Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond

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EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

Wow, 100 pages and people still interested in this story! Thanks so much for reading along all this way! I am still working on Chapter 89: A Walk in the Woods and the final updates for the Eastern Campaign for 1864, but alas it has been slow going.

At the very least the first battles of this section of the campaign should be coming soon, but I may not finally cap off 1864 before January 2023. Thank you so much for your patience!
 
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

Ironshark said:
I just found the original version of this timeline and wow its been fun to read over and compare.specially because if I read it correctly in that timeline France joins in .as well the miltary details are longer but the text then loses some of its narrative feeling.its really fun to read.
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In the OG timeline France did indeed join in, though the plans I had made had their impact not really being felt until 1863. However, once I had done further research and study on not only Napoleon III and his North American ambitions, I did realize that it was very unlikely he would have piled on to the conflict except in a diplomatic capacity. That's largely been the French position TTL and their impact on the North American conflict will probably only become more apparent as time goes on.
 
Gentleman Johnny

Gentleman Johnny

Forgive me if I'm being a mega idiot, but what's going on at the Canada-US border near Detroit? The British have retake the Ontario area, right? Did they make any moves toward the Detroit area?
 
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

Gentleman Johnny said:
Forgive me if I'm being a mega idiot, but what's going on at the Canada-US border near Detroit? The British have retake the Ontario area, right? Did they make any moves toward the Detroit area?
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As of June 1864, the lines in Canada West (present day Ontario) have been stalled around Toronto for roughly a year. The British have not released the resources to retake it and the United States has already begun reallocating resources to the West and East against the Confederacy. It has been effectively a 'siege' of Toronto, but only in the sense that trenches have been dug and the two sides are facing off. Other than many of the men of the York Brigade, very few are extremely eager to be out fighting, and with the armistice in April most Union boys would rather keep their heads down. The biggest event was Denison's Ride I detailed in Chapter 83.
 
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

As a more general note, despite the length between updates, TTL is not dead, it merely sleeps. The last few months have been hectic and I've had a lot to divide my attention! Chapter 89: A Walk in the Woods, should be out before 2023!
 
Gentleman Johnny

Gentleman Johnny

EnglishCanuck said:
As of June 1864, the lines in Canada West (present day Ontario) have been stalled around Toronto for roughly a year. The British have not released the resources to retake it and the United States has already begun reallocating resources to the West and East against the Confederacy. It has been effectively a 'siege' of Toronto, but only in the sense that trenches have been dug and the two sides are facing off. Other than many of the men of the York Brigade, very few are extremely eager to be out fighting, and with the armistice in April most Union boys would rather keep their heads down. The biggest event was Denison's Ride I detailed in Chapter 83.
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And what of Maine? Unless I'm forgetting, I don't believe we've heard much of that front since the British successfully seized Portland. Are the sides just staring at each other like at Toronto?
 
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

Gentleman Johnny said:
And what of Maine? Unless I'm forgetting, I don't believe we've heard much of that front since the British successfully seized Portland. Are the sides just staring at each other like at Toronto?
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More or less. In September 1862 there was a brief march against Augusta (a blink and you miss it mention in Chapter 29) which put almost everything besides Bangor into British hands, as the few units of Home Guards were overwhelmed or surrendered. As such there's infrequent skirmishes with partisans, but a mostly quiet occupation as the British are more concerned with commerce raiders than smuggling or much beyond that. The biggest American presence is at the fortified village of Westbrook just north and west of Portland where two Union divisions are dug in watching their British counterparts.

1863 was extremely quiet with both sides focused on other matters. Outside some skirmishes, the front has been quiet and static.
 
Chapter 89: A Walk in the Woods
  • Index
    • EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    Chapter 89: A Walk in the Woods​

    “With its cloud of skirmishers in advance,
    With now the sound of a single shot snapping like a whip, and now an irregular volley,
    The swarming ranks press on and on, the dense brigades press on,
    Glittering dimly, toiling under the sun—the dust-cover'd men,
    In columns rise and fall to the undulations of the ground,
    With artillery interspers'd—the wheels rumble, the horses sweat,
    As the army corps advances.” - An Army Corps on the March, Drum Taps, Walt Whitman, 1865

    “Lee’s withdrawal was reasonably orderly, but Rosecrans, after driving the much battered Third Corps from its entrenchments, pursued Lee doggedly. His great turning movement began on the 9th of June with Stoneman taking the majority of his cavalry in a wide arc, aiming to sweep into the Confederate rear and destroy or disable Lee’s lines of communication and, most importantly, distract the Confederate cavalry leaving Lee blind to Rosecrans intentions.

    However, this became Rosecrans’s first blunder of the campaign. With the majority of his cavalry gone, his scouting and flank defense was tenuous at best. He came to rely ever more on the abilities of Lowe’s aeronauts, which while useful, could not provide the same protection as cavalry, nor see into the dense woods south of the Rapidan.

