FIVE NATIONS

or

The History of the United States and Surrounding Nations after the War Between the States

Matt Trepal

Although the Battle of Gettysburg is seen as the turning point in the American Civil War, it was actually much closer than it might seem. If Jeb Stuart had not gone off on a glory-grabbing raid instead of providing intelligence to the Army of Northern Virginia, and if the Confederates had been successful on getting artillery to the summit of Big Round Top to enfilade the Federal lines, and if the second day’s plans had been executed properly on the Confederate side, then the battle -- and the war, and the world -- may have turned out differently.   Here, then, is one way things might have gone.

Part I:  A House Divided

1863: 3 Jul - Confederate forces defeat US Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. By placing artillery on Big Round Top, Confederate gunners are able to enfilade and break the Federal lines.
4 Jul - The 41-day siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi ends as the Confederate garrison, near starvation, surrenders. The US Army now controls the entire Mississippi River.
13 Jul - Federals defeated again at York, Pennsylvania.
5 Aug - Battle of Washington. CS Army takes US capital. President Lincoln is killed when his carriage overturns while attempting to flee the city.
7 Aug - US Congress relocates to Philadelphia. Hannibal Hamlin is sworn in as President.
11 Aug - The Army of the Mississippi, under General Ulysses S. Grant, begins a march east from Vicksburg.
17 Aug - General James Longstreet is dispatched west from the Army of Northern Virginia in Washington with two Corps to assist General Braxton Bragg in Georgia.
20 Aug - US Army takes Jackson, Mississippi.
2 Sep - The reorganized Army of the Potomac, under General George Meade, assaults the Confederate-occupied Washington defenses and is horribly mauled.
3 Sep - The Army of the Ohio, under General Ambrose Burnside, moves east through the Cumberland Gap and enters Virginia.
19 Sep - Longstreet's Corps defeats the Army of the Ohio near Roanoke, Virginia.
1 Oct - The Army of the Mississippi besieges Montgomery, Alabama.
2 Oct - The Army of the Potomac makes a second assault on Washington, resulting in a second defeat.

Confederate-occupied defenses of Washington, DC

5 Oct - A cease-fire is offered by Hamlin and accepted by Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Negotiations begin to end the war.
27 Oct - Britain and France recognize the CSA and pledge aid if needed, effectively dashing the USA's hopes of winning the war.
18 Dec - Treaty of Alexandria formally ends the War Between the States. USA cedes Indian Territory to CSA while CSA renounces claims to Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia, and the Western Territories.

1864: Demobilization of the armies. Washington and Richmond defenses remain well manned and the USA keeps an ironclad riverine fleet at St. Louis.
USA ratifies the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery.
Nov - Democrat George McClellan is elected President of the United States on a "Peace and Reconciliation" platform.

1866: 1 Apr - Utah Territory declares its independence and claims New Mexico Territory; Confederate influence is suspected but never proven. Units in California, Oregon, Nevada, Kansas and Colorado and Nebraska Territories mobilized.
23 Apr - Battle of San Juan River. US troops defeated by Utah Mormon troops.
3 May - Battle of Salt Lake. US troops again defeated by Utah rebels.
10 May - Congress authorizes the conscription of 100,000 new troops.
12-15 May - Massive anti-draft riots in New York City, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.
11 Jun - Utah troops, now calling themselves the Army of the Mormon Land of Deseret cross the border into Colorado Territory.
4 Jul - Deseret troops capture Denver as another army invades Nevada. Peace negotiations begin.
13 Aug - Treaty of Denver ends the Mormon War. Deseret granted independence and purchases the New Mexico Territory. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints becomes the official religion, the vote is restricted to land-owning males of the Church, and polygamy is legalized for Church members.
Sep - Dec - Non-Mormon refugees begin entering Texas, Colorado and Nevada with stories of harassment by Mormon troops.

1867: CS Army probes into northern Mexico. To discourage Confederate expansion, the USA demonstrates along the Potomac River. After several minor skirmishes with Imperial Mexican troops, the CSA withdraws. The USA subsequently begins a program of "democracy building" in Mexico, giving military and political aid to republican guerillas fighting to depose Emperor Maximillian. A new executive department, the National Intelligence Service, is created to perform training and recruitment in these operations.
Britain passes the British North America Act, uniting Upper and Lower Canada into the Dominion of Canada.
Robert E. Lee is elected the second President of the Confederate States in a unanimous electoral vote. Even though he had not actively sought the office, he had accepted the nomination and elects to serve "according to the will of the People."

