BURNISHED ROWS OF STEEL: The Great North American War, 1861-

[tfsmith121]

Have now posted Part 2 of Chapter 9, also in September, 1862; the preliminaries for the army-level battle in Lower Canada, including Grant and the good ship Intrepid and Wolseley planning things for Williams...

warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/32621?page=9#.V83_6ZgrKM8

Enjoy.

Best,

[tfsmith121]

It's a good question - simply for simplicity's sake, I've gone with the numbers from the 1862 British source mentioned above, and the 1867 Provincial Militia List for the actual officers; all in all, it's not exactly a formidable force, and their record at Ridgeway and Fort Erie in 1866, long after the crisis and with the benefit of five years of British Army regulars as instructors and a significant amount of British equipment being passed over to the Militia and Volunteers, does not exactly augur well for their capabilities in the winter of 1861-62.

There are those who will argue against it, but based on the historical record, it's pretty clear the Volunteers and Militia were lacking in readiness, organization, leadership, and equipment in the winter of 1861-62.

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 5, 2016 23:40:48 GMT tfsmith121 said:

It's a good question - simply for simplicity's sake, I've gone with the numbers from the 1862 British source mentioned above, and the 1867 Provincial Militia List for the actual officers; all in all, it's not exactly a formidable force, and their record at Ridgeway and Fort Erie in 1866, long after the crisis and with the benefit of five years of British Army regulars as instructors and a significant amount of British equipment being passed over to the Militia and Volunteers, does not exactly augur well for their capabilities in the winter of 1861-62.

There are those who will argue against it, but based on the historical record, it's pretty clear the Volunteers and Militia were lacking in readiness, organization, leadership, and equipment in the winter of 1861-62.

Best,

So against union regulars they might not fare all so well.

[tfsmith121]

True, and not simply the regulars; the US Army had 527,000 men on active duty by the end of December, and the vast majority (~500,000) were the long-service (mostly 36 months) volunteers who had enlisted in 1861, from the spring and summer onwards, so by the end of the year - the earliest point any sort of Anglo-American "crisis" would have come into being - they had anywhere from a day to nine months of active service, and in the case of the long service volunteers that mobilized in the spring and summer, several months of field service, including varying amounts of combat.

in addition, the units - regiments, battalions, batteries, etc. - had shaken down, lost the men who could not hack it physically or otherwise, dealt with the initial round of camp diseases that always present themselves when large groups of strangers are initially thrown together, had their share of drill,mpractice, and training, from the school of the soldier on up, etc.

That multi-month "lead" in terms of mobilization is a huge advantage for the US, that BNA could never make up; and mobilization in wartime against an enemy that is already mobilized is never a simple of painless process, as various nations have learned to their detriment...

Best,

[tfsmith121]

Have now posted Part 3 of Chapter 9, also in September, 1862; the initial phases of what becomes known as the Battle of Berhierville. In it, McCook's XII Corps faces the attack of Williams' Army of Canada; notably, TJ Wood's 2nd Division, XII Corps, is hit on the Chaloupe by Lord William Paulet's 1st and Rumley's 2nd divisions, while Doyle's 3rd Division makes a flank march and comes up against the main line of the XII Corps, built around Negley's 1st/XII and Mitchel's 3rd/XII divisions. Mayhem ensues...

warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/32621?page=10#.V9WrnZgrKM8


Enjoy.

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 11, 2016 19:20:03 GMT tfsmith121 said:

Have now posted Part 3 of Chapter 9, also in September, 1862; the initial phases of what becomes known as the Battle of Berhierville. In it, McCook's XII Corps faces the attack of Williams' Army of Canada; notably, TJ Wood's 2nd Division, XII Corps, is hit on the Chaloupe by Lord William Paulet's 1st and Rumley's 2nd divisions, while Doyle's 3rd Division makes a flank march and comes up against the main line of the XII Corps, built around Negley's 1st/XII and Mitchel's 3rd/XII divisions. Mayhem ensues...

warships1discussionboards.yuku.com/topic/32621?page=10#.V9WrnZgrKM8


Enjoy.

