The Confederate Triumph

[Senator-elect Spark]

This timeline will examine a Confederate victory in the Civil War.

DISCLAIMER: This scenario will be conducted out of pure interest and admiration for history and in no way supports or condones the actions of oppression, slavery, or brutality.

[Senator-elect Spark]

July 1st 1863

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

First Day of Battle of Gettysburg

Lee's Grand Plan

The fighting at Gettysburg was considered a historical accident by many, but Confederate General Robert E. Lee had a grand plan in mind to disrupt the Northern morale. He would march east toward Harrisburg and later have the ability to come in proximity to threaten Philadelphia. James Longstreet tried to convince General Lee to abandon his Gettysburg Campaign. But Lee persisted and wanted to destroy the Army of the Potomac.

On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Richard Ewell decides to attack the hill heeding Lee's orders instead of waiting until the next day. Ewell drives his Corps of 20,000 men toward Gettysburg and moves to the Union's flank. He advances south into the town and continues to strike. The Union lines are taken aback and were unaware of this advance. The Union is forced back to Cemetery Hill and they build fortifications to prepare for another sizeable Confederate attack. The Union believes that these defensive positions will enable them to survey the Confederate lines from below and prepare a successful counterattack. The Union lines remain on the defensive while they seek to protect their supply lines from falling into Confederate control.

Lee then clearly orders Ewell to attack Cemetery Hill later than expected after daylight. This assault takes the Union by surprise because they had expected Ewell to attack earlier. The Union loses the advantage of the high ground when visibility is lower. General Ewell sustains a high amount of casualties (nearly half of his corps) after deciding to attack the hill but are able to outmaneuver the Union fortifications. After the Confederates take Cemetery Hill, they begin to take defensive positions over the roads below. The Union ranks are demoralized after failing to hold Cemetery Hill and are forced to retreat eastward. Lee then decides to bring Richard Anderson's division to reinforce the position.

The first day of fighting has concluded and it ends with the Confederates in a decisive position. The Union is reeling and news of the South's impending victory causes political support for the war to begin to dwindle in the North.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Second Day of the Battle of Gettysburg


Lt. Gen. James Longstreet then arrives with a new corps. The Union continues to strengthen defensive positions. Longstreet, a proponent of defensive war, refuses to engage the Union forces outright. He completes a turning maneuver flanking to the right of the Union line. Lee recognizes this vulnerability and heeds Longstreet's suggestion to take advantage of the opening in the Union position. Lee knew that an assault near the Peach Orchards would result in massive casualties and that the Union could take advantage of their weakened positions.

Confederate General-in-chief Robert E. Lee orders Lt. Gen. James Longstreet to bypass Wolf's Hill to the east. This aggressive movement resembles the tactics used at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Reminiscent of that situation, the Confederates advance and attack the Union flank. It results in devastation. As a result, the Confederates are able to occupy Big and Little Round Tops. The Confederates now command a position of oversight of the Union lines. They are able to observe all Union positions. The Union, fearing complete encirclement by the Confederates, retreat backwards toward the Baltimore Pike. If this line of communication is lost with Washington then the Confederacy would be able to block Meade's eventual retreat. The Union remains flanked on Cemetery Ridge.

The Confederates have succeeded in driving the Union forces away from their defensive positions and can now inflict a decisive blow to win the war for independence.

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

DISCLAIMER: This scenario will be conducted out of pure interest and admiration for history and in no way supports or condones the actions of oppression, slavery, or brutality.

The fact that you feel the need to post this disclaimer is an indictment on our post modern societies inability to have adult conversations.


Gettysburg is overrated as being a the turning point of the war. Just Saying.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Gettysburg is overrated as being a the turning point of the war. Just Saying.

I imagine we'd agree on very little w/re: the Civil War, but this is absolutely true. Even if Meade fails at Gettysburg, Washington would not have fallen (the federal defenses there were massive), and Grant takes Vicksburg regardless the next day.

[Senator-elect Spark]

Third Day of the Battle of Gettysburg

Following the seizure of Big and Little Round Tops by the Confederates, the Cavalry Corps is able to survey the Union lines. General Lee dispatches Jeb Stuart with the cavalry. Also during this time, General George Pickett arrives. A.P. Hill's Corps III begins to ready for another day of battle. Instead of attacking the Peach Orchard. Confederate Corps I and III opt to flank and attack to the right again. General George G. Meade of the Army of the Potomac expected the Confederates to blast through the Union defenses to the left. Expecting an assault from the Peach Orchard, the Union fortified the left flank. In response, the Confederates were able to break the Union lines in the right flank near Wolf's Hill. The Confederates, in turn, were able to seize the Baltimore Pike and control the Union supply lines as well as sever communication with Washington, D.C. The Confederate Corps surrounded Meade's Army of the Potomac and forced it to surrender.