1868: Mormon troops continually harass construction of a Trans-Continental Railroad, ranging into Nevada and as far east as Nebraska. The US Army is consistently unable to stop these raids. Hostile Indian activity increases on the Great Plains; Mormon and Confederate influence is suspected, but again never proven. Morale in the US Army plummets.
3 Sep - Citing the threat posed by Deseret and the inability of the Federal Government to offer protection, California secedes.
7 Sep - Oregon secedes and claims Washington Territory.
9 Sep - Nevada secedes.
11 Sep - US troops in Sacramento mutiny and join the Californians. With no effective way of transporting troops to the West Coast, a cease-fire is agreed to. Terms of peace are settled several weeks later.
1 Oct - The Western States of America are formed, consisting of Clark, Lewis, Nevada, North California, Oregon, South California, and Washington. Their constitution outlaws slavery and enfranchises women. The border with the United States is set at the Continental Divide.
Nov - Radical Republican James Seward is elected President of the United States. By claiming that the Democrats allowed the "dissection of the Republic" he ruins the Democrats as a Presidential party for generations.

1868 - 1880: Great Indian Wars. Supported by Deseret and the CSA, Plains tribes such as the Sioux, Pawnee, Cheyenne, and Apache wage war on the US Army and white settlers. US cavalry troops often cross the Canadian border in pursuit, much to the growing dismay of the Canadians and British.

1869: Seward's Radical administration begins a secret program of encouraging re-Unionist sentiment in the CSA, using NIS agents. Re-Unionist parties and rallies quickly grow in eastern Tennessee, North Carolina, and western Texas. Several Constitutional amendments are also pushed through: The 14th prohibits secession, the 15th extends the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race or gender and eliminates the poll tax, and the 16th protects the rights of naturalized citizens.
Missouri Copperheads begin guerrilla warfare in Kansas and Illinois.
The Knights of Labor are founded and quickly spread to all four American nations.
The Mormon Land of Deseret closes its borders to non-Mormons.

1870: Franco-Prussian War. When Napoleon III pulls French troops out of Mexico to fight in Europe, Emperor Maximillian is overthrown and executed. The US continues its program of democracy building with the new republican government.
Democrats in the US Congress propose removing fifteen stars from the flag, one for each state that had seceded. The motion is viciously defeated and the Democrats are further discredited.
Texas politicians begin complaining that Richmond ignores them and their needs in favor of the Eastern "Old Guard" states of Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.

1871: Germany is united under Bismarck.
Confederate politicians express their desire for a Pacific port. The Mexican cities of Guaymas and Ensenada are most frequently mentioned.

1872: Nov - Presidential elections in both the USA and CSA create much consternation on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. In the USA, Moderate Republicans defeat the Radicals (now Unionist Party). In the CSA, Conservatives defeat Grange. Several re-Unionist riots in CSA put down by militias.
Britain begins lobbying the CSA to phase out slavery.

1873: 2 Feb - CS Army of West Texas invades Mexico but meets with strong resistance by a well-trained US-backed Mexican army.
1 Apr - Army of West Texas takes Chihuahua. US ironclads appear in front of Memphis.
25 Apr - Mexican troops, supported by US Navy gunboats, sack and burn Galveston, Texas. USA declares war on CSA and begins mobilizing troops.
30 Apr - US ironclads shell Memphis.
7 May - CS Army of the Pecos invades Mexico and makes for Monterrey. US troops begin demonstrating along the Potomac. US cavalry raids into Tennessee and Arkansas.
15 Jun - Mexican troops defeat Confederate forces at Monterrey.
8 Jul - US troops cross the Potomac into Virginia.
15 Jul - US Army besieges Richmond.
2 Aug - Mexican troops capture Laredo, Texas.
8 Aug - Army of West Texas enter Sonora. WSA declares its neutrality in the Mexican conflict.
17 Aug - US Army invades Tennessee.
20 Sep - Army of West Texas is defeated at Hermosillo. Texas delegation to CS Congress calls for peace.
1 Oct - Mexican Army captures El Paso.
7 Oct - Mexican Army captures Corpus Christi. Mexican troops now control all of southern Texas.
9 Oct - Texas secedes from CSA, recalls troops from the CS armies, and declares a cease-fire with Mexico. The Army of West Texas is cut off from CSA territory, deep inside Mexico.
15 Oct - The Governor-General of Canada offers to negotiate a peace. Second Mexican War ends. During the negotiations the representatives of both the USA and CSA try to regain Texas, but both are rebuffed. The Republic of Texas is guaranteed independence. CSA pays reparations to Mexico and has its prisoners returned. CSA signs formal treaty with Britain.

