Please click the icon to follow us on Facebook.driven from office by the West Point Conspirators, Jeff Davis flees across the Mississippi River to establish a short-lived Western Confederacy. The less fortunate Abraham Lincoln is shot by British Redcoats on the border with liberal Canada and dies in the arms of Harriet Tubman.

The eventual prospect of a decisive Union military victory had been dashed by the arrival of fresh Anglo-French divisions after the third consecutive defeat for the Federals at Antietam¹. The Union Commander-in-Chief George McClellan was relieved of duty, choosing to run on an anti-war platform as a Democrat Candidate in order to force a contest with Lincoln in the 1864 Presidential Election. Both Lincoln and Davis were determined to fight on and their continuing, intransigent leadership into 1865 made political compromise close to impossible.

Ever since General Sherman was repulsed in the West, the military high commands had decided it was time to seek a military rather than a political solution that would stop the slaughter. Indeed, McClellan was the most popular of the Federal army's commanders with its soldiers, who felt that he had their morale and well-being as paramount concerns.

Negotiations were underway as soon as it became clear that Lincoln would win in 1864. Problem was not so much agreeing a ceasefire, but looking beyond that to a general settlement. The possibility of a compromise emerged in the meeting at Appotomax (pictured) with General Lee's insightful suggestion that a new compact between the States must be forged. His logic was that whilst the continuation of slavery might be morally repugnant, it was equally true that the original compact was predicated upon the continuation of the institution, and ultimately, it was the Federals use of authority to force the issue that had led to the break-up of the Union.