Until Every Drop of Blood Is Paid: A More Radical American Civil War

[Sardar]

Especially as winning the war is easy compared to winning the peace.

Very much so. Keeping the rights of blacks will still be difficult, even with the more favorable circumstances ITTL's reconstruction.

Tbh I am also sad that the Gone with the Wind movie probably won't be made ITTL (of course we won't exist ITTL anyway lmao) mostly because I thought it was a very clear satire and knock on the antebellum South.

 

[jenalysis]

State lines should be redrawn to ensure black majority states. That's the only way I can see rights lasting.

 

[ZakuType]

Depending on how things go with Reconstruction, the legacy of the Jacqueries could be interesting for the South. Poor Southern Whites seem likely to become very populist and may look back rather fondly and romantically to them. It honestly makes me wonder if the South could be more pre-depositoned to Marxist and socialist ideas in the later 1800s. Though I guess that depends on how fairly economic reintegration is handled for the South.

 

[usertron2020]

State lines should be redrawn to ensure black majority states. That's the only way I can see rights lasting.

The problem with that is that you also create lily white states much more radicalized to the extreme far right (Read: Confederate), while destroying any prospects for the Republican Party (even a more conservative wing of said party) in these "Whiter-than-White" constituencies.

And without sticking my neck out too deep into the dangerous ground of Political CHAT, I'll just say this: Sound familiar?

I'm old enough to remember when we had something called "The Blue Dog Democrats" (NOT the Dixiecrats! ), a Southern-based political bloc composed of conservative White Democrats but still sympathetic to Black interests, of which they formed a considerable proportion of their political support.

Sadly, hyper-gerrymandering IOTL has obliterated them as surely as has been destroyed the equally extinct Northeastern-based Progressive Republicans, destroying any hopes of a viable political Center in this country and leaving us with our current mess.

Black-majority districts (or states, which I can't see Congress OR the Supreme Court ever going along with redrawing STATE lines) are all very well for giving African-Americans a dedicated and (for their majority constituencies) trustworthy voice. BUT, it also leaves them numerically isolated as "criers-in-the-wilderness" amidst extremely hostile districts (or states?) that have the potential to be far more hatefully racist. A more heterogeneous population at least promises something a whole lot closer to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream Speech than state-from-state racial segregation.

 

[MagicCarpetMadeofSteel]

I wrote this after reading about the Jacquery and the complete collapse of government authority in the South. This is a bit more visceral than I've written before and I'll admit I'm a bit anxious given some word choices I've put in the mouth of a character. If this is off base or if I should have waited until Red gave the go ahead, I'll delete this.
Otherwise, I hope people like it.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

-Somewhere in South Carolina, Winter 1865-

The rifle was heavy and the strap was cutting into his shoulders.

The soldier, though he supposed he wasn’t a soldier anymore technically, trudged along the road. He watched as his breath fogged in front of him, it was times like this that he both blessed and cursed the long beard that sat in a tangle on his lower face. On the one hand, it kept his face warm, sorely needed as the night drew closer. On the other he kept having to reach up to wipe the wet dew from his nose and breath from his mustache. His beard and hair had gotten long, it’d been almost two months since he’d had a chance to properly shave.

He pulled his jacket closer to himself as he shifted the weight of the rifle on his shoulder. He had forgotten how grateful he had been to receive the gray wool jacket, how proud he had been to be one of the first men in his unit to receive a proper uniform, not the improvised hodgepodge the other men had been wearing until then. Now he was mostly glad for something warm to wear. He was even more thankful for the sturdy shoes he was wearing, still holding together even after marching across half the south.

As the soldier trudged, he saw a figure in the distance. The soldier felt himself tensing. He’d met people on the road before now. Most gave him a wide berth, seeing the ragged uniform and keeping their heads down. But a week back he’d had to beat a man who had convinced himself that soldiers, even ones whose uniform hung as loosely on their emaciated frames as his, must have rations in their packs.

As he drew closer, he could see the man more clearly. He was a black man, wearing roughspun pants and shirt, a battered and torn coat, no shoes. His hair and beard were wild and long just like the soldiers, but where the soldier’s drooped, his had formed a mad bush upon his face. On his shoulder, he carried an ax. When he looked back at the soldier, his face carried a look of suspicion. For some reason, the look of mistrust put the soldier at ease. The man had other business and it didn’t concern the soldier.

As the soldier moved forward, the man with the ax kept his pace. Eventually, the soldier had caught up with the man as they marched side by side down the road in silence. As they did, the soldier caught the black man occasionally stealing a glance at him sidelong and despite his brief calm, the soldier felt suddenly very aware of the ax and the fact that he was down to two cartridges, all the same though, the ax stayed put.

It was the soldier who broke the silence.

“So, you got a name, boy?” The soldier asked, earning another sidelong glance from his travel companion. Once again, the soldier felt somewhat aware of the ax on the man’s shoulder, but once again, it stayed put, instead, he seemed to now be considering something, after a time, he spoke, answering the soldier’s question.

“John Brown. You?” John said offhandedly. The soldier stared in confusion at John, earning a level stare back. Eventually, it was the soldier who broke the silence, letting out a snort of laughter which John obliged with a smile.

“Francis, Francis Marion.” Francis responded wryly. John nodded, if he was aware of his travel companion’s war record against the British, he didn’t say. Silence reigned once more.

“You’re a long way from Pottawatomie.” Francis said with a smirk. John didn’t respond to the jest, letting silence dominate once again. Franics continued to march, wondering at the strangeness of it all. Had it been even six months ago, he would have... what would he have done? Gone to the sergeant? Reported a runaway? Then again, six months ago, would this man have been walking on the road so openly, no freedom papers, holding an ax? Francis had seen negroes on this journey south back to Georgia before now, but they had given him a wide distance, and they never traveled alone as they made their way northwards, hoping to find the Union lines.

“So where are you headed then John?” Francis said, unable to let the silence smother him for another moment. This time John responded, lifting his free hand and pointing towards a side road. “I’m gonna get somethin’ to eat from there.” He said simply. Francis followed the finger to a tree lined side road, at the end of which Francis could see a large and impressive house. As they reached the crossroads, John stopped, looking at Francis, eyeing him up.

