"The Footsteps of Illustrious Men"- USA GC AAR

[Estonianzulu]

Fulcrumvale: Yeah, I'm thinking elephants through the streets of Philadelphia and New York.

JimboIX: Yes, the South looses like always, not that I wanted that or anything Gilded age? Perhaps, but the apetite for conflict has been wetted, I dount it will be the last one.

RGB: Indeed, and I think that historical societies named after the ancestors of these soldiers will raise monuments and then, years later, we will argue over flags.

Lafayette53: Thanks! I wasn't overly happy with it, but the civil war ended just about as quickly as it did in that post. Plus I'm ready to move on in my writing.

thrashing mad: Thank you sir! You've got a pretty good one going there yourself

Ayeshteni: Sausage all around.

[RGB]

Congratualtions!

It was a tough race.

[Estonianzulu]

I've just finished updating the directory/index which can be found on page 3 (or via link in page one) it should have most of the Civil War generals and politicians on it now.

[Ayeshteni]

I've just finished updating the directory/index which can be found on page 3 (or via link in page one) it should have most of the Civil War generals and politicians on it now.

Huzzah. Good news, good Job Estonianzulu.

Aye.

[Alex Borhild]

I like the ending.

[Ayeshteni]

I like the ending.

Ending? is it finished? Surely not!!

Aye.

[Estonianzulu]

I have my potato and I am very sorry!

Update coming soon, just been a bit overwhelmed this last week.

[RGB]

Oh, okay. All that talk of ending gave me a scare.

[Estonianzulu]

The Election of 1868
--

As 1868 chipped away, the election approached. The Congress of 1866, which had established the extension to President Clark’s term in office, also established a new date for elections. Election Day was to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday of the month of November. The President would then take office January 20th of the next year. Thus Tuesday, November 3rd 1868 was to be the date of the election. Clark set about ensuring, as the war came to its end, that he would be re-elected. Very little of a real challenge stood in his way, as his victory in the Civil War was making him the most popular of politicians.

No Republicans were willing to challenge him, and the American Party was a defeated entity. Only the Democrats could hope to challenge him. The debate became not over the war, but what to do after the war was over. The Republicans were split; many favored a smooth and easy path back towards reunion. Others however called for harsh penalties and force. The Democrats wanted even less in terms of punishment, and called upon President Clark to pardon the leaders of the war immediately. The Democrats, especially those in Kentucky, Texas and Maryland, wanted Lee and his counterparts to be forgiven, and wanted President Brown to be allowed back in the United States.


Oden Bowie

The main competitor aligned against Clark was Oden Bowie, the Governor of Maryland who had helped push through the Constitution of 1867, which had made some alterations to the State’s governance. Bowie was a traditional slave owning southerner, who gave up his slave’s to gain political clout. He saw that the tide was heading towards national emancipation, and preempted the move by freeing his slaves. They remained on his farm and became poor tenant farmers, but he could proudly announce to the world that he had freed them.

This gave him little clout with abolitionists who wanted to force emancipation as part of the peace settlement. Bowie wanted a quick reconstruction, and was adamant in calling for the pardoning of all Confederate leaders. Samuel B. Maxey of Texas was chosen as his running mate. It was a decidedly pro-Southern ticket. Clark, and the US Senate, refused to allow the rebellious states to join in on the election, even those which had been conquered. They also passed resolutions allowing West Virginia to have electoral votes. Clark, with longtime supporter Abraham Lincoln as his running mate, went on the offensive quickly.


Abraham Lincoln

Bowie fell behind early, and stayed there. Clark was leaps and bounds ahead in New England, where a Democrat was a rare thing indeed. He managed to gain ground in the Ohio River valley thanks to Lincoln’s Midwestern support. That support traveled into the West, where a harsh reconstruction policy was favored. Nebraska and its neighbors suffered immensely from the economic devastation of the conflict. Many towns were abandoned during the conflict, and their residents wanted revenge. Likewise Clark’s platform was a well liked one. He suggested the creation of a State of California, which would cover the West Coast. He also designed a plan by which Victoria could enter the Union and become a state itself.

