Black Hawk Up

Tom_B

Inspired by some suggestions I received offline from Chief Grey Wolf I would be interested in constructive criticism and comments on the following. GW loved multiple POD's. I am more moderate and will have 3 independent mary divergences:

Primary divergence 1: In Aug 1812 Lt. Gen Prevost does not sign an armistice with the Yanks. Instead he lets Gen Brock cross the Niagara which results in the Battle of Lewiston Heights where the ill prepared American force under Gen. von Renssellear are badly defeated. Brick is not killed as OTL at Queenstown Heights. Brock finds himself unable to advance far beyond the Lewiston area though and fortifies the area taken where he spends the fall repelling Yank counterattacks. A contingent of Mohawks prove very helpful to the British in this phase.

After Col. Procter and Tecumseh win the Battle of Frenchtown (Jan 1813 --as per OTL), Brock is sold on an Ohio offensive which assumes personal command over and mobilizes quicker than Procter did. .He attacks Ft. Meigs on 15 Apr 1813 (instead of 1 May) where Gen. Harrison has arrived 3 days earlier and to his dismay found the construction of the fort incomplete with most of the workers departed. Ft. Meigs falls and a wounded Harrison is captured. In the subsequent weeks relief columns headed for Ft. Meigs under Gen Clay are largely annihilated by Brock and Tecumseh. Meanwhile Brock arranges for Ft. Meigs to be completed.

9 May 1813 - Brock follows on his victory at Ft. Meigs to take Ft. Stephenson
For the rest of May and early June his objective is to seize supplies wherever he can find them so as to be less dependent on his supply line from Canada.

25 May 1813 - Goodbye Columbus Tecumseh and Black Hawk pillage the new Ohio state capital. In OTL Black Hawk was unimpressed by Proctor at Ft. Meigs and went inactive for a while. TTL he gets revved up.

In June American reinforcements start to arrive and Brock is reluctantly forced on the defensive. Meanwhile some Indian groups such as the Chicamauga branch of the Cherokee who had largely rejected Tecumseh starting joining in.

In late August an American attempt to retake Ft. Meigs is repulsed with serious losses.

The other two independent diverges occur in Sep 1813:

4 Sep In Nashville a confrontation between Col. Thomas Benton and Gen Andrew Jackson leads to gunfire and Jackson is killed (in OTL he barely survives 2 bullets)

10 Sep Commodore Perry is killed before he can transfer his flag. The British capture USS Lawrence and then the two battered fleets call it a day.

As a result of Jackson's death, most of the West Tennessee Militia go home in Dec 1813 when their commitment terminates (in OTL prevented this in a dramatic confrontation pointing cannon at his own men)

Because of this the Red Sticks are not soundly defeated in early 1814. News of greater Indian success in Ohio had increased their numbers by 40% and when a weak militia force attacks Horseshoe Bend it is repelled.

In spring of 1814 the Americans retake Ft. Stephenson though at some cost but are again frustrated by Brock at Ft. Meigs. However at the Second Battle of Lake Erie (3 Aug 1814) the Americans do prevail and Brock is forced to abandon Ft. Meigs in Oct much to Tecumseh's dismay but by the end of 1814 is still at Detroit having adequate provisions for the winter.

With no Jackson there is no expedition into Florida.

The Chesapeake campaign goes just as OTL. Washington is raided but the British defeated at Baltimore. Likewise the Battle of Plattsburgh is also an impressive American victory as per OTL.

In Sep 1814 the British sloop Sophia arrives at Barataria Bay and deliver a letter from Col Nicols to the pirate Jean Lafitte trying to persuade him to join. In OTL he stalled and ended up helping the Yanks. In TTL he is persuaded by the greater British successes in the west to join them (note word of Plattbsurgh and Baltimore have not reached him)

With Lafitte on their side the British strategy towards New Orleans is to land at Bararitraria down with Lafitte's help approach New Orleans from the south. They must cross the Mississippi at some point but together with no Jackson New Orleans falls 2 Dec 1814. On account of the earlier successes the British negotiators have not softened their terms as much after Plattsburg as they did OTL and wait to hear the results from Louisiana.




