Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond

Chapter 69: An Army of Relief

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; - Henry V, Act-III, Scene-I


“The Roosevelt family is perhaps one of the most spectacular in American political history. Giving the nation three presidents, generals and numerous educators, governors and cabinet officers it has had an influence through both branches far beyond its humble New England origins…

Though Thee Roosevelt was an avid supporter of the Union war effort, turning his not inconsiderable funds to raising men and material in his home state and city, his overt support in 1861 was marred by family crisis. His wife was an open Southern sympathizer. Her two brothers James and Irvine Bulloch, had joined the Confederate States, and so during the war she was terrified for them. Though James was thought to be relatively safe in England, Irvine was often on the front lines with the Confederate Navy, and so Martha was eternally scared for him. The death of her brother Daniel in 1861 merely added to her distress. This had prompted Thee to remain at home, even in early 1862 as war with the British opened.

At one event in March of 1862 Martha was overheard to make an “impolitic” comment to Sarah Hoadly that she “hoped English intervention might bring this beastly war to a conclusion so all the men may go home, Union or no Union,” which Thee had to work very hard to suppress. However, rumours of a ‘thorn in the rose bush’ would haunt Thee for the remainder of his days. The row between the two apparently extended well into the spring, especially as the blockade began to take hold and Martha apparently refused to speak to her husband outside of social occasions for an entire month after the event.

It would appear that Thee however, struck back at his wife when he joined the ‘Urban Brigade’ a unit of infantry which was detailed to protect New York from a British landing. Having been raised to defend the city against a prospective British landing, his wife could not openly object to his service, and her husband increased his social standing by serving and advocating against the Democratic State government of Milliard Fillmore and it’s stance on the war…

Thee’s unit was activated as part of the X Corps under Sanford’s division in response to Lee’s invasion. Thee joined his unit and prepared to march into Maryland. His wife did not see him off from New York, unlike so many others…” American Dynasty: The Roosevelts, Amelia McCulloch, Princeton University, 2012



Mr%26MrsRoosevelt.jpg

Thee and Mittie Roosevelt

“When Thomas took command of the putative “Army of the Chesapeake” it was a supremely disorganized, and demoralized force.

Consisting as it did of the XII Corps (now derisively known to many as the “Flying Dutchman”) the single division of New York Volunteers under Charles W. Sandford and Thomas’s own two divisions under Robert McCook and Thomas L. Crittenden, he had only some 35,000 men to function as an army of relief for Washington. Though some regiments were peeled off from the defences of other cities, and fresh, green, regiments were fed into his own force, it was hardly a force as powerful as the unified Army of the Potomac which had fought Lee in the desperate fighting of April and May.

Arriving at Baltimore Thomas had found a city largely in a state of panic. Streams of refugees had clogged the roads out of the city, heading north towards perceived safety. Meanwhile, inside the city Confederate sympathizers had taken opportunities to commit acts of sabotage, arson and try to rally one another to ‘cast the Federals out’ as though that were a practical strategy. Some confused riots did occur on the 27th of May, though how much of that was caused by actual Confederate sympathizers rather than civilians reacting to the general panic in the region after the near destruction of the naval squadron is open to debate, but it was a bloody day. The final tally from the ‘Baltimore Insurrection’ as the papers would call it, was four Federal troops dead and sixteen rioters killed and four more suspected rebel arsonists hung with over one hundred wounded on both sides.

Lockwood’s harsh methods of restoring order, and the worrying presence of British ships off North Point, meant he could sacrifice no soldiers for Thomas’s army. There were constant alarms of a British landing, and their ships traded shot and shell with the city's fortifications almost daily. Thomas, recognizing he needed Baltimore secure in his rear, agreed that he would need to protect the city.




Henry_Hayes_Lockwood.jpg

Lockwood would gain infamy and acclaim for putting down the "insurrection"


This however put Thomas in a quandary. With the British squadron in his rear, he had to reasonably fear that they might make a landing and further disrupt his ability to drive off Lee’s army. That his own army was still outnumbered by Lee to a startling degree (it was said he possessed some 120,000 men still) made him ever more anxious.

Some positive news was received at the start of July as Pennsylvania had managed to shake free some 4,000 militiamen to augment his forces, while another 5,000 were on duty across the frontier with Maryland to ill effect as Confederate raiders and foragers came liberally across the states borders to carry off supplies to the Confederate army. Thomas however, found the Pennsylvania recruits next to useless as they were mainly armed with shotguns, fowling rifles, and the occasional musket. The New Yorkers he had received were, thanks to that city's priority for blockade runners, much better armed. Though the extra men were welcome, he did not see what use he might make of them other than to protect his supply lines…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.

“With the “Army of the Chesapeake” assembling in and around Baltimore, Thomas’s first act was to make contact with the Army of the Potomac in Washington. This was no easy feat. Stuart’s cavalry effectively controlled the countryside and ranged far and wide, carrying off property and any unfortunate negroes who were found at large. Though there had been limited skirmishing, Thomas’s own cavalry screens, consisting as they did of the stragglers from the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry division and some of Thomas’s own, were hardly up to the task of breaching Stuart’s cavalry screen.

What he needed then was a spy, someone who could make contact with the besieged city, and return with information. Two Maryland loyalists who attempted to infiltrate the lines failed, with one being hung as a spy. The only information Thomas learned was that the army still held out, but for how much longer, none could say.

It was only then that he received the services of Corporal Frank Thompson. The corporal of the 2nd Michigan had a glowing report from his superiors, and had been assigned to the staff of General Kearny, but had been separated from her own men in the retreat from Washington and cut off from returning. Instead he had been assigned to the mass of officers and men coalescing around Baltimore. When he was discovered, he made the offer to run the lines, claiming he had done so before. Thomas, with nothing to lose, asked Thompson to do what others had failed to do.

Thankfully, he had stumbled upon, not Frank Thompson, but Sarah Edmonds. Though New Brunswick born, Edmonds was New Englander by assimilation, having fled the land of her birth to seek a better life. Having found it easier to travel as a man and find work, she had adopted the “Frank Thompson” persona as a necessity. Enlisting with the 2nd Michigan, originally as a male nurse but then being appointed to the staff, she had played a part in Rappahannock Campaign and the battles of Mannassas. Having snuck across the lines more than once, she was confident she could do so again.

