AND

ABRAHAM LINCOLN ON LINE

The people --

The people -- are the rightful

masters of both congresses,

and courts -- not to

overthrow the constitution,

but to overthrow the men who

pervert it.

September 16 and 17, 1859 Notes for Speeches at Columbus and

Cincinnati

PRESENTATION

a

THINGS

WOULD BE DIFFERENT

BY J FRATER

LISTVERSE

(CONTINUED FROM LAST MONTH)

Alternate history is a way of reimagining true

events, and it is one of the most commonly

considered subjects about the American

Civil War. The conflict was likely the most

important American war in regards to the

development of the modern world, and

seeing as that war was fought around the

legality and expansion of slavery, a lot of

thought has gone into how slavery would

continue or abate if the South won the war

5 THE USA WOULD NOT HAVE

ENTERED WORLD WAR I

World War I broke out in Europe following

the assassination of Archduke Franz

Ferdinand, and things went to hell quickly.

The United States stayed out of the conflict

initially but entered into in 1917, shortly

before the war ended. The USA helped

bring the conflict to an end, however, if the

Confederacy had won the Civil War, it’s

unlikely either the USA or CSA would have

been in a position to render aid in any

significant manner. Because of this, the war

would have likely continued for several

years, which would have had its own

alternate history of Europe stemming from

the elongated conflict. Would Germany

have signed a treaty that stripped them of

nearly everything, sending the nation into

economic turmoil, and would be planting the

seeds of WWII? Maybe not, and maybe

there would never have been a WWII or a

rise of Fascism in Europe if the USA didn’t

enter the Great War.

In conclusion, there’s no way to know for

sure, but it’s highly unlikely that the USA and

CSA would have entered the conflict.

• Log in

Interesting Fact: the flag shown here is the third

official flag of the Confederate States (the “blood-

stained banner”). The top corner is the battle

flag (the most commonly seen these days when

talking about the CSA but was only intended as a

battle flag). The first official flag was called the

“stars and bars” and was made up of three red

and white stripes with a circle of white stars on a

blue background in the top corner. The second

official flag (the “stainless banner”) was

identical to the one pictured but lacked the red

stripe on the edge. The stripe was added to the

third flag so that it didn’t appear to be a white flag

denoting surrender when hanging limp against a

flagpole.

1 SLAVERY WOULD MORE THAN LIKELY

HAVE CONTINUED FOR SOME TIME

Slavery was the main cause of the American Civil

War. The southern states had feared a lack of

expansion into new states and territories, which

then became of paramount concern following the

Election of 1860, and that led to cessation, which

led to the war. The only issue of “State’s

Rights” that came about was a state’s right to

continue using slave labor. As such, a victorious

CSA would have meant that the south’s American

enslavement of Africans and African Americans

would have continued well into the 20th-century.

Despite this, Atlantic Slave Trade would have

ended, or been reduced to piracy/privateers, as

most other nations no longer supported it.

Slavery in the CSA would then be limited only for

reproduction of slaves “breeding”within their

nation, and “supplies” from Africa would end by

the turn of the century.

As the CSA expanded westward, each new State

would become a slave state. Congruously, the

Union states settled westward would be free

states, but slavery wouldn’t continue to today, at

least, not in the same capacity. The Industrial

Revolution meant that a specialized and better-

trained workforce was necessary to improve

agricultural and industrial production. If the South

continued to rely entirely on slave labor, which was

purposefully uneducated and illiterate, they would

fall far behind the USA and other more developed

nations. It’s likely slavery would decline through

the 20th-century, but it wouldn’t die out completely.

Another famous dog mascot was the bull

terrier Jack, who was the mascot of the 102nd

Pennsylvania, known as the “Firefighters’

Regiment. Jack was wounded at the battles

of Malvern Hill and Fredericksburg and was

captured at Salem Church, but was then to be

exchanged six months later. Jack would then

disappear shortly after being presented with a

silver collar purchased by his company ‘s

human comrades, his disappearance was

considered as an apparent victim of theft.

The 11th Ohio kept a dog mascot, named

Curley, which stayed on the Chickamauga

battlefield with the unit’s wounded.

