New AU: The Republic of the Carolinas!

So, after a long time of practice and reading AU's, I have decided to begin work on my own: Gentlemen, I present to you: the Republic of the Carolinas! This first basic history and ships section will focus on the background of the country, its founding, and the organization and equipment of it's armed forces during the years 1865-1875.

Map: dark green=Carolinas light green=Mexico red=CSA blue=USA
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Basic history overview: During the year 1861, the Southern states seceded from the Union. However, the Carolina's, both North and South, signed an agreement with the Confederate government and Mexico. The agreement stated that in exchange for helping the Confederacy, the Carolinas would be merged into one independent state, while Mexico would be given ownership of the Southwest, Pacific coast, and occupy the Great Plains. The agreement was signed in early 1862, and was ratified by all states and governments later in the year. The war immediately went well for the allied nations. The Confederates inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Union forces at Manassas. Meanwhile, a joint Carolinian-Confederate force pushed the Union army out of Northern Virginia. Mexico, after signing an agreement with several Mid-Western Native tribes, contracted several thousand native mercenaries to raid the Union lands. They would be payed back with land conquered from the Union. The Mexican Royal Army, helped by new equipment from Europe, including rifled field artillery and repeating firearms, began an offensive into California and managed to besiege Los Angeles and capture it by late 1863. The Confederates, with invaluable help from their Carolinian allies, routed a Union army just 50 miles from Washington and rapidly pushed through the Union cavalry screen south of the city. With the fall of it's capital, the Union surrendered its western territories to a joint Mexican-Native occupation and ceded California, Washington, and the rest of the Southwest-pacific region to the Mexican government. Washington was occupied by Confederate troops and the Confederacy gained control of all border states that had been disputed towards the beginning of the war. After the war, the victors began re-organizing their armed forces in a more orderly, European-style fashion, and developed a common strategy for war. The Carolinas adopted the new Remington rolling-block rifle as it's standard service gun and imported dozens of European rifled guns. All of the victorious nations benefited from recognition by the European powers, and they all industrialized rapidly.

STATISTICS FOR THE CAROLINAS AS OF 1865:
- Population total: 1,696,330
-Free population: 962,865
-Slaves: 733,465
Military statistics:
Personnel:
-Army: 128,000 (100,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 5,000 artillery, 3,000 coast defense)
-Navy: 25,000 (18,000 sailors, 3,000 marines, 4,000 others)
Equipment:
-Infantry rifle: Remington-Rolling block
-Service pistol: mixed bag of weapons, largely Colt 1840's-to 1860's models.
-Sabers and swords: Various weapons produced by both local arsenals and foreign suppliers
-Field guns: Various makes and models during the war, including 12-pounder-32 pounder guns of both smooth and rifle-bore. After the war, Armstrong breech-loading quick-firers were adopted.
-Mortars: Different kinds ranging from 4-pounder up to 100+ pounders.
-Coast defense artillery: All kinds of guns ranging from captured Dahlgren's to Confederate-made Brooke rifles and Parrot guns.
Navy: The Carolinian navy was founded in 1861 and initially included a large number of repossessed steamers, tugs, river boats, barges, and sailing vessels. The navy peaked at 48 vessels in 1864, but was cut down to 34 after the war. The navy acquired its first ironclad in 1862. It was the CS Victory (ex-CSS Manassas)

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The Victory, originally laid down as the Manassas in 1861, was built by the Confederacy and gained instant notoriety during its first battle at New Orleans. After the battle though, the ship was transferred to the Carolinian navy and renamed the CS (Carolinian Ship) Victory. She was sold off because Confederate planners realized that the rather primitive ship would be rapidly outclassed by larger ships. The Victory was in action with the Carolinas on the North Carolina sounds, patrolling for Union ships trying to blockade the east coast. She spent the rest of the war as a coast-defense ship and was slated for a reconstruction at the Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington. The rebuilding program included the addition of an armored pilothouse on top of the vessel's sloped superstructure, she was re-engined and re-boilered with 2 locally built rectangular coal-fired boilers powering a single poppet-valve engine taken from an old Union blockade ship captured during the war. Additional steam outlets and ventilation gear was installed for crew comfort, and an additional 32-pounder rifled muzzle-loader was installed in a new rear-facing gun port. Both ports feature iron shutters that could seal off the guns during a ramming attack. She was kept in service in this form until 1875, when she was sunk as a practice target for the coastal artillery service.

