Interestingly, Russian and American interests crossed paths again at this time. In January of that year the Poles had risen in revolt against Czar Alexander II. His armies crushed the revolt with a typical heavy hand. He then abolished the kingdom of Poland whose crown he held. The crown had come to the Romanovs as part of the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, which re-created the Polish state. Britain and France were the guarantors of the treaty and Poland’s status. Now they threatened war. Alexander was determined that the Royal Navy would not trap his fleet in its bases as it had been in the Crimean War. He dispatched a strong squadron of the Baltic Fleet to New York and the Pacific Squadron to San Francisco, so that in case of war they could issue from neutral ports to savage British and French commerce on the high seas.
The Laird rams affair was a close-run thing. But this time, unlike the Trent Affair, the United States was in a much better position if war came. The Confederacy had suffered twin catastrophes at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in July of that year. The Union armies were no longer armed mobs but veterans commanded by increasingly talented leaders. The Union Navy won no comparable dramatic victories but was slowly strangling the South with the blockade. More important, the Navy was riding a technological wave with the development and commissioning of its turreted armored warships of the monitor type. Of equal importance was the Navy’s powerful armament, the various calibers of the Dahlgren gun, developed by Adm. John A. Dahlgren, the father of American naval ordnance. Although they were muzzle-loading weapons at the dawn of the breech-loading age, they were the finest and more destructive guns in the world and outclassed anything the British had in reliability and destructiveness.
The U.S. Army’s efforts at similar innovation, however, were much less successful, despite the Civil War’s reputation as being the nursery of military technology. The Army’s story, unfortunately, was one of repeated lost opportunities. The Army simply did not have the structure to field new technology, develop doctrine, devise tactics, and integrate these with the armies in the field. Worse was the outright sabotage of the Army’s Chief of the Ordnance Bureau, Col. James Ripley, who had a determined phobia of “newfangled gimcracks,” such as breech-loading and repeating firearms, not to mention the first machine guns.
Lincoln was as open minded and visionary as Ripley was close minded and reactionary. It was because of Lincoln that the Balloon Corps entered the Army of the Potomac, where, by the battle of Chancellorsville, it was providing real-time intelligence to the Union commander. Lincoln was behind another innovation, the coffee mill gun, the first machine gun, which he personally ordered, bypassing Ripley. But Lincoln could not be everywhere and do everything. The Balloon Corps simply withered away when its founding genius, Prof. Thaddeus Lowe, was driven out of the Army by an officious captain set over him by senior officers jealous of his civilian pay. Ripley similarly sidelined the coffee mill guns and made sure those that were ordered ended up carefully stored and forgotten in the Washington Arsenal. Despite repeated remonstrations and indications of presidential approval, Ripley simply refused to order repeating weapons despite overwhelming evidence in the field of their effectiveness. If he was finally pressed by a presidential order, he made sure the fine print negated Lincoln’s intent. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton finally fired Ripley in September. By then, the production of the standard muzzle-loading firearms was meeting the demands of the huge Army.
Although repeating weapons were subsequently bought in large numbers for several mounted infantry brigades and proved dramatically successful in combat, there never was an attempt to reequip any of the armies in the field. Thus, the opportunity to go into battle with a seven-to-one fire superiority in the clash of field armies was never attempted. Not even legendary Southern valor could withstand the storm that would have ensured that there was no second round.
Nevertheless, at a time when the armies of the Confederacy had fought the Union to a standstill, war with the British Empire and France would have been a momentous step. A betting man would not have given the United States decent odds. The population of the United Kingdom was equal to that of the Northern states while that of France was 50 percent larger. British industrial production outweighed the Americans’ considerably, and the Royal Navy was significantly larger and stronger than the U.S. Navy. In a war, the United States could count on being isolated from the rest of the world and losing access to imports and money markets. Falling on the scales to balance these weaknesses was the vulnerability of British North America, a factor that obsessed the British and prompted the hurried reinforcement during the Trent Affair. American invasions of 1776 and 1812 had been with weak forces. This time that would not be a problem as the Union armies now numbered in the many hundreds of thousands.
This alternate history pivots on the failure of the British Foreign Office to take seriously the protests of the United States over the Laird rams, which leads to war. Besides playing out the clash of armies and fleets, a significant element is the story of the acceleration of stymied military technology under the intense pressure of what will become for the Union total war.
THE PROTAGONISTS
The story is told largely through two characters—Brig. Gen. George H. Sharpe and Lt. Col. Garnet Wolseley. Their real lives were remarkable enough. Sharpe was the intelligence officer for the Army of the Potomac and would later rise to fill that function for Grant. Sharpe was a natural intelligence officer. He had probably received the finest education in North America, had trained the logic of his mind at Yale Law School, had traveled widely, served as the chargé at the embassy in Vienna, and was fluent in French. He was a sophisticated, thoughtful, and wily man. His contributions at Gettysburg and beyond gave the Union the vital edge in winning the war in the Eastern Theater. By the second night of the battle at Gettysburg he was able to report to Maj. Gen. George Meade that his staff had identified every regiment of the Army of Northern Virginia having been committed except those in Gen. George Pickett’s division. It was a priceless piece of intelligence that helped steel Meade’s resolve to fight it out. The raid he instigated to seize Jefferson Davis’s dispatches to Gen. Robert E. Lee added additional priceless operational and strategic intelligence. Sharpe had created the first all-source intelligence organization in military history, but tragically in its postwar penury the Army failed to institutionalize that achievement. All-source intelligence would only be reborn in World War I on the French model.