1874: USA launches the ocean-crossing ironclad USS Pennsylvania .
USA and CSA exchange ambassadors, establishing formal diplomatic relations.
Carnegie Steel opens the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock, PA, the first Bessemer steel plant in North America.
Despite its treaty with the CSA, Britain begins patrolling the coast of West Africa to discourage the illicit slave trade.

1875: US Pennsylvania-class ironclads begin patrolling the Caribbean regularly, over the protests of the CSA and Britain.
USA begins democracy building in the Caribbean. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the main recipients, while covert aid is given to rebels, insurgents, and dissidents in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

1877: Widespread labor violence. A continent-wide railroad strike provokes riots in New York City, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Atlanta and Sacramento. A coal strike leads to violence in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The Grange leads a farmer's strike against the large landowners in Texas and the CSA. Militias and police meet much of this unrest with heavy blows.

1880: US cavalry units cross into Canada in pursuit of the Apache leader Geronimo. When local farmers shoot at the trespassing Federals, the troopers respond by sacking and burning the town of Killarney, Manitoba.  Britain responds by demonstrating along Lake Champlain and the Niagara River. In a move to placate the British at a time when they cannot be fought, the USA establishes the Dakota Permanent Indian Territory, consisting of Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana Territories. This large but sparsely-settled area of the United States is reserved for the Indian natives and white settlers are prohibited from settling within its borders.
Britain purchases Alaska from Russia and attaches it to Canada.

Part II:  The Gilded Age

1880 - 1920: Age of the Robber Barons. Industrial expansion reaches its zenith, and industrialists and landowners dominate politics. Many pieces of legislation protecting the assets of the landed and monied elites are passed in the USA, CSA, and WSA. Organized labor is outlawed in the USA (1893), but continues despite opposition. Labor becomes more politicized and radical.
Immigration from Europe to North America increases. The USA is the main destination for most immigrants; many poor Europeans decline to immigrate to the CSA since slavery tends to depress wages and land is difficult to acquire. Texas and the WSA gain substantially, although there is a strong anti-Catholic bias in Texas and a strong anti-Asian one in the WSA.

1881: USA begins democracy building in Central America.
With oil and cattle surpassing plantation agriculture in the Texas economy, the Legislature passes the Negro Emancipation Act, paying slaveowners to free their slaves.

1882: In an attempt to ensure the integrity of the Dakota Permanent Indian Territory, Britain establishes several military posts along the border between Canada and the PIT.

1883: After years of tales of discrimination and violence by the citizens of Deseret against non-Mormons, the Republic of Texas claims half of New Mexico Territory.

1884: 16 Feb - Texas invades Deseret. All the other North American nations declare their neutrality.
Mar - Dec - A series of bloody but indecisive battles are fought between Texas and Deseret. Texan forces capture and lose Santa Fe three times. The Third Battle of Santa Fe claims over 8,000 casualties on both sides. Reports filter east of atrocities committed by both armies.

1884 - 1885: The Berlin Conference on Africa divides that continent into spheres of influence. The USA and CSA both attend as "interested parties," but the US negotiator discovers that the CSA is attempting to secure an African colony from which to legally import slaves. Negotiations deteriorate between the European and American nations as the USA attempts to block the Confederate move by every means available, at one point threatening to go to war with both Britain and Germany simultaneously if the CSA is granted its desire. The Confederate request is denied, but relations between the USA and the European nations sour.

1885: Mar - New Mexican War ends. Border is drawn at Continental Divide.

1886: Labor unrest in the USA. Haymarket riot and bombing in Chicago lead to crackdowns on organized labor by the Federal government.

1887: Completion of the Dakota Railway, the only rail link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with no British control. Maintained by the Dakota Territory Trust, the DRW has a single line between Scottsbluff, Nebraska, USA and Butte, Lewis, WSA with a spur line to Salt Lake City, Deseret.