“Could use a man with a rifle, if y’all’s willin’ to use it.” John said cautiously. Francis blinked, considering the offer laid before him. He almost discarded it out of hand. But at the mention of food, he felt his stomach growl at him for his foolishness. Francis looked down the road at the house. It looked nice enough, he didn’t see anyone else down that way. He chewed the inside of his cheek, thinking.

“I only got two shots John, not sure a rifle will help much.” John shrugged. “They don’ need to know that, you want food or not?” He said, seeming impatient now. Without thinking, Francis nodded. He could see John’s shoulders lower slightly, relaxing. As he did, Francis could see to his discomfort how John’s grip on the ax loosened, and he drifted to a more casual stance once more, he wondered how John might have reacted had he said no, or hesitated for too long. On some level, he couldn’t blame him for that. Francis hesitated and reached into his cartridge belt, pausing and buttoning it again and instead grabbing his bayonet, fixing it to the barrel as John waited. He nodded and the two turned, heading towards the house.

They didn’t take the main road, instead slipping into the trees, creeping closer to the house. John moved through the undergrowth deftly, familiar with the terrain. Francis wasn’t quite as deft in the undergrowth as his namesake might have been, but he managed to not make a fool of himself. He stopped at the edge of the trees at a raised hand from John who seemed to be looking around. John nodded and waved for him to follow and the two men crept across the twilight drenched lawn towards a shed.
The shed was locked, but a swift blow from the ax took care of that. The two men set to looking around. There wasn’t much, a potato or two, but even so, the two men eagerly snapped them up, tucking them into pockets. Francis was starting to wonder if the risk had been worth it when he heard a sharp mechanical click from the doorway.

“Eli? That you boy?” A man’s voice said, freezing both men in their tracks as they slowly turned to face the door once more. A new man stood in the door frame, a revolver trained upon the two would-be thieves. He seemed as surprised as them to see them, but his surprise was giving way to narrow eyed hate with each passing second.

Time froze as all three men took stock of where they were and all came to the conclusion that the man in the door held the superior hand. The master glowered at John.

“I knew you’d be back, you lazy no-good nigger. Couldn’t hack it out there, so now you’re back to steal from me again. ” The master spat out, leveling the pistol on John. John stared back, his hands up, but his eyes boring into the master’s. Francis stood stock still, hoping on an unconscious level that if he kept silent, this whole thing might just pass him by.

The plan didn’t work as the master looked at him, taking in his gray uniform and rifle and gesturing with his pistol to John. “You there, make yourself useful and arrest this here nigger. Do as you're told and I’ll let this all go.” He said with a note of beneficence that hadn’t been there previously. Francis froze; the master tilted his head impatiently. John was staring at the man with the revolver, his dark eyes boring into his soul. As the seconds dragged by, Francis felt his own eyes drawn towards the master’s silk embroidered waistcoat, the gold watch chain, how well fed the master was.

“Are you listening sir? I said arrest this ni-” The sentence was abruptly ended as John tackled the master with a growl of fury. The pistol cracked and the shot went wide as it fell to the ground. Instinctively, Francis hopped behind the door frame as the other two men wrestled. Francis looked into the shed, he could see that John, for all his tenacity, was starting to fail. He was tall, but he clearly hadn’t eaten in some time. The master however, snarling, was using his superior bulk against John, pressing down on his throat, drawing pained gasps from John, his legs kicking. Francis looked at the treeline, then back to John.

A rifle butt cracked into the side of the master’s head, sending him tumbling off John who gasped, trying to fill his lungs with air. Before he could get up, Francis was on the master, raining blows on the man. As his fists pummeled the older man, he saw the faces of his lieutenant, his captain, slowly working up the chain of command until he had broken General Jackson’s nose. Now it was the master who was gasping for air, blood streaming from his shattered nose as Francis closed his hands around his fat neck, gritting his own teeth so hard that it hurt.

“No” A voice wheezed out, Francis barely heard it. “Get off him, he’s mine.” the voice wheezed again. Francis looked up at John who was massaging his bruised throat with one hand, holding his ax in the other. His eyes were cold.

As Francis loosened his grip, the master gasped, tugging at his collar, his eyes flicking from Francis to John, back to Francis again. “Please, I, we ca-” he started before John, in a fluid and practiced motion raised the ax and brought it down once again, burying it in the master’s skull, splitting it and sending a wet splatter out from the jagged wound. Francis winced as bits of brain hit his pants leg. John stared down at the corpse, his eyes still cold before planting his bare foot on the silk embroidered chest, pulling the ax free and going out, slumping by the outside of the shed.

Francis looked down at the corpse, blood, skull and brain leaking out onto the packed earth. He found that he felt nothing, he’d felt something when men next to him were shot, he’d felt something even for the Yankees he’d killed in ways more brutal than this, rolling in the mud with knives. He looked down at the master and saw his watch chain.

John was still sitting by the outer wall when Francis came out, tucking the gold chain into his pocket. “Anywhere else he might’ve hidden somethin’?” Francis said flatly. The other man was quiet for a moment before nodding and standing back up, using the still bloody ax to steady himself. He pointed to the house, motioning for the other man to follow. They only paused long enough to clean the ax in a horse trough.

The door was still open as they walked into the silent entry hall, lit by the setting sun. Francis took a moment to note a picture of a young man in a captain’s uniform, and another of an older woman in a fine dress. He saw the black bands on the frames before passing them by. They made their way to the kitchens and found what they were hoping for in the pantry. Francis hadn’t seen so much food in months. He quickly scrounged up two burlap sacks and the pair set to work.

In silence they stuffed the bags and then hefted them onto their shoulders as they made their way back out of the kitchens and towards the main hall once more. Francis noted that the other man had gotten a pair of new boots at some point, likely while he had been looking for the sacks.

“So what now, Eli?” Francis said, setting down his sack in the entryway and stretching his back in preparation for whatever came next, only to start when he saw the look the other man shot him.

“I done told you, my name is John Brown, call me Eli again an’ see where it gets you,” John said with a snarl. Francis took an involuntary step back, before pausing and nodding. They were silent again before stepping out the front door, heading down the plantation path towards the main road.

“Make sure you rest your feet every now and again as you break in them boots, or they’ll give you blisters. John.” Francis said casually as they approached the crossroad again. John gave him a searching look before nodding.

