The Union 1864

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

The Union 1864-1878

With the defeat in the War of Southern Secession and the troubles of ´63 not far away, the presidential elections of 1864 prove to be a resounding defeat for the two wings of the old Republican party: the war-time Union Party, an ettempt at unifying Republican and Democrat, and the Radicals, who blame the defeat upon the Democrats, the Germans, the British, and everybody else who immediately comes to mind. While the Unionists share in the blame-game, they are somewhat more ready to get on with life, where the radicals promote not only retaking the south, but also exacting revenge upon the British.

But a Democratic presidency it is, and one that finishes the task of removing the last attainments of the preceding Republican administration. Among the last to go is the Homestead Act, so as to derive larger returns from land sales.

As a result, the economy takes a turn for the worse. While the lowering of tariffs bring cheaper imports, benefiting the farmers and traders, the industrialists are now confronted with competing European products, and with the winding down of the army, the wartime profiteering is also at an end. To this is added that the former stream of southern produce going through New York now, thanks to the increased capacity of the southern harbors brought about by the war, instead streams through southern harbors. With the independence of the Confederacy, and the imposition of a tariff barrier between the Union and the Confederacy, the Union industry also loses large parts of its market in the south. The setting up of industries in the south during the war, the aquisition of markets and profits by these also further cut into what formerly was a northern domain.

The net result is, that while the northern peasantry generally is happy, the moneyed industrialists and merchants and the urban proletariat are rather less amused. The latter even more so, since there are now also tens of thousands of former slaves competing over the same jobs. The result is constant unrest in the cities, further compounded by the agitation of the Radical Party, blaming the evils on ”the traitors within and without the army” (Germans and Irish and Democrats, respectively) , and the squads of war veterans physically going after those ”traitors”.

In 1865, however, the radicals are not in a position of power, and it remains a Democratic task to bring the Union back to peace. Other than the dismantling of the Republican initiatives of years past, the immediate post-war period also sees the establishment (or re-establishment after the 1800-1865 relocation to Washington D.C.) of the Union capital at Philadelphia, the crushing of the Mormon rebellion (by then in its 3rd year) and institution of military rule in Utah territory. The Sioux rebellion is likewise dealt with, as is a rebellion by Shoshone Indians in Washington Territory.

Administratively, the counties ceded by Missouri are added to Iowa, while those ceded by Maryland and Virginia are cobbled together and – for the time being - retained as a territory under military administration. Its not as if the Democrats actually NEED additional Unionist or Radical members in Congress to wrangle with. Officially, it is described as putting a barrier in the way of southern armies threatening Philadelphia.

While the Union guards against foreign invasion, it is somewhat surprised to see an invasion launched from its own territory. The Irish nationalists in the Fenian Brotherhood have for years schemed to attain independence for Ireland, but all attempts to do so IN Ireland have been brought to naught. As a result, the Fenians in the USA settle upon a somewhat closer objective:

They invade Canada.

Needless to say, the invasion of several thousand Irishmen armed and uniformed from surplus US Army stocks isnt a trifle, and some of the Irish columns are also intercepted by government troops. In Vermont and at Buffalo, the number of Irismen is simply too big, though and they make it onto British soil. Having come there, there generally isnt much agreement on what to do. Many of the less indoctrinated volunteers simply go back across the border, others resort to looting. With the arrival of a number of British regular cavalry, the Vermont column breaks and runs, and though the Buffalo column manages to beat a battalion of Canadian militia, it eventually retreats back to the Union also. A repeat attempt in 1868, this time combined with an Irish rebellion in Montreal, fares

Even worse, and the Irish are slaughtered.

Though the British are fuming, the US has really done all it could to stop the invasion.

Domestically, there is an attempt at placating the Irish somewhat. It isnt in US power to grant Irish independence, but there is one other Irish compaint it can do something about: the competition for jobs from the newly freed slaves. Thus, over the 1865-69 period, some 50.000 former southern slaves are given incentives to settle in Liberia, and eventually do so. Even some free-born blacks settle in Liberia, providing a huge infusion of new blood to the ailing country (about doubling the settled population by a factor of four). By 1869, though, the initiative comes to an end, when Liberia refuses to take in any more, as the influx is creating considerable unrest among the migrant Negro population.