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Tom_B

Treaty of Ghent

At the beginning of 1815 the USA finds itself in deep trouble. Financing the War of 1812 is causing serious trouble to the economy. While the most serious British threat was blunted at Plattsburgh, the loss of New Orleans is a crippling blow. During the winter Tecumseh and Black Hawk harass the Army of the Northwest in a series of raids. Most of these are successful but he is wounded in one of them. The British take Ft. Bowyer controlling Mobile Jan 8 and defeat an American expedition that is mostly militia at Baton Rouge on Feb 2. Meanwhile they have freed the slaves in Louisiana and have formed battalions from them.

New England is still upset over the war and it is feared that the Harford Convention is the overture to thei seceding.

President Madison reluctantly sends word to his negotiators at Ghent that they must make concessions. The British negotiators are not totally inflexible and a compromise is worked out and signed in late March.

The United States agrees to a large Indian buffer state under British protection. It starts on the north with a slice of Illinois from the southern tip of Lake Michigan extended to the Mississippi. It includes every thing west of the Mississipi except the state of Louisiana which is to be returned to the US except for the Lafitte's Bararatria which becomes a British possession. The British are allowed to send ships incl. warships up the Mississippi without restriction for a 10 year period.

East of the Mississippi the British will keep another small colony around Mobile (part of West Florida which was disputed between the US and Spain).

Along with Louisiana the British return the Michigan Territory and the slice of Maine they had taken (Lewiston in NY was abandoned in 1814). They returned seized property but make it clear they do not consider slaves as property. They pledge not to support Indian insurgency. The remaining Red Sticks are to be allowed to migrate either to Mobile (called British West Florida) or across the Mississippi. The slaves freed in Louisiana are relocated to either Bararatria or British West Florida (some choose to remain).

On Apr 1 Brock makes a surprise attack across the Huron River near present day Ann Arbor. He wins a small victory but loses his life in the process.

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Communist Wizard

The USA has just been owned. I don't think there is going to be any good relations between them, as the British now have thei foot stuck in the door.
 

Tom_B

Darkling said:
That seems to ignore what the British wanted out of victory (the Niagara region, Michigan and Maine).
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Yes though an Idian buffer state and navigation of the Mississippi were also demands of theirs. What has happened at Ghent is both sides are pessimistic.
The American reasons for pessimism are obvious BUT the British negotiators are looking at:

1] Defeat at Plattsburgh

2] Defeat at Baltimore

3] American control of Lake Erie and Brock starting to backpedal with reports that he may not be able to hold Detroit come spring.

4] Historic worries about what was happening at the Congress of Vienna

5] Wellington's surprising lack of enthusiasm for an American adventure esp. if the Yanks control the Great Lakes

So they willing to bargain for what they can get.
 

Darkling

Tom_B said:
Yes though an Idian buffer state and navigation of the Mississippi were also demands of theirs. What has happened at Ghent is both sides are pessimistic.
The American reasons for pessimism are obvious BUT the British negotiators are looking at:

1] Defeat at Plattsburgh
Click to expand...

It wasn't so much a defeat as a demonstration of insufficient courage, it didn't really hurt the British as such it just prevented them claiming a peace based upon the facts on the ground which given events in the south and the wets should already have been accpeted.

2] Defeat at Baltimore
Click to expand...

A raid which was aborted but was again useful as something for which the Americans could hide behind in OTL.

3] American control of Lake Erie and Brock starting to backpedal with reports that he may not be able to hold Detroit come spring.
Click to expand...

This is a good point but if the British are giving up Michigan anyway it wouldn't really matter.

4] Historic worries about what was happening at the Congress of Vienna

5] Wellington's surprising lack of enthusiasm for an American adventure esp. if the Yanks control the Great Lakes
Click to expand...

I don't find it all that surprising that Wellington would prefer to stay at European balls. :D

So they willing to bargain for what they can get.
Click to expand...

So they swap the Southern area (which they didn't want) for Maine or Niagara which they should already control(Niagara was held from the British taking it and would have been the first port of call for those British reinforcements, if it had been lost, which don't seem to do anything for 6 months in the timeline).

The basis of a treaty would be that Britain kept what it had and returned the rest, assuming the Indians have done their job Britain pretty much controls Michigan and points wets along that latitude), Maine, the lower Mississippi area and the Niagara area.

