A Rainbow of Blood: The Union in Peril an Alternate History

by Peter G. Tsouras

  Taylor had given him command of the small brigade of Stevens and Alexander's Texas regiments. The Texans had responded with a frontier directness that Taylor had to deal with personally. They would not serve under a Frenchman with a name they could not even pronounce. Taylor would not reverse his decision but promised that if they still had reservations after the first action, he would reconsider. It was not long before the Prince de Polignac made first-rate soldiers of them and won a grudging affection for his care and attention to their welfare, but still he had not had his test of fire. Yet Taylor had no worries and said of him "he belonged to that race of gentry whose ancestors rallied to the white plume of Henry at Ivry, and followed the charge of Conde at Rocroi."9

  After the fall of New Orleans in April 1862 to Adm. David Farragut's bold attack up the Mississippi, Taylor's minor command with its one small division had been lucky to annoy the Union forces based there. The addition of Walker's Greyhounds to his command had doubled Taylor's force to about ten thousand men. The arrival of Bazaine's twenty thousand by ship at Galveston after the French Navy's destruction of the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron at the battle of Galveston10 had been a godsend to Taylor who now had a serious opportunity to recapture New Orleans. With the fall of that city, all the Union successes in gaining control of the Mississippi would be cancelled. Taylor had come within an ace of recapturing New Orleans in July when he sacked the huge Union supply base at Brashear City and marched to the outskirts of the almost undefended Crescent City. The taste of victory was nearly on the tongue when the news of the fall of Port Hudson and the imminent arrival of Banks's army turned his foray into a trap. He barely withdrew his tiny force in time."

  In only a few days, Taylor and Bazaine had taken each other's measure and got along well. Trusted by both commands, the Prince de Polignac had been the perfect liaison, doing everything possible to ease tensions and encourage cooperation. Bazaine had gracefully acknowledged Taylor as overall commander while Taylor had eagerly sought Bazaine's advice. Bazaine had been prepared to deal with an American novice and dreaded the complex diplomatic delicacies that would be needed to finesse the weakness of the man who was the brother-in-law of Confederate president Jefferson Davis. But Bazaine had been surprised to find in Taylor a gifted commander with shrewd tactical and strategic insights. Taylor had learned soldiering from the very best, Old Blue Light- the legendary Stonewall Jackson-who had taught him that speed and surprise are the most precious jewels of war. His relationship to Davis only gave priority and the full, unstinted support of the Confederate government to the allied effort. Napoleon III's instructions to Bazaine were to work as closely and tactfully with the Confederates as he could. A Confederate guarantee of French control of Mexico depended upon their joint and cordial success.

  Taylor also burned with an ardor that was not all patriotism. This son of former president Zachary Taylor was determined to avenge the desecration of his late father's magnificent Louisiana estate, Fashion, by Union plunderers. They had not even spared his presidential papers but scattered them about the fields or sent them off as trophies to that viper's pit of Yankeedom, Boston.

  It had been Taylor who had then come up with the plan that solved the unity-of-command problems. Leaving Walker's division and Polignac's brigade under Bazaine's command, he had taken the rest of his brigades aboard the same French transports that had delivered Bazaine's troops. His destination was the oddly named Lake One-Eyed. That would leave Bazaine in command of over thirty thousand allied troops. The two were about to turn on its head the old military adage that one had general is better than the inherent disunity of two good generals sharing command. Whoever had coined that bit of wisdom had not met Banks.

  And now, as if on cue, Banks had laid a priceless gift before Bazaine. He had come out to fight. Nathanial Banks was a political general, an influential Republican, former governor of Massachusetts, and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Known as the Bobbin Boy of Waltham for his close ties to the textile industry, he had been most useful to Lincoln in generating political support for the war and initiating political reconstruction in occupied Louisiana, but he was less than able as a general. His only success had been to reduce by starvation the last Confederate garrison on the Mississippi River at Port Hudson, about a hundred miles north of New Orleans. He was better known for being repeatedly drubbed by Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley in 1862. The masses of supplies he lost to Old Blue Light earned him the title from the perpetually hungry Confederates of "Commissary Banks."

