Triple Calamity: What if the Three Most Important Men in the Executive Branch Died in One Night?
- Thread starter Mr.Q
- Start date
The US is going to end up worse off with this war even if it takes Canada in the end. I had completely forgotten the canal being built and if the British take that the peace talks will be interesting.
Hmm even if America takes Canada, I get the feeling the Americans will be forced to give up their entire empire outside of the mainland of North America (and maybe Dominica) to the Brits for them to accept. The US might be forced to retreat from everywhere and thus slide into a much more serious sense of isolation than ever before without any ports or bases far from home.
They'll build up a strong Navy the way Germany did, and seek revenge if that happens. The UK will be terrified of an American-German alliance- that would have the potential to beat the UK navally, and this is an era where warships got obsolete fast. If the UK tries to blockade Germany, America will break it, and be willing and happy to fight in order to do it, with their rebuilt navy. The UK obviously wouldn't know WWI is coming, but an alt-WWI with UK at least partially blockaded and germany more Supplied and France overrun would probably lead to a Versailles like defeat for the UK. Italy would likely see the writing on the wall and dogpile on France as well.
US would demand their possessions back, and likely a limit on UK's Navy similar to Germany's army limits at Versailles.
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Whoops, fixedI think we’re a century off here?Should it not be 1870s and 1880s?
The only threat for London in the war right now is the fact that France, Russia and Germany are about to start getting jittery with the American blockade. They want trade to flow again. That doesn’t mean they’ll enter the war of course, but diplomatic pressure is quickly on its way.
Canada just needs to hold until British troops can arrive later in the year.
I wanna point out that any trade shortfalls from the US the British can fill even with the war. Perks of having uncontestable naval control.
Casualties as of June 1st 1893
New
AMERICAN LOSSES DEAD, CAPTURED, OR SEVERELY WOUNDED
1022 Sailors (Mostly at Monrovia)
3781 Soldiers (1538 at Monrovia, 70 percent of which were captured), the rest in Canada or the 14 losses in Hawaii
301 Civilians at Seattle
BRITISH LOSSES DEAD, CAPTURED, OR SEVERELY WOUNDED
210 Sailors (most against Sampson in the Caribbean)
129 Soldiers (Most in Liberia. Some in Bermuda and Hawaii)
57 Civilians (In Bermuda)
CANADIAN LOSSES DEAD, CAPTURED, OR SEVERELY WOUNDED
10 Sailors (on a small ship in Lake Erie)
909 Soldiers (Half at Vancouver, the rest split between Windsor and Fredericton)
246 Civilians (Mostly from Fredericton during the shelling. Others from localized incidents.)
1022 Sailors (Mostly at Monrovia)
3781 Soldiers (1538 at Monrovia, 70 percent of which were captured), the rest in Canada or the 14 losses in Hawaii
301 Civilians at Seattle
BRITISH LOSSES DEAD, CAPTURED, OR SEVERELY WOUNDED
210 Sailors (most against Sampson in the Caribbean)
129 Soldiers (Most in Liberia. Some in Bermuda and Hawaii)
57 Civilians (In Bermuda)
CANADIAN LOSSES DEAD, CAPTURED, OR SEVERELY WOUNDED
10 Sailors (on a small ship in Lake Erie)
909 Soldiers (Half at Vancouver, the rest split between Windsor and Fredericton)
246 Civilians (Mostly from Fredericton during the shelling. Others from localized incidents.)
Battles of Victoriaville and Quebec City (Lèvis)
New
THE SIDES
US
GENERAL WILLIAM SHAFTER
14,588 Men Total (Most of which are veterans)
Canada
GENERAL LEIF NEWRY FITZROY CROZIER
16,726 Men Total (Most of which are hastily trained militiamen)
May 11th: Under orders from the President himself, General Shafter moves north with orders to secure Quebec City and the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.
May 13th: Shafter's army leaves Newport, Vermont for the border.
May 15th: The Americans are spotted by Canadian scouts near Ayer's cliff just south of Sherbrooke.
May 16th: Upon hearing about the American army moving towards Quebec the Canadian War Office mobilizes. GENERAL L.N.F Crozier, recently out of retirement is called upon to command the small Canadian army. Volunteers training all around Ontario and Quebec have training rushed.
May 18th: Shafter arrives on the outskirts of Sherbrooke. The small garrison in the city puts up a small fight for a couple hours before surrendering. Shafter occupies the city and plans for his next moves.
