1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 633 At All Costs

In early March 1861.

After most of the territories in the western regions: Utah Territory, Colorado Territory, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and West Mexico Territory had completed the preparations for statehood, representatives of each territory submitted applications for statehood to the Congress of the American Republic.

The Congress of the American Republic quickly approved the applications for statehood of these western territories. Within just one week, Utah Territory, Colorado Territory, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and West Mexico Territory successively became states and joined the big family of the American Republic.

The white star flag symbolizing the American Republic was planted in most of the western regions. The three territories that still belonged to the federal government in name, Idaho Territory, Montana Territory, and Wyoming Territory, were too far away from the core areas of the federation, and the federal government could not effectively control these three remote territories.

However, the American Republic, which had the advantage of geographical location, began to gradually encroach on these sparsely populated territories by relying on its geographical advantages.

With the addition of new states, the states of the American Republic have rapidly expanded from three to eight, and the actual controlled territory is comparable to that of the Northern Federation and the Southern Confederacy.

The only drawback is that except for the three states on the west coast and the state of West Mexico, the land quality of the remaining states of the Republic is relatively low, and the population carrying capacity is not very high.

Compared with the federal government, the difficulties faced by the government of the Republic mainly come from diplomacy.

As of mid-March, there are only five countries that officially recognize the American Republic, namely: the Confederate States of America, the Republic of Texas, the Kingdom of Hawaii, Japan, and Mexico, the southern neighbor of the Republic.

Among them, Mexico has also proposed to remove Spanish from the official language before considering establishing diplomatic relations with the American Republic.

The American Republic naturally ignored Mexico's unreasonable demands and issued a statement that which language to position as one of the official languages ​​of the Republic is the internal affairs of the American Republic, and no country has the right to interfere.

After issuing the statement, the government of the American Republic mobilized the Mexican Brigade, a militia force of the Western Mexico State, to conduct live-fire military exercises in the US-Mexico border area.

The Atlantic Fleet in the port of Veracruz also fired a cannon to demonstrate to the Mexican government.

Another northern neighbor of Mexico, the Republic of Texas, also put pressure on Mexico in the northeastern border area, demanding that Mexico recognize the legal status of the Republic of Texas and establish formal diplomatic relations.

The Confederate States of America also made the same request.

Upon hearing the news, the federal government quickly issued a diplomatic threat to the Mexican authorities, threatening Mexico not to establish diplomatic relations with an illegal government that is not recognized by the international community, otherwise it will bear the consequences.

These actions frightened the Mexican high-level officials in Mexico City. After weighing the pros and cons, the Mexican government agreed to unconditionally establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of America, the Confederate States of America, and the Republic of Texas, and recognized the legal status of the three countries.

The Mexican high-level officials desperately realized that even if the original United States of America was split into four pieces, it would not be something that a country like him could control.

At the same time, in order to resolve the Fort Sumter crisis, Lincoln adopted Major Fox's proposal, requisitioned some tugboats in New York and loaded them with military supplies needed for Fort Sumter. It sailed south in a mighty manner.

The mobilized 55th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, organized by the French commander Baron Philippe Regis de Trobriand, followed closely and boarded the transport ship to Fort Sumter.

The regiment is a national regiment with a strong national character. The soldiers of the regiment are mainly composed of experienced French immigrants and fake French immigrants.

The officers and soldiers of the 55th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment wore dark blue double-breasted coats and red trousers that were almost identical to those of the French Army. From a distance, they looked like the French Army.

In the American military system, volunteers and militia are both reserve forces. But the difference between the two is greater than the difference between the Green Camp soldiers of the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Camps and the Guangdong Yong of the Governor's Standard Camp of the Yangzhou Governor's Office.

The American militia, also known as the straw foot, is composed of the lower-class people who have only received the most basic military skills training. The volunteers were mainly composed of retired soldiers and officers with military experience, as well as mercenaries from other countries. The combat effectiveness of the volunteer corps was not inferior to that of the regular corps, and in many cases, it was even more capable than the regular corps.

The federal government sent such an elite volunteer corps with heavy weapons to assist Fort Sumter in the face of a serious shortage of troops, which shows how much the federal government attaches importance to Fort Sumter.

The federal government dispatched troops to Fort Sumter, while sending a signal of peaceful dialogue to Richmond, indicating that the existence of slavery was only an internal dispute between different parties in the United States, and the federal government welcomed the brothers in the South to return to the federal family at any time.

Although Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, was a military man, he was not ignorant of politics, nor was he a fool.

Davis, who had a deep understanding of the current situation, knew very well that this was just a delaying tactic taken by the federal government to delay time. The South had long lost the trust basis for dialogue, which he knew, and Lincoln knew even better.

But facing the Northern Fleet that set out from New York and swaggered past the coast of Virginia, Davis felt helpless.

