Second Mexican War
The Second Mexican War was the second conflict between the
United States of America and the
Confederate States of America in
Harry Turtledove's
alternate history book
How Few Remain.
The war began in
1881 when the CSA purchased the two northern Mexican provinces
Sonora and
Chihuahua. Not only would these additions to the CSA extend the border with the USA several hundred miles, but it would also give the Confederates a Pacific port (
Guaymas). The events early in the war included the capture of a large quantity of gold and silver ore from a Union mining town by the Confederates occupying newly purchased Sonora and Chihuahua, the successful use of the new
Gatling Gun against Kiowa Indians and Confederate cavalry in
Kansas, and the declaration of a blockade and subsequent bombarding of U.S. ports by Great Britain and France.
During the middle of the war the
Mormons in
Utah rebelled by severing trans-continental communication and transportation in and out of
Salt Lake City. This revolt was put down to some extent by the appointment of
John Pope as military governor, the suspension of certain constitutional rights by the aforementioned governor, the classification of the Church of Later Day Saints as a political organization, and the execution of the leaders of Mormonism.
The Unites States' attempt to invade Virginia is easily thrown back by the brilliant strategy of General
Stonewall Jackson as the US struggles to find a man his equal. A key reason for the Confederate success in the war (apart from their powerful foreign allies, France and Great Britain, and the advantage of fighting a defensive war) is that the Confederate armies continue to be led by excellent generals like Jackson, while the United States's military, despite possessing a massive advantage in numbers and resources, suffers from woefully incompetent leadership.
William Rosecrans, the commander of the entire US army, casually reveals at one point that the United States had no overall strategy for winning the war
whatsoever. He envisioned a vague idea of the opposing armies making counteroffensives back and forth against each other, which he felt the US would assuredly win. This lack of planning left German military observers, such as
Alfred von Schlieffen, aghast.
The U.S. next attempted to launch a massive invasion of
Louisville to knock the Confederates out of
Kentucky but it soon became a bloody stalemate for a number of reasons including the appointment of Stonewall Jackson as the commander of the defence, the negligence of U.S. commanders, and most of all the use of breech-loading artillery and repeating rifles making taking a position very difficult. The Confederate army under Jackson never tried to invade more United States territory than they possessed before the war, for two reasons. First, they did not have the resources for an offensive into hostile lands. Second, the Confederacy's success hinged on the support of Britain and France, who felt they were aiding a smaller nation wrongfully attacked by a larger one, and launching attacks into the United States would be seen as aggression for which they might lose foreign support. Galled by these orders to wage a purely defensive war, Jackson took his orders to the extreme, pioneering tactics of full-scale
trench warfare which devastated Louisville (in scenes reminiscent of our reality's first World War). The Louisville campaign quickly bogged down for the United States, and resulted in a bloodbath with little territory gained. Great Britain and France continued to shell the
Great Lakes ports; France also shelled
Los Angeles, while the British bombarded
San Francisco and then raided the mint.
The U.S. had some good news when young volunteer cavalry colonel
Theodore Roosevelt and still surviving
George Armstrong Custer massacre and rout a British army invading Montana from Canada. The British also invade northern
Maine and annex it into
New Brunswick.
Finally facing defeat on almost all fronts Republican president
James G. Blaine was forced to capitulate. A Republican was never again elected to the
White House. The United States, bitter in defeat, sought an alliance with the powerful German Empire. The alliance set up the events for the next three series.
*
Timeline-191*
How Few Remain
