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Hurrah for the Southland!;) Nice work-hope you can keep this Confederacy alive, let alone prosperous.
 
Hmm, Stuart loses his command. Kentucky is proving to be a harder nut to crack that at first it was assumed.
 
aussieboy: Oh I'll certainly try and keep it alive. Prosperous? That'll be a bit more of a challenge. ;)

Darks63: By now Stuart is probably lucky if he can lead a brigade. He may make a come back later on though.

coz1: Yeah, I overestimated the ferocity of the Union numbers until it was too late. Thankfully it wasn't too much of a crippling defeat.
 
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Chapter V: War and Peace [October-December]
Author’s Note: We’ve decided on a more formal way of switching chapters. I’ll write the eastern events and my co-author will write the western events.

While there was southern and northern blood being spilled over the fields of the western theatre, the eastern seaboard was just beginning to mount an offensive. For the past months there had been little activity in the east. It seemed that every day more and more Yankee soldiers were being sent to the western theatre via railroad. The once numerous amounts of soldiers that guarded Manassas were now no more than a moderately sized army. With the grace of God and the will of iron, Jackson vowed to crush this army.

During the months where both the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of Shenandoah rested in Stanton and Fredericksburg, Jackson had been going over viable strategies that may break the back of the Union forces in the East. He was well aware of the men being shipped to the west, if an attack on the Army of Potomac stopped those shipments for just a few weeks or months than maybe the West could be relieved by enough to do some damage.

The battle plan would demand hitting both sides of the Union flanks. From the left and right, Jackson’s army would march from Stanton and Lee’s would march from Fredericksburg. While this did leave the flanks of Virginia unguarded, it was hoped that a victory would come before any major harm could be done. The Army of Northern Virginia had more brigades and even artillery pieces then Jackson, but he would be the one to lead the attack.

Ignoring his advisors, Jackson would not direct orders from the back of the battle but rather fight from the front. After his initial plan was set in order he would take up his sword and he would march with his fellow men in gray. On the morning of October 27th the two combined Confederate armies arrived on the field. Facing an outnumbered Union command, the battle began. Just as he promised, Jackson was right up there with his men. Trusting that God would decide what would happen to him, Jackson ignored caution and signaled the charge.

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The Army of Potomac was dug in and ready for the Confederate armies.

It took two days of fighting before the Union army broke. As he had promised weeks before, the Army of the Potomac was severely maimed. Nearly half of its number had died or been severely wounded before it broke and ran. Likewise the Confederate army only lost one-fifth its numbers. The battle had been a success and Jackson was quickly proving his worth to the politicians in Richmond. Lee was once again pushed to the side in the glory, though he had preformed remarkably during the battle, it was Jackson’s bravery and courageous in the face of death that appealed to the newspaper editors.

Following the Battle of Manassas Jackson lead his victorious Army of Shenandoah to the city of Stanton, where a small Yankee army had tried to penetrate during Jackson’s absence. Getting bogged down in the mountainous terrain had not been in the Union commander’s mind. Catching his fly out in the open, Jackson smashed the division before it had time to offer any resistance. Fleeing back to Western Virginia with its tail between its legs, Jackson’s fame only grew more with the victorious that he was bringing.

As the months passed so did the weather. Long and harsh snowstorms wreaked havoc in the northern states. There was even some snow in parts of Kentucky. The effects of the war had not yet taken its toll on many of the people in both northern and southern states. The mood was one of joy and the oncoming holidays were well planned out and enjoyed regardless of the war. On the Eve of Christmas some people even forgot about the war that was only miles away and enjoyed their family gathering. The eye of the storm had come during that day of celebrations, life from then on would only get harder for both sides.

A sort of informal Christmas truce had sprung up during the day of birth. Soldiers on both sides went out and conversed with their fellow Americans. Trading stories of past Christmases and smokes/coffee, the day was well enjoyed. However, after a few hours had gone by arguments began to erupt between the different cultures. At first it began with a few soldiers, arguing over the war, and it soon lead to a violent outburst where fists were thrown and eventually guns drawn. The once peaceful Christmas spirit soon turned to a bloodbath of both Southern and Northern lives. There were even reports of an unorganized revolt against Johnston’s army in Louisville.

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The friendly talks between both sides quickly dissolved into a full-fledged brawl.

Regardless of these events, the populace enjoyed its Christmas holiday. The New Years was celebrated with frenzy on both sides of the conflict. From the lowliest bars to upper class formal parties there were talks about how that year would be the year where their side defeated the other. Only the generals, and perhaps the president, on both sides knew that the war was anyone’s gain at this point.

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Dry-docked in Norfolk, Virginia, the CSS Virginia was the gem of the CSS.

On the very day of the new years, a new type of ship design was crowned in Norfolk, Virginia. Named the Merrimack, which would later be renamed the CSS Virginia, this elegant beast had guns of steel and the armor of a bear. It sailed so swiftly through the waters that some commented that it seemed that it walked through the harsh waters as if they were calm. Overcoming the older Commerce Raiders that were currently unused in port, the Merrimack restored hope in breaking the blockade.
 
