Well, I’m not aware of Camp Douglas. I’ll have to look it up. You know what they say… The winner of any war always writes the history books! 
I agree with the one up near the top. keep the North Carolina 14th Infantry from shooting Stonewall Jackson, so he is available at Gettysburg.
Anywho, with regard to OP…
Given the premise that I might want the South to win, I would go to the Battle of Gettysburg and concentrate on Little Round Top. Take the strategic hill, move cannon in ASAP, and attack the Union flank.
If the South achieved a great victory at Gettysburg, they would be in an excellent position for a negotiated truce. It is quite likely that McClellan would have been elected instead of Lincoln, placing a borderline-incompetent anti-war leader in the White House. The Union would still have the industry and manpower to win the war in the long run, but might not have the political will to bother.
If you cold go back and convince England to recognize the Confederacy then that probably would have done it as well. Not sure how you could do that, though, as their main objection throughout was slavery.
Did you read the post I wrote? There were thousands of escaped slaves from the south that were now in United States controlled territory. Lincoln’s proclamation said they were free. Being as these people were physically in the United States, Lincoln’s orders were legally recognized. And this happened on the day the order went into effect.
If I understand the powers in the OP, I would get myself in command of the Army of the North then surrender. Then publicly state that it wasn’t worth the life of a single southern soldier to maintain the institution of slavery.
Bold talk that I would have never done in real life, because everyone would have hated me. But if I could go back in time … that’s my answer.
Let me knock down a few ideas here:
*Recognition by England: ineffective. Unless Britain was willing to start a shooting war (they weren’t, which is the most fundamental reason why they never even offered recognition.)
*Winning at Gettysburg: probably ineffective. In fact, Southern forces advanced more or less as far as they could have. Maybe had they made no mistakes they would have won, but even then it would not have been a crushing victory. it would have simply pushed things another day. But Meade was in control, handled his forces well during the entire battle, and the Confederates had no chance of routing them. The Union could have simply retreated a little more, leaving the information you have useless.
*Following up after Bull Run: impossible. The South didn’t follow up because they couldn’t. And even if they had, the Union army was reorganized behind solid defenses within 24 hours. At best, the Confederate army would have obliterated itself attacking a superior foe. They barely scraped a victory at Bull Run, and nearly broke themselves.
*Avoiding Fort Sumter: Not possible. Davis, and many others, believed quite firmly that if they didn’t attack, the COnfederacy would fall apart. And given the behavior of many Confederates later, it’s quite possibly that it would have. In any case, it doesn’t seem likely that the South was interested in or capable of extended Civil Disobedience.
*Arranging commanders to better effect: Could work. Commanders like Bragg were arguably really, really bad.
*Interecepting Special Order 191: Probably not. Given how terribly McClellan handled Antietam, I’m not sure what it would have changed.
Furthermore, it settled as far as the Union was concerned, the status of slaves in any area the Union controlled, which was a huge chunk of the South. It also ensured that the armies of the Union had in effect become armies of liberation, which would have significant effects on disrupting the southern economy and did in fact free many. It also settled the status of all slaves who fled from the Confederacy to Union lines.
Go at it from within the Union ranks, I suppose. Find a way to turn the people of the Union against the Union Army and the war. I’m not sure what that would be.
Aside from European intervention, there was nothing the CSA could have done to win the war… it was by all meaning of the phrase, an impossible task.
Short of a Northern (only) Black Plaque, Confederate invention of the M1A1 or a Nuke you could replay it 100 times and the North wins.
- Lack of industry
- Lack of capital
- Lack of man power
Moving thread from MPSIMS to IMHO.
Hmmm…
How 'bout you get Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain out of the way before Gettysburg? You don’t have to kill him, just have him somewhere else that day. The Confederates take the high ground on Little and Big Round Tops, and with the artillery can command the entire battlefield. Chamberlain personally lead the forces that repelled three Confederate charges, the last with bayonets only after running out of ammunition. He held the force together and made them effective with the sheer force of his personality.