Maybe they give some of this back to satisfy the idea of aiding the normalisation of relations but Niagara and Michigan were the foremost priorities.

The Americans on the other hand would probably prefer to keep the British from opening up a Southern frontier, if you want to get the British to keep West Florida (which seems highly unlikely) I would recommend I much larger slave rebellion effort and the British deciding to keep them (and the British allied Indians) locally and the US being happy to get rid of both to territory they don't really control.

Britain seems somewhat hamstrung (Brock not ordering his over the ice attack against Erie, the attack on Sacketts harbour not succeeding due to the Americans not getting the initial cease fire lake access to reinforce it, Brock not leading the assault on Plattsburg since it was clear Prevost wasn't the man to lead an offensive) which added to the British seemingly abandoning their war aims comes off as a little odd.

Still it seems interesting.
 

SkyEmperor

Dank stuff...
I woner how easy it will be for Tecumseh to lead the new Indian Nation. they might not be all that amped on him telling them what to do, especially if he is perceived as a British puppet.
 

Tom_B

Treaty revision

Reviewing Darkling's points I am going to have the British retain Detroit and a small area around it as well Mackinac Island. This would be because the negotiators heard that Detroit was what really mattered in Michigan (the sort of quartertruth that gets passed around in the world).

As for why they are keeping Bararataria and Mobile--they feel that they owe certain friendly forces-- Lafitte, William Weatherford and the freed Louisiana slaves a place of refuge. Neither of these are large--eg. they are not insisting on the area around current Biloxi.
 

Tom_B

1815 - 1816

The lost war has very serious political implications in the United States. Two splinter parties are formed off the Democratic Republicans:

1] National Republicans -- Led by Henry Clay and John Calhoun they oppose the Treaty of Ghent and believe the war must be won no matter the cost.

2] Constitutional Republicans - A smaller but not trivial group led by John Randolph who believe the war was a mistake which resulted from the Republic deviating from its Founding principles.

The Federalists enjoy a very shaky comeback. They are viewed by many as the party of traitors and this causes several violent episodes in several states. However a coalition of Federalists, Constitutionalists and Democrats ratify the Treaty of Ghent only after stormy arguments with the Nationalists.

However not everything is roses on the winning side either. Tecumseh feels betrayed by the British Empire which he believes were capable of destroying the United States. He resents the British consuls telling him that he must now behave and that it is no longer acceptable to mount raids. He is also punitive to some tribal chiefs who did not support the war effort properly. The number two man in the Free Indian Protectorate is Black Hawk who is not completely happy either but worries about Tecumseh's growing megalomania and advises caution.

Jean Lafitte is also misbehaving though he at least pretends that he has mended his ways. For one thing he resumes smuggling slaves after a few months.

In the election of 1816 the Federalists nominate Rufus King. They have their own internal rift and King represents the more moderate faction. The Constitutionalists nominate Randolph. The Nationalists nominate Clay. The remaining Democrats want to nominate Governor Barbour of Virginia but he eventually decides to join the National Republican Party. William Crawford does not want the nomination and so it goes to Monroe.
 

Tom_B

King Rufus

The bitterly fought election of 1816 is not decided in the electoral college. It goes to the House of Representatives voting by states and they pick the Rufus King the Federalist candidate, even though Monroe the Democrat got slightly more electoral votes. The Federalist Party is hated in parts of the South and most of the West and this causes wioting in some sections of the country. "King Rufus I" is lynched in effigy. Prominent Federalists--in some cases suspected Federalists--are beaten, stabbed and in 3 instances shot. Troops are called out to restore order in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky.

President King has a difficult task ahead of him. Emulating Jefferson he gives a speech trying to bring Federalists together with all forms of Republicans. His first impulse is to mend relations with Britain as much as possible. This draws condemnation from Clay and the other National Republicans. The British government is ecstatic over King's election and tries to be helpful. They are already finding Lafitte troublesome and are open to relinquishing Barataria in exchange for either a Maine border adjustment or making their navigation rights on the Mississippi permanent--though they also would like slaves barred from Barataria if returned to the US.