“I’ll try to remember that. Francis.” Francis snorted derisively in response.
“That ain’t my name.” John frowned thoughtfully.

“Well then, what do I call you?” They stood at the crossroads. The soldier was silent for a time.

“I don’t even know anymore...” he finally said, sighing. “I don’t even know if it matters.”

John and the soldier were silent as they sat at the crossroads, watching as the sun continued to head towards the horizon. Their sacks filled with food, enough for each man to last a while.

“I’m going towards Georgia, got family down that way. Where’re you headin’?” The deserter said. “North” John responded simply, earning a nod of comprehension from the deserter, no further explanation was required.

After a time they both gathered up their sacks, John walking north and the deserter walking south, now with food and his rifle cutting into his shoulder, a step up from where he had been a few hours ago.

They never saw each other again.

Well then. That’s a damn fine little story.

I was a little skeptical about not-Francis identifying John as a black man instead of a more derogatory term, but considering his later actions I suppose that it was a subtle hint that, while almost certainly still racist, not-Francis decided it was ok to work together and at least subtly show some courtesy and respect. (I imagine that it didn’t even cross his mind that addressing John as “boy” was disrespectful and belittled his manhood, considering how mindful he was of John’s ax.)

I imagine stories like this are occurring all over the South during the winter, which is great news for the Union, because it’s typically much easier to push a narrative that’s more based in fact than one more based in fiction.

The disillusioned, deserting soldier teaming up with the runaway, the greedy planter trying to turn them against each other, and the deserter coming to the runaway’s aid, and then letting him, the more wronged of the two, finish the planter, before helping themselves to his unearned wealth—which you could present as the runaway taking back what was rightfully his, and sharing it with the one who helped him claim it—before amicably (mostly) parting ways, like two ships passing in the night, is just…a quite pleasant story.

Thank you.

 

[Ranger Ridiculous]

Well then. That’s a damn fine little story.

I was a little skeptical about not-Francis identifying John as a black man instead of a more derogatory term, but considering his later actions I suppose that it was a subtle hint that, while almost certainly still racist, not-Francis decided it was ok to work together and at least subtly show some courtesy and respect. (I imagine that it didn’t even cross his mind that addressing John as “boy” was disrespectful and belittled his manhood, considering how mindful he was of John’s ax.)

I imagine stories like this are occurring all over the South during the winter, which is great news for the Union, because it’s typically much easier to push a narrative that’s more based in fact than one more based in fiction.

The disillusioned, deserting soldier teaming up with the runaway, the greedy planter trying to turn them against each other, and the deserter coming to the runaway’s aid, and then letting him, the more wronged of the two, finish the planter, before helping themselves to his unearned wealth—which you could present as the runaway taking back what was rightfully his, and sharing it with the one who helped him claim it—before amicably (mostly) parting ways, like two ships passing in the night, is just…a quite pleasant story.

Thank you.

Thanks!

You've more or less pegged it, especially with the deserter still being pretty racist, even if he doesn't fully realize it. As to him saying black man, that's mainly because I didn't initially feel comfortable being... shall we say, fully authentic. It actually took some psyching up for me to write the words coming out of the master's mouth. (I know it makes sense for that character, it still feels bad and weird to type out that word.)

The only thing I'll add was that in my opinion, this was the best possible ending for John and the deserter, a temporary alliance where some justice is served. By now though, there's too much bad blood between men like the deserter and John. They can't personally manage more at this time than a brief coming together for a common cause. But there's hope all the same, they were able to come together and they were able to part on decent enough terms. In a few years maybe more is possible, certainly in a generation. There's hope.

 

[Saluriel]

Lincoln just burning brighter as he ascending to Demigod status to everyone and especially the former slaves. Civil right bill a hundred years earlier and winning America's great Civil war. Bro sounds like an anime protagonist who started out with simple goals and by the end is sitting on a throne.

I'm imagining a lot of mythology around him visiting Jerusalem post-presidency as he apparently wished to do. The return trip would probably, at his successor's behest, include a goodwill tour of Europe in which I can only imaging throngs of thousands trying to get a glimpse of him. There's a lot of narrative fodder for who he could meet in those circumstances

 

[HueyLongsUnderwear]

I'm imagining a lot of mythology around him visiting Jerusalem post-presidency as he apparently wished to do. The return trip would probably, at his successor's behest, include a goodwill tour of Europe in which I can only imaging throngs of thousands trying to get a glimpse of him. There's a lot of narrative fodder for who he could meet in those circumstances

Marx , Bismark, Napoleon III ( Hey Emperor Phil Kearny says hi) , Gerabaldi, off the top of my head

 

[Grammar Kaiser]

He'll have to go around Austria-Hungary.

 

[HueyLongsUnderwear]

He'll have to go around Austria-Hungary.

Now that will be interesting

 

[MadhatterZack]

This timeline took 6 years to make, I applaud your dedication and spirit in completing it.

 

[TickTock The Witch's Dead]

I came back to this TL just in time to see the glorious and deserved end of the Confederacy!

Hopefully Tecumseh's curse doesn't come around and do Lincoln in. Other than that Reconstruction should go a lot better than OTL. I only hate to imagine the fact that the indigenous people are still going to be screwed in this TL still...

 

[happy neurodivergent papa]

My biggest question is with the elevation of much of the Poor Southern Whites and the Freed Southern Blacks after the war, will that trigger hiring schemes of bringing poor and impoverished Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Chinese and Latin American people to become the underclass of Southern Society. There is already historical precedent for these groups being brought to the South to replace African Americans after the end of Slavery all the way up to the time of when immigration restrictions were passed in the 1920s

 

[Red_Galiray]

Please like the update and share any thoughts you might have

Amazing chapter and words. They truly deserve this end. Can't wait For reconstruction under father abe

Thank you! Father Abraham has a hard task ahead, but I'm sure he'll prove equal to the challenge.

A poetic end for the Confederacy, with one of the fiercest of fire-eaters being purged by the government he wanted to have set up as it collapses.

The Revolution eating its children, it's just that the children deserve it this time.

Reactions to the end of the Civil War across the United States (Colorized):

I'll confess... I prefer this celebration to the original one.

Time for the Reconstruction era then. But first, the trials of various surviving key figures of the Confederates.