Despite the administrative disenfranchisement of the ”Military Frontier” – the US territory erected comprising the ceded parts of Maryland-Virginia - , the Democrats really cant prevent a resurgence of the former Republicans, and that is just what comes about in the 1866-67 congressional elections, though, when the Radicals retake ground lost to the Democrats in New England and the mid-Atlantic states during the preceding years. Part of this process is also the Radical intimidation of the whole range of internal enemies seen by the Radicals (mostly Irish and Germans, though a few Democrats are targeted, too), primarily through the Radical control of the ”Grand Army of the Republic”, the prime organization for disgruntled war veterans. Especially the spring of 1867 sees a series of arson attacks on mainly western German property that, ironically, are blamed on the victims when they spread to Anglo-Saxon owned property. The Democratic state governments sit back and enjoy the show as opponent fights opponent

Congress, now with a Radical/Union majority, proceeds to block pretty much all initiatives by the Democrat presidency. Instead, both the states of Kanawha (the Union remnants of Maryland and West Virginia) and Nebraska are accepted into the Union, Kanawha with Radical and Nebraska with Unionist representation in congress.

Come 1868, those who had expected more or less a replay of the spectacle at the congressional elections, are somewhat disappointed. Though the elections go in favor of the Radical (now renamed American) Party, the elections aso introduce the two-way mob fighting. Refusing to give in to mob violence, the Germans have banded together and, on the basis of the German Turnvereine and with a hard core of war veterans, created a nation-wide network of self-defense leagues, that turn out to be somewhat stronger opponents than what the American Party mobs can actually manage. The result is a series of spectacular riots, that leave authorities totally at a loss of what to do, and sees federal troops engaged against the rioters. The same happens in New York, where Germans and Irish are cooperating against the mob.

In the end, the consequence is only to scare more Anglos into voting for the American Party, giving it the presidency in the first election where it stands. The new president is Ulysses S. Grant.

Even with the presidency in their hands, the Americans have some trouble actually pushing through all they would like to, though. For one, congress is split into three factions, with none of the two other parties having much of a liking for cooperating with the Americans. The Unionists on one hand have to look after the interests of the large German block in the party, and on the other make sure that seeming too pro-German doesn't scare people away and have them run to the Americans – which essentially gridlocks the party. The Democrats have begun feeling a decided pull among their traditional constituency towards the Americans, that now have toned their stances on Negro rights and tariffs down considerably in favor of (anglo-saxon and protestant) American nationalism. As a result, the Democrats are determined to at least look different than the Americans. That only works for so long, but in 1868 it is still an effective policy.

Still, Grant does get a few initiatives through congress, most notably a second Homestead Act and somewhat increased tariffs. All three parties can agree to the prolonging of the effort to settle US negroes and former southern slaves that have fled into the US. When Liberia refuses to take any more, a solution is found in Haiti, where US support for the southern faction under Michel Domingue in southern Haiti goes towards attaining two goals:

- Find a place to settle the unwanted former slaves

- Countering confederate support for the northern faction (who has a similar agreement with the Confederacy to take its free black population)

A number of American intiatives are stopped cold, though: The nativist initiatives to prolong the period required for naturalisation and even block some parts of the German immigration is stopped thanks to cooperation between Union and even some American congressmen. Likewise, a transcontinental railroad is blocked for fear of the profits from such an adventure flowing into the coffers of the American Party, aligned as it is with the railroad interests.

On the international front, not only does the Grant presidency open with the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1869 (mostly to spite Great Britain), but the same year also sees a US intervention in the Riel Rebellion in Ruperts Land, which is about to be incorporated into Canada. After the initial news of the sale of Ruperts Land and the North Western Territory breaks, the Metís in the Red River region rebel, take over Fort Garry, and demand their autonomy and rights be respected. When at first the British crown refuses (the sale is to the Queen of England), the Metís enlist the aid of the US settlers in the region and, though them, of the Grant administration. This, of course, only escalates the situation, and when the Metís execute one of their prisoners, tempers only get more agitated. In the end, it is pretty much just congressional refusal to appropriate money for a war, and British aversion against one such that averts actual fighting.

