~ The Day After Tomorrow ~
The Confederate States of America officially won their independence on January 10th, 1863. The war had cost the lives of thousands of the Confederacies men, the actual number is not known but historians guess that the war cost the Confederacy 100, 000 plus men and the Union 200, 000 plus men. Besides the great loss of life the Confederacy had another major hurdle to pass, the need to industrialize.
The main source of income in the South was agriculture, producing tones of cotton and tobacco each day, but in order for Dixie to survive in a rapidly growing world under industry they would have to force industrialization upon the nation. Arguments were made in Congress and the Senate and after long debates there was no decisive action, tax’s were high to cover the costs of the nation and the Confederacies free trade policies did not allow the President or Congress for that matter to issue government funded factories, so a compromise would have to be made.
In order to encourage the few capitalists in the Confederacy taxes were lowered and cuts were introduced to defense spending, education and crime fighting. The cuts were soon to take effect as glass factories were beginning to spring up in Missouri. Funding was also put into increasing coal, iron and steel mining, these essential to funding future military expeditions of the Confederacy. Three months after the Confederate victory Congress adopted the new “Blood Dripped” banner as the Confederacies new national flag, the second flag had been briefly put into play but looked a bit too much like a surrender flag, discarding it for the new look (below)
Over the next few years President Davis had a daunting task to accomplish. The unwillingness of his people to put aside their old, traditional ways made it complicated to further the advancement of the nation. Slowly, through careful political maneuvering and factory promotion they began to spring up by daring capitalists, supported by the government of course, in the most northern states such as Missouri, Kentucky and the Western part of Virginia, but they were far to few to have a great impact, yet, it was a start.
The railroad business on the other hand became a major investment by capitalists. Almost all at once the rapid production railroads across the core Southern states sprung up, the idea of linking the East and Western coasts of the C.S.A. became popular and profitable, for the first time in the Confederacies history the entire nation would become linked as one, instead of having to travel a crossed state borders to get to a major train station one could catch a train in Sonora and take it all the way a crossed the nation to Richmond if desired. This of course helped the production of goods and transfer of products from the mines and the fields to the factories and ships going to Europe and the rest of the world.
The railroads were largely being built in the major southern states, Virginia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Louisiana and Missouri. Florida Texas, Oklahoma, Sonora, Chichuala and the territories were left out for the most part because they had so little to offer, but a sudden serge of interest came when gold was found in Sonora and it suddenly became a worth while venture to connect the gold rich state with the rest of the Confederacy.
~ Look to the sea my dear boy, Latin America Awaits! ~
July 16th, 1863
Mobile, Alabama
The cool sea air hit Jonneys face as he walked towards the ship, the smell of the ocean air filled his nose, a strange smell, he thought, of course this would be the first time in a long time since he had been to the ocean. The dock was filled with fishing vessels, big and small,
C.S.S. Mississippi sat looming over the docks, one of the few Iron Clads the Confederacy had in its possession. Tossing his bag over his shoulder he tried to navigate the docks to find his way to
The Virginus. “Jonney! Over here Jonney!” he heard a voice shout.
“Roy? Is that you?” Jonney replied, spotting him a crossed the way by a shabby looking ship. Roy, dressed head to toe in a peculiar sailors outfit that made him look, at best, queersom. “Roy, you got to loose that out fit friend.” Jonney said, laughing at his friend, patting him on the shoulder.
“What? What’s wrong with my outfit?” he asked. Jonney just shook his head and chuckled.
“Never mind that, show me this ship of yours.” the two walked towards the ship, revealing its old rusted outer shell. While still quite large, the ship looked like it had been salvaged from the bottom of the gulf.
“Ain’t she a beaut? Anther voice called as a tall, ruff looking man with a short beard said, running his hand down the rail before stepping onto the ramp and approaching the men.
“Jonney, I want you to meet my cousin Ricky.” Roy said, introducing the man.
“Pleased to meet you sir, so this is your…fine vessel.” Jonney replied, shaking hands with Ricky.
“Aye she is. So Roy tells me your looking for an adventure on the high seas. Well this is the place for it, we’re traveling all over Latin America running food and medical supplies to those in need, running out of Mobile.” He outlined their mission and pointed out of course, that they will make a killing doing so.
“Well you can count me on board fellow’s, as much as I love the states, I would love to see the world more.” He commented, looking out to the ocean.
A smile came to Rick’s face, exposing his teeth. “Well then lets get to shoving off, our first stop is to Cuba, it will give you plenty of time to meet the crew and get accustomed to the sea.”
The group turned and walked up on the ramp and onto the boat, the ship slowly began to pull out of port, headed east towards the little piece of Spain left in America, Cuba.