I'll reserve those for Reconstruction. In the epilogue we'll just have a quick overall look but we'll get into the details later.

Rest in shit, Reb

Shit's too good for 'em.

Oh, agreed.

There wasn't a great battle IOTL either. There was Lee's evacuation from the lines around Richmond, and then one fight around Appomattox. What we got IOTL was the momentous moment of Lee's surrender to Grant, then followed up by Johnson's surrender to Sherman. They were inherently significant, but became so much more in retrospect as they were used to speak of peace and reconciliation.

ITTL, we don't have that. The closest we have are Grant's attempt to get Jackson to surrender, which he rejects; and Forrest's attempt to surrender, which the (unnamed) US commander rejects. That double rejection is a proper symbol for the more revolutionary view of the war ITTL. I think it will be used as such later on.

But I think the most fitting end to this war is the end of your last paragraph. Kirby Smith tries to surrender on terms; he's rejected; he tries to fight; his men mutiny. At the last resort, they had too much sense to stick to their many-times-over-lost cause.

I understand, but the surrender at Appomattox is treated in popular memory as the "climax" of the war, even though it was in reality a beaten Army just acknowledging its defeat. Instead, Lee and his Army were treated as honorable warriors, saluted and respected by their adversaries, the war immediately over, the bitterness buried, the nation whole again. Much of the mythology around Appomattox serves as a nice "ending" of sorts for the entire conflict, including famous moments such as Union soldiers saluting their adversaries or Ely S. Parker telling Lee that "we're all Americans." I wished to avoid any such imaginary here, and though I worried the result would be an anti-climax compared with how Appomattox towers over our OTL view of the Civil War, I think it was the right choice. As you say, the entreaties to surrender, only to see them rejected and the rebels launch suicidal last charges, will probably be imbued with great meaning later.

Finally

Finally, indeed.

Aw man @Red_Galiray you didn’t get any of the Junta leaders be captured by the mob and get whipped by the poor white or blacks as a sweet irony would be great if Toombs was the one being whipped like a slave by a slave as he looked down at them

It's just... I felt it was too unrealistic? I don't know, felt like too much of a perfect ending when history is often so messy. I tried, but just couldn't make it work. I did edit Toombs' escape slightly, which now includes him coming closer to being lynched (including by former slaves) but the original drafts that had him or other members of the Junta actually lynched by mobs just didn't work in my opinion. The only real chance for that would be his last escape, because he would still have an armed guard from Richmond to Danville, and if he truly had no escape he would just shoot himself, which I felt was more fitting given how often I've reiterated the theme of the slavocracy's obsession with their own power driving them to suicidal measures. I instead shifted that fate to other slaveholders. Hammond is the only one mentioned here but I was going to mention other Southern Generals and politicians later.

Having Hammond strung up was at least something. Just an utterly abominable human being and his pro-slavery arguments weren't even some of the worst things about him (a genuinely incredible feat). Plus, Columbia's been razed to the ground.

I would concur that the best thing to do was for an anti-climactic ending. The victory in toto says enough, as well as the jacqueries putting to bed the idea that this was at all popular amongst the average person living there once all was said and done.

Again, showcasing the devastation wrought by the war is one of this TL's greatest strengths, and it gives us at least a partial glimpse into how hard Reconstruction is going to be on a material level. I'm as interested to see it succeed as to how it will be criticized and I imagine how new transportation, disaster relief (some sort of earlier FEMA?), etc. will likely be at the top of the list, least of all because they're going to have to do it from scratch now that so much of the South is a wasteland. Good luck to Lincoln and whomever his successor ends up being because they're going to need a lot of it.

Including the Civil Rights Act of 1865 as the last act of the 38th Congress was also a nice touch in this chapter.

Yes. While we know the Confederacy was popular at first with White Southerners due to their racism and love for White supremacy, the Jacquerie is probably going to engrave the idea of the "deluded masses" in American popular memory. Most importantly for our purposes that means a very clean, sharp division between the poor, who deserve to be forgiven, and the rich, who do not, unlike dumping them all together as "brothers again." The initial relief efforts will be one of the hardest tasks faced by an 18th century government, with the South starved and submerged in anarchy.

And so fittingly, the "glorious" South died not with a bang, but a pathetic whimper. Hurrah for the Union!

I'll save my congratulations for when the epilogue drops, but this was one of the best stories I have read, and it is a joyous and sad day for me seeing it near it's end.

Thank you! You're very kind And yes, it does feel like the end of an era, but don't worry, we still have Reconstruction to go through!

And so the rotten House of Dixie finally collapses. What a chapter to close a journey of nearly 6 years (2018-2024) … and this is the only the beginning of the next chapter, Reconstruction! While I can see the point of it being an anti-climax, there’s something satisfying about the South tearing itself apart. The legacy of the Southern Jacquerie will be interesting, definitely very divisive for both sides. I’m sure that some will try to push the “race war” narrative and others will highlight the racial solidarity (even if it was driven purely by demographics and necessity). It could also lead to divisions between rural whites and urban whites and the accusations of race traitor being flung around by the urban folk at rural folk.

While it is a shame that universal black suffrage hasn't been passed, but bringing forward the 1875 Civil Rights Act was nice. Oh well, just another battle for civil rights during the Reconstruction era.

On the battles, if I may suggest names for the last battles for Sherman and Grant: Bentonville and Appomattox. Bentonville fits the former battle to a T, Sherman had a chance to close Johnston's escape route at Bentonville when a bold, young division commander surprised Johnston and Sherman (who was told it would be a "little reconnaissance") by attacking through a seemingly impenetrable swamp. Mower almost captured the Mill Creek Bridge, the sole escape route over Mill Creek, but a hard counterattack and isolation drove Mower back. I could see worse morale resulting in a "Sauve qui peut!" situation instead of a counterattack, leading to the mass surrender.

As for Appomattox, Grant did achieve a near-perfect pincer movement on Lee and Sheridan actually begged Grant to let him go in and crush them. Lee finally came to accept negotiations when his breakout attempt for the roads south of Appomattox Court House failed and Grant's northern pincer was closing in to crush him. Here, Jackson refuses to do so and is too dead by the end. I also realize that it changes the idea of the meaning of Appomattox - instead of becoming a myth of national reconciliation, it becomes the death knell of the Old South, a last futile gasp for a now pointless cause.