  He had come out to fight, to Bazaine's amazement, when the better part of valor would have been to withdraw behind the water barrier of the maze of swamps, bayous, and lakes that paralleled the Mississippi to the east from the Gulf to north of Port Hudson. Barely twenty miles north of the Gulf, however, this barrier opened narrowly between the coastal swamps and Grand Lake and Lake Palourde in a forty-milelong strip ending at Brashear City. Coming down from the north, Bayou Teche, a former channel of the Mississippi itself, wound through the strip emptying into the Grand Lake at Brashear City, the eastern end of the gap. Through this gap ran the only serious road between Texas and New Orleans. From the great river port to Brashear City ran a railroad. The strip was ideal defense in depth as Banks brought his supplies forward while Bazaine broke camp immediately and marched against him with the combined French-Confederate Armee de Louisiane of thirty-five thousand men. The French general counted his advantages, the weather among them. It was the driest month of the year in Louisiana, and air was as fresh and delightful as a bottle of fine wine.

  ALBANY, NEW YORK, 2:20 PM, OCTOBER 21, 1863

  The ruins of Albany swarmed with redcoats. Two weeks ago, the British Army in Canada had struck with complete surprise, using the railroads to rush south and overwhelm New York's state capital. Its warehouses, factories, and nearby Watervliet Arsenal had all been burned to deliver such a trauma to the citizens of the Empire State that they would clamor for peace. Now what was left of the city was the base for the British Albany Field Force, commanded by Guards major general Frederick Lord Paulet, who was sending raiding parties west to the big industrial towns and down the Hudson to scorch more holes in the state's morale. Towns along the Hudson that had gone up in flames during the War of Independence at the hands of red-coated incendiaries were again sending plumes of black smoke skyward. The might of the British Empire in its imperial battalions and Canadian militia had planted a boot on the throat of New York. In its imperial battalions, no finer troops existed. Events were building that would send the Albany Field Force south and east to threaten New York and Boston just as the French and Confederate battle line was marching to contact west of New Orleans.

  Before the outbreak of hostilities, the British government had wanted the quality of the reinforcement to be taken into account in American diplomatic calculations, which was why the two Guards battalions - the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards, and the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Fusilier Guards -were included. The Rifle Brigade had also sent its 1st Battalion.

  Most of the regiments had their share of North American battle honors. The oldest was the Grenadier Guards, sent to Virginia in 1677 to put down Bacon's Rebellion. The 15th (York, East Riding) Regiment of Foot had fought on the Plains of Abraham with Wolfe and served during the Revolution with Howe and Clinton in the campaigns of 1776-78. The 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot was also at Quebec and served through the entire American War of Independence, with the great misfortune of being twice captured-at Stony Creek in 1779 and at Yorktown in 1783-and both times speedily exchanged. The 16th (Bedfordshire) Regiment of Foot, fought in the War of 1812 in Canada. The 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment of Foot campaigned in North Carolina in 1781-82. The 47th (Lancashire) Regiment of Foot had seen hard service at Bunker's Hill in 1776 and at Saratoga in 1777, where it surrendered with the rest of Burgoyne's army.

  One regiment even had its origin in what would become the United States. The 60th Regiment of Foot, the o
ld Royal Americans, was originally raised in New York and Philadelphia in 1755 during the French and Indian War. They were also with Wolfe at Quebec. The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot fought in the War of 1812 in the Great Lakes campaigns. The 63rd (West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot landed with Howe on Long Island in 1776 to help drive Washington out of New York, then beat him again at Germantown and Bennington and went on to fight in South Carolina, distinguishing themselves at Eutaw Springs in 1782.11

  Of more current importance, the battalions of the Rifle Brigade and the 17th, 30th, 47th, 62nd, and 63rd Foot had served in the Crimea, and a decade later had a core of experienced veterans. Regardless of whether they had bled in the Crimea, every British battalion could be depended upon to be obstinate in battle to the point of suicide. That refusal to never turn their back on an enemy was ingrained, despite the Duke of Wellington's comment that "all soldiers run away." It had been a rare enemy in the last hundred years able to make them do it. Their regimental anniversaries were marks of such obstinacy - Blenheim, Quebec, Minden.