Adopting the guise of “Bridget O’Shea”, an Irish peddler woman, she easily infiltrated the Confederate lines trading trinkets and gossip. Sneaking across bearing a letter from General Thomas, she was accepted into Union lines. There she would gather the news of events in the city, the condition of the army, and take it back to Baltimore.” - The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993


Sarah_Edmonds.jpg

Sarah Edmonds

“With the startling news of General Rosecrans elevation to commanding the Army of the Potomac, Thomas had to make a hard choice. To try and attack now, with whatever coordination the Army in Washington could provide, or wait and see whether more reinforcements could arrive. With the news from Philadelphia dispiriting, and the news on other fronts hardly any better, Thomas was forced to make the only decision he could have possibly made. He attacked…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999
 
Last edited:
@CanadianCanuck This may be a rather dumb question if it was already brought up in the story thus far (but its hell to look through the chat to find each and every chapter),
Is Chinese Gordon going to be involved in the conflict at some point? Or is he going to stay in China and fighting with the Ever Victorious Army?
(Will say this story has helped spur me to look up some of the british generals you've mentioned in the narrative, most of my knowledge on them in this period relates to the stuff from the Crimean War, which even then I haven't studied in too much detail).
 
@CanadianCanuck This may be a rather dumb question if it was already brought up in the story thus far (but its hell to look through the chat to find each and every chapter),
Is Chinese Gordon going to be involved in the conflict at some point? Or is he going to stay in China and fighting with the Ever Victorious Army?
(Will say this story has helped spur me to look up some of the british generals you've mentioned in the narrative, most of my knowledge on them in this period relates to the stuff from the Crimean War, which even then I haven't studied in too much detail).

Not at all! I'm annoyed there's no way to link all the chapters together, makes it difficult to find it all when I need to.

But I have a brief look at where Gordon was OTL in 1862 back in Chapter 43. Currently Gordon is back in China and will likely stay there for the remainder of the war. He's not yet with the Ever Victorious Army as Frederick Townsend Ward is still alive and leading it as a soldier of fortune. Gordon is on station with the troops in Hong Kong.
 
Not at all! I'm annoyed there's no way to link all the chapters together, makes it difficult to find it all when I need to.

But I have a brief look at where Gordon was OTL in 1862 back in Chapter 43. Currently Gordon is back in China and will likely stay there for the remainder of the war. He's not yet with the Ever Victorious Army as Frederick Townsend Ward is still alive and leading it as a soldier of fortune. Gordon is on station with the troops in Hong Kong.
Dang, missing out on probably the most interesting British officer of the period.
Then again, I do appreciate your bringing to light of forgotten men like Wolseley and Williams and Grant who most of the Trent Affair Hot writers often forget exist, or never bother researching.
That's why I appreciate this series so much, the shear amount of research involved outdoes certain published authors I've come across and read (Looking at you, Conroy).
 
Dang, missing out on probably the most interesting British officer of the period.
Then again, I do appreciate your bringing to light of forgotten men like Wolseley and Williams and Grant who most of the Trent Affair Hot writers often forget exist, or never bother researching.
That's why I appreciate this series so much, the shear amount of research involved outdoes certain published authors I've come across and read (Looking at you, Conroy).

I was trying to think of ways to get him involved, unfortunately he had been in China since 1860. Since events had been changing in late 1861 I didn't feel comfortable trying to change that. I could have sent him with the California expedition, but that felt rather lame since all he would be doing amounted to garrison work.

I have ideas for him post war, but we shall see.
 
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 Johnston 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, Johnston 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, Johnston’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.

Johnston 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 McClernand in to distract Bragg’s men, at 8am, but as the hours ticked by, McClernand 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 McClernand 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





View attachment 366406


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…



View attachment 366407


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.
I got bored and decided to write a followup to the Kentucky portion of this Chapter. This is what I imagine would have unfolded after these events. Whether or not this is what happens, I don't care, maybe it will influence the actual following chapters.
 
I was trying to think of ways to get him involved, unfortunately he had been in China since 1860. Since events had been changing in late 1861 I didn't feel comfortable trying to change that. I could have sent him with the California expedition, but that felt rather lame since all he would be doing amounted to garrison work.

I have ideas for him post war, but we shall see.
At this stage, the Confederates will triumph thanks to the Union having to fight a two-front war with them and especially the Anglo-Canadians up north (no pun intended). The Roosevelts appear to be on track to become a rising political dynasty in America just like OTL but it will be under different circumstances and someone else in the family might become President or it could be Teddy and FDR or his TTL counterpart.
 
At this stage, the Confederates will triumph thanks to the Union having to fight a two-front war with them and especially the Anglo-Canadians up north (no pun intended). The Roosevelts appear to be on track to become a rising political dynasty in America just like OTL but it will be under different circumstances and someone else in the family might become President or it could be Teddy and FDR or his TTL counterpart.

I suspect the blockade and the de-facto removal of the blockade of the south will probably have a more important impact on the union war effort than their invasion of Canada given the problems it would cause their economy and war effort. However definitely got themselves in a mess here and there doesn't seem a easy way out.
 
I suspect the blockade and the de-facto removal of the blockade of the south will probably have a more important impact on the union war effort than their invasion of Canada given the problems it would cause their economy and war effort. However definitely got themselves in a mess here and there doesn't seem a easy way out.
Of course.
 
Chapter 70: The Battle Cry of Freedom

"Oh we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
And we'll rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.

The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitors, up with the stars,
While we rally round the flag, boys, we rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!"
- The Battle Cry of Freedom, George Frederick Root, 1862

“Thomas’s plan was very simple in theory, but complex in execution. Thomas, who had with great reluctance and difficulty, passed on the plan to assault Lee’s lines at Washington, asked that Rosecrans take whatever forces he could to break out in the direction of Annapolis Junction, while his own forces would move to assault the Junction as well. It was hoped that with the two forces attacking simultaneously, Lee’s grip on the city would be weakened, and with his only secure supply from the sea threatened, he would have to break off the siege or withdraw south of the Potomac..