[Cracked.com]And his balls.[/Cracked.com]
I did read your posts and found them to be very well written. However, the Emancipation Proclamation specifically noted the areas of the former U.S.A./current C.S.A. where the EP would be in effect “after” the Union Army took control of the territory. Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
(http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/fea...ranscript.html)
Authorities in the listed areas did not accept Lincoln’s proclamation as having any legal bearing on the CSA. Slaves in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, etc were still slaves as far as Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, etc were concerned.
Escaped slaves who had made it to Ohio were not “freed” by Lincoln’s EP. The U.S. President didn’t alter or override State slavery laws within the Union. Slaves were “free” because they had escaped from their former owner but they were still subject to the laws of the State of Ohio. Ohio wouldn’t be returning slaves to Alabama in 1863.
Escaped slaves who were captured in Georgia would have been delt with according to the laws of the State of Georgia and returned to wherever they had escaped from. Until Georgia capitulated.
Under the EP, escaped slaves who had made it to a Union Army controlled area would be considered free and slaves who had remained in their position would be considered free as soon as the Union Army took control of the area.
I personally wouldn’t do anything to help the Confederacy win.
But I think a lot of this whole mess could have been averted if someone went back in time and assassinated Eli Whitney the moment the idea for the cotton gin entered his mind. Without the cotton gin, slavery would have become untenable. It was already headed towards dying out, because producing cotton was just too much work. The South would have picked a different crop to go with, an “easier” crop, and wouldn’t have needed slaves.
Or… something like that. I Am Not an Economist, but even the Eli Whitney Museum admits that Whitney’s invention had a devastating, unforeseen impact on the continuance of slavery.
I’m not sure I’m clear on whay you’re claiming here. The Emancipation Proclamation obviously wasn’t enforced in Confederate-held areas. But it was enforced in American-held areas so it did have real world effects from the day it was issued.
To use an example you gave, if a slave owner lived in Alabama and his slave had escaped to Ohio, then the Emanciaption Proclamation set that slave free - Lincoln’s order may not have been enforced in Alabama (yet) but it was enforced in Ohio. Being in Ohio alone had not been enough to do that - that just made you a fugitive slave.
Pre-war American law said that fugitive slaves in free states were still legally the property of their southern owner and were supposed to be returned to them. And prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, there was no reason to assume that the United States wouldn’t return to this policy after the war. Most American politicians would have had no problem accepting a deal where the southern states re-entered the Union and the federal government agreed to return all the fugitive slaves back to the south.
From a strictly military point of view, the CSA never had a chance of defeating the United States. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have won the war. Wars are at least as much political as military.
There were a lot of people in the United States who were tepid in their support of the war. If there had been a major blow like European recognition or a Confederate victory in a northern state like Pennsylvania, then there might have been a political movement to recognize Confederate independence and end the war.
According to Lincoln’s carefully chosen words, slaves in Alabama were free and that freedom would be enforced by the Union Army - whenever it got there.
Ohio, Illinois and many other States were specifically not mentioned in Lincoln’s proclamation. The Emancipation Proclomation specifically identified the areas of the CSA where it was applicable. Ex-slaves in Ohio were not a part of the EP. Ex-slaves in Ohio were subject to Ohio law. During the war years, Lincoln wasn’t going to step on the legal toes of any State that remained in, and was fighting for, the Union.
But the text specifically says it applies to slaves owned by the people who reside in those areas not just the slaves in the areas.
- Put off secession until 1990
- Appreciate nonviolent send off and warmest wishes from The Union
or hire ninjas
Admittedly, the Emancipation Proclamation is difficult to read today. I believe it might have been just as difficult to read in 1862. Which text are you referring to?
Lincoln deliberately steered clear of stepping on northern State’s Rights, especially the State’s rights of the northern slave States that remained within the Union. He couldn’t afford to risk sending anymore disenfranchised States into the welcoming arms of Jeff Davis. The war wasn’t going all that well for the boys in blue.
After Lincoln specifically identified the areas of the CSA that were in rebellion, Lincoln wrote -
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves - within - said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
It appears to me that Lincoln intention was to free slaves within the CSA that were still in rebellion but not yet under Union control.
It’s a hijack, but actually the ratio of production was almost exactly thirty-six Shermans per Tiger.