OldReliable1862
First Sergeant
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2017
- Location
- Georgia
(This is a thread I posted on alternatehistory.com, I thought it might generate some discussion here.)
On 21 October 1861, Senator and Brigadier General Edward Dickinson Baker was killed in action at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. Baker was one of Lincoln's closest friends (Lincoln would name one of his sons after Baker, unfortunately 'Eddie' Lincoln would die at age 3). Baker's death gave Congress the reason it needed to form the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, with all their deeds, good and ill (which one it leaned closer to is debatable).
So what happens if Baker isn't killed? I doubt Congress will stop trying to find a way to intervene in the course of the war, so that'll be interesting. What could Baker go on to do in the war? I had wondered if Baker could be appointed to a position on the Supreme Court, but decided it would be decried as favoritism.
On 21 October 1861, Senator and Brigadier General Edward Dickinson Baker was killed in action at the Battle of Ball's Bluff. Baker was one of Lincoln's closest friends (Lincoln would name one of his sons after Baker, unfortunately 'Eddie' Lincoln would die at age 3). Baker's death gave Congress the reason it needed to form the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, with all their deeds, good and ill (which one it leaned closer to is debatable).
So what happens if Baker isn't killed? I doubt Congress will stop trying to find a way to intervene in the course of the war, so that'll be interesting. What could Baker go on to do in the war? I had wondered if Baker could be appointed to a position on the Supreme Court, but decided it would be decried as favoritism.