So Jackson’s dead, Toombs suicided, Joe Johnston surrendered and Beauregard escaped. Wonder what Beauregard will do - he apparently thought about becoming a mercenary general, but often gave up. ITTL he could be one to eke out a living and become the bogeyman for a Confederate government in exile.

And one last thing...

Look guys, he said the thing!

Thanks! And, yes, it'll probably result in a rural/urban cleavage, especially because the countryside was starving partly to feed the cities. The Jacquerie is going to have a very important place in American popular memory, much like the Great Fear in the history of the French Revolution. I adopted your recommendations for the battle names, thank you. In the original draft Jackson's last charge was indeed named Appomattox but I hesitated at the last second but now I edited it back in. Beauregard is going to be interesting. He, in some regards, was "Reconstructed" after the war, but never ever gave up his undying hatred for Jefferson Davis. I could see him blaming Breckinridge and Davis for the defeat till his last breath, yet acknowledging the reality of the North's victory. Not that it would help him - I can say he will never return to the US. But if he then becomes a foreign mercenary, what will the US think?

That was fantastic!

Thank you very much!

Now that is what I call an ending.

Can't wait for the epilogue and start of Reconstruction.

Thanks! Soon

I read the Wikipedia article and I have rarely been so happy at an alternate fate for a man. May his soul find no respite in hell and may his many victims have nothing but compassion given to them, as unlikely as that may be.

🥹
I need an entire book of this, my God. It's so beautiful.

From the first moment I learned about Hammond I decided he had to die like this. He somehow managed to be one of the most despicable slaveholders, a group known for being full of despicable people. Likewise, since I read about that moment, I knew I had to include White's reunion with his mother. It fits here even better given Toombs' different position compared to OTL.

"And there was much rejoicing".

Fantastically written. Onwards to Reconstruction and the hope for a better tomorrow!

Thank you! And the future will not be easy or perfect, but it'll be better

The Confederates have died, but nothing of value was lost.

Nothing at all. In fact, the US is better off now that so many slaveholders lay underground.

Picture's busted.

Also huzzah!

Fixed, thanks! Curiously enough, the original looked just fine on my laptop, but was busted on my phone.

An absolute triumph @Red_Galiray, bravo.

The contrast from how the war began and how it ends will always be fascinating to me. The South, aggressive and outraged, starting the war having pushed even farther with the admittance of Kansas and an even more lopsided Dred Scott. That they took and burned DC, held it for as long as they did, prosecuted the war more 'successfully.'

And all it gets them is the war lasting about as long as OTL, but with anarchy and total collapse. No handshake, no peace with honor, defeated utterly. Unironically you could make a joke about the "star that shines twice" here, given what the victory disease from the first part of the war did to the confederate psyche.

You're very kind, thank you for your comment! I do think it's quite fitting that for all their arrogance and aggressiveness the only thing they managed was to lose even harder.

I doubt that very much. What government in Europe would both grant Beauregard asylum (Judah Benjamin got asylum from the Brits) AND allow him to operate as a Confederate "government-in-exile"? The British would never do it, and I could easily see an eventual Third Republic France even handing him over to the Americans IF Beauregard ever tried such shenanigans whilst living in Paris!

EDIT: IF the British did so, you would be poisoning Anglo-American relations for many years to come. Not to mention that the Brits would be setting themselves up for an eventual (ITTL version) Easter Sunday seeing survivors fleeing to America. With rich Americans (and the US government?) supporting their "Free Irish government-in-exile"!🇮🇪

I mean, the idea of a government in-exile was proposed more of as a boogeyman than something real, but which would allow Republicans to wave the bloody shirt and kept the Northern people observant of possible rebel reinsurgencies in the South. At the very least it'll probably mean the exiled rebels will be exiled permanently.

Amazing job, incredibly well done.

There might not have been a climactic battle, but I would say the reunion of Garland white with his mom was a climax. and really very fitting to conclude the beginn8ng of attempts to get all the destroyed familiesback together.
.
It will be interesting to see, with the Civil Rights act of 1865 now in place, if
Black businesses will spring up to rebuild Washington DC. It would be a nice touch for the nation's rebuilt capital to be constructed with free black companies and prospering blacks who are starting to thrive.

But, that is for the Reconstruction timeline. this has been an amazing ride so far, congratulations on completing it.

It would indeed be very symbolic for the nation's capital to first be built by enslaved labor, and now to be rebuilt by, in part, free Black laborers.

As the Union army marches into Richmond.

As he died to make men holy, so they have been victorious to make men free.

Excellent TL @Red_Galiray one of the best I've ever read, top 5 easily. And I know it's already been said, but the anti-climax for the south is fitting. The true climax I'd say is Garland reuniting with his mother.

I can't wait for the climax and for the epilogue!

EDIT: Lol, I swear I wasn't ripping you off @DTF955Baseballfan I was typing my response at the same time you were.

It really encapsulates the Black experience through the TL, doesn't it? A Black child separated from his mother by an hypocritical slaveholder (yes, Toombs did indeed preach about the evils of separating families even as he did it), who returns as a warrior to free her, reuniting amidst a destroyed country but now able to look forward with hope.

IDK, but John Surratt, the sole survivor of Booth's plot to assassinate Lincoln (he fled to Canada), had to fly VERY far indeed in the end. He was found hiding out as a mercenary member of the Pope's Papal States army! He fled to Egypt, but was arrested there and extradited back to the US.
Sadly, the statute of limitations had mostly expired, and for the crimes remaining, he was tried by a Maryland court. The trail ended as a mistrial (8-4 to acquit), and he was never retried.

ITTL, I wonder...wouldn't Beauregard be seen as too much of a hot potato for any country to tolerate?

That's why I mentioned it'll open up interesting questions. I don't think a rebel leader of such stature ever fled to another country before that moment. It'd be like if the British won the Revolutionary War and then Washington hid in France.

I see the confederate government is gone. Good riddance.


I can't to see the demographics of the south once reconstruction is put into full swing. I love to see how the various immigrant groups will try and carve out their own piece of land in the south.

It'll also be interesting to see these new groups, without prejudices dyed in the wool, interacting with native White and Black Southerners.

