1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 633 At any cost

In early November 1861.

Most of the territorial territories in the west: Utah Territory, Colorado Territory, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Western Mexico Territory. After preparing for statehood, representatives of each territory submitted an application for statehood to the Congress of the American Republic.

The Congress of the American Republic approved the statehood applications of these western territories at the speed of light. In just one week, the Utah Territory, the Colorado Territory, the Arizona Territory, the New Mexico Territory, and the Western Mexico Territory successively became states and joined the great American Republic. within the family.

The white star flag, symbolizing the American Republic, filled most of the western region. The three territories that still nominally belong to the federal government, the Idaho Territory, the Montana Territory, and the Wyoming Territory, are too far away from the core areas of the federation, and the federal government cannot exercise effective control over these three remote territories.

However, the American Republic, which was conveniently located, began to gradually encroach on these vast and sparsely populated territories by virtue of its geographical advantages.

With the addition of new states, the number of states in the American Republic has rapidly expanded from three to eight, and its controlled territory is comparable to that of the Northern Confederacy and the Confederacy of the South.

The only drawback is that except for the three west coast states and Western Mexico, the land quality of the remaining republic states is relatively low and the population carrying capacity is not very high.

Compared with the federal government, the difficulties faced by the republican government mainly come from the diplomatic aspect.

As of mid-March, only five countries have officially recognized the American Republic: the Confederate States of America, the Republic of Texas, the Kingdom of Hawaii, Japan, and the Republic's southern neighbor, Mexico.

Among them, Mexico has also proposed that Spanish be removed from the official language before it can consider establishing diplomatic relations with the American Republic.

Naturally, the American Republic ignored Mexico's unreasonable demands and issued a statement stating that the language to be designated as one of the official languages ​​of the Republic was the internal affairs of the American Republic and no country had the right to interfere.

After issuing the statement, the government of the American Republic mobilized the Mexican Brigade, a militia force in Western Mexico, to conduct live-fire military exercises in the US-Mexico border area.

The Atlantic Fleet in the port of Veracruz also fired artillery to demonstrate to the Mexican government.

Mexico's other northern neighbor, the Republic of Texas, is also putting pressure on Mexico in the northeastern border area, demanding that Mexico recognize the legal status of the Republic of Texas and establish formal diplomatic relations.

The same request was made by the Confederate States of America.

After hearing the news, the federal government quickly issued diplomatic threats to the Mexican authorities, threatening Mexico not to establish diplomatic relations with an illegal government that is not recognized by the international community, otherwise it would bear the consequences.

These actions frightened the Mexican top brass in Mexico City. After weighing the situation, the Mexican government agreed to unconditionally establish diplomatic relations with the American Republic, the Confederate States of America, and the Republic of Texas, and recognized the legal status of the three countries.

The top Mexican leaders desperately realized that even if the original United States of America split into four pieces, it would not be something a country like him could handle.

At the same time, in order to solve the crisis at Fort Sumter, Lincoln adopted Major Fox's proposal, commandeered some tugboats in New York and loaded them with munitions needed by Fort Sumter. Heading south in a mighty way.

The mobilized 55th New York Volunteer Infantry, organized by the French commander Baron Philippe Regis de Trobriand, followed suit and boarded a transport ship bound for Fort Sumter.

The regiment is a national regiment with strong national characteristics. The soldiers of the regiment are mainly composed of experienced French immigrants and fake French immigrants.

The officers and soldiers of the 55th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment wore dark blue double-breasted coats and red trousers that were almost identical to those of the French Army. From a distance, they looked like the French Army.

In the American military system, both volunteers and militia are reserve forces. But the difference between the two is greater than the difference between the Green Camp soldiers in the Jiangnan and Jiangbei Camps and the Guangdong Yong in the Governor's Biaoying Shanziying Camp in Yangzhou Governor's Yamen.

The American militia, also known as Straw Heels, was composed of low-level citizens who had only received the most basic training in military skills. The volunteers are mainly composed of retired soldiers and officers with military experience, as well as mercenaries from other countries. The combat effectiveness of the volunteer regiments is not only no less than that of the standing regiments, but in many cases is even more capable than the standing regiments.

The federal government dispatched such an elite volunteer regiment with heavy weapons to assist Fort Sumter despite a severe shortage of troops, which shows how much the federal government attaches importance to Fort Sumter.

The federal government dispatched troops to Fort Sumter, and at the same time sent a signal to Richmond for peace dialogue, saying that the existence or abolition of slavery was only an internal dispute between different parties in the United States, and the federal government always welcomed the brothers from the South to return to the Union. This big family.

Although President Davis of the Confederate States of America was born in the military, he was not ignorant of politics, nor was he a fool.

Davis, who has a thorough understanding of the current situation, knows that this is just a delaying tactic adopted by the federal government to delay the war. The South had long lost the basis of trust for dialogue. He knew this, and Lincoln knew it even better.

But facing the Northern Fleet that set out from New York and sailed swaggeringly from the coast of Virginia, Davis felt helpless.