Best,

Thanks will read it, also bought Dixie Victorious: An Alternate History of the Civil War, do not now if you ever have read it.

[tfsmith121]

You are quite welcome. Hope you enjoy and post your thoughts - the next several sections will be all ground combat, all the time.

It sounds familiar, but I'll have to check.

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 11, 2016 19:32:35 GMT tfsmith121 said:

You are quite welcome. Hope you enjoy and post your thoughts - thie next several sections will be all ground combat, all the time.

It sounds familiar, but I'll have to check.

Best,

Will do it, it is a good book to read, but what you have created so far is also pretty good.

[tfsmith121]

Thank you. Working on the next part of the Battle of Berthierville.

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 11, 2016 20:12:37 GMT tfsmith121 said:

Thank you. Working on the next part of the Battle of Berthierville.

Best,

Its strange that white southern soliders have to die so black slaves can live in slavery.

[tfsmith121]

Well, given the foundational realities of the South's economy and dominant culture, not really - the prewar US South was a slave society, with all that reality entails, and slavery was founded on (the perceived) racial demographics of the South's population. The southern elite and much of the middle and working class white population lived and breathed that reality, they rebelled over it, and they lined up and fought it out for 48 months because of it.

BROS simply expands the battlefield, so to speak.

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 11, 2016 20:59:26 GMT tfsmith121 said:

Well, given the foundational realities of the South's economy and dominant culture, not really - the prewar US South was a slave society, with all that reality entails, and slavery was founded on (the perceived) racial demographics of the South's population. The southern elite and much of the middle and working class white population lived and breathed that reality, they rebelled over it, and they lined up and fought it out for 48 months because of it.

BROS simply expands the battlefield, so to speak.

Best,

It still feels strange that thousands of youn southerners have to die, this will most likley up set the balance of black an white in the south for a time.

[tfsmith121]

True. It is worth noting there were US states where the majority of the population was of African ancestry before the Civil War, however. Depending upon events in BROS, that may become very important...

Best,

[lordroel]

Sept 14, 2016 20:14:17 GMT tfsmith121 said:

True. It is worth noting there were US states where the majority of the population was of African ancestry before the Civil War, however. Depending upon events in BROS, that may become very important...

Best,

Has the south or north already raised more soliders then in OTL.

[tfsmith121]

The US (historically) raised 528,000 regulars and long-service volunteers in 1861; in 1862, there were calls in the summer of 1862 for another 300,000 long-service (36 month) USVs and 300,000 short-service (9-month) USVs - the numbers that came forward were 420,000 36 month enlistments and 86,000 nine month enlistments. These numbers were separate from the various "local" forces (federal funding but geographic limits) which included the (historical) 3,000+ IHGs, the ~10,000 Missouri state troops, etc. that were raised beginning in 1862, much less the state troops raised on state account the same year and afterwards. The above numbers don't include the USCTs and their predecessors, raised (officially or not) beginning in 1862; about 50 percent of the 180,000 or so raised historically were enlisted in US states and territories that would have been in US hands in BROS, so call it ~90,000. The above also does not include the ~6,000 or so USVs raised on federal account from ex-rebels (historically) beginning in 1864, much less any USVs raised in 1863-65.

The US numbers in BROS are basically historical, as follows:

1. 528,000 USV and regulars, as of December, 1861, historically;
2. 420,000 USV and regulars raised in response to the (historical) call in summer, 1862, but moved forward in BROS to the winter-spring of 1862 because of the changed strategic situation;
3. ~100,000+ federally funded state troops raised for local defense, in contested theaters (Missouri) and the US coastal states for harbor defense; same reason as 2;
4. ~45,000-90,000 US "Colored" Volunteers (by the states in free states as USVs, as "federal" USVs in slave states); same reason as 2)
5. ~10,000 "auxiliary" USVs (Indians, Canadians, ex-rebels) raised as such for the same reason as 2;

That totals (roughly) 1.1 million men and some change.

Best,