It's Joever Johnston bros, it was over years ago and you simply refused to admit it until the coffin closed around you

"And Pharaoh hardened his heart."

the confederacy was like a body built on cancer it ended as it should.

It's time to heal the wound.

I'm not sure there is a single General whose exploits would be a majority of the win iTTL (*that* would be an interesting TL).

Grant, Thomas, and Sherman stand as the great trinity of Union victors. Grant, however, will probably be seen as the most important general and the man who saved the Union due to being General in-chief and the one who ended up defeating Lee and then destroying Jackson.

Honestly the most surprising thing at the end for me was Toombs giving his slaves his home in his will. Also him having enough of a heart to give the last of the gold to whatever soldiers make it through town at the end.

Toombs is an interesting "villain" so to speak for the TL because he fully and sincerely believed what he said: that everyone, planters and poor, Black and White people, would be better off if they just followed the will of paternal, benevolent slaveholders. He really advocated IOTL for laws protecting slaves from violence or enslaved families from separation; gave each family he had enslaved a house, land, and a mule; and when IOTL a fleeing Breckinridge gave him the last remaining gold (according to Toombs he just threw it above his fence), Toombs did try to give it to returning soldiers. He's not a charicature of pure evil either, but in some ways the ultimate believer and practicer of the Southern idea of slaveholders as good leaders who looked after "their" people.

Well, it's finally over. Was one hell of a ride, but finally the monster is dead.

Old John Brown can rest easily knowing that the scourge of slavery shall be thoroughly eradicated from the face of the US.

Looking forwards to how Reconstruction will look like.

Thank you for your support!

This is the moment that encapsulates the entire story. A free black man that has proven he's as good or better than the common white man of the South finally meeting one of his loved ones that was lost to the barbary of the slaveholders.

A great moment indeed! Let no one ever forget, that Black people helped in breaking the chains of slavery.

*Small unenthusiastic cheer*

May I ask why?

"Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death; the seas bear only commerce; men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world lies quietly at peace. The holy mission has been completed.
…
If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advance in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh."

-Douglas MacArthur

While this speech does not match entirely, I feel like the spirit of it matches Union hopes after a long season of trials and tribulation leads them to final victory and a new world.

Unfortunately, the "holy mission" of Reconstruction is but begining. Creating that new world will be hard indeed.

I got curious because I’ve never heard of Hammond before and after reading about him I can firmly say that he got no less than he deserved in ITTL. Funny how the Southern slaver owner I’ve never heard of before turns out to be the most disgusting, worst of them all.

Anyways congrats on a fantastic update and a end to the Civil War. Can’t wait to see how Reconstruction unfolds! I do wonder if Lincoln will ever get to live in the White House again before his second term is finished though.

I appreciate your support! Hammond was such a disgusting waste for a human being. As for the White House... maybe, at the end. Lincoln is probably anxious to return if only to show that the war is truly over by taking up residency at the nation's capital. I do think Philadelphia will probably occupy an even bigger part in the American heart here, though. It was the capital through its two biggest trials - its birth, and its preservation. Could we see a situation like Bonn in Germany where a lot of the government operates in both cities? Then again, Philadelphia was the capital just for four years, not over forty.

What of Custer ITTL?

Doing his thing somewhere, I guess? I don't think he was too important during the Civil War. Were it not for his ultimate fate he might go unmentioned in history books.

I’ve been with this TL since the beginning and it’s been a great ride

I appreciate that immensely, thank you, truly.

This timelines have reach 5 years and manage to cover 10 years of (alt)history progression from 1854-1864. ITTL Reconstruction would be longer and more thoroughly manner right? When would it end?

Yup, according to my calculus we'll be here until 2040, boys. ...Alright, Reconstruction updates should cover much greater ground, looking at socio-political trends without a need to look at battles or that kind of thing. I thought somewhere around 30 updates to cover until the 1880's? I'm not sure, but we can see 2-3 more years of content.

I would say that the climax of the story was in previous chapters. So this one was not really anti-climatic, but rather a resolution where things are wrapped up.

Yeah, I conceive the climax to be the whole series of events starting with the fall of Atlanta and Mobile, the coup against Breckinridge and his exeuction, and the March to the Sea finally sealing the Confederacy's fate.

I believe my seventh grade English teacher would refer to it as a denoumet. Except she would spell a lot better. .

By the way, for experiments, if Red or anyone wants to mention Doctor Da Costa, or I could, I was thinking of a simple one, where a person comes to be interviewed and while they are sitting waiting for him to come in, an assistant sets off a couple of firecrackers in a room behind them. So that the person is startled, but otherwise would not be hurt. The study would be to see if they are affected, how long they remembered it, and so on. Some troll groups would not have the firecrackers, and the study could look at ball players and other athletes like the president, soldiers, and others of both races.

I'm not sure if Doctor Dacosta performed experiments like that or not, but it would be interesting

That's an interesting idea! And, thank you for introducing me to the term denouement. It's fitting - like a detective novel where the assassin has been caught and the detective just explains the plot.

The Union Forever, Hurrah Boys Hurrah! Down with the Traitors and up with the Stars!

I appreciate your support, as a fellow author of another great TL

I have an image of captured confederate colors tossed into a pile by parading Union troops, perhaps in front of Lincoln/ Generals

Vae proditori

Kinda like Red Square in 1945.

If I were an artist to draw such a scene!

@Red_Galiray I wonder how Iowa will go with everything going on, if you want to. A state so close to Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas will have gone through many problems, and seemingly many opportunities to grow and change in this timeline.

Well, you're right that Iowa may see interesting rammifications having been so close to such a messy, bloody front. But, uh, I don't think I'll have time to focus on Iowa later on.

Incredible! Simply an incredible chapter! The Union has won the war, but can it can it win the peace?

Thank you for your praise! Winning the peace can be harder than winning the war...

Hello,

Woul we see how Reconstruction would be organized from administrative roles to personnel and resources on the ground? Would there be noticeable differences from OTL in who would oversee the entire process and what external organizations would be allowed to participate? Finally, would there be greater security to safeguard Reconstruction's work, either by a separate entity organized and outfitted by the administration or by the US Army?

More on that later, but yes, we'll have a complete administrative overhaul, first by the Bureaus and the Army to enforce Union victory, establish order, and provide food, and later by the US Constabularies and National Guard as described in Chapter 51.