Given the rather sparse population in the region, and the pro-US sympathies among what there is of it (US-derived settlers and, after assurances of plenty of autonomy to them, the Metís), the end result is that the USA pays a hefty price for the far southern portion of Rupert's land, the so-called ”fertile belt”. For the region extending from British Columbia in the east to 95 degrees western latitude and from the former US border to 55 degrees northern longitude, the price ends up at 1.000.000 English pounds, while the US accepts all clauses of the original sale by the Hudsons Bay Company, ie extensive cessions of land for it to sell as settlers move in.

When all is said and done, territorial expansion without war is rather good PR, and combined with an economic upturn and resultant influx of immigrants, this gives the Americans a boost in the 1870-71 midterms, where the Americans begin making surprising inroads into the traditional Democratic centres of strength in the Ohio Valley. The elections also see the emergence of a new phenomenon: a German network in the press, combining investigative journalism by such well-respected men as Carl Schurz and Joseph Pulitzer with the biting wit of cartoonists like Frederick Opper, Joseph Keppler and Thomas Nast, that makes it feared all around. While ridicule of the Americans is a staple issue (Thomas Nast adds the American monkey to his other two political animals, the Union elephant and the Democratic donkey), the first target is William Tweed, the corrupt so-called ”King of New York”.

The press also accuses the Americans of widespread ballot-stuffing at elections, accusations that will be an reoccurring event in the years to come. Even with such practices, though, Congress remains gridlocked during the second half of the Grant presidency also. It is only with the twin elections of 1872 (seeing even more widespread accusations of voter-fraud), that the Americans are firmly in the saddle, seeing president Grant re-elected and an American majority in Congress.

And with that, things start going downhill. Investigative journalism exposes American corruption both in the presidential administration and elsewhere and, if possible, the atmosphere in the press gets even more poisonous when mob violence is again added to the everyday news. When the administration introducing an act that would make immigration a federal matter, the reply comes with the ratification of the 13th Amendment by Nebraska, essentially barring the administration of interfering with anything the states see as theirs. With that, streetfighting becomes even more bitter, especially since the Turnverein are no more content to merely act in self-defense. The result is a small-scale civil war in many cities from New York to Wichita. With the mainly Union governors refusing to put through a clampdown on the gangs quite to the extent the American administration wants (ie: hunt down the Union-leaning gangs), the employment of federal troops to do this becomes more and more widespread. The manpower for this come about through a drastic expansion of the army, to include some 80.000 men.

When this doesn't exactly prove to reduce the violence, the administration takes to an age-old expediency: picking a fight with foreign powers.

The American party platform anyway calls for the re-acquisition of the CSA and the conquest of Canada, so the result is a series of skirmishes along the borders with both. In the end, it come to war with Great Britain rather than the CSA. A quick series of provocations, from arrests of British nationals on accusations of espionage, re-opening the Oregon dispute, another invasion of ”Fenians” and bullying of British trade end in the demand of a cessation of the entirety of British North America as compensation for British aid to the secessionist south. A depression spreading around the world from 1873 and leading to a series of bank failures only provides urgency to the American plans.

Thus, it is really quite fortunate that the Confederacy at the same time is losing a war with Spain quite badly, making it a prime candidate for US invasion.

Now, had president Grant really bothered to listen to those of his advisors who didn't just tell him what he wanted to know and instead warned him that the British wouldn't back down from their threats to defend the Confederacy, peace might just have been saved. But he doesn't.

By early 1875, the US army crosses into Maryland.

And duly, a week later the Great Britain declares war on the United States, opening up the Canadian theatre, also.

While the regular army initially makes rather good progress in the face of determined Confederate and British resistance, the ploy to exact loyalty from the states by invading neighboring countries backfires spectacularly: the Unionist-governed states aren't going for it.

