Fragments from the Americas (Part IV)

The White House, Washington D.C., Maryland, United States of America, January 1889.

President Rutherford Birchard Hayes stood in front of his desk in the Oval Office, in the White House gazing meditatively at the maps spread across it's cluttered surface. He spent most of his days, since his election to the job, poring over maps and documents, memorandums and reports, dealling with ongoing economic, political and military crises or scandals which seemed to be his lot practically every day. He had had his successes and his failures, though on reflection he felt future historians might remember his achievements in various governmental and administrative spheres more favourable then his own party, the Republicans. Though Hayes could not claim this as exclusive to his own term of office as president, Presidents Abraham Lincoln (4 terms, 1861-1872), Ulysses Simpson Grant (2 terms, 1873-77 and 1883-1887), James Abram Garfield (1 term, 1878-1882) had all had to grapple with much the same problems to greater or lesser extents during their tenures of the presidency.

His fingers traced the borders of the American Union and it's states, it's core members and the boundaries of several new states which were due to join throughout this year as they reorganized from Territorial governments into state governments with proper state constitutions and congressional representatives and senators recognized and accepted by the U.S. Congress. Four political parties, grappled for dominance within the U.S. Congress, the Republican Party (his own party), the Radical Republican Party (mercifully leaderless at the moment, as several candidates were locked in a bitter power struggle for control of the party), the Liberal Party (Carl Schurz), and the Democratic Party (Stephen Grover Cleveland). At the moment, the Republicans held the balance of power in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but it was a knife edge balance because, the opposition parties could block legislation in both houses, if they desired or even pass it with a slender majority if they voted together and if enough Republicans could be convinced to vote in accord with them. Given that the majority of Hayes's reforms had cost him virtually the whole of his own party's support, he was in the extremely awkward position of depending on the opposition parties to help him push through his programs. He was counting to some extent on the new senators and represenatatives that would join congress this year to help swing the delicate internal balance within Congress in his own political favour.

Five military departments controlled or rather attempted to control and police the disputed Mid and Far Western territories while at the same time wage a difficult and tediously long drawn out civil war and numerous Indian wars in the region. The Department of the North West commanded by General John Pope, oversaw the territories of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The Department of the South West, commanded by General Nelson Appleton Miles, covered the rebel state of Utah, and the Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico Territories. The Department of the Dakotas, commanded by General Henry Beebee Carrington, covered the North and South Dakota Territories (shortly to enter the Union in a few months as the states of North and South Dakota) east of the Missouri River. The Department of the Mid West, commanded by General John Rutter Brooke covered the Nebraska Territory (due to submit it's formal application to the Union, this month) and the Union State of Kansas. While finally the last Department, that of the Pacific,commanded by General George Crook covered the imperiled Union State of Washington.

The worst trouble spots for his administration was the long, highly militarized border with the C.S.A., the ongoing military rule and pacification of the Union State of Missouri, which was still plagued with fighting between Union Loyalists and pro-secessionist bandits and partisans. Further to the West, was the ongoing Lakota Nation war, a brutal struggle between the plains Indians and the U.S. Regulars and assorted volunteers and militiamen over some seven territories: North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Montana. The ongoing war with the Navajo Nation sprawled over peripheral parts of Utah and Colorado, and much larger portions of the Arizona and the New Mexico Territories.

Finally of course was the ongoing attempt to suppress the rebelling Independent States of America, formed by the former Union States of Oregon, California and Nevada, along side their associated rebel state Utah. Hayes, glanced absently at his watch, General John McAllister Schofield, the Army Chief-of-Staff and the Secretary of War Alexander Ramsey were due in shortly for their usual twice weekly conference with the President. Ironically, the I.S.A, which had been in existence for some four years had finally elected it's first provisional president. A man, that Hayes knew principally nothing about, other then he was a local born Californian man, and of some political prominence. He hoped that Schofield and Ramsey would be able to fill in some of the gaps for him, as it was always desireable to have an understanding of one's potential enemies. While, Hayes and Schofield had a good working relationship, Hayes would have much preferred having his old civil war comrade and former commanding officer George Crook in the office of Chief-of-Staff of the Army. Crook had however demured, while flattered at the offer, Crook had felt he was needed where he currently was, where he had enough problems and headaches with his departmental command as it was, without adding still more to it. Schofield also had a lot more tact and diplomatic aplomb then Crook felt he possessed, which was important for a job, that placed him square in the middle of what many Union military officers called The Snake Pit, i.e. Washington, D.C.

The other two members of his cabinet due to join them for the conference, one of whom was a man, that Hayes had come to intensely dislike and distrust, as had just about every other president who had held this office had learned to, Lafayette Curry Baker, the head of the National Detectives, the Union's uniformed military and political secret police force. The other of course, was Allen Pinkerton, head of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which functioned as the Union's senior plain clothes federal and civil policing and investigating and criminal police force. There was a considerable degree of overlap and intense competition between the National Detectives, the Pinkerton Detectives and the Foriegn Affairs branch of the government, due to all three handling similar policing, investigating and intelligence functions.