Maybe thrown in Lincoln at the end of it announcing Battle Hymn of the Republic as the new national anthem to top it all off.

Eh, I prefer the Battle Cry of Freedom.

I forget, but what's the policy of posting creative work inspired by this TL? I know it's been done a few times, but do I need to get @Red_Galiray 's approval first? Do I just post it?

Everyone who wishes to publish anything regarding the TL is completely free to do so! I only wish for you to respect the "canon" so to speak. For me, there's no greater compliment than knowing this project of mine has inspired someone else to create art.

Why assume Gone With the Wind would be anything other than reactionary racist propaganda? Mitchell didn’t write the book that way because she hasn’t done the reading, she just liked a society where blacks knew their place.

There will still be plenty of people who romanticise the antebellum south, even if their own families suffered due to the Junta’s degradations.

Let the novel stay as is- and let it be destined for remainders, for a tatty paperback in a second hand store remembered only by graduate students writing about the sad little attempt by some southerners to whitewash the slavers.

We’ll lose a few good lines, but frankly my dear I don’t give a damn.

Frankly I like the idea of an alternate Gone With the Wind, as in, a work of Southern literature that occupies a similar place in American popular memory but it's radically different. Definitely not the same title or author, but a similar look at a Southern family during the Civil War and its aftermath, only portraying the ugly reality instead of the romanticization of Mitchell's original book. I just can't help but like when things that paralel OTL show up in TLs to punctuate how different the world is. For the same reason I held onto an idea, mentioned much earlier in the thread, of having the equivalent of Birth of a Nation (the first big picture innovating cinematography) be instead a movie about John Brown.

I imagine rather than OTL's near-universal stream of Lost Cause-ism and Antebellum Romanticism in late 19th C & early 20th C Southern fiction, and you will get some of that too, you'll see a mixed fare with a lot more nuanced or critical stories of well-meaning poor white Johnny Rebs getting dragged into a war they don't understand by amoral, self-serving plantation owners, or Tales from the Jacquery, or Poor Little Rich Belle learning hard lessons about the nature of her pampered life from some hardscrabble poor neighbor wives keeping her alive in the famine after her plantation got torched. Lots of tales of Brave Southern Soldiers being needlessly sacrificed by Gutless Gentry. Probably a much richer literary landscape than OTL.

It'd probably be very interesting. I may write an update analyzing the different literary schools later, but it'd probably need a lot of research first.

I wrote this after reading about the Jacquery and the complete collapse of government authority in the South. This is a bit more visceral than I've written before and I'll admit I'm a bit anxious given some word choices I've put in the mouth of a character. If this is off base or if I should have waited until Red gave the go ahead, I'll delete this.
Otherwise, I hope people like it.

I love this I considered many scenes like this while writing the update, and even thought of writing something similar myself, but I couldn't be happier that you did it first, especially because it's a very well-written piece that reflects wholeheartly my vision for the Jacquerie - people, for a moment, realizing they share the same oppressors and rising against them. Unable to erase decades of racism and hatred, it, nonetheless, offers a glimpse into a better future, even if it's one that began in blood. Thank you for writing this.

And so the American Civil War comes to an end. The struggle and misery of this entire war have been magnified yet there's a greater sense of hope in hindsight. Instead of letting the planters and the Slavocracy reclaim some of their power leading to Jim Crow and continued black discrimination, there's a chance for meaningful long-lasting change. Can't wait to see what's to come with Reconstruction, I'm sure it will be very interesting from a cultural and political perspective.


It was better this way. This is what the Confederacy deserved, not a gentlemen's surrender at Appomattox but the destruction and withering of all the Slavocracy held dear.


I'm honestly really fascinated with these little anecdotes of mass starvation and the Union's struggles to feed them. While not a pleasant subject to go through, there are opportunities for American agriculturalists, scientists, nutritionists, and botanists to come through to the South and learn about starvation treatment or soil rejuvenation in preparation for staple crops like soybeans, wheat, corn, etc.

There might be an opportunity for a resourceful nutritionist to discover something akin to Plumpy'nut to stave off famine among poor whites and blacks who have suffered thanks to the Confederate junta.

Thanks, I'm glad you found this a fitting conclusion. And, yes, it's morbid but rather fascinating to see people going through such situations. A greater wealth of knowledge may surge from this tragedy, including in nutrition but also psychology and others.

Well it's over
The Confederacy died kicking and screaming or surrendering depending on the commander.

Hopefully the remains of guys like Jackson, Forrest and other top rebel leaders are burned or toss into unmarked graves to prevent them from becoming shrines.

Even at the end the Junta grab every boy and man that they could get to throw into the war despite it being over. I don't think any Union soldiers enjoyed having to killed kids who were drafted and forced to fight. And holy crap did central authority collapsed and things went bad. Columbia is gone and the Union finally found Andersonville and the horrors there.

Jackson last charge at the Battle of Appomattox wasn't a battle of Berlin but it served as likely the last major battle of the civil war. And what a way to go, better than hanging or firing squad I would say for Jackson.

The old South is truly gone and never going to rise again in this TL. The social order and chains are broken, the poorer whites and Blacks have risen up against the Planter class. There so much freedom it's hard not to cry a little at that.

And that scene where a bro reunited with his mom wad just awesome. Hopefully in the future there a single player shooter game based on the CW in this TL and the last mission is hosting the union flag over the rebel's Congress building.

Lincoln just burning brighter as he ascending to Demigod status to everyone and especially the former slaves. Civil right bill a hundred years earlier and winning America's great Civil war. Bro sounds like an anime protagonist who started out with simple goals and by the end is sitting on a throne.

I wonder what the celebration in 1965 would look like long after Lincoln, the generals and last Union soldiers are gone. The last Union Soldier to died would definitely be big news to the country especially if its was a former slave.

Picking up the pieces is really going to suck and rebuilding the devastated States would be costly too.
But I really want to see how they do it and the new social order that pops up from the ruins.

I expecting some Nuremberg level trials for the surviving Confederate officials, prominent private citizens, military officers and notorious soldiers. They committed plenty of crimes left and right.