  British regiments usually had only a single battalion, usually numbered the first. In that case, they were simply referred to by their regimental number. A few regiments did have more than one battalion, though these were exceptions. The result was that although, for example, the title of a unit was the 30th Regiment of Foot (30th Foot, for short), it actually represented a battalion in strength, usually about eight hundred and fifty men in ten companies. Most of the battalions that had been sent to British North America had been plussed up from their depots to about a thousand men each. The term "battalion" originally meant a detachment or part of a regiment, or the organization of the regiment for combat. Occasionally, the British would raise a second, third, or fourth battalion of the same regiment. Administratively and operationally, each battalion was a separate organization. American regiments, in contrast, numbered about nine hundred and fifty men in ten companies. Battalions were only large detachments of the same regiment. There were never separate numbered battalions.

  British battalions were also unique in having distinct personalities that were encouraged to foster the regimental spirit, a cohesive power unequaled in the world's armies. Nicknames were common. The 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, was known as the Dandies, no doubt from their parade functions in London, and the fact that, like all the Guards, they were selected for height to make a grander appearance. Other regiments' nicknames were derived from their combat history or, sometimes, in jest, to having just missed a fight. In this case, the 1/16 Foot was known as the Peacemakers, for having been shipped to Europe from Canada to fight Napoleon, only to barely miss Waterloo.

  In contrast to the subdued uniform colors of the U.S. Army and C.S. Army, the regulation British tunic was a brilliant scarlet, achieved with that perfect red dye, cochineal, derived from the crushed bodies of a beetle, and first concocted by the peoples of Mesoamerica more than a thousand years ago. Facings varied by regiment-yellow, buff, green, and blue-to distinguish each regiment from another. There were also a wealth of differences in buckles and other accoutrement, especially the regimental badge worn on the front of the shako, as marks of regimental pride. Standing out from all these scarlet-clad regiments were the rifle battalions, the 1st Battalion, the Rifle Brigade, and the 4th Battalion, 60th Foot (The King's Rifle Corps) in rifle green with black and scarlet facings respectively. The Rifle Brigade was descended from the 95th Rifles of Peninsular War whose most famous officer had been the same Richard Sharpe that Wolseley had commented on at dinner with George Sharpe in Washington 13 As a rifle unit they were unique among British regiments to carry no colors. To honor the Queen's late beloved husband, Prince Albert, they had become known in 1862 as the Prince Consort's Own.

  As with most Western armies, each British battalion carried two flags - the regimental colors unique to it and the royal colors. The latter was the national or Grand Union flag. Each measured 42 by 48 inches. British regimental colors wore the color of the regimental facing, with the Great Union flag in the upper hoist corner. Exceptions were made for regiments with white or red facings -for white to prevent its confusion with a flag of surrender and red for possible confusion with a flag of no quarter. Instead, the field for such colors was the Cross of St. George, a red cross on a white field. The regimental number in Roman numerals was centered on the Grand Union flag in the upper hoist corner. Regimental badges were placed in the center, around which were the names of their battles were inscribed. With the delightful irregularity of British military tradition, the Guards regiments reversed this arrangement, with the Grand Union flag as the regimental colors, and a unique crimson and gold embroidered silk flag as the royal colors.14

  American colors were much simpler. U.S. Army regiments carried the national colors, the Stars and Stripes, and a regimental flag, usually dark blue with a large embroidered American eagle in the center and the regimental number on a red wreath beneath. Exceptions were made for certain volunteer regiments. For example, the Irish Brigade's regiments carried the green flag of Ireland, which displayed a golden harp on an emerald green field. Battles honors were often written on the red and white stripes of the national colors. However, Confederate regiments carried only a single flag - the Stars and Bars on a square field-referred to by their opponents as "those damned red flags of rebellion.""

  Colors were as highly prized as any Roman standard, and it was the ultimate disgrace to lose either flag in battle, which made it an extremely rare occurrence. In the past, colors had been lost when regiments had to capitulate as part of larger forces that had been trapped, such as at the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown in the American War of Independence. In combat, however, if any enemy picked up a British flag, it was usually because they found it surrounded by the dead of the regiment. By the time of the Civil War, rifled weapons had made the role of color bearer exceedingly dangerous, if not a death sentence. American regiments, North and South, usually collected a special fund for their families.