Bowie jumped on him for trying to rig the election in his favor. When Clark defended himself by pointing out that theses states would exist after the election, Bowie retreated. It became the most one sided election to date. The real death knell came when West Virginia was granted the right to vote as the State of Virginia, thus brining all its electoral votes into Clark’s camp. Clark swept the election with 217 electoral votes to 29. He immediately pardoned General Robert E. Lee and the other military officers who agree to re-swear loyalty to the United States. He re-approved the military governors of the South, and named Albert Sydney Johnston as Military Governor-General over all the Southern States. When Johnston resigned his commission to return to Texas, Philip Sheridan was chosen as his replacement. Reconstruction was begun.


The Election of 1868
Daniel Clark and Abraham Lincoln, Republican- 217
Oden Bowie and Samuel Maxey, Democrat- 29

[Estonianzulu]

Went back and added a bit of a library to the first post, going to get it updated as time goes on.

[Fulcrumvale]

I’m surprised that Lincoln wound up as the VP given that the position entailed no power whatsoever back then. I’d expect him to have wound up as the secretary of state/treasury instead.

[stnylan]

Can they heal the rift now created?

[RGB]

Is Texas in two states or am I getting something wrong there?

[Estonianzulu]

Is Texas in two states or am I getting something wrong there?

Yep- Texas in Two

[RGB]

I read that update and forgot. And now I do feel rather silly.

Um. Yay! Reconstruction!

[JimboIX]

Splitting Texas in two is sacrilege. If it is to be split, it must be into five states and then all independent parts of the independent Republic of Texas..the ghosts of the Alamo will not forgive you..they're just now recovering fromt he ego shock of the admission of Alaska and her endless miles of Tundra to the Union. Enjoyable update, I like the Lincoln VP scenario.

[Estonianzulu]

I agree - A reunion of Texas could be on the cards now that slavery is out of the way. The Lincoln as VP does seem like a bit of a demotion considering he was Secretary of State previously.

What happened to Virginia? Did she not join the South?

Lincoln's move to VP will have a further explanation. Primarily it is because there is some pressure to bring in a less extreme voice. Lincoln is, in this timeline, a bit further Republican. Clark wanted to make sure that the move south is unhindered by heavy harsh-reconstructionists.

Besides, this timeline has not seen the Secretary of State-President switchover all that often.

On Virginia- WV was given the voting representation of Virginia.

[Estonianzulu]

Clarkian Reconstruction
~~

Daniel Clark now set about the long task of reconstruction. The Clark plan, as it would come to be called, involved a two front assault on Reconstruction. The first was the “Radical” phase of reconstruction. This consisted of a Constitutional end to Slavery, and a Constitutional justification for the actions of the Union prior to the war. This phase also saw the destruction of all aspects of Confederate Nationalism. The objective was to end the Confederacy as an idea, not just a physical government. Clark staid clear of such extreme measures as the Wade-Davis “Ironclad Oath”, and instead focused on a slow crush of the Confederate identity.

Clark’s first step was the appointment of a military governorship over the South. Albert Sydney Johnston, by way of his popularity, was forced upon Clark as his first choice. Clark was overjoyed when Johnston declined and left home for his family. Johnston was now well into his 60’s and was unable to take the wear and tear of political life. Many Democrats had hoped to use him to regain the White House, but his health kept him away. He would die in 1875 at the age of 72. Instead Philip Sheridan was given the governor position. Sheridan was young and popular with many in the military. He made his office in Richmond, and got to work immediately.


Philip H. Sheridan

Sheridan organized 5 districts for his subordinates. Sheridan took the 1st District, Virginia, for himself. General Grant was given the 2nd District, the Carolinas . General John Pope was given command of the 3rd District, Florida and Georgia.. General Hancock was tasked with the 4th in Tennessee and Alabama, while Alfred Pleasonton was tasked with the 5th in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Sheridan gave them room to govern as they saw fit, but did keep a close watch. Specifically in suffrage. When the US Congress passed the 13th and 14th Amendments, Sheridan was quick to enforce them. In fact he went so far as to remove the suffrage rights of many whites and deny them the rights of citizens. He also personally oversaw the destruction of Confederate symbols. All the Confederate flags were burnt, the Tredgar Iron Works was torn down, and the Confederate Capital was destroyed.