It required that Rosecrans wait for the attack to begin at Annapolis Junction, and that he attack out of his own lines, irregardless of any movements of Lee’s own troops. An assignment fraught with uncertainty, Thomas decided he would go for one piece of certainty. He would try to draw Lee’s troops into a position where they would be forced to attack him on his own terms, and his scouts surveying the lines found just such a position…

True surprise was of course, impossible. The country between Baltimore and Washington was riven with Confederate sympathizers and Jeb Stuart’s scouts. To that end, Thomas sought not to disguise his attack, merely his intentions…” - The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993

“Leading the charge would be the XII Corps, supported by the scrapings of cavalry that could be spared from New England and Maryland. Their target would be the single Confederate infantry and cavalry brigade protecting Lee’s all important rail junction at Annapolis Junction and the Patuxent. They set off to battle, arriving on August 15th.

The forces there were under the command of Fitzhugh Lee, who was given charge of the cavalry and the infantry brigade whose commander had fallen ill. In total they amounted to 4,500 men, who suddenly found themselves facing a force three times their size. In a situation almost comically similar to that from a few months earlier, the Confederate garrison found itself scrambling to protect itself as Sigel’s man slammed into them. Though Lee’s troops were protected by earthworks and his own batteries of artillery, he was forced to dismount most of his cavalry, having them fight on foot to prevent the position from being overrun.

Lee managed to get a message to his uncle at the siege lines, and Lee was swift in dispatching the bulk of Jackson’s (Garnet and A.P. Hill) and Whiting’s (Holme’s and Ransom’s) corps to hold his important position…

Having forced the withdrawal of Fitzhugh Lee’s troops, Thomas brought bulk of his troops in McCook and Crittendon’s divisions to the Little Paxutent River, arraying them along what would be Lee’s flank should he choose to once again assault Annapolis Junction. Setting McCook’s division at Savage’s Factory and atop the 200 foot elevation Whiskey Hill, he presented an awful sight for Lee’s arriving troops. With the XII Corps taking their own position adjacent Annapolis Junction and Savages Switch, they controlled the higher ground and could observe Lee’s forces moving to engage them. However, he only had the men of Sanford’s division and division from XII Corps as his reserve. It was imperative to hold out against Lee’s first assault.

Lee obliged by striking earlier than he perhaps ought to have…

Jackson’s attack towards Savage’s Factory, prompted by Lee’s desire to break Thomas’s stranglehold on his only secure means of communication with the beachhead at Annapolis was most likely premature. Jackson had only just finished setting up Garnett and A.P. Hill’s divisions along the Little Paxutent. Lee’s order to attack came at precisely 1:00pm and Jackson’s obliged, the first attack towards Savage Bridge commencing at 1:15.

A.P. Hill’s division moved towards the bridge under the cover of the division’s guns, and received almost no fire. Buoyed by the unexpected silence of Yankee guns, Hill’s men dashed towards the bridge, hoping for an easy bridgehead. Instead, now less than 200 yards from McCook’s men, they were opened up upon with a hail of shot and shell.

A wall of Thunder, prevented our passage,” an appalled Lieutenant of the 27th Virginia would later write. “No man could cross that ground and live.

The first attack was readily repulsed, and a second attack made no headway. The division's leader then personally threw himself into the fray, Garnett advancing with his men and, by sheer force of will, leading them across the bridge. He was killed at the head of his men amid hand to hand fighting in the factory yard. Though they would briefly establish a beachhead, the Virginians would soon be driven back across. From that point on, Savage Factory would simply be known to each side as “The Meat Factory” as men in Union blue were killed by Confederate cannon and men in Confederate gray scythed down by bullets…” - A Blood Red Day, The Fight for Savage’s Factory, Thomas Little, Maryland Press, 1969

“Whiskey Hill was, to Lee’s mind, the ground he needed to dominate. It provided an advantage to any force occupying it, and would effectively cut Thomas’s position in two. He decided that Whiting’s men would proceed to attack as soon as they were in position.

Whiting’s assault on XII Corps proceeded far better than initially anticipated. The Corps was worn from hard marching, and still much demoralized from fighting in the Maryland Campaign. So it was when Holme’s division came streaming up Whiskey Hill, the men of Schimmelfennig’s division were met by an undaunted Confederate charge, they buckled. However, thanks to the inspiring presence of Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, the division retained cohesion. A bloody firefight ensued. The contest would continue on and off until 2:30pm. The Confederates would make a second charge up Whiskey Hill, but by 2:30, they would be ready for a third.

It was at that point the battle might have gone either way, as Schimmelfennig’s men were low on ammunition, and the remainder of the Corps was pinned in place by the attacks of Ransom’s division, only barely held in check by the commitment of Stahel’s division, this was Lee’s true chance to win the battle.

Forming into a line which impressed the foreign observers present, Ransom’s division once more advanced. Supported by murderous counter battery fire which struck the hill, the men moved in what one private of the 73rd Pennsylvania would call “An ominous silence” before breaking into the terrifying rebel yell and running towards the enemy.

The fight on Whiskey Hill was truly lead by Krzyżanowski. A Polish noble turned immigrant, his father had fought for Polish independence under Napoleon, and again in the 1830 rising. He himself had joined in the 1848 rising against Prussian rule, and its defeat had forced him to flee to Hamburg, and then to New York to prevent arrest for his part in that particular revolution. Settling in Virginia, he had worked as a civil engineer on various railroads gaining much experience in Virginia and it's environs. When the war began he enlisted with the 58th New York Volunteers (the "Polish Legion") and soon became colonel. Serving with distinction throughout the campaigns of 1862, and particularly on the Rappahannock. Though in the Maryland Campaign his brigade, much like the entirety of the XII Corps, had been swept away in the fierce fighting. Ferocious and courageous, Krzyżanowski determined his men would not be moved a single inch and flatly stated that he would shoot the first man who ran himself.