Wolseley was a rising star of the British Army who had lost an eye in Burma and won renown in the Crimea, in the suppression of the Great Mutiny in India, and in the punitive expedition against China in 1859. He had been sent out to Canada as part of the reinforcement triggered by the Trent Affair. He would later rise to be the greatest of Victoria’s generals, aided in no small part by the talent of surrounding himself with talented subordinates. In a famous escapade in 1862 he took leave to the United States, slipped through Union lines, and introduced himself to Robert E. Lee, for whom he developed a lifelong case of hero worship. He had an intense dislike for Americans of the Yankee type, almost as virulent as his contempt for the Irish. He was in favor of war with the United States to ensure Southern independence in order to cripple America’s future potential to contest British power. For all that he was a man of rare military insight and organizational ability. Luckily for everyone, he would spend the rest of his tour in Canada, fishing, hunting, and chasing pretty Canadian girls.
All the rest of the crowded cast of characters, save a handful of fictionalized individuals, are real people who walked the stage of history.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Professor Wade Dudley, East Carolina University, for his meticulous review of the manuscript of this book, and Professor Steven Badsey, formerly of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, for his advice in the development of this story. Not least, I would like to acknowledge Thomas Bilbao for serving as a sounding board with his exhaustive knowledge of military history.
MAPS
MAPS
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The Grand Trunk Railroad, 1863
The Battle of Moelfre Bay, September 4, 1863
The Battle of the Upper Bay, September 24, 1863
The Invasion of the Northeast, September 30, 1863
The British Attack on Portland, Phase 1, September 30, 1863
The British Attack on Portland, Phase 2, September 30, 1863
Breaking the Blockade, October 1863
The Third Battle of Charleston, October 8, 1863
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Adams, Charles Francis, Jr. Captain, U.S. Volunteers, 5th Massachusetts Cavalry, and son of Ambassador Charles Francis Adams.
Adams, Charles Francis, Sr., U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, son of President John Quincy Adams and grandson of President John Adams.
Adams, Henry. Private secretary to and son of Ambassador Charles Francis Adams.
Alfred Ernest Albert, His Royal Highness. Lieutenant, Royal Navy (RN), aboard HMS Racoon, the 19-year-old second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Babcock, John C. Civilian order-of-battle analyst and Assistant Director, Bureau of Military Information (BMI), Headquarters, Army of the Potomac.
Baker, Lafayette. Director of the Secret Service of the War Department.
Bazaine, François Achille. Major General, French Imperial Army, Commander, French Forces in Mexico and of the Texas Expedition in support of the Confederacy.
Bazalgette, George. Captain, Royal Marine Light Infantry.
Beauregard, Pierre Gustave Toutant de. General, C.S. Army, commander of the coastal defenses of South Carolina and Georgia.
Berdan, Hiram. Colonel, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, Rifle Regiment.
Bowles, Dr. William. A leader of the Copperhead conspiracy in Indiana.
Bragg, Braxton. General, C.S. Army, Commander, Army of Tennessee.
Bright, John. Member of Parliament and advocate of the Union, derisively referred to as the “Member for America.”
Bulloch, James Dunwoody. Captain, C.S. Navy, and chief Confederate agent in the United Kingdom.
Callaway, James E. Major, U.S. Volunteers, 21st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, assigned to the Army of the Cumberland.
Carnegie, Andrew. Railroad executive, entrepreneur, and organizer of the first train to rush troops to the defense of Washington at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Carrington, Henry B. Colonel, U.S. Volunteers, chief anti-Copperhead intelligence officer in Indiana.
Chamberlain, William Charles. Captain, RN, Commander of HMS Resistance.
Chamberlain, Joshua Lawrence. Colonel, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, 1st Brigade, First Battle of Portland.
Clay, Cassius Marcellus. Fiery Kentucky abolitionist and U.S. Ambassador to the Imperial Russian government in St. Petersburg.
Cline, Milton. Major, U.S. Volunteers, 3rd Indiana Cavalry, and senior scout of the Central Information Bureau (CIB).
Cochrane, Hon. Arthur. Captain, RN, flag captain to Rear Admiral Seymour.
Cromwell, J. B. Lieutenant, USN, Commander of USS Atlanta.
Dahlgren, John A. Rear Admiral, USN, Commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
Dahlgren, Ulric. Colonel, U.S. Volunteers, hero of Gettysburg and son of Admiral Dahlgren.
Dana, Charles. Publisher, U.S. Assistant Secretary of War.
Davis, Jefferson. President of the Confederate States of America.
