A Splendid Little War

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

A Splendid Little War

The point of departure here is 1775 when the not-quite nation of America decided to invade its loyalist neighbour to the north. From their point of view, it seemed simple enough, we had more troops and better supply lines along with the notion that the Canadians would rise up with us. Well if anyone could turn victories into defeats, it’s the revolutionaries and the result here was a long march home in disgrace. But what if that march home was in victory?

In June 1775 the Continental Congress instructed Major General Philip Schuyler of New York to take possession of Canada if it was "practicable and not disagreeable to the Canadians." He managed to raise over 2,000 men from New York and Connecticut for the invasion force. The American plan for the invasion of Canada in the fall of 1775 involved two “armies” the first under the command of Brig. Gen. Richard Montgomery was to depart Ticonderoga with the 2,000 men with the objective of taking Montreal. The second “Northern Army” as it was called was a detachment of 1,100 under the command of Col. Benedict Arnold. His instructions were to proceed up the Kennebec River, cross the forest of Maine, and advance down the Chaudiere to join with Montgomery before taking Quebec. He arrived on the Plains of Abraham in November after one of the most gruelling marches in history. One part of his force had deserted turned back while others were lost to starvation, sickness, and drowning. Only 600 men crossed the St. Lawrence on November 13.

POD

Arnold has a few men from the New Hampshire and later Vermont areas who manage to convince him that Maine was a pretty tough place even considering their standards and that crossing that country at that time of the year was a pretty bad idea. Arnold agrees and convinces Schuyler that he and Montgomery should proceed to Montreal and Quebec together and take the cities one by one.

In the OTL, Montgomery’s only delay to taking Montreal was at the British fort at St. Johns but here with the addition of Arnold’s forces, the fort falls more quickly and with fewer American casualties. The OTL’s assault on Quebec City consisted of 600 travel weary men with Arnold and 300 men that could be spared from Montreal. Here Arnold has command of all the forces taking the city with Montgomery staying in Montreal. He has 1,000 of his men under his command in addition to 600 others that were detached from Montgomery’s. With these forces, Quebec fell as easily as Montreal and for now mainland Canada was effectively in American hands.

Over the next several months over 3,000 additional men came to garrison Canada and put down the few remaining partisans. In the OTL 8,000 were later sent to try to take Quebec but since they came in dribbles and the British were well dug in by now, their efforts were useless. In this ATL, all those men wouldn’t be needed to attack but with the British ability to land men where they pleased; additional troops were needed to defend the territory.

While Canada itself was a devastating loss for the British, the consequences of such a defeat were much worse. The first was that as far as the American and world psyche was concerned, this was Saratoga two years early. Enlistment shot up which relived many of the problems with having a small army that plagued the Continental Army throughout the OTL. In the OTL in Canada, American forces attempted to get local French and dissatisfied British residents on their side but those efforts largely failed. In this ATL however, the Americans convinced a few by removing British taxes and by giving some of the land taken by the British from the French in the French and Indian War back to the Quebecois French. Eventually over 4,000, mostly French, men joined the Continental Army. Their efforts were crucial to repelling repeated British invasion attempts and freeing men to fight the enemy in the south.

The most crucial consequence of the loss of Canada was the French entry into the fray in August 1776 only a month after the Declaration of Independence. The French had wanted to join earlier but American resistance to give Quebec back to them after the “cession of hostilities” coupled with the fact that America had yet to declare itself a country yet delayed them. The victory in Canada also had two other psychological effects the first being that the rebel army was at least as good as the British one. This was false when they were judged against European styles of fighting but true when considering their unconventional tactics were just as effective (even more so in the wilderness) at killing as the British were. The other effect was the demoralization of the British troops. Many had rallied to the cause of defending British citizens in Canada but with Canada in apparent revolt, that cause now seemed hollow. Because of this and the success of American troops, France decided to fight the war in Europe and elsewhere while offering navel support to the Americans. Their fleet coupled with the infant American one was successful in defending some segments of the American coast (they were crucial in freeing New York) and even offered support in the successful invasions of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island.

With the encirclement and surrender of Burgoyne at the Battle of Charleston the British eventually asked for an end to the war. With the Treaty of New York the British recognized the United States of America with borders of Florida on the south and the Mississippi on the west with Canada making up the northern frontier. The British also made the Americans guarantee the safety of anyone who wished to leave; eventually numbering over 50,000 people most of whom went to Australia. The rest of the western boundary was to be defined as the longitudinal line from the source of the Mississippi (to be discovered later) to the North Pole. This basically left America with OTL’s Canada as far west as the eastern parts of Manitoba.