As the rebel charge neared Krzyżanowski seems to have forgotten himself, as he had to repeat his order three times to be properly understood. He cried “Bagnety! Bajonette! Bayonets!” And his predominantly German speaking volunteers, upon deciphering Polish, German and English, fixed their bayonets, and charged. Though an early Confederate volley killed some, the charge of a brigade of cursing, screaming Germans caught the Confederates in a whirlwind of fury. In a dramatic clash, the two sides collided in the largest melee of the war. Bayonets, knives, clubbed rifles, and fists flew to the point that it was hazardous to even attempt to reload a rifle. Officers fired all six cylinders in their revolvers only to clash with their swords. Krzyżanowski would famously slay two enemy officers in hand to hand combat, being compared to a ‘knight of old’ by the men around him.

A British observer quipped in 1875, “One would not observe nearly so medieval a scrimmage until a decade later in the desperate fighting in Rhine.

In the end Krzyżanowski’s countercharge most likely saved the day for the Union. Had Lee been able to control the hill he most likely could have broken Thomas’s army in two despite the limitations he operated under and prolonged the siege. Had that taken place one can only speculate the outcome…” - The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993


Wlodzimierz_Krzyzanowski.jpg
Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, the Hero of Whiskey Hill

“At 5pm Lee now found himself in a desperate position. He had brought only those divisions of Jackson’s and Whiting’s which were available and could be spared from the siege lines. He had no reserves with which to continue the battle. Thomas however, still had his fresh New Yorkers.

Though the men of Sanford’s division only numbered some 6,000, they represented a striking force which could still throw Lee into confusion. Thomas finally ordered them into the fray as the sun began to set low in the sky. Sanford, who had last seen action at Bull Run, led his men from horseback. The men were variously immigrants, wealthy men of society, and from all walks of the boroughs of the largest city in the Americas. Though few had seen action and some men, such as Theodore Roosevelt Sr., had only enlisted to fight the British. They played their part well.

Moving around the lines at Annapolis Junction, they struck the flank of Ransom’s division and rolled it up along the front. In half an hour of fighting, Ransom was in retreat, and Lee would soon see his position was untenable.

The news from Washington would only increase his worries…” - A Blood Red Day, The Fight for Savage’s Factory, Thomas Little, Maryland Press, 1969

“Rosecrans had little idea of when Lee would connect with Thomas’s army marching from Baltimore. He was forced to play the entire battle by ear. Hearing no guns, and discerning little of Lee’s movements, he waited until 3pm to launch his own attack.

In the north, where he expected Lee’s lines to be weakest, Hooker’s III Corps, which he considered the most reliable, moving in concert with Sickle’s XIV Corps towards Thomas’s own troops.They would cut off Lee from Annapolis and, hopefully, leave him exposed to destruction in Maryland between his own troops and Thomas’s - hopefully - victorious arms.

To the south, aiming for Bailey’s Crossroads, he set his former V Corps under Ord and the IV under Reynolds. He considered these two commanders reliable, and with the officer corps “trimmed” (or in the words of men who were loyal to McClellan, purged) of lesser officers, he assumed his troops would be able to take the Confederates under Longstreet and Magruder by surprise.

When the assault from the trenches came, it was truly a shock to the Confederate defenders as they had not expected such ferocity to be possible by the bombarded and demoralized Union army. What remained of Whiting’s Corps was swiftly overcome by the veterans of III Corps. Jackson’s troops held slightly better, but the sheer weight of numbers and surprise drove them back towards his headquarters at the Maryland Agricultural College.

The success was so great that Whiting’s men were pushed back in the direction of Annapolis, while Jackson’s men were pushed north…”- The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993

“While Rosecrans and Thomas had proved successful in defeating Lee’s two corps on the northern banks of the Potomac, the attacks against Longstreet and Magruder’s Corps south of the city did not go entirely as planned.

These Union troops were the most demoralized from the siege. After McClellan had been unceremoniously dismissed from command, many officers had resigned in protest and been replaced in return. That left the structure of these corps dangerously unstable as officers worked to improve morale and new officers tried to get used to one another. Despite these flaws, Rosecrans felt he would be able to force the Confederate army from its positions south of the city, and in doing so drive the Confederates back into Virginia. It was an ambitious goal, but perhaps one beyond the ability of his army. Demoralized by months of siege, the discomfort of the higher ranks, and having been on half rations until only days before, the men of these corps were not at their best. Despite two well appointed officers being placed at their head, and measures taken to increase morale and cohesion, there were some notable failures.

Reynolds, considered one of the best commanders on the field that day, had done the most to bring his men to heel. Insubordination had been punished with hard labor, and an entire company of men from New Jersey thrown in chains. Deserters were executed, and Reynolds reviewed his men often so that the IV Corps had returned to, if not a similar state of efficiency, then the best state any commander could reasonably have asked of his men. As such, when his troops broke out towards Langley from the Union lines that afternoon, Magruder’s men were caught completely off guard.

While not a strategic surprise, indeed deserters over the past weeks had warned of ‘something’ happening in the Union lines, Magruder had simply intuited this as a raid for the purposes of raising morale. The wholesale assault by V Corps took the normally wily commander was left in a state of near panic, matters were only made worse when Magruder was injured when his own horse was shot out from under him and had to be raced to the rear of the Confederate lines.

The result was utter chaos.

Union troops penetrated Confederate lines as far as Langley, but events to the south halted the Union advance...

While Ord and V Corps managed to make it far enough into Magruder’s lines to precipitate a crisis, Reynold’s advance against the lines of Longstreet’s Second Corps almost immediately bogged down. Despite months of fighting and losses, Longstreet had kept his corps’ efficiency high, and his earthworks strong. The men of IV Corps, as motivated as they had become, immediately bogged down in the face of concentrated fire from the men of Huger and Anderson’s divisions. Supported by the corps artillery, Reynolds was hammered into submission.

With IV Corps stalled on his front, Longstreet was able to free Pickett and Holme’s divisions to march to the support of Magruder’s beleaguered troops. The two divisions marching into line took Ord from the flank near Langley. This spoiling attack forced the V Corps back into the the entrenchments around Washington…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.

“As the sun set on August 15th, the situation around Washington had changed radically. While Rosecrans assault south of the Potomac had failed to dislodge the Confederate army, Lee himself had been thrown into disarray and was withdrawing into Maryland. Half of Whiting’s corps was fleeing towards Annapolis, and Longstreet was effectively in command south of the Potomac. Holding tenaciously to his ground, he could claim he still invested Washington and the army was, more or less, intact.