    Well known to the Virginia locals, but little known to the men of Rosecrans army, south of the river lay a vast, dense stretch of woodland known simply as The Wilderness of Spotsylvania which stretched out behind Fredericksberg. Once filled with tall and long limbed trees, the forest had been all but cut down in Colonial days to make charcoal for local pig iron furnaces. When the supply of wood was exhausted, the furnaces were abandoned and secondary forrest growth developed, creating a dense mass of brambles, thickets, vines, and low-lying vegetation more resembling a jungle than a forrest as most men were used to…

    The early crossings achieved spectacular success, the main thrust crossing along the Rappahannock in good order, Hooker’s III Corps and Reynolds V Corps maneuvering almost unopposed. The movement was so swift that each corps was across by the 11th and Sickles’ XIV was moving promptly, with the force reaching the Rapidan by the 13th and crossing in good order to their proposed meeting place at Chancellorsville.

    The_photographic_history_of_the_Civil_War_-_thousands_of_scenes_photographed_1861-65%2C_with_text_by_many_special_authorities_%281911%29_%2814759629271%29.jpg

    Union troops crossing the Germanna Ford​

    All the while, the bloody fighting at Fredericksburg was underway. The unfortunate Ewell’s corps was fighting for its life on the 11th, as Rosecrans well timed maneuver was underway. Hancock’s men performed beyond expectations with Meagher’s division storming across the pontoons at Deep Run and driving straight up the hillside, nearly unhinging the whole Confederate line on the first day. Only a desperate counterattack by Ewell’s reserve checked the Irish charge, and Hancock reminded his officers that they ‘had some fighting yet’ and so urged caution as the day ended.

    On the morning of the 12th, as Rosecrans had hoped and as Lee intended, Ewell’s men began withdrawing, and Lowe’s aeronauts reported long columns heading south and west in the direction of Chancellorsville. Buoyed by what he perceived to be his plans success, Rosecrans ordered the men in, pushing them hard into the waiting arms of his forces.

    It was here where the nature of the Wilderness began to work against him. Lee. in his retreat, had left strong forces masking his flanks, and it was here some of Stuart’s men met the advancing columns of Pleasanton’s division of the XIV Corps as they advanced up the Germanna plank road on the 14th of June. The nature of the terrain made assessing the strength of either side difficult, and so the two groups engaged in a protracted battle which severely impeded the advance of XIV Corps, and eventually pushed Stuarts men all the way to the Wilderness Tavern, having come wildly off course…

    In his reports, Stuart emphasized that it seemed as though the Federal army was ‘strung out’ and advancing in detail. Knowing the land better, Lee realized he could buy essential time for his men to fortify their new position and ordered Ewell’s men to “Make all haste to the Wilderness Tavern and there meet General Longstreet’s Corps, where you shall dig in as the General deems appropriate and do your level best to delay the Federal Army for as long as you deem possible.” The task of digging in would be left to impressed slaves and the men of the Fifth Corps.

    Longstreet meanwhile, moved swiftly to meet with Ewell at his desired location…

    As the II Corps and the leading elements of IV Corps met at Chancellorsville on the 15th, they were dismayed to find that, rather than bagging Lee’s army in a trap, they had instead closed a mighty pincer around empty air. Even then, the trap was not fully closed as rearguard actions and skirmishes from Ewell’s retreating men and the ‘furious ambushes’ (Sickels) of Stuart’s men. It was only on the 18th that the whole army was gathered, and a furious Rosecrans had to make a decision. Lowe’s aeronauts could not positively identify anything in the vast woods, while Rosecrans lack of cavalry meant he was almost blind.

    Reasoning to himself that Lee must be withdrawing abruptly, Rosecrans ordered a pursuit should be mounted. He wanted to catch Lee and force his much inferior army to battle. His forces began moving on the 19th and at that evening the men of Hooker’s Corps made contact with the advance lines of Longstreet’s dug in men…” - At the Sign of Triumph: The Rapidan Campaign, Dylan Gordon, Boston University Press, 1982

    The_Wilderness_near_Palmers_and_Spotswoods_Houses.jpg

    A portion of the Wilderness Battlefield, photo circa 1865​

    “The Battle of the Wilderness was an inauspicious second act in the Rapidan Campaign. Rosecrans, finding that his forces had failed to bag Lee, engaged in dogged pursuit, finally ‘catching’ Lee (really Longstreet) just south and west of the Wilderness Tavern. Longstreet had managed to build a somewhat serviceable line of breastworks or as one soldier described it “a tangle of brambles and twigs to make an engineer weep” which was incomplete thanks to the dense woods.