1888: Nov - Republican industrialist John Pierpont Morgan elected President of the United States on a "Growth and Security" platform, narrowly defeating the Unionist but more labor-friendly candidate. He immediately begins a program of "business security."

John Pierpont Morgan

1889: Industrial Security Act passed in the USA, allowing corporations to defend their own property and giving corporate security officers certain police powers.

1890: Federal Anti-Trust Bill defeated in US Congress.
Native Confederate industrialists begin calling for an import tariff to help foster production of consumer goods within the CSA.

1890 - 1900: Partition of China. The USA tries to keep an "Open Door" to China but European powers, remembering the belligerence of the Federals at the Berlin Conference, prevail. The WSA is granted a sphere of influence in the Formosa and Fukien Provinces of southern China.

1892: A steel strike in Pittsburgh turns violent as strikers attack corporate troops. Hundreds are killed in the violence that follows. Demonstrations in Cleveland and Detroit in support of the Pittsburgh strikers turn into riots when local militia units try to disperse the crowds.
Nov - CS government is split, with a Grange-dominated Congress and a Conservative President. John P. Morgan is re-elected President in the USA.

1893: A guerilla uprising in Cuba begins.
The First Amendment to the CS Constitution is ratified, allowing Congress to establish tariffs on foreign goods. It is passed over the vocal opposition of large landowners, but with the support of native industrialists. Mississippi and South Carolina are the only states not to ratify the amendment.

1894: Pressure builds in the CSA for the "liberation" of Cuba. One New Orleans newspaper says that the CSA should "take land that right now is in the incompetent hands of Negroes, Mulattos, Spaniards, and Indians."
US President Morgan warns the CSA against "adventurism" in the Caribbean, saying, "we will not permit the stain of slavery to taint any more territory in this hemisphere."
Britain publicly cautions the USA while beginning back-channel negotiations to prevent war.
The CS Congress passes a tariff on European goods.

1895: 3 Jan - CS President calls for the mobilization of the army "to resolve the Cuba issue."
10 Jan - CS President rejects a mediation offer by the French ambassador on behalf of Spain. The USA again warns against war.
31 Jan - CS battleships arrive to blockade Santiago harbor. USA breaks diplomatic relations with the CSA and begins mobilizing.
2 Feb - Spain declares war on the CSA.
4 Feb - CS troops land at Guantanamo Bay.
5 Feb - Battle of Guantanamo. CS defeats Spanish forces but takes heavy casualties.
8 Feb - Battle of Santiago Harbor. Spanish fleet destroyed by CS Navy with minimal Confederate casualties.
13 Feb - CS troops assault San Juan Heights and are badly beaten. CS naval units and troops begin probing other Caribbean islands. Stiff resistance is met in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where democracy building by the USA has been most effective.
25 Mar - In the Second Battle of San Juan Heights, CS forces capture the heights despite heavy casualties. CS forces land outside Havana.
4 Apr - US naval units arrive in the Caribbean and engage and destroy a CS fleet en route to support the landings on Hispaniola Island. CS forces enter Santiago and accept the Spanish surrender, but local partisan forces continue to fight.
7 Apr - CSA declares war on the USA and begins demonstrating in Virginia.
15 Apr - US Army units land in Cuba in support of local guerrillas. CSA invades Puerto Rico.
May - Sep - A series of island battles are fought from Puerto Rico to Trinidad. Having trained for this operation, CS troops are very successful. France and Holland declare war on the CSA, but are kept in Europe by the Royal Navy.
7 Jun - A British fleet arrives in the Caribbean "to ensure the security of British possessions."
11 Jun - The Second Amendment to the CS Constitution is ratified, allowing Congress to eliminate slavery. Again, Mississippi and South Carolina are the only states not to ratify.
30 Jun - A naval showdown between the US and Britain off the coast of Nassau, Bahamas. Shots are exchanged but there are no casualties. The CSA urges Britain to declare war on the USA.
3 Jul - In an attempt to better prosecute the war, the CS Congress passes the Negro Volunteer Emancipation Act, allowing any slave to volunteer for either war production or military service. The government would compensate the slaveowner and the slave would be granted his freedom after the five-year term of service is completed. The production of foodstuffs is included in "war production," but cotton and tobacco production are not. Freed blacks are granted the right to own property, but not to vote, testify in court, or serve on a jury. Thousands of slaves volunteer for service.
1 Aug - CSA invades Jamaica. Britain breaks off diplomatic relations.
Aug - Dec - CS troops land on other British possessions, including the Bahamas, Grenada, and Jamaica.