However, by the dawn of August 16th, the Siege of Washington would be broken…”
- The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993
 
After a very long hiatus from both this story - and sadly the site because I'm finding myself unable to connect since it seems to have become angry at my VPN, I'm back! Expect more from me in the near future as I'm back in Lockdown (but not working sadly) and going to be devoting quite a lot of time to writing!

I got bored and decided to write a followup to the Kentucky portion of this Chapter. This is what I imagine would have unfolded after these events. Whether or not this is what happens, I don't care, maybe it will influence the actual following chapters.

Quite honestly, this is excellent. Most of it really should be cannon, though I may tweak a bit since I can't really see Davis putting Cleburne in charge when he can poach other men (like Bragg) from AS Johnston's armies. Though for now I'm going to call this cannon overall with the outcome!
 
After a very long hiatus from both this story - and sadly the site because I'm finding myself unable to connect since it seems to have become angry at my VPN, I'm back! Expect more from me in the near future as I'm back in Lockdown (but not working sadly) and going to be devoting quite a lot of time to writing!



Quite honestly, this is excellent. Most of it really should be cannon, though I may tweak a bit since I can't really see Davis putting Cleburne in charge when he can poach other men (like Bragg) from AS Johnston's armies. Though for now I'm going to call this cannon overall with the outcome!
So it looks like the Union has barely avoided defeat in Washington DC and Maryland. Regardless, I expect the war to end in an Anglo-Confederate victory for multiple reasons from the presence of a powerful empire to the Union having to fight a two-front war that will stretch its resources and manpower a bit.
 
So it looks like the Union has barely avoided defeat in Washington DC and Maryland. Regardless, I expect the war to end in an Anglo-Confederate victory for multiple reasons from the presence of a powerful empire to the Union having to fight a two-front war that will stretch its resources and manpower a bit.

Well my heart is a bit torn here. Obviously rooting for a British win but not exactly thrilled at the prospect of a Union defeat.

Anyway it is good to have this back. CanadianCanuck it was too long without your particularly verve.
 
After a very long hiatus from both this story - and sadly the site because I'm finding myself unable to connect since it seems to have become angry at my VPN, I'm back! Expect more from me in the near future as I'm back in Lockdown (but not working sadly) and going to be devoting quite a lot of time to writing!



Quite honestly, this is excellent. Most of it really should be cannon, though I may tweak a bit since I can't really see Davis putting Cleburne in charge when he can poach other men (like Bragg) from AS Johnston's armies. Though for now I'm going to call this cannon overall with the outcome!
I know, making Cleburne an army command is a bit of extreme wishfulfillment as the resident Cleburne fanboy. I wouldn't say this should be absolutely canon, given how I put McCook and Crittenden's division in Kentucky when they should be with Thomas in the East; I gave Cleburne the promotion and doubled his division with 2 brigades that would make more sense to go to Johnston, but somehow made it to Kentucky, just because they were tied historically to Cleburne (specifically the Texans of Deshler's Brigade); and placed Stevenson's division in Kirby Smith's army when I'm guessing you've moved them with A. S. Johnston to Corinth (or forgot about them completely them that chapter) or the units don't exist because the Confederacy is still not doing conscription.
 
Chapter 70: The Battle Cry of Freedom

"Oh we'll rally round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
And we'll rally from the hillside, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom.

The Union forever, hurrah! boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitors, up with the stars,
While we rally round the flag, boys, we rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!"
- The Battle Cry of Freedom, George Frederick Root, 1862


“Thomas’s plan was very simple in theory, but complex in execution. Thomas, who had with great reluctance and difficulty, passed on the plan to assault Lee’s lines at Washington, asked that Rosecrans take whatever forces he could to break out in the direction of Annapolis Junction, while his own forces would move to assault the Junction as well. It was hoped that with the two forces attacking simultaneously, Lee’s grip on the city would be weakened, and with his only secure supply from the sea threatened, he would have to break off the siege or withdraw south of the Potomac..

It required that Rosecrans wait for the attack to begin at Annapolis Junction, and that he attack out of his own lines, irregardless of any movements of Lee’s own troops. An assignment fraught with uncertainty, Thomas decided he would go for one piece of certainty. He would try to draw Lee’s troops into a position where they would be forced to attack him on his own terms, and his scouts surveying the lines found just such a position…

True surprise was of course, impossible. The country between Baltimore and Washington was riven with Confederate sympathizers and Jeb Stuart’s scouts. To that end, Thomas sought not to disguise his attack, merely his intentions…” - The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993

“Leading the charge would be the XII Corps, supported by the scrapings of cavalry that could be spared from New England and Maryland. Their target would be the single Confederate infantry and cavalry brigade protecting Lee’s all important rail junction at Annapolis Junction and the Patuxent. They set off to battle, arriving on August 15th.

The forces there were under the command of Fitzhugh Lee, who was given charge of the cavalry and the infantry brigade whose commander had fallen ill. In total they amounted to 4,500 men, who suddenly found themselves facing a force three times their size. In a situation almost comically similar to that from a few months earlier, the Confederate garrison found itself scrambling to protect itself as Sigel’s man slammed into them. Though Lee’s troops were protected by earthworks and his own batteries of artillery, he was forced to dismount most of his cavalry, having them fight on foot to prevent the position from being overrun.

Lee managed to get a message to his uncle at the siege lines, and Lee was swift in dispatching the bulk of Jackson’s (Garnet and A.P. Hill) and Whiting’s (Holme’s and Ransom’s) corps to hold his important position…

Having forced the withdrawal of Fitzhugh Lee’s troops, Thomas brought bulk of his troops in McCook and Crittendon’s divisions to the Little Paxutent River, arraying them along what would be Lee’s flank should he choose to once again assault Annapolis Junction. Setting McCook’s division at Savage’s Factory and atop the 200 foot elevation Whiskey Hill, he presented an awful sight for Lee’s arriving troops. With the XII Corps taking their own position adjacent Annapolis Junction and Savages Switch, they controlled the higher ground and could observe Lee’s forces moving to engage them. However, he only had the men of Sanford’s division and division from XII Corps as his reserve. It was imperative to hold out against Lee’s first assault.