Lee's Army of Northern Virginia took over 10,000 prisoners from the Army of the Potomac. The Confederates had won the war at the Battle of Gettysburg. As a result, the British recognized the Confederacy as a nation. The Confederates understood the importance of an alliance with Britain to achieve its independence and now it had won its favor by delivering a significant victory. The Confederacy now had an important trading partner and foreign power to disrupt the Union war effort.

Following the battle, news of the disastrous defeat at Gettysburg had reached the White House days later. President Lincoln was panicking and unsure about what to do. Public support for his re-election was dwindling, registering at a measly 17%. Recognizing that he may be in jeopardy after the defeat of his army in the Eastern Theater, Lincoln and his cabinet fled to New York City. Many Democrats criticized President Lincoln for his failing leadership to stop the Confederates and many on the home-front doubted if they could be stopped.

Meanwhile, General Lee took his Army of Northern Virginia eastward and marched onto Harrisburg and then to Philadelphia. Lee, knowing matters would be complicated to reach out West, recommended to President Davis that lines of communication be made between war departments. This is so that communication could be freely exchanged between them. Then Lee astutely recognizing that his presence was needed out West, recommended to President Davis that Joseph E. Johnston be sent to Mississippi to head the Western War Department. This move would solidify the defenses to prevent General Grant from making advances to siege Vicksburg.

With these preparation in place, the Confederacy is on the path to achieving independence from the United States.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If Meade lacks Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill on day two, one has to contemplate seriously what compels Meade to remain there. The town is of no value, Washington is behind Meade and to the East and Lee has a condensed time table.

Lee cannot continue rampaging across PA with the Army of the Potomac close by and he cannot just sit there. He also cannot overcome Washington's defenses. He has to attack or go home. Meade also knows the value of concentrated forces having overcome stiff odds in both Antietam and Fredericksburg with his PA Reserve division only to be defeated by lack of support. He also was one of the Corps Commanders that was aghast by Hookers failure to utilize large segments of the Army, which included at the time Meade's own Fifth, as well as Meade's former Corps, the First under John Reynolds.

This meant that at Gettysburg, he was determined to utilize his whole Army and move as needed depending on where the force of the attack came on day two, ended up being the left flank. I think some 42,000 US troops were sent over to fight Longstreet's 17,000.

[The Mikado]

Gettysburg is overrated as being a the turning point of the war. Just Saying.

I imagine we'd agree on very little w/re: the Civil War, but this is absolutely true. Even if Meade fails at Gettysburg, Washington would not have fallen (the federal defenses there were massive), and Grant takes Vicksburg regardless the next day.

I've argued here before that any alt-history with CSA winning has to have Antietam as a decisive Confederate victory as its starting point. That's about the Confederacy's best case scenario imaginable because it's early enough in the war that a lot of the disasters of 1863 for the CSA can be avoided.

By Gettysburg, having the South win individual battles just prolongs the war, because, yeah, Vicksburg meant the USA had complete control of the Mississippi River plus complete naval superiority and the war became just waiting out the inevitable Southern starvation, in the best case for the South.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Gettysburg is overrated as being a the turning point of the war. Just Saying.

I imagine we'd agree on very little w/re: the Civil War, but this is absolutely true. Even if Meade fails at Gettysburg, Washington would not have fallen (the federal defenses there were massive), and Grant takes Vicksburg regardless the next day.

I've argued here before that any alt-history with CSA winning has to have Antietam as a decisive Confederate victory as its starting point. That's about the Confederacy's best case scenario imaginable because it's early enough in the war that a lot of the disasters of 1863 for the CSA can be avoided.

By Gettysburg, having the South win individual battles just prolongs the war, because, yeah, Vicksburg meant the USA had complete control of the Mississippi River plus complete naval superiority and the war became just waiting out the inevitable Southern starvation, in the best case for the South.

I think the more feasible path to a Confederate win would have had to have been if Donald Fairfax followed Charles Wilkes orders to take the RMS Trent as a prize, which would likely have pushed Britain into the war, and possibly France as well. A stronger Confederate performance during Antietam likely prolongs the war, but fails to change the outcome.

[Proud Houstonian]

i feel sad looking at dead TL's