What happens to the Union capital in a Confederate victory?

By the beginning of 1862, the CSA Government was stating that it would not accept anything less than Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. So if CSA won, DC would go to the CSA, so option #5

USA would probably move capital to Philadelphia


This is a question I've wondered about and never quite resolved in my mind, so I thought it'd be interesting to throw open.

Hypothesizing for the moment that through some means probably but not certainly involving foreign involvement (either in intervention or a concurrent war) the United States is not in a permission to stop the Confederacy becoming independent... what exactly happens to Washington?

I see roughly these options.

1) The new border is on the Rappahanock or the Occoquan.
This at least means Washington isn't a front line city, but it might not be something the Union can actually enforce.
2) The new border is on the Potomac, and the Delmarva is under Union control.
This makes Washington essentially a front line city, and it'd be far too vulnerable in any future war to really contemplate having as the capital.
3) The new border is on the Potomac, and the Delmarva or lower Delmarva is under Confederate control.
This means Washington is also pretty thoroughly cut off by sea.
4) The new border is around the Mason-Dixon line (i.e. Confederate Maryland and Baltimore), but Washington remains under Union control.
This makes Washington completely untenable as the Union capital. It could not possibly be fortified well enough to avoid capture on the first day of any future war.
5) The new border is around the Mason-Dixon line and Washington is ceded to the Confederates.


For this reason, as far as I can tell there are only two options - either the Union has enough pull in the peace negotiations to retain a border which means the Confederacy doesn't actually get all of even "non-West" Virginia, or there's a different Union capital when the dust settles.
So what city would end up the capital?

Bonus points if you can come up with a capital which the Union would be willing to go for if what actually swung the war was British involvement, because in that case I suspect the Union would quite like a capital that can't be bombarded from the sea...
 
Not sure about Philadelphia. If Maryland goes with the Confederacy so probably does Delaware. This closes the Delaware River to the Union and Philadelphia becomes a land locked city near a possible hostile neighbor.
New York City would be a much more secure capital and have access to the ocean as well.
 
By the beginning of 1862, the CSA Government was stating that it would not accept anything less than Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. So if CSA won, DC would go to the CSA, so option #5

USA would probably move capital to Philadelphia

That would depend on what's meant by 'winning'. I suspect that, other than outside forces being dragged into the conflict the south would quickly realise it had to accept markedly less than that. Unless the north made an absolute mess of things it seems unlikely that the south would get anywhere near that. Especially once Kentucky went north.
 
Not sure about Philadelphia. If Maryland goes with the Confederacy so probably does Delaware. This closes the Delaware River to the Union and Philadelphia becomes a land locked city near a possible hostile neighbor.
New York City would be a much more secure capital and have access to the ocean as well.

Would agree if the south somehow won this victory without foreign aid. As other's have said if Britain was drawn into the conflict, probably by the Trent Affair, then a coastal capital would depend on how good/bad relations were with Britain.
 
For grins and giggles I go in the other direction: a truly major defeat for the Union is just that. Before long the (old) Northwest secedes from the Northeast; North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee secede from the new Confederacy, New York City declares itself independent, as does California and Texas...
LOTS of capital cities... :D
 
To me the key question on the integrity of DC as a capital is whether the CSA gets anything north of the Rappahanock. If they do (even if the border is the Bull Run, which would leave Union Virginia about one county deep) then DC is pretty much completely untenable.

Plus, it's sort of amusing to picture a victorious Robert E. Lee trying to get Fort Whipple removed from his front garden.

For grins and giggles I go in the other direction: a truly major defeat for the Union is just that. Before long the (old) Northwest secedes from the Northeast; North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee secede from the new Confederacy, New York City declares itself independent, as does California and Texas...
Along those lines I like to imagine the Republic of Tri-Insula not choosing New York City as its capital!
 
For grins and giggles I go in the other direction: a truly major defeat for the Union is just that. Before long the (old) Northwest secedes from the Northeast; North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee secede from the new Confederacy, New York City declares itself independent, as does California and Texas...
LOTS of capital cities... :D

That would definitely be interesting, but I fear chiefly in the Chinese sense for many of the people living in those assorted fragments.
 
Back
Top