Lee obliged by striking earlier than he perhaps ought to have…

Jackson’s attack towards Savage’s Factory, prompted by Lee’s desire to break Thomas’s stranglehold on his only secure means of communication with the beachhead at Annapolis was most likely premature. Jackson had only just finished setting up Garnett and A.P. Hill’s divisions along the Little Paxutent. Lee’s order to attack came at precisely 1:00pm and Jackson’s obliged, the first attack towards Savage Bridge commencing at 1:15.

A.P. Hill’s division moved towards the bridge under the cover of the division’s guns, and received almost no fire. Buoyed by the unexpected silence of Yankee guns, Hill’s men dashed towards the bridge, hoping for an easy bridgehead. Instead, now less than 200 yards from McCook’s men, they were opened up upon with a hail of shot and shell.

A wall of Thunder, prevented our passage,” an appalled Lieutenant of the 27th Virginia would later write. “No man could cross that ground and live.

The first attack was readily repulsed, and a second attack made no headway. The division's leader then personally threw himself into the fray, Garnett advancing with his men and, by sheer force of will, leading them across the bridge. He was killed at the head of his men amid hand to hand fighting in the factory yard. Though they would briefly establish a beachhead, the Virginians would soon be driven back across. From that point on, Savage Factory would simply be known to each side as “The Meat Factory” as men in Union blue were killed by Confederate cannon and men in Confederate gray scythed down by bullets…” - A Blood Red Day, The Fight for Savage’s Factory, Thomas Little, Maryland Press, 1969

“Whiskey Hill was, to Lee’s mind, the ground he needed to dominate. It provided an advantage to any force occupying it, and would effectively cut Thomas’s position in two. He decided that Whiting’s men would proceed to attack as soon as they were in position.

Whiting’s assault on XII Corps proceeded far better than initially anticipated. The Corps was worn from hard marching, and still much demoralized from fighting in the Maryland Campaign. So it was when Holme’s division came streaming up Whiskey Hill, the men of Schimmelfennig’s division were met by an undaunted Confederate charge, they buckled. However, thanks to the inspiring presence of Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, the division retained cohesion. A bloody firefight ensued. The contest would continue on and off until 2:30pm. The Confederates would make a second charge up Whiskey Hill, but by 2:30, they would be ready for a third.

It was at that point the battle might have gone either way, as Schimmelfennig’s men were low on ammunition, and the remainder of the Corps was pinned in place by the attacks of Ransom’s division, only barely held in check by the commitment of Stahel’s division, this was Lee’s true chance to win the battle.

Forming into a line which impressed the foreign observers present, Ransom’s division once more advanced. Supported by murderous counter battery fire which struck the hill, the men moved in what one private of the 73rd Pennsylvania would call “An ominous silence” before breaking into the terrifying rebel yell and running towards the enemy.

The fight on Whiskey Hill was truly lead by Krzyżanowski. A Polish noble turned immigrant, his father had fought for Polish independence under Napoleon, and again in the 1830 rising. He himself had joined in the 1848 rising against Prussian rule, and its defeat had forced him to flee to Hamburg, and then to New York to prevent arrest for his part in that particular revolution. Settling in Virginia, he had worked as a civil engineer on various railroads gaining much experience in Virginia and it's environs. When the war began he enlisted with the 58th New York Volunteers (the "Polish Legion") and soon became colonel. Serving with distinction throughout the campaigns of 1862, and particularly on the Rappahannock. Though in the Maryland Campaign his brigade, much like the entirety of the XII Corps, had been swept away in the fierce fighting. Ferocious and courageous, Krzyżanowski determined his men would not be moved a single inch and flatly stated that he would shoot the first man who ran himself.

As the rebel charge neared Krzyżanowski seems to have forgotten himself, as he had to repeat his order three times to be properly understood. He cried “Bagnety! Bajonette! Bayonets!” And his predominantly German speaking volunteers, upon deciphering Polish, German and English, fixed their bayonets, and charged. Though an early Confederate volley killed some, the charge of a brigade of cursing, screaming Germans caught the Confederates in a whirlwind of fury. In a dramatic clash, the two sides collided in the largest melee of the war. Bayonets, knives, clubbed rifles, and fists flew to the point that it was hazardous to even attempt to reload a rifle. Officers fired all six cylinders in their revolvers only to clash with their swords. Krzyżanowski would famously slay two enemy officers in hand to hand combat, being compared to a ‘knight of old’ by the men around him.

A British observer quipped in 1875, “One would not observe nearly so medieval a scrimmage until a decade later in the desperate fighting in Rhine.

In the end Krzyżanowski’s countercharge most likely saved the day for the Union. Had Lee been able to control the hill he most likely could have broken Thomas’s army in two despite the limitations he operated under and prolonged the siege. Had that taken place one can only speculate the outcome…” - The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993


Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski, the Hero of Whiskey Hill

“At 5pm Lee now found himself in a desperate position. He had brought only those divisions of Jackson’s and Whiting’s which were available and could be spared from the siege lines. He had no reserves with which to continue the battle. Thomas however, still had his fresh New Yorkers.

Though the men of Sanford’s division only numbered some 6,000, they represented a striking force which could still throw Lee into confusion. Thomas finally ordered them into the fray as the sun began to set low in the sky. Sanford, who had last seen action at Bull Run, led his men from horseback. The men were variously immigrants, wealthy men of society, and from all walks of the boroughs of the largest city in the Americas. Though few had seen action and some men, such as Theodore Roosevelt Sr., had only enlisted to fight the British. They played their part well.

Moving around the lines at Annapolis Junction, they struck the flank of Ransom’s division and rolled it up along the front. In half an hour of fighting, Ransom was in retreat, and Lee would soon see his position was untenable.

The news from Washington would only increase his worries…” - A Blood Red Day, The Fight for Savage’s Factory, Thomas Little, Maryland Press, 1969

“Rosecrans had little idea of when Lee would connect with Thomas’s army marching from Baltimore. He was forced to play the entire battle by ear. Hearing no guns, and discerning little of Lee’s movements, he waited until 3pm to launch his own attack.