Technically, all foriegn espionage and counter-espionage duties were the preserve of the Foriegn Office if they occured outside the continential United States of America. The ongoing Second Civil War tended to blur the lines between what consituted foriegn and domestic however. Particularly where, the Indepentant States of America were concerned as it was both "foriegn" and "domestic", and that put the Foreign Office squarely in conflict with the National Detectives who generally handled all internal espionage and counter-espionage duties, and who regarded both the I.S.A. and the Disputed Western territories as squarely and solely in their field. The Pinkertons' did not help the situation by also claiming a role in those areas, which put them in conflict with the National Detectives as well. Hayes tugged at his beard angrily, as he thought over dealling with this Gordian Knot, which made his presidency more difficult at times then he wanted it to be, he had enough problems without playing referee between governmental departments and bodies, just because they got their collective noses out of joint, over jurisdictional issues!

Schofield had given him a warning that this would likely come up at today's conference, as well as when, the Secretary of State, William Maxwell Evarts joined the meeting later in the afternoon. Evart was tied up in an important meeting at the moment with the Legation Ministers of France and Great Britain. From the hints that Evart had dropped him early yesterday, Hayes was as hopeful as Evart was that the diplomatic meeting would be fruitful and of advantage to the United States. U.S. and French relations had been steadily thawing since the First Civil War, and had taken a distinctly warmer and more productive turn over the last couple of years. Relations with Great Britain were still however distinctly frosty, which was not altogether unexpected, on either side. However the fridge relationship had shown some signs of undergoing a thaw, When Gladstone's Liberals had taken over, although the temperature had remained lukewarm with the following British Whig and Conservative governments. Still Evart, felt that things might take a more positive political and economic swing, as the British had begun to resume a more friendly policy as their own relationship with the Confederate States of America had steadily cooled since 1867.

The other warning, that Schofield had dropped him, however did have Hayes, rather more concerned. One of Schofield's chief operations officers, Major-General Logan Patrick, had dropped a bombshell in the Union Army's High Command, when he had put forth a top secret internal paper analysising the current conduct of the current Civil War and Indian Wars and what steps might have to be taken to wrap the ongoing wars up more sucessfully. Schofield had promised to bring a précis of the memorandum, so Hayes could familiarize himself with it's contents before anyone in the Cabinet, Congress or god help them the newpapers got wind of the matter. That warning had put Hayes on guard, If Schofield was worried enough to bring the matter up, then it had to be important that he know about it. More Importantly, it was a matter that Schofield felt, that Hayes as Commander-in-Chief of the Union Armed Forces might have to make a decision on, that would have both military and political dimensions.

Fragments from the Americas (Part III)

Puget Sound, Washington State, United States of America, Jan 1889.

Admiral Samuel Perry "Powhatan" Carter, sat at his desk in his day cabin aboard the gunboat turned Admiralty yacht and fleet dispatch vessel, the USS Monocacy, a ship he had formerly commanded as a much younger naval officer. At present Carter used it as his administrative headquarters for the Union Pacific Fleet. His newly arrive battleship flagship was in dockyard hands, refitting it's flagship, staffing and communications facilities. It's installations while previously adequate for divisional and squadron commands it had formerly held, were he had found somewhat inadequate for managing and directing a gathering fleet of well over a hundred warships and auxiliaries, with even more on the way. The Naval Dockyard, however had the matter well in hand and he and his staff could resume use of the fleet flagship in another two weeks.

Carter was working his way through a desk covered in routine correspondence, he had just finished the most important letter on the table, a long letter from his wife of twelve years, Martha. Her picture was always the most prominent object on his desk. They had married in 1877, and Carter felt it was one of the best decisions he had ever undertaken, in both the personal and professional senses. Martha was a descendant of Martha Custis Washington. It certainly had not hurt his career progress or his personal (which was rather more important to him in many ways) and social life. Political connections were of course of some importance in a military, where all promotions to flag rank were governed by connections in the right circles and especially in the United States Senate and being an officer of well established professionalism and impeccable loyalty to the Union. Through his service on land and sea, as well as he connections to the Washington family and his own Carter relations, and being a member of several elite military and civil fraternities, had allowed him a steady if not spectacular rise in the ranks.

A Tennessean by birth, Carter had joined the navy directly as a midshipman in 1840, with active service on the Great Lakes and the Pacific later graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1846 and seeing service in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. His following service had been varied staff and scientific duties at the United States Naval Observatory for several years followed by an appointment as an assistant professor of mathematics at the Naval Academy 1850-53. Carter had then served with competence with the Pacific and Brazilian squadrons of the Union Navy., unit he had been reappointed to a staff position with the Naval Academy.