Davis had mixed feelings in his heart. He had a powerful army, but he did not have a decent fleet. He could not stop the northern fleet from rushing south to support Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

"It's hateful, it's hateful. We don't even have a few decent warships. If I were a powerful warship like the West, I would have to send these swaggering Yankees into the sea to feed the fish!"

On Virginia Beach, Davis looked at the Northern warships and civilian ships flying south with the Stars and Stripes flying, and said with emotion.

"The West has established formal diplomatic relations with us, and their relationship with us is considered friendly. Our finances are relatively strong. We can purchase cutting-edge steam battleships from the West." Robert Lee followed Davidson and told Dai Dai Weiss suggested.

Although both the West and the North had their own official country names, Robert E. Lee preferred to refer to the United States of America as the North and the American Republic as the West. Robert E. Lee was confused about the future of the Confederate States of America.

Lincoln and Scott both sent letters to Robert Lee, promising prosperity and wealth, and hoping that this outstanding southern general who did not support slavery could serve in the federal government.

Robert E. Lee did not have a favorable opinion of slavery, but he loved his native Virginia.

What the Lincoln administration did after taking office blatantly violated the Constitution and trampled on state rights made Robert E. Lee disgusted with the Lincoln administration.

After weighing the situation, Robert Lee finally decided to be loyal to his hometown. He did not want his hometown of Virginia to follow the footsteps of Maryland and look up to the northerners.

Like many Americans of this era, he identified more with his hometown than with the federal government.

"It's too far." Davis shook his head and said, "If we place an order with them now, it will take at least a year or two for us to receive their ship. By the time we receive the ship, the Yankees will have already started negotiating. The table accepted our terms.”

Davis was already prepared for war with the North, but in Davis's vision, what was going to be fought between the North and the South was a short-term war with a quick victory.

Davis knew how far the federal government had become incompetent after Fillmore and Buchanan's two presidents who did nothing. Especially the northern army was simply vulnerable.

"I heard that the Western Atlantic Fleet is now operating on the coasts of Texas and Mexico. If we are willing to pay, we can buy several warships from them and hire their crews." Robert Lee still did not give up and continued to ask Dai Weiss suggested.

Robert Lee believed that Davis was too optimistic about the upcoming war. The North's military strength at this time was indeed worrying, but the North's war potential was several times that of the South.

Although it is now difficult for the North to defeat the South militarily, the North can afford to lose.

As long as Lincoln's attitude was strong enough and public opinion in the North did not collapse, the North would be able to continue the war.

And Lincoln was not Buchanan. Lincoln was tougher on the South than any previous president. Robert E. Lee did not believe that winning a few battles would bring Lincoln to the negotiating table.

"Let's talk about the ship purchase later." Davis told Robert E. Lee that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Davis turned his head and said to his secretary.

"The telegram orders General Beauregard to prevent northern reinforcements from supporting Fort Sumter at all costs, even if there is a war!"

Why didn't Davis want the Confederacy to have a powerful fleet? He also had his own reasons.

Compared with the north and west, the government organization in the south is very loose. Although he is also the president, the power Davis can control is far less than that of Lincoln in the north and Liang Yao in the west.

Purchasing warships will take up funds that should originally belong to the army. Not every army general has the mind and vision of Robert Lee.

Davis did not want to get into endless arguments with his generals before the war began and destroy the unity within the army.

Of course, Davis himself also had the idea of ​​​​taking a gamble, finishing his work in one battle, and promoting peace through war. He himself prefers to focus all resources on the army to determine the outcome in one battle.

At the same time, Fort Sumter, a fortress on an artificial island, was like a lonely boat, floating alone at the mouth of Charleston.

General Beauregard of the Confederate Army had already mobilized his troops and completed the siege of Sumter.

Four thousand Confederate soldiers and cadets from the Charleston Military Academy surrounded Fort Sumter.

The Union Army originally had three military bases near Charleston to form Charleston's defense system.

One is Fort Pickney, but Fort Pickney had been abandoned for a long time before the war and could not be used. Only a widowed non-commissioned officer and his teenage daughter were on duty here.

After South Carolina seceded from the Union, Fort Pickney quickly fell into the hands of local militias.

Another fortress is Fort Moultrie. The situation of Moultrie is much better than that of Fort Pickney. There are more than fifty cannons in the fortress.

This fortress was the fortress that Lieutenant Colonel Anderson was previously responsible for garrisoning. But compared with Fort Pickney and Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie has a very big disadvantage, that is, Fort Moultrie is located on land.

After hearing the news that South Carolina was seceding from the Union, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson, who saw the situation was not good, believed that Fort Moultrie would be unable to hold on for a long time, so he voluntarily abandoned Fort Moultrie and led his troops to escape to Fort Sumter.

The Confederates were able to capture Fort Moultrie without firing a single shot.

The last fort is Fort Sumter, the only one still under the control of the Union Army.

(End of this chapter)