1896: 4 Jan - US troops invade CSA in Virginia and Tennessee.
3 Feb - The 1st Confederate Negro Infantry Regiment enters service in Virginia.
10 Mar - Battle of Rio Zaza. In this last battle of the Cuban campaign former New York City Police Commissioner, rising star of the Republican party, and Lt. Col. of Volunteers Theodore Roosevelt is killed. The battle is a draw.

Theodore Roosevelt and his troops before the Battle of Rio Zaza

12 Mar - US forces take Memphis, then invade Arkansas.
Apr - Jun - Fighting stalls. Richmond is besieged but the CSA holds much of the Caribbean. Cuba is divided, and guerrilla attacks continue behind CS lines.
11 May - USA invades Jamaica.
13 May - Britain declares war on the USA but takes no aggressive action.
4 Jul - The Labor Party of America is founded in Chicago.
15 Nov - West Indies War ends with the Treaty of Tulsa. CSA annexes the Lesser Antilles Islands (Puerto Rico to Trinidad), over the protests of the French and Dutch. Occupied British possessions are purchased for a nominal fee. Cuba is partitioned along the armistice line of the Zaza River, with the CSA annexing the eastern half and the USA administering the western half. The USA purchases Jamaica, the Bahamas, and British Honduras from Britain.

1897: Confederate settlers begin emigrating to East Cuba and the Lesser Antilles with their slaves, establishing sugar and tobacco plantations.

1898: The WSA annexes the independent republic of Hawaii.
Britain launches the HMS Dreadnought , the first steel-hulled battleship.

1900: The USA establishes republics in Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, and British Honduras (now renamed Belize).
The USA becomes the world's leading steel producer.
WS troops assist in putting down the Boxer Rebellion in China.
Industrialization continues to lag in the CSA. Cheap, well-made US goods flood the market, retarding the growth of Confederate manufacturing. Richmond and Birmingham industrialists begin lobbying for a tariff on US-made goods, in addition to European products, in order to foster native production.

North America, 1901

1901: Haiti and the Dominican Republic join to form the Republic of Hispaniola.
WSA purchases Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines from Spain.
The first Confederate Negro Volunteer troops are discharged as freedmen.

1902: US military reorganizes into General Staff system on the German model.

1903: Henry Ford begins mass-producing automobiles in Detroit.
Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully demonstrate heavier-than-air flight.
USA begins democracy building in Asia, specifically in the Philippines and China.
The Military Reform Act, establishing the General Staff system in the CS military, is defeated in Congress. A modified version of the bill is later passed; although the army will continue to be dominated by State units, the standing army is increased to 200,000 and the navy is increased substantially with the building and purchase of several Dreadnought-type battleships.

1904: CS Congress passes the National Railroad Act, allowing the establishment of the Confederate Railroad Board to promote industrialization and standardize transportation.

1904 - 1905: Russo-Japanese War. Japan expels Russia from Manchuria and assumes control of the region. After the alarming destruction of the Russian fleet, the WSA begins a modernization program in its navy to meet the potential Japanese threat.

1905: National Railroad Act found unconstitutional by CS Supreme Court.

1906: An amendment allowing Congress to regulate commerce is passed by the CS Congress and submitted to the states.
East Cuba is admitted to the CSA as a state.

1907: The CS Congress passes a tariff on US-produced goods. The US Congress responds by boycotting CS cotton. A financial panic follows as manufacturing and agricultural markets slow.
CS Army Air Service established.

1909: Hawaii is admitted to the WSA as a state.
Puerto Rico is admitted to the CSA as a state.

1910: The US Navy launches its first submarine.
CS Congress begins debating complete emancipation.

1911: Trinidad is admitted to the CSA as a state. The remaining Lesser Antilles are organized into the territories of Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.

1912: The Third Amendment to the CS Constitution is ratified, extending suffrage to white women.

1913: Chicago elects a Labor Party mayor.
After three years of debate, the Complete Negro Emancipation Act is passed, providing for the complete and compensated emancipation of all slaves. Hard labor on plantations and in factories remains a common criminal sentence, more frequently given to blacks than to whites.

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