The Carolinian navy in 1865 consisted of a ragtag mix of ships...
-Ironclad steam ram: 1
-Armored steamers: 2
-Unarmored armed steamers: 2
-Armed barges: 4
-Dispatch boats: 2
-Packet boats: 1
-Sailing ships: 7
-Transport ships and communication vessels: 8
-Other small vessels: 7
-TOTAL: 34

-I hope you all like this AU and I really would like to hear any comments or criticism about it and possibly suggestion. Next time I intend to include my own original drawings of an armored armed steamer, the regular armed steamer, and an armed barge. I also want to at some point after that do a drawing of the Remington Rolling-block rifle as well as some mortars and field guns. Thanks, -RegiaMarina1939.

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

While I'm deeply skeptical of any AU that features the CSA winning the war, I should point out a couple of things about the Carolinas. South Carolina was perhaps the most deeply committed to the idea of succession, while the north was, by accounts far more lukewarm to the whole idea, which accounted for SC receiving more punishment by union forces than its neighbor to the north, so I'm having a bit of a hard time realistically seeing it leaving the CSA, and secondly, merging with NC.

Likewise, I don't foresee the Union, even after a large defeat in the east, giving up Kentucky and West Virginia, not because of any huge value of these two states, but because of their use as either buffer zones, or in the case of KY, its position bordering the Ohio River. Best case scenario I think sees the border states as some kind of neutral DMZ type of entity.

As for the ship itself, I really like it, and it has the feel of something that could have well existed in the Civil War, making me think of an improved Manassas.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

Obsydian Shade wrote:

Well sir, I respect your opinion and I did take that into consideration, I mean their ideologies, but do remember that this is an Alternate Universe and perhaps their ideologies differed from the ones we know from history. And maybe your right about the border states. I could make them a type of DMZ area. Thanks for the ideas and I will try to develop it further with this in mind.

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Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

Also, I spent quite a bit of time doing this and I intend to continue as long as I can with it. Again, I do appreciate your concerns and I did ask for criticism/concerns so I do hope you will keep that in mind. There are some rather more fantastical AU's on the bucket currently so I don't believe this is as impossible as it sounds.

_________________
Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying the artwork, and very much *hope* that you will continue your efforts in that direction. While the CSA winning the war is a popular AU idea, the events needed to bring it about do require a large series of massive departures, given how much the deck was stacked against the CSA.

I realize, however, that some of these AUs are merely intended as vehicles for ship drawings, and to that end I am looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Thanks for that

I am currently working on a set of new drawings and yes I did make the country as kind of a jumping-off point for ships/army weapons. I just wanted to try and make a somewhat-believable country for which I could make an AU for and what better place than my home state, North Carolina.

_________________
Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

I like the idea of a breakaway republic from the CSA. Historically,
the two states least loyal to the Richmond government of Jefferson
Davis were Georgia and North Carolina. The Eastern part of Tennessee
was also very pro - Union. You might want to rethink which areas of
the South you want to include in your separate Southern country.

RegiaMarina1939 wrote:

hanks for that

Hmm....if an independent Carolinas or South in general is your goal, why not go further back in time for your Point of Diversion, to the American Revolution? To my thinking, a loyalist south that somewhere before the 1850s or 60s manages to detach itself from Britain is is far more likely than a victorious CSA. I do recall reading that the southern states in general were less enthusiastic about gaining independence from Britain, perhaps because of the aristocratic mentality of the southern gentry that were the ruling class. I see things turning sour after Great Britain outlaws slavery, but there are a number of ways that things can be resolved there.

One idea for dealing with the US is an alliance with Napoleon III, given the US hostility to his adventurism in Mexico.

My feelings are that the North would never allow the CSA to gain independence, no matter what the cost, or the butcher's bill that had to be paid to secure the Union, and it had the resources to ensure that, in any war of attrition, it ultimately won. By the same token, however, if the South were never part of the USA, it would be hard for the North to justify a war of aggression against it. If you do want a conflict, however, it's pretty easy to get one--just have the real fight be over expansion into the western territories which wouldn't be as filled in as they are in your map. That's more likely to be a limited war in the disputed territories, and on the high seas, than an existential sort of conflict the South is probably going to lose. As for the Carolinas....perhaps after the American Revolution, they were rewarded for their exemplary loyalty? Just mostly tossing out ideas here.

As a side note, I'm actually from Kentucky.

Well... blast! That is an excellent idea! As much as I love that idea, I'm afraid I'll have to pass it by seeing as I already have several drawings in the works and I really, really wish that I could do that but I have already started and the show must go on. I have too many steamships in the making and no sailing ships as of right now.

_________________
Best regards,

RegiaMarina1939

RegiaMarina1939 wrote:

Well, nothing says you have to start at the very beginning with your design tree...many of our best AU authors here just pick whatever point they're most comfortable with starting at, then gradually fill in the backstory later! Besides, sailing ships are hard to do, and those who can pull it off right are (mostly) the elites on here.

Shipbucket

New AU: The Republic of the Carolinas!

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