King considers himself a moderate Federalist and distances himself from the more extreme Hartford Group of Federalists. Still he has the party's interests in mind and one of them is to stall the admission of new states as much as possible. He is also particularly uncormfortable with slavery and so he tries esp. hard to delay Mississippi's admittance. His efforts to get Congress to stiffen penalties against the slave trade fail. He has a very difficult time with Congress as it is so sharply divided. On a few issues such as infrastructure projects and a stronger navy he will eventually find some support from the Nationalists. However King fails to pursue the acquisition of Florida which he believes would become another slaveholding territory.

One consequence of improved relations between US and Britain is that the British clamp down harder on raids by their Free Indian Protectorate. They are deeply ambivalent about Tecumseh who they view as a fanatic though not as bad as his Prophet brother. Tecumseh remains angry at the British but continues to heed Black Hawk's counsel and opposes them only with harsh words. With the Indian chiefs who oppose him he uses more than words. Some resist and most of those perish. Some capitulate and many flee him. Some flee north where the Canadians protect them. Some flee east into the United States and others still further west. However Tecumseh has already set his eye on subordinating the western tribes nad is already working amongst the Lakota, arapaho and Cheyenne,
 

Tom_B

Election of 1820

In Oct 1818 while addressing a crowd to help Federalist Congressional candidates, a man approaches President King and draws a pistol takes aim--and it misfires. He draws another pistol and it doesn't misfire but his aim is hurred and he merely wounds President King in the shoulder after which he is overpowered and pummeled. The assailant turns out to be a National Republican. The attempted assassination shocks many in the nation but out West there are those sympathizing with the act. Some Republicans incl. Clay call for decency and civility.

Meanwhile the Free Indian Protectorate is having problems. Tecumseh's brother the Prophet is firmly against any form of modernization which he see's as white man ways, but Tecumseh frets that with some degree of modernization the Indian Confederacy will not be able to launch the war against the United States he still wants. Black Hawk is his most trusted adviser and is somewaht ambivalent but concedes that some degree of modernization is necessary. Some of Black Hawk's Fox and Sauk Indians were forced to move north of the boundary with the US in northern Illinois--a boundary line frequently violated by both sides. The Fox and Sauk migration causes problems with the their traditional enemies, the Sioux. Tecumseh is hard pressed to avoid the Sioux turning against him. Further north the Canadian Six Nations (the Canadian Branch of the Iroquois) are of sharply mixed opinion about Tecumseh and are so far refusing to subordinate themselves to him.

The Panic of 1819 begins a little sooner and is a notch more severe than OTL because of still greater war debt. King is in particularly severe trouble for refusing to admit Mississippi as a state and failing to purchase Florida. President King correctly believes he has no chance of winning reelection in 1820 and lets his VP, Daniel Webster run instead. The National Republicans refuse to rejoin the Democrats. The election again goes to the House but this time Democrat William Crawford is selected.

Might I ask how much interest there is in continuing this TL?
 

DAv

I'm interested in seeing this TL continue. The problem is that you've started with an 1812 POD which are kind of a dozen a penny :eek:
 

Tom_B

Tecumseh In Texas

In the fall of 1820 while the United States is engrossed with the continued impact of the Panic of 1819 and the presidential election, Tecumseh has turned his attention to Texas, which he believes presents opportunities because of the Mexican insurgency. He goes to Comancheria and contacts the Comanches. There are still upset that the Spanish in 1811 imprisoned one of their important chiefs, El Sordo. Tecumseh has brought with him an elite force of cavalry he created (to his brother's dismay). The Comanche at first worry that he means to fight them but instead he offers to lead them on a raid to free El Sordo at Coahuila. They agree to this and on Oct 29 they free El Sordo having found Spanish defenses very weak on account of the revolt.

Returning north Tecumseh's next destination is Galveston where Jean Lafitte has established a combination of lavish home and fort called Compeche. While Galveston was taken from an Indian tribe, Tecumseh grits his teeth and negotiates with the pirate. He wants a trading partner independent of the British who keep trying to restrain him and the detested Americans. With compeche Tecumseh would have a port of his own on the Gulf. On Dec 30 he concludes a traty with Lafitte.
 

SkyEmperor

How will the raid effect foreign policy? Spain will be madder than hotcakes, but I dont see what they can do about it, although they might ask the British to reign in the Indians...
I really like the way the dice are falling.
 
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