Dennis, George. Lieutenant Colonel, Canadian Militia, Commander of the Royal Guides.
Dow, Neal. Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers, the Colonel of 13th Maine Regiment of the Army of the Potomac; sent home on recruiting duty.
Doyle, Sir Hastings. Major General, British Army, commanding Imperial Forces in the Maritime Provinces of British North America.
Dudley, Thomas Haines. U.S. Consul in Liverpool, England.
Fox, Gustavus “Gus.” U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Navy, essentially in modern terms, Chief of Naval Operations.
Gorchakov, Aleksandr. Russian Foreign Minister.
Hall, Basil. Lieutenant, Royal Navy, and flag lieutenant to Admiral Milne.
Halleck, Henry Wager. Major General, U.S. Volunteers, General-in-Chief of the Armies.
Hancock, George. Captain, RN, Commander of HMS Immortalité, temporarily detached as naval attaché to Lord Lyons, Ambassador to the United States.
Hines, Henry Thomas. Captain, C.S. Army, Morgan’s Cavalry Brigade, Army of Tennessee.
Hogan, Martin. Private, U.S. Volunteers, recently arrived young Irish immigrant and scout for the Bureau of Military Information (BMI), Army of the Hudson.
Hooker, Joseph. Major General, U.S. Army, Commander, Army of the Hudson.
Ingraham, Duncan. Captain, C.S. Navy, Commander of the Charleston Naval Station.
Lambert, Rowley. Captain, RN, Commander, HMS Liverpool.
Lamson, Roswell Hawks. Lieutenant, USN, Commander, U.S.S. Nansemond and Gettysburg.
Langely, Charles. Lieutenant Colonel, British Army, Commander of the 1/16th Foot.
Layard, Austin David. Member of Parliament and Undersecretary to Lord Russell at the Foreign Office.
Lee, Robert E. General, C.S. Army, Commander, Army of Northern Virginia.
Lincoln, Abraham. Sixteenth President of the United States.
Lindsay, Hon. James. Major General, British Army, Commander, Brigade of Guards at the battle of Claverack.
Lisovsky, Stefan S. Rear Admiral, Russian Imperial Navy, and Commander of the Baltic Squadron sent to New York City.
Longstreet, James. Lieutenant General, C.S. Army, Commander, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
Lowe, Thaddeus. Scientist, Colonel, U.S. Volunteers, founder and commander of the Balloon Corps.
Lyons, Lord. British Ambassador to the United States.
McCarter, Michael William. Former Sergeant of the Irish Brigade discharged for wounds after Chancellorsville.
McEntee, John. Captain, U.S. Volunteers, Chief, Bureau of Military Information (BMI), Army of the Hudson.
McPhail, James L. Civilian, Provost Marshal of Maryland and later Deputy Chief, Central Information Bureau (CIB).
Meade, George Gordon. Major General, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, Army of the Potomac.
Meagher, Thomas Francis. Major General, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, XI Corps, Army of the Hudson.
Mercier, Edouard-Henri. Imperial French Ambassador to the United States.
Milne, Sir Alexander. Vice Admiral, RN, Commander of the North American and West Indies Station.
*Morgan, George “The Contraband.” Body slave to John Hunt Morgan.
Morgan, John Hunt. Colonel, C.S. Army, Commander, Morgan’s Cavalry Brigade, Army of Tennessee.
Morton, Oliver. Republican Governor of Indiana.
Paulet, Lord Frederick. Major General, British Army, Commander of the Hudson Field Force in the invasion of New York.
Porter, Benjamin H. Lieutenant, USN, Executive Officer, U.S.S. Nansemond and Gettysburg.
Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai Andreyevich. Ensign, Imperial Russian Navy.
Ripley, James W. Colonel, U.S. Army, Chief, Ordnance Bureau.
Rivers, Pitt. Lieutenant Colonel, British Army, late Assistant Quartermaster of the garrison of Ireland and on detached duty to British North America.
Rosecrans, William “Old Rosy.” Major General, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, Army of the Cumberland.
Russell, Lord John. British Foreign Minister.
Scott, Thomas. U.S. Assistant Secretary of War.
Sedgwick, John. Major General, U.S. Volunteers, Commander, VI Corps, Army of the Potomac, and in independent command of the relief of Portland.
Semmes, Raphael. Captain, C.S. Navy, Commander of the C.S.S. Alabama, the greatest of the Confederate commerce raiders.
Seward, William H. U.S. Secretary of State.
Seymour, Sir Michael. Rear Admiral, RN, Commander of the squadron sent to destroy the U.S. Navy’s South Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Charleston.
Sharpe, George H. Brig. Gen., U.S. Voluntee
rs, Director of the Central Information Bureau (CIB) and Commander of the 120th Regiment, NY Volunteers.
*Smoke, James R. “Big Jim.” Chief agent for the Copperhead movement in Indiana.
Stanton, Edwin McMasters. U.S. Secretary of War.
Britannia's Fist: From Civil War to World War: An Alternate History Page 2