  The two Scots battalions, the Scots Fusilier Guards and the 25th Foot, King's Own Scottish Borderers, did not wear kilts, which was a Highland regiment prerogative. Only the bagpipers of the former were kilted in the Royal Stuart tartan. The regimental march was "Blue Bonnets over the Border." For all their bagpipes, this battalion was more English than Scottish, having only its recruiting parties visiting Scotland, while being stationed permanently in London. In March 1861, 59 percent (557) of its 996 officers and men were English; only 272 were Scots (27 percent). The rest (14 percent) were Irish.16

  Amid all this worship of the traditions of the regiment, the British Army had undergone important reforms after the Crimean War. The uniform had been changed after almost a century from the awkward swallowtail coat to the more comfortable tunic, which had the advantage keeping a man warmer in winter. Black trousers and a short black shako topped with a black pompom completed the new uniform. Improvements were also made in the soldier's pack to replace the traditional torture instrument the British soldier had carried for generations. The two Guards battalions stood out not just for their height but that they wore, instead of the shako, a bearskin hat eighteen inches tall and weighing only one and half pounds. Their appearance on any field would be instantly noted.

  The soldier was also armed with the superb .577 caliber muzzleloading Enfield rifle of the 1853 pattern, the product of the Royal Small Arms Factory Enfield. As a weapon, it was only rivaled by the American Springfield rifle.

  The Royal Artillery had also taken the lead in introducing a breakthrough new artillery piece. The field artillery batteries had come equipped with the new hreechloading Armstrong guns. Breechloading artillery was a military innovation that had not been adopted by either the North or the South in America, except for the handful of English Whitworth rifled guns slipped through the blockade for the Army of Northern Virginia. Quick-firing and accurate, the Armstrongs had been introduced with much promise. To Wolseley's dismay, he was discovering that they were problem-plagued. Tri
als had not revealed any deficiencies because the manufacturer had carefully trained the crews, but once in the hands of the Army, the problems became glaringly apparent. Sixty percent of the enlisted men were illiterate, and the simplest mechanical device confounded most. Their noncommissioned officers (NCOs) were as steeped as the officer corps in tradition and took an active dislike for such an innovation. Careful training and maintenance would have eliminated most of these problems, but the NCOs were hostile and unprepared for that sort of attention to either their men or to complicated mechanisms. They complained of having to rewrite the venerable gun drill "because the gun loaded at the wrong end." They complained that "the guns were so complicated that the ignorant gunners would never, ever learn to handle them." And, of course, officers did not train anyone?'

  No matter how good the British infantryman was, however, there was simply not enough of "that article," as Wellington used to call him. An effective Canadian auxiliary force was vital to the defense of British North America. In early 1860, the process of consolidating the many independent companies into battalions began. The first to be so organized had been granted the title of the 1st Battalion, Prince of Wales Regiment, by Prince Edward when he had toured Canada in 1860. In early 1863, the 2nd Battalion of the Volunteer Militia was designated the 2nd Battalion, The Queen's Own Rifles of Toronto. The men were issued Enfield rifles and kit and paid for each day of drill but had to furnish their own uniforms, modeled on the new British Army uniform introduced after the Crimean War. Rifle battalions, such as the 3rd Battalion, Victoria Volunteer Rifles of Montreal, copied their Imperial counterparts by dressing in rifle green.

  The affiliations with the British regimental system were instinctive in the English-speaking population and much sought after. In 1862 the six Scottish clan chiefs in Montreal raised companies that were consolidated into the 5th Volunteer Militia Battalion; its two flank companies were dressed in tartan trews. In the Maritimes, the militia had a regimental tradition. New Brunswick Regiment of Yeomanry Cavalry had been formed in 1842 as the first voluntary cavalry regiment in British North America. Prince Edward Island formed its militia companies into the Queen's Country Regiment. In Newfoundland the various militia companies were consolidated into the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment in 1862.11