The 69th New York, a regiment in the Irish

Brigade, kept a dog mascot which was,

appropriately enough, an Irish Wolfhound.

An Irish Wolfhound is displayed on the Irish

Brigade monument at Gettysburg.

The 44th New York kept a dog mascot named

Rover, and the 54th New York’s mascot Jack

wore a silver collar engraved with the slogan

“Victory or Death.”

Confederate units also kept dogs as mascots

but pictures of them are quite rare.

There were other animals which were used as

mascots by the various fighting units of both

sides.

One of the most unique animal mascots was a

brown bear named Bruin, kept by Company E

of the 12th Wisconsin, Bruin had led the whole

company’s regiment as it marched through the

streets of Chicago but was later sold when the

unit was sent to New Mexico.

The Confederate Regiment Company B of the

43rd Mississippi kept as its mascot a camel

named Old Douglas, which would frequently

frighten all of the horses. Old Douglas had

accompanied the unit to the battles of Iuka

and Corinth, but was later killed by a Union

sharpshooter during the siege of Vicksburg.

Union officer Elijah Hunt Rhodes kept as a pet

a sheep named Dick, which at first was to be

considered cute but later became old and no

longer cute. Dick was eventually sold for $5,

which was spent on food.

Another pet named Dick was a chicken which

was owned by Colonel A.H. Brown of the 96th

Ohio. Other various sundry pets included one

or more squirrels, badgers, racoons, pigs, and

cats. Cats were more often kept on ships

where they were useful in catching rats and

mice.

4 LINCOLN WOULDN’T HAVE

BEEN ASSASINATED

AND

GRANT WOULD NOT

HAVE BECOME

THE 18TH PRESIDENT

John Wilkes Booth didn’t like how the war

ended, and he took it out on the man he

considered to be responsible: Abraham

Lincoln. If the South had won the war, there

wouldn’t have been any reason for him to

assassinate President Lincoln. Additionally,

Lincoln would never have been reelected for

a second term in office. Think about it; what’s

he campaigning on if he lost the war and half

of the United States’ states? His political

career would have been over, and new blood

would have risen to take his spot.

Another ‘victim’ of the war’s loss would have

been Union General Ulysses S. Grant. After

the loss of the war, he would never have risen

to prominence following Gettysburg, and also

wouldn’t have had a leg to stand in politics

and a campaign to become the 18th

President of the United States. Because of

these changes, the political makeup of the

USA could have gone in any direction. The

Republican Party might have been seen as a

failed political ideology, and it could have

dissolved, or it could have rebranded and

returned strong. There’s really no way to

know how the parties would have changed,

but two things are certain: no reelection for

Lincoln and no election for Grant.

3 INTERNATIONAL TRADE

WOULD EXPLODE

FOR

THE CSA

One of the biggest hindrances to the CSA had

to contend with during the war was a federal

naval blockade to the countries of Europe

THE CIVIL WAR’S LITTLE KNOWN

THE NATIONAL INTEREST

BY RAY MORRIS JR

No one expected this—not the fiercest “fire-

eater” in South Carolina or the flintiest of

abolitionist in New England. But by the time

the guns fell silent at Shiloh on the night of

April 7, 1862, soldiers hailing from both sides

of the battlefield had realized that they had

endured something never before seen in

American history. Nearly 24,000 men had

fallen dead or wounded among the peach

orchards and tangled woods in southwestern

Tennessee, more than the total loss from all

three of America’s previous wars combined.

Small wonder that the New Orleans writer

George Washington Cable, himself a former

Confederate, would later write: “The South

never smiled again at Shiloh.”.

Neither, for that matter, did the North—at

least not for another three long years.

Shiloh was the first truly disorienting battle in

the national experience, a battle in which the

large numbers of poorly led troops stumbled

into one another, blazed away, fell back,

came together again, and stopped butchering

each other only after darkness, rain, and total

exhaustion put an end to the day’s fighting.

There would be other battles like Shiloh in

1862, many of them commemorated in a very

special issue of the Civil War Quarterly.