May 23rd: After more Canadian scouts are visualized on a nearby hill, Shafter decides to continue moving north.
May 25th: Outside Val-Des-Sources Shafter's boys fight a quick skirmish with some Canadian Calvary. Fearing an ambush Shafter stays put.
May 27th: Shafter's army goes on the move again towards Victoriaville.
May 28th: L.N.F leaves Montreal with an army assembled. While en route to Trois-Rivieres more men are recruited into the army.
May 30th: Shafter arrives in the small town of Victoriaville, after a quick scuffle with the citizens of the town, it is occupied. Again the army decides to stay put. Shafter sends out scouts, fearing the Canadian army is nearby.
May 30th: L.N.F crosses the St. Lawrence at Trois-Rivieres upon learning of Shafter's presence in Victoriaville.
May 31st: American scouts inform Shafter of the large Canadian army coming south. The Americans prepare Victoriaville for Battle.
June 2nd: L.N.F arrives to the outskirts of Victoriaville at night. Understanding his men to be weaker than the American forces, he moves to surround the city and wait.
June 3rd 3:22 AM: Shafter, seeing the Canadian army moving around the town orders the American artillery to open fire. The Battle of Victoriaville had begun.
By the time the sun finally came out, the Canadian troops had mostly surrounded Victoriaville. L.N.F. had underestimated the size of the American army and believed that if they could be contained for a few days, they'd eventually be forced to sue for peace against the much larger, if unprepared, Canadian army. Though he wasn't totally wrong in this assumption, he was also not correct in this assumption. The truth was, the Canadian army was not much larger than the American force. On top of that, around ten percent of the American army wasn't even in the now-surrounded Victoriaville. Throughout June 2nd, most of the American cavalry had been sent to scour the countryside for farms to raid. Some of them had blown their cover and got involved in minor side skirmishes. Most of these men, however, had regrouped in the treeline, mostly out of sight. Waiting for the fighting to start.
Shafter knew he had those men ready to flank the Canadians. He had ordered them the day prior to hide in the trees and wait for the fighting to start. Shafter had heard of the size of the Canadian army from scouts and couldn't believe it. Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could come to only one conclusion. At least half of that army must be untrained. He decided to test the theory. At around 10 in the morning, he began to shell the Canadian line. After another hour, he ordered a full regiment to leave city protection and engage part of the Canadian encirclement. Shafter then watched through his binoculars; he witnessed the disorganized volleys from the Canadian side, the haphazard attempts to flank his boys, and the nervous sweats. He was right; these men were ready to crack.
It would be a death sentence to stay in Victoriaville and be bombarded, so Shafter ordered his men to leave the city and engage in a line battle on all sides. Against any experienced army, that would be a death sentence. It was just that, though, against an experienced army. As the two sides began to fire on one another, the American cavalry in the treeline charged into the valley around Victoriaville. The already shaky Canadians began to crack; the more experienced veterans tried to hold order, but to little avail. After one part of the Canadian army finally began to route, the Americans fixed bayonets and charged. In one foul swoop, the entire Canadian encirclement disintegrated.
L.N.F. tried to regain his men at the north of Victoriaville, and though he was moderately successful, it was clear the battle was lost. He ordered a full withdrawal back to St. Lawrence. Many of the Americans went to chase them down but were ordered to stop by the officers. Trois-Rivieres wasn't the mission; Quebec City was. After a quick celebration, the Americans continued the march north on the 4th.
Upon L.N.F.'s return to Trois-Rivieres, he was reprimanded. But not fired. It wasn't really his fault. What was more important now was that Quebec City was defended. He was ordered to rush along the St. Lawrence and take up defensive positions in Quebec City and Lèvis (the city directly across the river from Quebec City). In the meantime, the Royal Navy was asked for support in the hopes that the St. Lawrence could be kept open with British firepower.
Shafter informed D.C. of his victory and intent to move north and capture the St. Lawrence delta. He concocted a plan. He knew that as soon as the Royal Navy arrived in the river, his men would be blown to smithereens. He also now knew that the Canadian army was under-experienced and jittery. So, he would keep his men in good condition and take a whole two weeks to get up to Quebec. Once they arrive in the city, the well-rested men won't even set up camp; instead, they will charge the city. In the chaos, the Royal Navy wouldn't dare fire upon their own city, and before they knew what was going on, the Americans would crack through the Canadian makeshift defense and take the coastal cannons in Lèvis. They would then fire on whatever ships the British expensed in St. Lawrence and use the chaos to their advantage to occupy the city.