It begins with the declaration of several western states that they withhold the right to call out their militia or not as they see fit. When president Grant tries to force a federalization of the state militias through, Ohio and Wisconsin declare themselves neutral in the struggle as long as the war is conducted on foreign soil. Federal pressure and the threat of the use of federal troops to occupy the two states only bring about the declaration of neutrality by Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska. New York, Kansas and Pennsylvania prefer to call out their militias and thus avoid the issue altogether – these are engaged against the confederates, and soon make up the majority of the troops there. .

Thus, for all practical purposes, the Union is cut in two. Tariffs and taxes are still going to Philadelphia, and volunteers are freely allowed out, but no tax hikes for the conduct of a war on foreign ground are accepted, enforcement of the new Sedition Act is prevented, and administration efforts to reestablish central control over the neutral states are blocked. Needless to say, the halving of the manpower available to the US army makes warfare suffer.

As the British have been given 6 years warning since the Americans came into power, they are also not caught unaware, and with their widespread introduction of machineguns and barbed wire, they bring the US advance to a standstill soon after the capture of Hamilton, inflicting large numbers of casualties in the process. In the east, the American push from Vermont is stopped in the Green Mountains, where that theatre also degenerates into a slugfest, with the defender having the distinct advantage. Further south, while Maryland quickly falls, the US troops are stopped by the formidable fortifications around Washington.

On the seas, the neglect the navy has fallen into since the War of Secession quickly presents the British with maritime supremacy, further compounded by shore bombardment of all the coastal cities and shipwrights the British can get at, even firebombing several of the coastal cities of New England, most notably Boston, Portland and New Bedford. An initial attempt on New York is stopped, though. US attempts to counter this tactic by the War of Secession-type employment of newly-built ironclads are themselves countered by the British introduction of the torpedo.

As the next year thus sees the British/Confederates and Americans (the Spaniards cut a deal and make peace with the confederates, re-establishing the status quo) hurl everything they have got at each others, and as the US slowly grinds its way forward into Ontario, the split between the American and neutral states deepens.

A buildup of regular troops in western Pennsylvania in the fall of 1875 is countered by the calling out of the state militias of most of the neutral states, and the apparent unreliability of the troops of both sides (many desert) and the distaste at the thought of another civil war brings both sides to back off. The following year sees extensive armaments purchases by the neutral states, mostly coming from a friendly Germany via the Mississippi Valley.

It is the elections of 1876 that bring the split to the point of explosion. President Grant declares that, since all energies should be focused on the war, elections are postponed for the time being. The neutral states ignore the declaration, though, and go on to conduct their own anyway. It is the decision in New York and Pennsylvania to do the same that finally starts the civil war. While American efforts to block the election in Pennsylvania and upstate New York by sending in regular troops pulled out of the line in Maryland succeed, the attempt to do the same in New York City backfires, when local militia block their way, and fighting ensues.

Asked to help restore order, newly elected (For the western states, that is) president Samuel J. Tilden calls up the militias of the neutral states and sends them into Pennsylvania. Illinois and Indiana initially refuse, but change their minds when it becomes evident that another civil war is unavoidable. As the US(American) troops arent about to let that happen unopposed, fighting ensues.

With their home states being ravaged by civil war, the militia units from Pennsylvania and New York are pulled out of Maryland and sent into Pennsylvania, where they aid greatly in the expulsion of the US(American) troops, and the establishment of a tenuous line of communication between the US(Unionist) and New York, where local militia has been holding out against the Americans in desperate streetfighting. After some decidedly nasty fighting, the frontline slowly solidifies along the Pennsylvania-New York border.