Sheridan’s firm hand was tempered by the second phase of Reconstruction, namely the “Olive-Branch” phase. Clark wanted the nation to move on, and saw peaceful re-entry into the Union as the best way to do it. He started in Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. Military command was soon replaced by appointed civilian command. Republican Governors were appointed in Louisiana and Arkansas, while a New York Democrat was appointed in Tennessee. Florida followed soon after. With each governor appointed, the state was readmitted to the Union. The requirements were that all white men had to sign an oath of fealty to the US government, and the state had to pass certain laws pertaining to fire arm control and black rights. They also had to ratify the new Amendments to the US Constitution.


The Confederate White House

Southerners tried to fight back. Most sough to re-assert Democratic control, especially in Arkansas and Florida. But the large number of blacks voting led to Republican sweeps. Soon Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia followed, and Republicans were in control across the country. There was, however, a small group of Southerners who plotted violence. The number grew with each Republican, or “Carpet-Bagger” who came South. This period saw the formation of three pro-South organizations. The “League of the South” was a political party founded by a group of ex-Confederate Officers, for a short time endorsed by Robert E. Lee. The LoS’s stated goal was to ensure a safe and secure return to the Union. Overtime however it developed into a radical and violent political party bent on bringing the Union Government into Southern hands. Another organization that arose was the Confederate Christian Army, a para-military organization charged with “defending Christian Values” in the South. It was chaired by Thomas Jackson until his death in 1900. The last organization to emerge was the Klu Klux Klan.

While the League of the South and the CCA (renamed the Southern Christian Army after 1873) were publicly peaceful and privately violent, the KKK made no distinction. They wanted to wreck the Union’s attempt at reconstruction, through violence. Lynch mobs and mass shootings occurred across the South. Confederate soldiers, supported and supplied by Plantation owners, went on rampages. After the shooting of 20 blacks at a voting office in Richmond, Sheridan struck back. He had known for some time that the many leading Southerners were behind the attacks. However his hands were tied by the power these men held. After the Richmond Massacre, he ended any pretext of peace. In a single night he arrested 20 leading Virginia and Carolina plantation owners. 10 were put to death for murder, the others given various jail times. Their leader, Robert Ransom, was the last to be caught. When a large group of Klansmen tried to free him from prison, Sheridan closed the trap. In the ensuing gunfight, the KKK was destroyed. It lost its money and its leadership, and slowly dissipated into the other pro-South groups.


The Flag of the League of the South

Despite the South’s best attempts, slavery was dead. Although the North tried to help integrate the blacks into Southern Society they could not bring about instant social change. Most Blacks went from being slaves to being surfs. They were tied to the land because they could not afford to leave. There was nothing for blacks outside the farms they lived in. Although the 1880’s saw the migration of many blacks into the North, it would be some time before blacks and whites ever reached a kind of equality. Some black schools were set up by Northern missionaries.

The greatest opportunity for many blacks was in West Virginia and in the far west. Both West Virginia and the Nebraska-Colorado area were hit hard by the war and many Whites left. Jobs and new factories were opening up, offering cheap wages to blacks who moved to work in them. The was especially true in California, which became a state in 1869. The vast fields of California crops were quickly filled with former slaves looking to make a new life. It was a black farmer who discovered the first gold, and spread the rumor of it throughout the country. The first gold rush was small, as much of the country did not want to move out west after such a costly war. But many of the disenfranchised sought to test their luck out west. California, by result, was to become a staunchly republican state, with a rapidly growing population.

[RGB]

That's one way to deal with the KKK.

So, to populate the West now?

[JimboIX]

Reconstruction always succeeds in the end..might take a few more decades than you'd like, glad you're not giving it short shrift.