It was crazy; it relied entirely on total Canadian confusion, total American understanding, and a hell of a lot of luck. But Shafter thought it was possible. He began to send thousands of refugees straight for Quebec City; after sending them off, his men would ransack their homesteads and gorge themselves. Almost like Sherman's March to the Sea of old. Every night on the march, the men would celebrate together and discuss the crazy plan before them. As Shafter hoped, morale was very high on the approach to Quebec.
There are a few times in history when crazy plans just happen to go right. The Shafter Plan in Quebec City was one of those very few times. On June 23rd, 20 days after the American victory at Victoriaville, the American army arrived outside Lèvis. They were faced by the Quebec home guard under Jacques Doriot, the Canadian 1st Army under L.N.F., and eleven British destroyers in the St. Lawrence commanded by Admiral Algernon Lyons. As ordered, the Americans didn't set up camp; instead, they charged at full speed into the city.
L.N.F. didn't even know what to think; over the past couple of weeks, he had to handle the mass number of refugees Shafter had sent him, the crafting of a defense in Lèvis and Quebec City, and the low morale of his recently defeated men. Now, after three weeks of waiting to even get a glimpse of Shafter's boys, they attack the city without a single second delay? The unprepared Canadians were soon forced to fight street to street. Admiral Lyon's ships in St. Lawrence lay confusedly dormant as the Royal Navy attempted to figure out what the hell was happening.
In the chaos, a few American regiments broke past the Canadian line and rushed to the coastal defense cannons. After overpowering the garrison in the region, the Americans fired upon the royal navy within an hour of first arriving at the city. The Royal Navy, seeing only a few cannons on the Lèvis coast firing at them, now confusedly fired back, hitting uncommanded and commandeered coastal defenses alike. On the other side of St. Lawrence in Quebec City, the coastal cannon crews sat the most perplexed. With very little information crossing from Lèvis to Quebec, the men barely even knew the Americans were in Lèvis. Now the Lèvis cannons are attacking the British navy? What was going on?
Admiral Lyons quickly assumed that the battle had been lost on land. He ordered his ships to fire upon Levis and destroy any ferry ports to halt any chance of an American crossing into Quebec City proper.
By the end of the day, Lèvis had fallen, much of the Quebec Home Guard had been captured, and the Royal Navy had retreated out of the St. Lawrence. Quebec City may not have fallen entirely, but now one half of the St. Lawrence Delta is in the hands of America and the other is in the hands of Canada. In other words, no ships would be entering St. Lawrence's; Shafter's mission had been successful."
-from The Anglo-American War
by Terry Hurst, Published 1977
"Now that the St. Lawrence Delta was too dangerous to enter, Ottawa and Montreal were isolated from any British support. The Canadian Parliament exploded in rage. They had L.N.F. fired and quickly motioned no confidence against Prime Minister Thompson. Somewhat comically, they didn't get the chance to vote, though, as the Canadian Governor General fired him first. Lord Spencer and London requested that Thompson be replaced by James Colebrooke Patterson. The current Canadian Minister of Defense, Spencer then informed Parliament that he had a secret plan to reopen the St. Lawrence, and he also once again promised that British soldiers would soon arrive in Canada by the end of July.
On the American side of things, the first freshly trained volunteer divisions finally made their way out of boot camp. A new army was soon assembled in Manhattan, New York. They were ordered to take advantage of the short period of time they would have with a closed-off St. Lawrence and seize Ottawa."
-from The Trilogy
by Kieren Hutchison, published 1999
-
Treat this as a long context snippet for the ANGLO AMERICAN WAR II chapter.
Next chapter will go over the war from July-November
US
GENERAL WILLIAM SHAFTER
14,588 Men Total (Most of which are veterans)
Canada
GENERAL LEIF NEWRY FITZROY CROZIER
16,726 Men Total (Most of which are hastily trained militiamen)
May 11th: Under orders from the President himself, General Shafter moves north with orders to secure Quebec City and the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.
May 13th: Shafter's army leaves Newport, Vermont for the border.
May 15th: The Americans are spotted by Canadian scouts near Ayer's cliff just south of Sherbrooke.
May 16th: Upon hearing about the American army moving towards Quebec the Canadian War Office mobilizes. GENERAL L.N.F Crozier, recently out of retirement is called upon to command the small Canadian army. Volunteers training all around Ontario and Quebec have training rushed.