Well, if the blockade were passed, then the Union would really in be in bad shape as it sounds like Jackson has them on the run in the East.
 
Darks63: We'll have to see. ;)

coz1: Historically, yeah. Too bad there really isn't a blockade in Victoria. It seems like Lee is being overshadowed in this timeline. During the battle for Manassas I was surprised to see that Jackson was the one in charge instead of Lee, even though they had arrived at the same day.
 
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Chapter 6- The Kentucky Resurgence [December-January]

The defeats handed to the army of Tennessee stunned and appalled the confederacy- losses exceeding that which the union had endured in every previous foreign venture dating back to the revolution in one battle whipped the south into a frenzy, and the response was still more men, fresh into the field from the farms and small towns of the Mississippi river valley. 5 Cavalry and 3 Infantry divisions were committed to the field.

This green mobile corps, later to see fame under most esteemed of the wild geese, was to be absent the coming horrors of the chill months. In its haste to liberate anguished Louisville, the north had desperately forded the river along the mason-Dixon line, with a force sufficient enough to drive back Stuart, but not sufficient enough to hold the line against future aggression. Buell, for all his brag and fuss, knew this. He thunderously requisitioned more men, but the home front failed him. No politician wants to announce the need for new men, and of course the sons of Kentucky would take arms to see their land not torn from the union! In concluding so, both sides made a terrible judgment of Kentucky's will- Kentucky as a whole approached official apathy to staying or going. Torn apart by northern and southern loyalists, the vast majority of impoverished subsidence farmers and coal miners waited for the death of war to cease. And so Buell was to get no new men.

Johnston was able, then, invading from Paducah, to smash Louisville's 2 divisions under direct command of Buell in detail, with his 5 division main-corps. Beaureguard's matching 5 divisions smashed a mere 1 division in Paducah, and, with Beaureguard shipping men to take up the slack to defend Louisville, 4 of Johnston's divisions smashed Lexington. Bowling Green, horribly isolated, saw its two divisions starting the long, glum march, to Andersonville. Kentucky was suddenly in confederate hands, in its entirety.

But it was not content as such. On Christmas Eve, with the guns of a corpse-strewn field, the people of Louisville rose up with a vengeance, attacking sleeping confederates in their beds. Hundreds of CS soldiers died before they could rally, but when they inevitably did, the reaction was fierce. Guns were fired indiscriminately into the crowd- women and children were butchered, men and boys suspected of being kin to a partisan were shot.
Johnston ordered the hanging of captured citizens to curtail the uprising; it failed miserably. With the industry along the Ohio burned the people of Louisville lay penniless, outraged at the indignities they had suffered before, and emboldened by the union liberation just prior. The first modern house to house fighting in history took place here, with a determined enemy making the south pay a terrible toll in blood for a ruined city.

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The Louisville riot would shatter the Confederate foreign relations and bring many previous sympathizers to hate the cause.

The effects on southern doctrine of occupied cities were to be profound. Journalists in New York, London and Paris screamed the same thing- Slaughter and Struggle. The south was seen as a barbaric aggressor, something that would poison their relations for the duration of the CSA's existence.

The north, for their part, wisely stayed out of the city for the duration of the conflict, which was "defeated" after a week of bloody fighting, but would simmer off and on indefinitely.
The CSA in Kentucky had prevailed against union arms, poor logistics, and even the local populace. But it had to come to terms with the fact that some things aren't worth the cost, and that for the simple people of Kentucky, it had become the tyrant-knave for which it expressed such venomous rancor.
 
Hmm, so does Kentucky join the CSA now that it is held in entirety? And if so, can the south continue to quell unrest caused by their heavy-handed ways?
 
Darks63: Or atleast when you have Joseph Johnston manage a rebellion. :eek:

coz1: We'll have to see. Will the Union retake the neutral battleground or will it join up with the CSA? I would think that the people of Louisville would be rather objective to a union with the Confederacy. :p
 
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Chapter VII - The Pen and the Sword [February]

All seemed well in the Confederacy by February. Kentucky was in Confederate hands and it would only take time before the governor of Kentucky accepted the repeated offers for the Border State to join with the CSA. Likewise Manassas was retaken and soon an offensive would begin that would pierce the heart of the Yankee Empire. The industrialized regions of Philadelphia and New York were objects of both desire and hatred in President Forrest’s eyes. Their power was certainly worth note, but in its power came the death of a culture. Men slaving away to a machine was certainly no life! His aim was to conquer, whether through annexation or occupation, and destroy the damnyankees’ will.

President Forrest’s appearance had changed over the months, once he had boasted to crowds of thousands in Richmond and other major cities how he would bring victory to the Confederacy in its time of need. With raised shoulders and a fierce, but strong, expression on his face he had both calmed and conquered the hearts of the aristocracy and lower classes. Now things had change. Though he still had the sharp face that he had last year, his other attributes seemed to have diminished. Each battle that was lost, every outburst of Yankee action had taken its toll. He rarely left the Presidential Office these days. Sleeping on a couch in his office and bathing only when he needed.