His civil war service had been both distinctly unusual and distinguished by important staff work, intelligence and spy and raiding duties as well as combat assignments at various levels up to and including brigade and divisional command with the Union armies in the Western Theater of the Civil War. Very briefly he had even exercised corps level commands until he had been mustered out of the Union Army in 1866 to resume his interrupted naval career. Carter had resumed assignment to the Union Pacific Squadron, with steady promotions and a progression of ship duties, commands and eventually assignment to the post of commandant of cadets at the Naval Academy, followed by another bout of sea and diplomatic duties with the Navy's European Squadron. In 1877 he had been appointed to the United States Lighthouse Board in light of his previous scientific and active sea service. He had seriously considered retiring in 1881 and 1882, as he had only then just reached the substantive rank of rear-admiral. The out break of the Second American Civil War in 1885, had revived his career prospects and resulted in his rapid promotion to vice-admiral and admiral, although he personally would have preferred that not be the case, considering the political and military disaster that had unfolded for his country for the second time this century. Swiftly resuming a mix of army and naval duties he had played a critical role in keeping Washington State in the Union and protecting the vital naval base in Puget Sound and assisting Admiral David Dixon Porter is taking the fight to the rebels of the Independent States of America.

Unfortunately, both he and Admiral Porter had come into conflict over the conduct of the war in the Pacific, both over general tactics and especially over the overall strategy. Porter advocated a containment strategy, and extended blockade, while husbanding major naval units for more decisive actions. This was of course a sound idea, which Carter did not object to in the slightest, what he did object to was the complete and increasing absence of any offensive action in Admiral Porter's plans. This had made a certain sense, in the first months of the new civil war, when the blockade of the Oregon and California coasts had been established and was still firming up. The tense relations between Porter and himself had eventually reached a head, and Porter had sacked him in mid 1887 and sent him back to Washington, D.C. to await orders, this had turned out to be an unwise move on Porter's part, as his enemies in the government and the navy had used it as an excuse to sack Porter in turn.

Carter had wound up much to his surprise being sent back to command, the Pacific Fleet in Porter's place. He had flat orders to ginger up, the Pacific Fleet's up til then lackluster and pedestrian performance and take a more activist approach to win the war in the Pacific, or at least turn it in a more favourable direction for the Union. Carter had immediately lead the Pacific Fleet on a series of raids and feints against the rebel coastline, attacking several major harbours, including San Francisco, to the I.S.A's shock and alarm. The naval blockade both on the sea and in the air had been intensified by his and his subordinates efforts and the strategy of attack had slowly brought the war on the coasts to a successful turn. Carter did not think the matter was in the bag however. He had recently broached the subject of a large scale naval landing on the Oregon or California coast to open a second front against, the Army and Navy staffs had been interested, although the difficulties of such an operation, particularly sustaining it with the heavy demands of other fronts concerned both him and his own command staff.

The President had officially ordered him, to conduct a series of operations and bombardments of the Oregon coast, to draw out the I.S.A's main fleet and destroy it in detail before trying any landings. A sensible precaution in both Carter's and the various staffs involved in planning this new phase in the civil war. President Hayes had also given permission for Carter to make a second sortie into San Francisco or against the alternative targets of Los Angeles or San Diego if in his considered judgement that it was practical and likely to lead to the desired results. Both Carter's naval subordinates and his army colleagues in Washington State had worked over the winter to put together the necessary assets for an extended naval and land campaign and it had been agreed by himself and his army opposite number, General George Crook, that a serious offensive attack into Oregon by Union land forces was essential to the overall campaign, particular to secure crossings over the Columbia River so attacks could be mounted against rebel held Portland and the rebel state capital of Salem.

While both, he and Crook felt a joint naval-army offensive should be launched at the same time, but given the distances and terrain many army units would have to cross, this was unlikely to work in practice. For one thing, any land offensive was complicated by the aftermath of the I.S.A.'s Autumn-Winter Offensive of 1888. This assault had been narrowly beaten off as it had crashed across the Columbia River at several points. Rebel troops from California and Oregon had almost reached Seattle, getting as far as Tacoma before they had been forced back. After much conductive discussion both he and Crook had decide to launch their combined air efforts at the same time, while the navy hit the rebel coasts soon after this got underway. The remaining Rebel forces dug in on the river at Longview, had to be reduced as quickly as possible before Crook and his staff would consider large scale crossings of the Columbia themselves.

Some 150 miles to the east the rebel troops had driven in a massive bulge some 100 miles wide by 200 miles deep into Washington State between Pasco, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho. Crook's subordinate commanders were still trying to reduce this enemy held bulge but it looked like it was going to require a sustained effort, as the I.S.A army had dug in with considerable vigor and was bring in reinforcements from wherever it could procure them. Considerable discussions by telegraphy and air couriers with General of the Army John McAllistair Schofield had concerned this particularly troublesome and delicate point.

Which had resulted in General John Pope, the Commander of the Department of the North West, comming into the planning of a co-ordinated response to this problem from both the Department of the Pacific and the North West. Pope was putting together an Army of the Salmon, to pressure the rebels from the Idaho side the rebel lodgement, being dubbed the Walla Walla Bulge. Unfortunately, it would take approximately four or five months for Pope to assemble this force, as he had his hands full just policing his department against bandits, rustlers and roving bands of Indians, while engaging in ongoing operations against the Lakota Nation and independent enclaves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, as well as an ongoing campaign against the emergent, independent and thoroughly troublesome Big Horn Basin Republic in Wyoming. Neither Crook, nor Carter were surprised at this but both were assured that Pope would honour his committment to lauching his part in a counter-offensive the moment it was logistically feasible for his department to do so.