next decision may well end in disaster. Rosecrans spent a crucial week ferreting out what he wondered Lee’s intentions were, but the Confederate cavalry screen was not pierced, and the Union army was discomforted by the thought that they would walk into a trap.

Rosecrans briefly hesitated as he soon learned that Jackson’s corps was moving north, back to the Shenandoah Valley…

Union troops before Fredericksburg, officers survey the opposing lines.​

Having observed the Army of the Potomac massing in his front, and their unwillingness to attack his prepared positions at Fredericksburg, Lee understood that at the very least Rosecrans would be looking for a way to flank his army. Knowing he did not have the strength to hold both the city and prevent Rosecrans from working around his flank, Lee cast about for an appropriate space to bring the enemy to battle. He settled on the area surrounding the Mine Run creek some 22 miles in his rear.

It was protected by the Rapidan River, while also providing good lines of communication, and sitting on the potential flank of the Union Army if it attempted to march against Richmond. It also had the advantage of constricting any movement through the wild and overgrown Wilderness, a tangle of new growth forest, which would make Union numbers count for nothing in the face of a determined counter attack. Lee reckoned that if he could draw the Union through those positions, he might yet favorably shape the battlefield to his liking.

While Lee schemed on how to draw Rosecrans out, Rosecrans mulled over his options to shift Lee from Fredericksburg. Now certain he had weakened Lee’s army, he determined that he would strike further north and west to cross the river and turn Lee’s flank, while demonstrating against Fredericksburg itself. He would send his cavalry on a wide ranging maneuver to draw Lee’s own away, while moving in force with three corps (III, V, XIV) north to cross the Rappahannock and then Rapidan, while two corps (II and IV) tried to lock Lee in place. This would, he assured Philadelphia, allow him to ‘put Lee in a bottle’ and crush the rebel army.

Lee on the other hand, had no intention of being bottled up and when the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac began their wide flanking maneuver on the 9th of June 1864, he took this as the sign the Union attack was imminent, and under the cover of night, began moving his forces west to Mine Run, leaving only the Third Corps to blunt the inevitable Union attack.

The movement to the Rapidan had begun…” - At the Sign of Triumph: The Rapidan Campaign, Dylan Gordon, Boston University Press, 1982

 

[sarahz]

And that's nothing on Harry Harrison's Stars and Stripes Trilogy. Which appears to have caused some sort of literary PTSD.
Its considered to be more or less the definition of a Wank.

The problem is mostly not did author got anything wrong and more did the author get anything right?
I've read a review where the critic descends into screaming at Harrison to "Do some bloody research!"

Yes that one makes Sealion look like a strategic masterplan

 

[Ironshark]

wow this chapter was..awesome
the maneuvers and actions were all described cinematiclly and I felt as if I was were sitting there with Lee or Rosecrans .

and Jackson's moving to the valley..given all the hints you given and the union advancing fast this felt like a powerful drumbeat or a rollercoaster heading into a big drop.

I can't wait for the drop!

 

[generalurist]

The continued war against the CSA has started off OK, but the advantage is not clearly in either's side. This is gripping!

 

[EnglishCanuck]

wow this chapter was..awesome
the maneuvers and actions were all described cinematiclly and I felt as if I was were sitting there with Lee or Rosecrans .

and Jackson's moving to the valley..given all the hints you given and the union advancing fast this felt like a powerful drumbeat or a rollercoaster heading into a big drop.

I can't wait for the drop!

The continued war against the CSA has started off OK, but the advantage is not clearly in either's side. This is gripping!

I'm glad you're enjoying it! It should remain exciting, as I will fill out the Valley Campaign of 1864 next weekend, and then hopefully the last of the major battles of July in the East before switching the focus to the West for a time.

After that, one July political update, before non-stop fighting from August to the election.

 

[Young Augustus5598]

wow this chapter was..awesome
the maneuvers and actions were all described cinematiclly and I felt as if I was were sitting there with Lee or Rosecrans .

and Jackson's moving to the valley..given all the hints you given and the union advancing fast this felt like a powerful drumbeat or a rollercoaster heading into a big drop.