On February 8th the USS San Jacinto stopped the Trent, a British ship, 300 miles from Havana. On board the Union officer discovered that there were several Confederates, who would later be confirmed as diplomats, on the ship. Ignoring the protests of the British captain, the Unionists took the men from the ship and brought them back to Washington D.C. where they would later be tried and jailed. The British government did not make much of an outrage by this action, truthfully Queen Victoria had had a sour feeling towards the Confederacy since the Louisville Massacre. When he heard that no action was taken, President Forrest was enraged. The audacity of both the Yankees and Limeys was a slap to the face. A proclamation was made that no Yankee sailor would be recovered from the waters by a Confederate naval vessel. The South would also refuse to use foreign services to exchange POWs for the duration of the war.

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A Union boarding party boarding the Trent, a British mail streamer.

Coincidently, or perhaps not, three days after the Trent Affair, as it was now called, the Army of Potomac under General Joseph “Hooker” launched an offensive against the 60,000 men under command of Jackson and Lee. The day itself was a Sunday, one where Jackson had given his men resting time. It was only Lee’s men that able to meet up with the oncoming army. Jackson’s corps had to shamble together their men and arrived on the field hours late. Already outnumbering the CSA army by nearly twice its number, General Hooker pressed his attack. Fearing the destruction of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee ordered a full retreat. At the end of the day the Confederacy numbered at around 21,000 casualties. The Union had only received around 12,000. Wanting to press the attack towards Richmond, General Hooker was outraged when more than half of his army was shipped west.

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General Joseph Hooker quickly rose to fame as the man who overwhelmed both Jackson and Lee.

Both General Jackson and General Lee were immediately recalled back to Richmond where they would have to spend the next few days fighting a different battlefield, the bureaucracy one. While some of the less experienced men who listened to the recounts of what had happened might have agreed that Jackson was at fault, the more experienced bureaucrats agreed that it was Lee that was to blame. The fact that Lee was less liked among the President and his cabinet. Vice President Polk supported Jackson zealously, no doubt because of Jackson’s piety. General Lee was saved from complete removal from servitude by Thomas Jackson. Though his command would be diminished, Lee would remain as the commander of the AoNV. The effects of the battle were yet to come.

On February 16th, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln of the United States of America signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

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President Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation.
 
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I'm thinking Forrest is not totally with it. Lee's demotion is not a wise move considering all the south has going for it are good generals.
 
Darks63/coz1: While he still has a command, currently only a few divisions, it is a shame how this timeline kicked him down. Hopefully Jackson will have what it takes to press forward, or atleast keep the Union from taking Richmond!
 
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Chapter VIII- Emancipation and Ruination [April]
Author’s Note: Against the author’s wishes, I have removed or edited a few racial slurs for obvious reasons.

The worldwide response to the Emancipation Proclamation elicited several reactions- In France and Britain, it was lauded as the beginning of a grand drive for freedom (Although, the wise would slyly note, suspiciously timed and self-serving). Unexpected by all, the news of the proclamation would lead to conflict in the land of the honeybee. In the south, however, the reaction was to come principally from one man, swiftly and immediately- That of Nathan Bedford Forrest's.

In his defense it must be said, Forrest was not a vile man- he had offered several of his laborers their freedom after the war if they would fight for him. But he flew never the less into a rage- Take the south's Negroes? Never! It was all or nothing now, if it hadn't been before; without slavery the warrior culture cultivated here would wither on the vine.

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President Forrest threw a fit when he first heard about the proclamation.

Forrest stated that all blacks found north of confederate borders, contraband or freedmen alike, would be hobbled, and then enslaved. Any blacks found serving the union in any capacity was to be whipped three hundred times with the lash, and then buried. Among the old men and the children, among the disease-infested invalids, garrisons would be cobbled out of the war's refuse to watch the confederacy's colored workers. Further, a large amount of slaves were organized into labor brigades explicitly to serve the confederacy in non-military capacities. (And thus, coincidentally, place themselves under the confederate military's watchful eye) Amazingly though, this was almost unnecessary- blacks were nothing if not complacent, and the slow life of cotton did little to ire anyone's rage- at least in the land of cotton.

More importantly then the harsh black codes, though, was the Conscription. Across the land the men must serve- anyone over 14 or under 70 without 25 or more laborers under their watch was called to serve. Cries of miscegenation, amalgamation and other horrors, often with torrid pictures to match, where found strewn in sensationalist papers across the land- The south was suddenly awake with fear and rage. To defend the established social order they would drain their dearest veins- and so they would.
 
Hmmpf, instead of making things worse for the blacks the south should lean towards them now, if they're loyal they would be an asset for the agrarian empire, if they're abused they are more like a potential threat.