In the north, where he expected Lee’s lines to be weakest, Hooker’s III Corps, which he considered the most reliable, moving in concert with Sickle’s XIV Corps towards Thomas’s own troops.They would cut off Lee from Annapolis and, hopefully, leave him exposed to destruction in Maryland between his own troops and Thomas’s - hopefully - victorious arms.

To the south, aiming for Bailey’s Crossroads, he set his former V Corps under Ord and the IV under Reynolds. He considered these two commanders reliable, and with the officer corps “trimmed” (or in the words of men who were loyal to McClellan, purged) of lesser officers, he assumed his troops would be able to take the Confederates under Longstreet and Magruder by surprise.

When the assault from the trenches came, it was truly a shock to the Confederate defenders as they had not expected such ferocity to be possible by the bombarded and demoralized Union army. What remained of Whiting’s Corps was swiftly overcome by the veterans of III Corps. Jackson’s troops held slightly better, but the sheer weight of numbers and surprise drove them back towards his headquarters at the Maryland Agricultural College.

The success was so great that Whiting’s men were pushed back in the direction of Annapolis, while Jackson’s men were pushed north…”- The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993

“While Rosecrans and Thomas had proved successful in defeating Lee’s two corps on the northern banks of the Potomac, the attacks against Longstreet and Magruder’s Corps south of the city did not go entirely as planned.

These Union troops were the most demoralized from the siege. After McClellan had been unceremoniously dismissed from command, many officers had resigned in protest and been replaced in return. That left the structure of these corps dangerously unstable as officers worked to improve morale and new officers tried to get used to one another. Despite these flaws, Rosecrans felt he would be able to force the Confederate army from its positions south of the city, and in doing so drive the Confederates back into Virginia. It was an ambitious goal, but perhaps one beyond the ability of his army. Demoralized by months of siege, the discomfort of the higher ranks, and having been on half rations until only days before, the men of these corps were not at their best. Despite two well appointed officers being placed at their head, and measures taken to increase morale and cohesion, there were some notable failures.

Reynolds, considered one of the best commanders on the field that day, had done the most to bring his men to heel. Insubordination had been punished with hard labor, and an entire company of men from New Jersey thrown in chains. Deserters were executed, and Reynolds reviewed his men often so that the IV Corps had returned to, if not a similar state of efficiency, then the best state any commander could reasonably have asked of his men. As such, when his troops broke out towards Langley from the Union lines that afternoon, Magruder’s men were caught completely off guard.

While not a strategic surprise, indeed deserters over the past weeks had warned of ‘something’ happening in the Union lines, Magruder had simply intuited this as a raid for the purposes of raising morale. The wholesale assault by V Corps took the normally wily commander was left in a state of near panic, matters were only made worse when Magruder was injured when his own horse was shot out from under him and had to be raced to the rear of the Confederate lines.

The result was utter chaos.

Union troops penetrated Confederate lines as far as Langley, but events to the south halted the Union advance...

While Ord and V Corps managed to make it far enough into Magruder’s lines to precipitate a crisis, Reynold’s advance against the lines of Longstreet’s Second Corps almost immediately bogged down. Despite months of fighting and losses, Longstreet had kept his corps’ efficiency high, and his earthworks strong. The men of IV Corps, as motivated as they had become, immediately bogged down in the face of concentrated fire from the men of Huger and Anderson’s divisions. Supported by the corps artillery, Reynolds was hammered into submission.

With IV Corps stalled on his front, Longstreet was able to free Pickett and Holme’s divisions to march to the support of Magruder’s beleaguered troops. The two divisions marching into line took Ord from the flank near Langley. This spoiling attack forced the V Corps back into the the entrenchments around Washington…” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.

“As the sun set on August 15th, the situation around Washington had changed radically. While Rosecrans assault south of the Potomac had failed to dislodge the Confederate army, Lee himself had been thrown into disarray and was withdrawing into Maryland. Half of Whiting’s corps was fleeing towards Annapolis, and Longstreet was effectively in command south of the Potomac. Holding tenaciously to his ground, he could claim he still invested Washington and the army was, more or less, intact.

However, by the dawn of August 16th, the Siege of Washington would be broken…”
- The Siege of Washington, Jeremiah Dutton, University of Philadelphia, 1993
Loved new chapter.
Though, I will say, I have a huge issue when reading this stuff without maps, makes everything confusing. When I was writing my short chapter, I looked up online for decent period-accurate maps of Kentucky to map out the campaign on (for context, here's what I used).
I could recommend finding something similar for Maryland, if one existed, or asking for a commission. On a prior project, I tried doing one for a hypothetical 1863 Battle of Nashville, but that fizzled out.
And if that's a bit too much for you, I understand. You seem to be trying to keep in mind a million things at once with a project like this, so I understand that that would be an extra step too far.
 
After a very long hiatus from both this story - and sadly the site because I'm finding myself unable to connect since it seems to have become angry at my VPN, I'm back! Expect more from me in the near future as I'm back in Lockdown (but not working sadly) and going to be devoting quite a lot of time to writing!



Quite honestly, this is excellent. Most of it really should be cannon, though I may tweak a bit since I can't really see Davis putting Cleburne in charge when he can poach other men (like Bragg) from AS Johnston's armies. Though for now I'm going to call this cannon overall with the outcome!

CC

Glad to hear your back. Although the lack of [paid] work for you is hopefully not going to cause you much trouble. Even through it does have a good side for your readers.

Was expecting the seige to fail as otherwise I could see the war being a lot shorter than being suggested. Sound like Lee got a bit too ambitious in his counter attack and was also blocked by the determination of Krzyżanowski especially. Am I correct in understanding that Lee and part of the army are now effectively isolated in Maryland while the rest with Longstreet are still around Washington and to the south? That would be an awkward mess to sort out.

I also noticed the little hint:
A British observer quipped in 1875, “One would not observe nearly so medieval a scrimmage until a decade later in the desperate fighting in Rhine.

Are we going to see a continuation after the war finally ends which will cover matters such as that? It sounds like probably France and Prussia/Germany are going to come to blows at some point.

Anyway the international rugby is starting shortly but the best of luck both in the story and your personal life.