    Rosecrans troops advancing found the dense forest and vegetation scarcely more to their liking. As Hooker drew up his men for battle, they became disoriented, and the woods caused brigade commanders to lose contact with their regiments, and division commanders to lose their brigades. On the first day of fighting, a series of confused and ineffectual attacks went forward, most getting lost, and a few firing on one another in sudden sharp firefights that were only ended when both sides could prove who they were. Hooker himself was lightly wounded when attempting to sort out a jam between Naglee and Kearny’s divisions.

    His counterparts scarcely fared better. Sickles men advanced into dense woods, got stuck, and promptly withdrew under fire, with Sickles threatening to sack Couch for failing to advance. Hancock’s men managed to make contact with Longstreet’s troops but in in the woods could make no impact.

    The only place where the two sides would meet was at the rough seam between Longstreet and Ewell’s corps in a place called Saunders Field. There the men of Reynolds corps would slug it out with their counterparts, hammering one another in a blizzard of lead. The most severe fighting of the day came there, but at nightfall was inconclusive.

    On the 20th fighting resumed, but was again inconclusive with neither side making headway in the dense wood, and an attempted counterattack by Longstreet turned aside by stumbling upon a Union battery which had unlimbered its guns on the off chance it would find action. By the time night fell, over 3,000 men lay dead or wounded on both sides. The fighting had been so fierce, and the day so hot that as evening set in and men began to light cookfires, the woods around them burst into flames. One wounded soldier recalled: “Suddenly, to the horror of the living, fire was seen creeping over the ground, fed by dead leaves which were thick. All who could move tried to get beyond the Pike, which the fire could not cross. Some were overtaken by the flames....”

    Such terrible scenes were repeated on the 21st, but on that date Lee finally gave the order that Longstreet and Ewell should withdraw to the new Mine Run fortifications. As night fell, Longstreet led the battered forces of the Second and Third Corps towards their new fortifications. In the morning, the Federal Army found them gone and a jubilant Rosecrans believed that he had “whipped Lee badly, so now comes the final blow” and ordered an immediate pursuit which would be delayed by the forest as much as enemy skirmishing.

    So, when Rosecrans finally came into contact with Lee’s entrenchments on the 26th of June, he believed he had “Lee cornered in a hole” and so ordered his heavy guns brought forward as he began to reconnoiter the positions. The Battle of Mine Run had begun.” To Arms!: The Great American War, Sheldon Foote, University of Boston 1999.
     
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  • Index

    • The Gunslinger

    This will just join the list of a growing number of inconclusive battles with large quantities of blood spilled. Lee is just too wily a beast to nab without the larger superiority of numbers OTL generated.
     
    EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    The Gunslinger said:
    This will just join the list of a growing number of inconclusive battles with large quantities of blood spilled. Lee is just too wily a beast to nab without the larger superiority of numbers OTL generated.
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    Oh we're just getting started here! The Rapidan Campaign is one I've been building towards for a while. Let's just say that for all the indecisive fighting so far in 1864, we're building towards some decisive moments.
     

    The Gunslinger

    EnglishCanuck said:
    Oh we're just getting started here! The Rapidan Campaign is one I've been building towards for a while. Let's just say that for all the indecisive fighting so far in 1864, we're building towards some decisive moments.
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    I'm looking forward to it! Lee's army is in much better shape than it ever was historically, but the Union can finally start to flex it's considerable strength in manpower if the war with Britain concludes.

    You've done a fantastic job of building the tension to a climax in the war.
     
    SultanArda

    SultanArda

    I wonder about the peace treaty with Britain. I say that the San Juan Islands and Aroostook County are lost to Americans, while Washington County (Maine one) might be gone. I don't think Washington Territory will be given to Brits, so the best Brits can hope is border adjustments in Maine.
     
    EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    The Gunslinger said:
    I'm looking forward to it! Lee's army is in much better shape than it ever was historically, but the Union can finally start to flex it's considerable strength in manpower if the war with Britain concludes.

    You've done a fantastic job of building the tension to a climax in the war.
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    The changes in the strength of each army have been fun to track over the years! And Lee having more to work with gives him options he didn't have that are quite exciting to explore. His movements up to now are sort of based on decisions he made OTL, the geography does limit that. So far I think I've managed to get inside his head enough that I've made some good calls.

    And thank you! Glad I've been able to keep pwople guessing for so long and bring the tension up!

    SultanArda said:
    I wonder about the peace treaty with Britain. I say that the San Juan Islands and Aroostook County are lost to Americans, while Washington County (Maine one) might be gone. I don't think Washington Territory will be given to Brits, so the best Brits can hope is border adjustments in Maine.
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    So far thats been the British demands. Territory wise they've been pretty lenient in what they're looking for. The main end game is, at this point, economic. The British want the war to end, the threats to their trade done, and then some understanding from the US that they won't do this again.

    So border changes in the north are likely to be minimal, based on what I think the British would want.
     
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