WHERE AMERICA’S CHILDHOOD

ENDED

But there would never be another Shiloh,

for that was where America’s childhood

ended. After Shiloh, all cocky talk of any

bloodless victories and cowardly foes gave

way to the sickening realization that a war

started almost cavalierly one year earlier

would not be ending easily—or any time

soon. It was no coincidence that the two

generals destined to lead the main armies

of the opposing regions rose to prominence

in 1862. For the North, it was the quite

unprepossessing, rumpled officer from the

Midwest, Ulysses S. Grant, a man who had

failed at almost everything that he touched

So-called “house slaves” would still be around

for a long time, and unless there was significant

international pressure for the CSA to abandon

those practices, they would remain. Poorer

farms and plantations that couldn’t afford modern

equipment would try to keep pace with slave

labor, but eventually, those would also die out in

favor of automation and skilled labor. By the

21st-century, slavery would be limited to rich

households and small enclaves of the CSA, with

many segregated into small communities where

they would be relied upon for small levels of

production.

_____________________________________

MARCH PRESENTATION

REVIEW BY JIM STANIS AND CHARLIE BANKS

JAN RASMUSSEN

PRESENTS

OLD ABE AND FRIENDS

CIVIL WAR MASCOTS

Many Civil War units had/kept animal mascots,

often for morale, inspiration and enthusiasm

purposes, and often to remind soldiers of their

pets at home. Also, the keeping of animal as

mascots helped to relieve the boredom of camp

life. Most of the mascots were dogs, but other

animals included cats, birds (such as owls,

chickens, and pelicans), and even a bear.

Mascots were often used to raise money at

Sanitary Commission fairs and other events.

One mascot well-known to western Union armies

was Old Abe, an eagle, who was a pet of the

McCann family at their dairy farm in northern

Wisconsin. The bird had been traded to the

McCann family as a young eaglet by a group of

Chippewa Indians in exchange for some corn.

In September of 1861 the family had donated the

eagle, which was originally named “Chief Big

Sky”, to C Company of the 8th Wisconsin

Infantry Regiment. The regiment then changed

its nickname from the “Eau Clair Badgers” to

the “Eagles”, and the 8th’s brigade became

known as the “Eagle Brigade”. (The Eagle

Brigade also included the 47th Illinois Infantry

Regiment)! In October of 1861 the unit left for St.

Louis and the eagle was then renamed “Old

Abe” named after Abraham Lincoln. The unit

would see their first combat and engaged in the

action of battle at Farmington, Mississippi where

Old Abe’s keeper, Captain Perkins, was killed.

At the battle of Corinth bullets severed Old Abe’s

tether, and, later, the bird would fly over the

battlefield and screech at the enemy. This often

would create quite the demoralizing effect on the

Confederate soldiers, especially so during the

bombardment and Siege of Vicksburg.

te T

that prohibited trade to and from the CSA.

Once that blockade was lifted following a

cessation of hostilities, continued trade with

the victorious Confederacy would explode.

Not only would the USA need to establish

trade with its southern neighbor, but the

CSA would also begin trading with Europe

en masse. Cotton and tobacco were huge

exports from the South in the 19th-century,

and with trade opening up, the economy of

the South would grow exponentially.

There would then be a rise in American

competition across the borders with nations

across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans

as each country vied for more trade partners

overseas. The North would continue to

expand its manufacturing and industrial

sectors, while the South’s agriculture would

propel it into a viable and sustainable

economy well into the 20th-century.

Resulting that neither nation would become

as large a trade partner as the USA is today,

but their combined economies would still

render both nations very prosperous.

2 THE GEOPOLITICAL WORLD

WOULD LOOK

VERY DIFFERENT TODAY

The 20th-century was shaped in many ways

by the United States of America. Once the

USA jumped into Europe in WWI, and then

again in WWII with expansions into Asia, the

US became a driving force in the growth of

world economies, which continue well into

the 21st-century. A world without the

combined USA is a world that would look

vastly different from today. If the October

Revolution still happened, the Soviet Union

would rise to become a dominating force on

the world stage, and it would likely take the

place the USA holds today.

This may have resulted in an eastern

expansion into Europe, and the second

World War could have been fought between

the Soviet Union and everybody else. If they

would have won, Communism would then

be the dominant political ideology across the

planet today. The CSA and the USA as

separate nations, would then be not much of

a match for the ever expanding Soviet

Union, and then, the two nations might

finally have to find a way to come back

together as one nation should their mutual

defense require it.