Making the evacuation out of Maryland of the Unionist militia from Pennsylvania and New York possible is a quickly drawn-up agreement between the Confederacy and the US(Unionist) to respect each others borders. When the American-leaning, pro-Grant state government of Kanawha sees itself surrounded by Unionist forces and asks for the intervention of peacekeeping Confederate troops, the Confederate president – now having fought two wars and having nothing to show for it – decides to throw the agreement to the wind, and invades. Betting on presenting the US (Unionist) with a fait accompli, he is somewhat surprised to actually see a rebellion breaking out in western Missouri, as the remaining Germans in Missouri (still making up the majority in the St. Louis region) decide to throw off the confederate yoke. With Illinois militia flowing in to the aid of the rebels, there are all the hallmarks of a widening of the war, but again Great Britain intervenes in Confederate affairs: the British would, frankly, like the Confederates to keep quiet and let the two USA´s fight each other so that they can drain troops facing the British in Canada away. And thus a cease-fire is forced down the throat of the CSA. It holds pretty well, too.

Now, with the Confederate-US front settled down, the war begins to take on the shape it will keep for the next couple years. The US (American) administration has ”temporarily” set up shop in Boston, while the US (Unionist) administration has established itself at Chicago. Somewhat to the concern of the latter, after losing control over the northwestern states, the Pacific ones also essentially tell president Grant to take a hike. Not in those words, of course, and nout out of any foul pro-foreign sentiments, but because the Californians and Oregonians would frankly not suffer the fate the New Englanders have, ie: burning of the coastal cities. Added to Californian resentment over the eastern tendency to lord it over the natural resources of the Pacific states, the British really dont need to do that much to make the Pacific states declare their neutrality, too. In fact, all it takes is for the British to refrain from throwing the Californians out of British Columbia. There only lived 40-some thousand settlers there, anyway, so to remove a front from the war the Brits are OK with that.

In the middle of it all, the Mormons of Utah take advantage of a situation where troops that could otherwise be used in Utah frankly are needed just a wee bit more in other places. In short, they declare their independence……again. The Unionists are anyway tied up elsewhere, and the Americans are some 1500 miles removed. Add confederate arms shipments and Californian memories of what happened the last time they tried occupying Utah (they anyhow have the much friendlier British Columbia to go to now), stir, and you have yourself the independent Mormon state of Deseret. Though there is some skirmishing over the territory of Nevada, the mines there are more than enough reason for the Californians to come up in arms. The Mormons respect that, and withdraw.

Now, as 1877 and 78 grind on, the warfare degenerates into positional warfare with mounting losses. While the establishment of the American Red Cross on the Unionist side in 1877 provides a little relief and care for the wounded during the fighting, the American side is not so lucky. Viewed with suspicion as a ”German” invention (well, Swiss, but who really cares), a US(East) branch isnt created until 1904. The result is only needless suffering, that isnt outweighed by success on the battlefield. While American succeses like the breakthrough at St. Jean (leaving substantial portions of Montreal in eastern hands) and the continuing slow advance into Ontario are nice, they are outbalanced by the steadily deteriorating economic situation. Still, the warmongerers around president Grant are only brought to the negotiating table when the final American push, while breaking British resistance in Ontario, only sees a new line forming on the Ontario-Quebec border. The British counter-push that brings them in possession of northern Maine and the Unionist take-over of northwestern Ontario and offensive to he east Detroit, are the final straw.

Though mutual hatred makes an outright peace treaty impossible, early 1879 finally sees an armistice signed between the two USA's, though it takes considerable skill wording such an agreement between two states that essentially view each others as illegal entities. The peace treaty between Great Britain and the two USA´s are rather easier affairs, with the Unionist USA bagging the thinly settled northeastern regions of Ontario at the end of a short month of negotiations. With the American USA, on the other hand, British negotiations drag on until early 1880, by which time the two parties essentially decide to exchange title to the territories they already have taken from each other, with minor modifications. Thus, American troops evacuate the parts of Quebec they have been able to seize, while title to Ontario is ceded in return for that for northern Maine.

And thus, the two United States of America´s are born.

……..which of course means the place of the Pacific states of the US hasnt been covered. Well, suffice it to say that the Californians, once they find out that they do well enough on their own, dont really feel like subjecting themselves to the whims of president Grant anymore – he has proven way too unstable anyway. So instead California (and Oregon, of course) declare their independence as the Union of Pacifica. Other than the two present states, the union also consists at the time of forming of the two territories of Washington and Columbia (formerly British columbia).

And now on to the postwar period:

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