May 18th: Shafter arrives on the outskirts of Sherbrooke. The small garrison in the city puts up a small fight for a couple hours before surrendering. Shafter occupies the city and plans for his next moves.
May 23rd: After more Canadian scouts are visualized on a nearby hill, Shafter decides to continue moving north.
May 25th: Outside Val-Des-Sources Shafter's boys fight a quick skirmish with some Canadian Calvary. Fearing an ambush Shafter stays put.
May 27th: Shafter's army goes on the move again towards Victoriaville.
May 28th: L.N.F leaves Montreal with an army assembled. While en route to Trois-Rivieres more men are recruited into the army.
May 30th: Shafter arrives in the small town of Victoriaville, after a quick scuffle with the citizens of the town, it is occupied. Again the army decides to stay put. Shafter sends out scouts, fearing the Canadian army is nearby.
May 30th: L.N.F crosses the St. Lawrence at Trois-Rivieres upon learning of Shafter's presence in Victoriaville.
May 31st: American scouts inform Shafter of the large Canadian army coming south. The Americans prepare Victoriaville for Battle.
June 2nd: L.N.F arrives to the outskirts of Victoriaville at night. Understanding his men to be weaker than the American forces, he moves to surround the city and wait.
June 3rd 3:22 AM: Shafter, seeing the Canadian army moving around the town orders the American artillery to open fire. The Battle of Victoriaville had begun.
SHAFTER BEATS BACK L.N.F AT VICTORIAVILLE
In a crushing first major defeat for the war, the Canadians are sent running!
-The New York Times, June 5th 1893
"The real first battle of the war came on June 3rd. General Shafter and his army were met in the early hours of the morning by L.N.F. and his whole armed corps. Upon seeing their arrival, the American artillery and Canadian artillery began taking pop shots at one another. Though there were some early cavalry skirmishes in the night, both sides were far too tired to actually fight. For this reason, they both settled in for the remainder of the night.In a crushing first major defeat for the war, the Canadians are sent running!
-The New York Times, June 5th 1893
By the time the sun finally came out, the Canadian troops had mostly surrounded Victoriaville. L.N.F. had underestimated the size of the American army and believed that if they could be contained for a few days, they'd eventually be forced to sue for peace against the much larger, if unprepared, Canadian army. Though he wasn't totally wrong in this assumption, he was also not correct in this assumption. The truth was, the Canadian army was not much larger than the American force. On top of that, around ten percent of the American army wasn't even in the now-surrounded Victoriaville. Throughout June 2nd, most of the American cavalry had been sent to scour the countryside for farms to raid. Some of them had blown their cover and got involved in minor side skirmishes. Most of these men, however, had regrouped in the treeline, mostly out of sight. Waiting for the fighting to start.
Shafter knew he had those men ready to flank the Canadians. He had ordered them the day prior to hide in the trees and wait for the fighting to start. Shafter had heard of the size of the Canadian army from scouts and couldn't believe it. Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could come to only one conclusion. At least half of that army must be untrained. He decided to test the theory. At around 10 in the morning, he began to shell the Canadian line. After another hour, he ordered a full regiment to leave city protection and engage part of the Canadian encirclement. Shafter then watched through his binoculars; he witnessed the disorganized volleys from the Canadian side, the haphazard attempts to flank his boys, and the nervous sweats. He was right; these men were ready to crack.
It would be a death sentence to stay in Victoriaville and be bombarded, so Shafter ordered his men to leave the city and engage in a line battle on all sides. Against any experienced army, that would be a death sentence. It was just that, though, against an experienced army. As the two sides began to fire on one another, the American cavalry in the treeline charged into the valley around Victoriaville. The already shaky Canadians began to crack; the more experienced veterans tried to hold order, but to little avail. After one part of the Canadian army finally began to route, the Americans fixed bayonets and charged. In one foul swoop, the entire Canadian encirclement disintegrated.
L.N.F. tried to regain his men at the north of Victoriaville, and though he was moderately successful, it was clear the battle was lost. He ordered a full withdrawal back to St. Lawrence. Many of the Americans went to chase them down but were ordered to stop by the officers. Trois-Rivieres wasn't the mission; Quebec City was. After a quick celebration, the Americans continued the march north on the 4th.
Upon L.N.F.'s return to Trois-Rivieres, he was reprimanded. But not fired. It wasn't really his fault. What was more important now was that Quebec City was defended. He was ordered to rush along the St. Lawrence and take up defensive positions in Quebec City and Lèvis (the city directly across the river from Quebec City). In the meantime, the Royal Navy was asked for support in the hopes that the St. Lawrence could be kept open with British firepower.