There was a famous painting of Old Abe entitled

“The Eagle of the Eighth”.

In June of 1864, Old Abe went on furlough and

then was to be considered a war relic. When he

later returned to the unit his feathers had turned

white. In September of 1864 Old Abe was donated

by the Eagle Brigade to the State of Wisconsin.

In 1866 Old Abe appeared on tour at fundraisers,

which raised more than $16,000. P.T. Barnum of

the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey

Circus fame once had offered to purchase Old Abe

for $20,000, but was turned down.

Old Abe made appearances at a veteran’s

gathering in Peoria, Illinois in 1877 and in 1880 at

the General Encampment and reunion of the GAR.

Old Abe’s last public appearance was in 1880 and

the bird died in March of 1881 from the effects of a

fire where it was being kept. The bird was then

stuffed and placed on display in the Wisconsin

State Capital, but the mounted bird was later

destroyed in a fire. A replica now stands on

display in the state capital as a memorial to the

brave eagle.

An image of Old Abe became the shoulder patch

of the 101st Army Airborne Division, known as the

“Screaming Eagles”. Many Civil War units had

adopted dogs as mascots, which were to be

honored and regarded for their uncommon valor

and bravery. The mascot dogs generally stayed in

camp during the battles, but were sometimes

known to join the battle. Rufus Dawes of the 6th

Wisconsin kept a Newfoundland retriever, which

stayed with its master at the battle of Antietam.

One of the most famous dog mascots was Sallie,

the mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania, which the

unit acquired in May of 1861 as a puppy. Sallie

would serve with the unit at Cedar Mountain and

continued through other major battles, including

Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and

Gettysburg. She earned a salute from President

Lincoln. She was wounded at Spotsylvania but

managed to serve at the 1865 battle of Hatcher’s

Run where she was shot in the head. She was

then buried on the field of battle and was later to

be memorialized at the 11th Pennsylvania’s

monument at the Gettysburg battlefield.

Another well-known mascot dog was Harvey,

which was adopted in late 1862 by the 10th Ohio,

which then became known as ‘the Barking Dog

Regiment”. The unit had thee dog mascots.

Harvey was wounded and captured at Kennesaw

Mountain, but Harvey escaped and was later

wounded at the battle of Franklin. Harvey survived

the war but was later lost.

Well-known Union officers also kept dogs as pets.

Colonel Custer, General Rufus Ingalls, and

General Alexander Asboth kept one (or more)

dogs as pets. General Asboth’s dog, named York,

often accompanied the General in battle.

since graduating from the United States

Military Academy at West Point two decades

earlier. Grant began his improbable march to

high command with his stunning victory at

Fort Donelson in February 1862 and his

hairbreadth survival at Shiloh six weeks later

For the South, the rising star was Robert E.

Lee, also a graduate of West Point, but a

man from a very different background than

Grant. The patrician son of old-line Virginia

royalty, Lee would lead the Army of Northern

Virginia through some of its bitterest battles in

1862: Second Manassas, the Battle of

Antietam, and Fredericksburg. Two of those

which would be overwhelming Confederate

victories, but the third—Antietam—would be a

crushing defeat (and the bloodiest single day

in American history).

A WATERSHED YEAR

FOR BOTH SIDES

In the meantime, there were other battles to

be fought in 1862, including the significant

Union victory in the western theater of the

war at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in March.

Sandwiched between them were other Union

victories, these on the water, when Admiral

David Farragut successfully seized the

South’s largest city, New Orleans, and a

Federal ironclad, Monitor, fought off the

Confederate behemoth Virginia at Hampton

Roads, Virginia, ushering in a new era in

naval warfare. For both sides, 1862 would be

a watershed year, a time in which both of the

two amateur armies raised so hastily the

previous spring would learn how to fight, and

kill, each other with increasing efficiency.

From the men in the ranks to the officers on

horseback, the war would progress with a

grim inevitability. The only certainty was that

there would be even worse days to come.

Shiloh had seen to that.

JUNE 10, 1997