Davis had mixed feelings. He had a strong army but no decent fleet, and was unable to stop the Northern fleet from heading south to rescue Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

"It's hateful, hateful. We don't even have a few decent warships. If I had a warship as powerful as the West, I would have to send these ostentatious Yankees to the sea to feed the fish!"

On Virginia Beach, Davis sighed as he looked at the Northern warships and civilian ships flying the Stars and Stripes and swaggering south.

"The West has established formal diplomatic relations with us, and their relationship with us is also friendly. Our finances are also relatively abundant. We can buy cutting-edge steam warships from the West." Robert Lee followed Davidson and suggested to Davis.

Although the West and the North have their own official names, Robert Lee is more accustomed to calling the United States of America the North and the Republic of America the West.

Robert Lee was confused about the future of the Confederate States of America.

Lincoln and Scott had sent letters to Robert Lee, promising him wealth and honor, hoping that this outstanding Southern general who did not support slavery very much could take office in the federal government.

Robert Lee did not have a good impression of slavery, but he loved his hometown Virginia deeply.

The actions of the Lincoln government after it came to power, which openly violated the Constitution and trampled on state rights, also made Robert Lee disgusted with the Lincoln government.

After weighing the pros and cons, Robert Lee finally decided to be loyal to his hometown. He did not want his hometown Virginia to follow the footsteps of Maryland and rely on the northerners.

Like many Americans of this era, he identified with his hometown more than with the federal government.

"Too far away." Davis shook his head and said, "If we place an order with them now, we will not receive their ship for at least one or two years. By the time we receive the ship, the Yankees will have sat at the negotiation table to accept our conditions."

Davis was ready to go to war with the North, but in Davis's vision, the war between the North and the South would be a short-term war that would be decided quickly.

Davis knew how much the federal government had become after the two ineffective presidents Fillmore and Buchanan. Especially the northern army, it was simply vulnerable.

"I heard that the Western Atlantic Fleet is now active on the coast of Texas and Mexico. If we are willing to pay, we can buy a few warships from them and hire their crews." Robert Lee still did not give up and continued to advise Davis.

Robert Lee thought that Davis was too optimistic about the upcoming war. The military strength of the North was indeed worrying at this time, but the war potential of the North was several times that of the South.

Although it is difficult for the North to defeat the South militarily now, the North can afford to lose.

As long as Lincoln's attitude is strong enough and the public opinion in the North does not collapse, the North can continue the war.

And Lincoln is not Buchanan. Lincoln's attitude towards the South is tougher than any previous president. Robert Lee did not think that winning a few battles would force Lincoln to the negotiating table.

"Let's talk about the purchase of ships later." Davis told Robert Lee that he did not want to talk about it anymore. Davis turned his head and said to his secretary.

"Telegram to General Beauregard to stop the reinforcements from the North from supporting Fort Sumter at all costs, even if war breaks out!"

Davis also wanted the Confederacy to have a strong fleet, and he also had his own difficulties.

Compared with the North and the West, the government organization in the South was very loose. Although both were presidents, Davis had far less power than Lincoln in the North and Liang Yao in the West.

Purchasing warships would occupy funds that should have belonged to the Army. Not every Army general had the mind and vision of Robert Lee.

Davis did not want to get into endless arguments with his generals before the war and destroy the unity within the army.

Of course, Davis himself also had the idea of ​​taking a gamble, achieving success in one battle, and promoting peace through war. He himself was more inclined to concentrate all resources on the Army and decide the outcome with one battle.

At the same time, Fort Sumter, a fortress on an artificial island, was like a lone boat, floating alone at the mouth of Charleston.

General Beauregard of the Southern Army had already deployed troops and completed the siege of Sumter.

Four thousand Confederate soldiers and cadets from the Charleston Military Academy surrounded Fort Sumter.

The Union Army originally had three military bases near Charleston to form Charleston's defense system.

One was Fort Pickney, but it had been out of service for a long time before the war and was only guarded by a widowed sergeant and his teenage daughter.

After South Carolina seceded from the Union, Fort Pickney quickly fell into the hands of local armed forces.

The other fort was Fort Moultrie, which was in a much better situation than Fort Pickney. It had more than fifty cannons.

This fort was the fortress that Lieutenant Colonel Anderson was previously responsible for garrisoning. But compared with Fort Pickney and Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie has a very big disadvantage, that is, Fort Moultrie is located on land.

After learning that South Carolina had seceded from the Union, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, seeing the situation was not good, thought that Fort Moultrie could not be defended for a long time, so he took the initiative to abandon Fort Moultrie and led his troops to escape to Fort Sumter.

The Confederate Army was able to occupy Fort Moultrie without firing a single shot.

The last fort is Fort Sumter, the only one still under the control of the Union Army.