Shafter informed D.C. of his victory and intent to move north and capture the St. Lawrence delta. He concocted a plan. He knew that as soon as the Royal Navy arrived in the river, his men would be blown to smithereens. He also now knew that the Canadian army was under-experienced and jittery. So, he would keep his men in good condition and take a whole two weeks to get up to Quebec. Once they arrive in the city, the well-rested men won't even set up camp; instead, they will charge the city. In the chaos, the Royal Navy wouldn't dare fire upon their own city, and before they knew what was going on, the Americans would crack through the Canadian makeshift defense and take the coastal cannons in Lèvis. They would then fire on whatever ships the British expensed in St. Lawrence and use the chaos to their advantage to occupy the city.
It was crazy; it relied entirely on total Canadian confusion, total American understanding, and a hell of a lot of luck. But Shafter thought it was possible. He began to send thousands of refugees straight for Quebec City; after sending them off, his men would ransack their homesteads and gorge themselves. Almost like Sherman's March to the Sea of old. Every night on the march, the men would celebrate together and discuss the crazy plan before them. As Shafter hoped, morale was very high on the approach to Quebec.
There are a few times in history when crazy plans just happen to go right. The Shafter Plan in Quebec City was one of those very few times. On June 23rd, 20 days after the American victory at Victoriaville, the American army arrived outside Lèvis. They were faced by the Quebec home guard under Jacques Doriot, the Canadian 1st Army under L.N.F., and eleven British destroyers in the St. Lawrence commanded by Admiral Algernon Lyons. As ordered, the Americans didn't set up camp; instead, they charged at full speed into the city.
L.N.F. didn't even know what to think; over the past couple of weeks, he had to handle the mass number of refugees Shafter had sent him, the crafting of a defense in Lèvis and Quebec City, and the low morale of his recently defeated men. Now, after three weeks of waiting to even get a glimpse of Shafter's boys, they attack the city without a single second delay? The unprepared Canadians were soon forced to fight street to street. Admiral Lyon's ships in St. Lawrence lay confusedly dormant as the Royal Navy attempted to figure out what the hell was happening.
In the chaos, a few American regiments broke past the Canadian line and rushed to the coastal defense cannons. After overpowering the garrison in the region, the Americans fired upon the royal navy within an hour of first arriving at the city. The Royal Navy, seeing only a few cannons on the Lèvis coast firing at them, now confusedly fired back, hitting uncommanded and commandeered coastal defenses alike. On the other side of St. Lawrence in Quebec City, the coastal cannon crews sat the most perplexed. With very little information crossing from Lèvis to Quebec, the men barely even knew the Americans were in Lèvis. Now the Lèvis cannons are attacking the British navy? What was going on?
Admiral Lyons quickly assumed that the battle had been lost on land. He ordered his ships to fire upon Levis and destroy any ferry ports to halt any chance of an American crossing into Quebec City proper.
By the end of the day, Lèvis had fallen, much of the Quebec Home Guard had been captured, and the Royal Navy had retreated out of the St. Lawrence. Quebec City may not have fallen entirely, but now one half of the St. Lawrence Delta is in the hands of America and the other is in the hands of Canada. In other words, no ships would be entering St. Lawrence's; Shafter's mission had been successful."
-from The Anglo-American War
by Terry Hurst, Published 1977
"Now that the St. Lawrence Delta was too dangerous to enter, Ottawa and Montreal were isolated from any British support. The Canadian Parliament exploded in rage. They had L.N.F. fired and quickly motioned no confidence against Prime Minister Thompson. Somewhat comically, they didn't get the chance to vote, though, as the Canadian Governor General fired him first. Lord Spencer and London requested that Thompson be replaced by James Colebrooke Patterson. The current Canadian Minister of Defense, Spencer then informed Parliament that he had a secret plan to reopen the St. Lawrence, and he also once again promised that British soldiers would soon arrive in Canada by the end of July.
On the American side of things, the first freshly trained volunteer divisions finally made their way out of boot camp. A new army was soon assembled in Manhattan, New York. They were ordered to take advantage of the short period of time they would have with a closed-off St. Lawrence and seize Ottawa."
-from The Trilogy
by Kieren Hutchison, published 1999
-
Treat this as a long context snippet for the ANGLO AMERICAN WAR II chapter.
Next chapter will go over the war from July-November
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