Heh, I'd really like to play a game where the last mission is storming Richmond! And, yes, Lincoln, who's big IOTL, it's probably bound to be even bigger here. The Union's victory is absolute, yet rebuilding will be hard. And, don't worry, stern justice will be served.

Speaking of which, what would be interesting would be Albert Sydney Johnston’s post-war fate with how he was captured alive and ended up denouncing the junta out of loyalty to Breckinridge in exchange for clemency.

We'll come back to him soon

However the Gone With the Wind movie feels very sarcastic like it knows it's source material is full of hot air or maybe that's just Rhett and his actor.

The movie definitely leans into an almost sardonic commentary on the South's efforts and its soldiers. The book, on the other hand, was straight up propaganda.

I'm not sure whether this was ever addressed, but did Lewis Cass still resign from the office of Secretary of State as he did IOTL during the final days of Buchanan's administration to protest his inaction during the Secession Winter? Might as well ask, @Red_Galiray, or did Buchanan pick a Southerner as his Secretary of State ITTL?

I... apparently never even mentioned him? I think it'd be more fitting to have him resign over the fraudulent admission of Kansas, so that Buchanan's cabinet would be almost entirely Southern during the Secession Winter.

"Toombs dood
Wot nou?"

Well the war is over and the south is finally vanquished , really happy to get to read this part "live" and cant help but ask myself what will happen now that the union needs to go fixing the shitshow left behind by the junta

Really good TL

Thank you! I do hope someday people will have good memories of following each update here...

That absolutely slapped! Here's to the next part of the "fun": Reconstruction!

This is where the fun begins!

State lines should be redrawn to ensure black majority states. That's the only way I can see rights lasting.

Politically impossible and socially undesirable, I'm afraid.

Depending on how things go with Reconstruction, the legacy of the Jacqueries could be interesting for the South. Poor Southern Whites seem likely to become very populist and may look back rather fondly and romantically to them. It honestly makes me wonder if the South could be more pre-depositoned to Marxist and socialist ideas in the later 1800s. Though I guess that depends on how fairly economic reintegration is handled for the South.

I could see them being seen as something of Southern "Sans-Culottes", only rural, rising up to overthrow the aristocracy and being direct antecesors of later generations of warriors.

The problem with that is that you also create lily white states much more radicalized to the extreme far right (Read: Confederate), while destroying any prospects for the Republican Party (even a more conservative wing of said party) in these "Whiter-than-White" constituencies.

And without sticking my neck out too deep into the dangerous ground of Political CHAT, I'll just say this: Sound familiar?

I'm old enough to remember when we had something called "The Blue Dog Democrats" (NOT the Dixiecrats! ), a Southern-based political bloc composed of conservative White Democrats but still sympathetic to Black interests, of which they formed a considerable proportion of their political support.

Sadly, hyper-gerrymandering IOTL has obliterated them as surely as has been destroyed the equally extinct Northeastern-based Progressive Republicans, destroying any hopes of a viable political Center in this country and leaving us with our current mess.

Black-majority districts (or states, which I can't see Congress OR the Supreme Court ever going along with redrawing STATE lines) are all very well for giving African-Americans a dedicated and (for their majority constituencies) trustworthy voice. BUT, it also leaves them numerically isolated as "criers-in-the-wilderness" amidst extremely hostile districts (or states?) that have the potential to be far more hatefully racist. A more heterogeneous population at least promises something a whole lot closer to Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.'s Dream Speech than state-from-state racial segregation.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I'm imagining a lot of mythology around him visiting Jerusalem post-presidency as he apparently wished to do. The return trip would probably, at his successor's behest, include a goodwill tour of Europe in which I can only imaging throngs of thousands trying to get a glimpse of him. There's a lot of narrative fodder for who he could meet in those circumstances

We'll have a vignette of Lincoln in Jerusalem latter. He deserved it.

This timeline took 6 years to make, I applaud your dedication and spirit in completing it.

Thank you. It was a true investment of time and effort, but I poured my heart into this. I'm glad so many people have liked it.

I came back to this TL just in time to see the glorious and deserved end of the Confederacy!

Hopefully Tecumseh's curse doesn't come around and do Lincoln in. Other than that Reconstruction should go a lot better than OTL. I only hate to imagine the fact that the indigenous people are still going to be screwed in this TL still...

Glad to have you back! And no, Lincoln will survive. I gave you all a scare with that assassination attempt but now I can assure he'll finish his term. And, yeah, I don't thnk things have improved for them...

My biggest question is with the elevation of much of the Poor Southern Whites and the Freed Southern Blacks after the war, will that trigger hiring schemes of bringing poor and impoverished Southern Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Chinese and Latin American people to become the underclass of Southern Society. There is already historical precedent for these groups being brought to the South to replace African Americans after the end of Slavery all the way up to the time of when immigration restrictions were passed in the 1920s

Yes, but the ones who started those schemes were most often planters. Their class has been wipped off the earth here. The Reconstruction regimes probably will want immigration, but won't look into "importing" cheap labor en masse, especially because Black people are unlikely to want competion - the demographic disaster and shortage of labor affords them unique power over labor relations.

 

[farmerted555]

I'll confess... I prefer this celebration to the original one.

I actually think both the original and the one from '97 onwards are fitting in their own ways.

 

[Dragonboy]

@Red_Galiray ! Yep! Father Abraham Will rise up to the challange and GO down as the Greatest president to ever live

 

[HueyLongsUnderwear]

Did any confederate military figures of note ditch the ship with Longstreet/ Mosby? What about William Mahone?

 

[Red_Galiray]

Did any confederate military figures of note ditch the ship with Longstreet/ Mosby? What about William Mahone?

All in due time, my friend. I wish to keep my options open regarding who ditched in time, who escaped the country, who was hanged, etc, so if I ever need someone I can easily say "oh he was totally fine." Much better for the future than a rigid list.

 

[Whiteshore]

Politically impossible and socially undesirable, I'm afraid.

Especially as “state suicide theory” was a theory only a few radicals really believed in.

 

[HueyLongsUnderwear]

All in due time, my friend. I wish to keep my options open regarding who ditched in time, who escaped the country, who was hanged, etc, so if I ever need someone I can easily say "oh he was totally fine." Much better for the future than a rigid list.

outstanding! As a southerner who has to live around the veneration of a lot of these people , this is like Christmas to me