Greater Dixie

Overview
In this timeline, the Confederate States of America not only survives, but thrives.

The POD is inspired by James M. MacPherson's essay/short story If the Lost Order Hadn't Been Lost.

1862
POD-The "Lost Order," the document detailing Robert E. Lee's plan for the Confederate offensive in Maryland, is not lost. Lee is able to reach Hagerstown, where he stops to resupply his men with captured Union supplies and allow stragglers to catch up.

After lingering at Hagerstown for a week-while the Union forces struggle to locate their Confederate counterparts-the Army of Northern Virginia is on the move again. They cross the state line into Pennsylvania. On Oct.3, the Confederates reach Harrisburg and burn the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge over the Susquehanna, severing a major Union supply line. Having taken care of that, Lee moves the Army to Gettysburg, where the Confederates dig in. By Oct. 8, Union scouts have found the Confederates firmly entrenched in Gettysburg. General George McClellan launches an offensive on the Confederate positions. A bloody battle ensues. The battle ends when General McClellan is killed by a stray bullet to the head, causing the Union forces to either surrender or flee the battlefield.

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Confederate forces secure Kentucky and install a state government loyal to the Confederacy. The government of Maryland, fearing another Confederate invasion, decides to cut its losses and join the CSA-cutting off Washington D.C. The Union government flees to Philadelphia.

By know, Northern citizens have become extremely demoralized by the recent reversals in Union fortune. In Europe, Britain and France formally recognize the CSA. In the November mid-term elections, pro-peace Democrats establish control of Congress.

General Lee, emboldened by his recent successes, feels confident enough to send a bold proposal to the Confederate government-a plan for the abolition of slavery. In a letter to Confederate president Jefferson Davis, Lee lays out his plan. While the current generation of blacks shall remain in slavery, all blacks born on and after January 1, 1863 shall be free. Jefferson initially hesitates-he does not want to upset the slaveholders for whom the war is supposedly being fought-but he eventually comes around and agrees to introduce the idea to the Confederate Congress. In a speech to the Confederate House of Representatives, Jefferson argues that abolishing slavery would cement the CSA's alliance with Britain and France-both of whom are anti-slavery-and take away the North's moral high ground. Jefferson's skilled rhetoric works, and the bill becomes law.

1863
The year begins with great joy in the South, and great sorrow in the North.

In the South, Jefferson's Emancipation Act goes into effect. The law is greeted with enthusiasm by many blacks, who know that from now on their children will not have to experience the injustices of the South's "peculiar institution." The slaveholders are shocked and outraged, but there is not much they can do except blow smoke in protest. Some slave owners would take up arms and form militias against the government they felt betrayed them, those these groups would fade by the end of the 1870s. The blacks born on Jan. 1 gain the moniker "Freedom's Babies."

Things are not so happy in the North. The Northern government has been humiliated. On Jan, 20, 1863, the Union Congress votes to formally recognize the Confederate States of America. Lincoln balks, but he knows that all hope of recovering the South has been lost, and he acknowledges the South's victory.

On Feb. 1, the Treay of Richmond finalizes the CSA's independence. The terms are humiliating for the North. The border states and the New Mexico territory are surrendered to the Confederacy. All Union states and territories bordering the CSA are demilitarized in order to keep the Northern Army from menacing the South. The Northern Army itself is limited to a certain number of men to reduce the North's military power. The only concession the Union gets is the state of West Virginia, a collection of Virginian counties who opposed Virginia's secession.

To be continued...