Steve
 
I know, making Cleburne an army command is a bit of extreme wishfulfillment as the resident Cleburne fanboy. I wouldn't say this should be absolutely canon, given how I put McCook and Crittenden's division in Kentucky when they should be with Thomas in the East; I gave Cleburne the promotion and doubled his division with 2 brigades that would make more sense to go to Johnston, but somehow made it to Kentucky, just because they were tied historically to Cleburne (specifically the Texans of Deshler's Brigade); and placed Stevenson's division in Kirby Smith's army when I'm guessing you've moved them with A. S. Johnston to Corinth (or forgot about them completely them that chapter) or the units don't exist because the Confederacy is still not doing conscription.

The broad outlines, I think, might be canonized. There's a lot I genuinely enjoyed so I'm going to try and piece things together with what is available in the West TTL and see if I can make it work.

Loved new chapter.
Though, I will say, I have a huge issue when reading this stuff without maps, makes everything confusing. When I was writing my short chapter, I looked up online for decent period-accurate maps of Kentucky to map out the campaign on (for context, here's what I used).
I could recommend finding something similar for Maryland, if one existed, or asking for a commission. On a prior project, I tried doing one for a hypothetical 1863 Battle of Nashville, but that fizzled out.
And if that's a bit too much for you, I understand. You seem to be trying to keep in mind a million things at once with a project like this, so I understand that that would be an extra step too far.

Ironically this is exactly what made this chapter take so long! While I did find a decent map of the Washington Defences circa 1862, finding good maps for neighboring counties was an immense pain. In fact, the Battle at Savage's Factory bisects two counties and finding decent maps on each - then matching them together - was a very annoying process. I'm going to try and see if I can make strategic realities match up to areas on maps in single counties, and for the upcoming battle at Ticonderoga I'm going to give using my own poor photo editing skills a shot. Both because it's very different from the OG battle nearly 100 years ago, and because it will hopefully help people see how it all plays out.
 
CC

Glad to hear your back. Although the lack of [paid] work for you is hopefully not going to cause you much trouble. Even through it does have a good side for your readers.

Was expecting the seige to fail as otherwise I could see the war being a lot shorter than being suggested. Sound like Lee got a bit too ambitious in his counter attack and was also blocked by the determination of Krzyżanowski especially. Am I correct in understanding that Lee and part of the army are now effectively isolated in Maryland while the rest with Longstreet are still around Washington and to the south? That would be an awkward mess to sort out.

Hopefully it will not, but I am lucky I'll be paid up till the middle of the month.

I was always a bit afraid someone would catch on to the problem Lee would have with geography in the siege! But Lee did indeed get too ambitious/overconfident when he went off to fight Thomas, and now he's effectively running back through Maryland to try and make it to Longstreet's position south of the Potomac. Fortunately for him, Thomas/Rosecrans are not really in a position to pursue.

His biggest headache is going to be sorting out who exactly is where since roughly half of Whiting's corps got scattered in the direction of Annapolis, while the remainder and Jackson's corps are skeedadling back through Maryland. The success of the army may depend on Jackson's "foot cavalry"...

I also noticed the little hint:


Are we going to see a continuation after the war finally ends which will cover matters such as that? It sounds like probably France and Prussia/Germany are going to come to blows at some point.

Anyway the international rugby is starting shortly but the best of luck both in the story and your personal life.

Steve

I am glad someone caught that! I do have definite plans to get into the "beyond" part of the timeline. Though how far I go does depend on both my own and others interest. Not only do I have a trilogy in this world in the works (first draft 25% complete) but expanding things out will be interesting.

That being said, I'm pretty firmly taking things up to the election of 1872, and the political ramifications thereof. The 1870s are pretty well plotted out and we have some "interesting times" to come.
 
Hopefully it will not, but I am lucky I'll be paid up till the middle of the month.

I was always a bit afraid someone would catch on to the problem Lee would have with geography in the siege! But Lee did indeed get too ambitious/overconfident when he went off to fight Thomas, and now he's effectively running back through Maryland to try and make it to Longstreet's position south of the Potomac. Fortunately for him, Thomas/Rosecrans are not really in a position to pursue.

His biggest headache is going to be sorting out who exactly is where since roughly half of Whiting's corps got scattered in the direction of Annapolis, while the remainder and Jackson's corps are skeedadling back through Maryland. The success of the army may depend on Jackson's "foot cavalry"...



I am glad someone caught that! I do have definite plans to get into the "beyond" part of the timeline. Though how far I go does depend on both my own and others interest. Not only do I have a trilogy in this world in the works (first draft 25% complete) but expanding things out will be interesting.

That being said, I'm pretty firmly taking things up to the election of 1872, and the political ramifications thereof. The 1870s are pretty well plotted out and we have some "interesting times" to come.
Well, if Jackson pulls off such a march, his method has a tendency to cause severe straggling (hence is why his command at Antietam was so ridiculously understrength). I imagine Thomas and Rosecrans could scoop up some of Jackson's stragglers if they can just distantly pursue Lee out of the state...if that even is possible given the state of both armies.
Also, I am guessing Whiting is going to be in a lot of trouble in Annapolis, unless he can navally evacuate his men with help from the british navy...if they are willing to do so, and if he doesn't choose to hold out in Annapolis instead of pulling out.
And I'm interested to see how this affects the command Structure in the Potomac Front. Will Thomas slot in to command the AotP permanently? Will it be a situation like Grant in 1864 (this time with Thomas over Rosecrans in charge of the army)? Or will he be sent back West to deal with the possible ramifications of his withdrawal there?
 
I think this chapter also makes one think about the conflict as a whole and what gains this Union victory has achieved. Have they saved Washington and the main US army from surrendering? Yes. But now what? The US is being assailed on all sides, with almost no avenue for success, and no real viable ally to come to its aid. France? They don't want to fight the British. Prussia? Don't have a boat in the race. Russia? They could join, but doubt they would help much beyond easing the blockade slightly and causing some withdrawal of British regulars. But I assume by now the Canadian Volunteer forces are on par with the average US volunteer regiment by this point in the conflict, they could hold their own against the US for some time. And that won't really affect the Confederates too much, as they have way more force available to them than historically due to not having to worry about major US landings in their ports. The onus and the momentum is on the side of the Confederates, British, and Canadians, the US can only survive. The only question is how long it will survive.
 
Back
Top