I can't wait for the drop!

Reading this chapter was honestly surreal, but Jackson moving into the Shenandoah seems to be setting up General Lee to try a Second Bull Run Campaign against Rosecrans.

 

[World Mapping]

Any maps available for how the frontlines look like?

 

[EnglishCanuck]

Any maps available for how the frontlines look like?

The last major updates on the frontlines is below from July 1863:

Not really per say, but because I want to try and portray the changes in the lines here's a very very rough map which shows the 'front's as it were by July 1863

Spoiler: Lines July 1863

Blue is the Union

Red is the British

Grey is the Confederacy

The rough outline for the Northern Front is that the British control a swathe of the interior of Maine (save Bangor) and a chunk of Maine on the border protecting the Temiscouta Road which controls their overland communications. Facing them are Keye's Army of New England, two divisions strong, largely blocking Portland and a few independent units of Maine Volunteers, 4,000 at Bangor and company strength along the frontier who are basically on their own.

Further inland, the British have invaded New York and are besieging Ticonderoga with the Army of Canada under Dundas. Opposing them is the much battered Army of the Hudson under Burnside.

The Upper Canada Field Force (3rd Corps Army of Canada) is facing the Army of Niagara outside Toronto, both sides are essentially stalled as the campaign in Western Canada is a sideshow.

The red along the borders shows that the British broadly control the pre-war border as far as the Pacific Northwest where landings by a strong brigade of regulars have taken control of Portland in Washington Territory and by extension the entire Olympic Peninsula.

Meanwhile, a division sized British force controls San Francisco and the surrounding environs while the Americans are cordoning them off but operating from the state capital at Sacramento.

Going from west to east on with the Union and the Confederates:

As I hope you can see, the Confederates broadly control what they're calling Arizona territory, running along the thirty-fourth parallel while the Union forces in the north control the territory there. This is largely tenuous as each side is also fighting a side war against the various Indigenous tribes in the region. The Apaches the most ferocious. The big bump you see in the lines is where the word Comanche appears on the map. The Comancheria is, for all intents and purposes, a separate power between the two groups and they've driven the line of settlement near them for over 100 miles in each direction.

Beyond that, the Confederates control the Indian Territory, but crossing into Arkansas the two sides are broadly facing each other along the banks of the Arkansas River. Crossing the Mississippi you'll see that the Union armies are besieging Grenada and Corinth, while they effectively only control Tennessee on the western banks of the Tennessee River and above Nashville. The Confederates hold East Tennessee and Kentucky below the Salt River and to Frankfort very securely. The lines then meander onwards, the Union controlling what OTL becomes West Virginia, while meanwhile Lee is around Washington besieging the army of the Potomac under McClellan, and beyond that Thomas is gathering an army to hopefully break the siege.

Very rough and tumble, but that's about where things stand by July 1863.

The biggest changes from that map at the start of 1864 are that Grant has been pushed back to the extreme north of Tennessee, the Union no longer has a foothold in Mississippi, and the British control in New York is a bit deeper, while meanwhile the lines in Virginia are in flux. More will change by the end of the year, and I'll probably do another map like this for 1864, roughly September 1864 I think.

 

[NoThymeToulouse]

Hm, I'm liking what's happening so far. By the way, did the negotiations between the Union and the British get wrapped up? I missed a few chapters so I'm not sure if they were finalised in one of the ones I missed.

 

[EnglishCanuck]

Hm, I'm liking what's happening so far. By the way, did the negotiations between the Union and the British get wrapped up? I missed a few chapters so I'm not sure if they were finalised in one of the ones I missed.

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying!

So far the negotiations have not yet concluded. There is a 3 month armistice in effect that terminates in July 1864, which is a pressure tactic by the British to force the Union to accept the rather harsh terms Britain laid out in Chapter 81. Once I wrap up the campaigns to July 1864, I'll be wrapping up events regarding the Treaty of Rotterdam.