The after-war period

By the 1780’s, along with the other states that joined the Union, Quebec and Canada (OTL’s Ontario) had joined. Maine consisted of OTL Maine plus OTL’s New Brunswick and areas north to the St. Lawrence River. Nova Scotia and PEI were joined and with Newfoundland, were administered as territories.

The rest of the 18th century went on as usual with the exception of a much closer American relationship with France. This due to both to Quebec’s insistence and that of Jefferson’s Sectary of War, Benedict Arnold who had gained an immense respect for them when they helped him invaded Nova Scotia. Another exception was a massive increase in America’s navel power. This steamed from two sources: the protection of Canada and New England from constant British harassment and the belief that America could have won the war on it’s own without French help if it had a larger Navy. The American Admiralty also arranged many navel exercises with the French navy in order to give them better training. While American captains were good (their tactics came directly from the British) the French gave them invaluable lessons on how to fight the Royal Navy.

In Europe the Napoleonic wars began on que and in 1803 France sells Louisiana to America increasing America’s size by over a third. Later President Jefferson ordered Meriwether Lewis to set out and map the area. Jefferson was convinced by Arnold and others in his cabinet that so long as the British had a foothold in North America that they were a threat to the security of the United States. He thus ordered the expedition to claim any and all areas that they were sure weren’t Spanish or Russian. While he knew America was in no position to enforce such a claim outside of the purchased territory, he knew the claim had to be made now for it to be disputed later (Lewis and Clark eventually claim north of the Columbia River valley.

In 1812 after being fed-up with the impressments of American sailors and the blockade of America’s largest trading partner, France; America declares war on England. With the British blockade on Europe taking up considerable resources, England’s available navel forces are somewhat outnumbered by America’s. With increased spending and more resources available (no need for a Great Lakes fleet and the cost incurred there) America’s fleet is still considerably smaller then England’s but ship for ship, just as good or better. With the navel war at a standstill, the British attempt to force a decisive victory by invading Washington DC and destroying the capitol. They also plan to invade New Orleans exactly two weeks later so that any American troops stationed there might leave to defend the Atlantic coast when they here of the battle. When they attempt to do this in late 1813, they forgot to acknowledge the fact that without a land war to fight, the only option for the army was to station itself near probable invasion points. Being that it was the capitol, nearly 6,000 troops under Andrew Jackson were stationed near Washington compared to the measly 1,500 men who were sent to destroy it. At the end of the day, not a single soldier who set foot on American soil managed to leave it as all the soldiers were either killed or captured. The capitol was left untouched. The ships that brought the invasion force were assaulted by artillery on their way down and back up the Potomac and barely half of them made it back to open sea where the Chesapeake Bay Fleet was waiting for them.

As for New Orleans, the invasion occurs on time. What they didn’t count on was a fast clipper ship relaying message of the invasion from DC to New Orleans which was under the command of now General Zebulon Pike (killed in OTL Battle of York). A British admiral was captured with the surrender of the fleet in the Chesapeake and under some “persuasion” told the military about New Orleans. Pike had three days to reinforce the city and with the help of some locals and the pirates led by Jean Lafitte, he soundly defeats the British. This all of course happens after the British sue for peace after the Washington city debacle.

In Europe however, the OTL rules.

Settlement:

Treaty of London: (1814)

That the British Navy will no longer interfere with legal actions of American ships on the high seas especially in relation to trade with mainland Europe.

The American Navy will do likewise in relation to British ships.

The British Empire will turn over all claims to areas north of Mexico on the North American continent to the United States.

What now?

So we have a United States with half of OTL Canada and a good claim on the rest of it, which is only weakly opposed by Russia. The American navy is battle tested and first class although only 3rd in size after the British and the French. Attitudes after the war between America and Britain are the same as OTL as the British government plays down the “defeat” as a way to ensure a lasting peace in North America (to focus on Europe). America revels in its victory and its two war hero’s, Jackson and Pike. It continues to ensure its navy but as Americans they naturally let their army wither.

As for future entanglements, we have an American and Russian conflict of interest in the American Northwest and the Spanish, soon to be Mexican, underbelly waiting to be ripped open. Also, what consequences would this have on the balancing act of slave and free states especially with four, possibly five new Northern states in what was Canada?