Surely... I'm not really certain of the dimensions.
But the point of this map is for a scenario I'd like to make about my alternate history of the Civil War, which as I explained, I have been working on a novel about and is the reason I went to Virginia recently.
Backstory: The scenario starts in October, 1862. After destroying McClellan's army during the Six Days Battle at the end of June, Lee sent a new army spearheaded by Stonewall Jackson north to Gordonsville. After a brief engagement with the advance forces of General John Pope, Union commander of the Army of Virginia, at Cedar Mountain, Jackson waited for the rest of the army and they surrounded and destroyed Pope's army of 35,000 men. Marching North, the Army of Northern Virginia picked up another 11,000 prisoners at Harpers Ferry bringing the total number of Union captured in the East to almost 90,000. With another 70,000 men left in the Eastern theater, Lincoln had enough men to hold the capital but not to engage the Confederates in the field.
In early September, it became clear that Britain and France would recognize the Confederacy. Buell in Kentucky already sluggish ground to a halt in the face of serious logistical complications due to severed rail links with the East and Bragg marches towards Louisville all but unopposed. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia marched in Pennsylvania in early September and began destroying the anthracite coal mines in the state. Without a supply of coal from Pennsylvania, and with rail lines from the Allegheny coal fields cut, the Union war machine would grind to a halt. Worse yet, the bottleneck in fuel would cause rioting in the Union cities come winter.
After the debacle on the Peninsula, McClellan was imprisoned on charges of dereliction of duty, but he continued to have support claiming that Lincoln's lack of support rather than his incompetence explained the disaster. The situation continues to spiral out of control, and after Pope humiliates himself and his Republican backers, the largely Democratic military decides its time to take action. The McClellan clique first tries to make demands of the Lincoln government, and when they are rebuffed, they set into motion a coup d'etat. On September 23rd, not waiting to be deposed, Lincoln fled the city with his supporters to set up a new capital elsewhere and continue the fight. The following day, claiming that Lincoln had abandoned the city to its fate, the generals force a general assembly of Congress and insist that a new President much be appointed. They do. McClellan is chosen.
Many people believe the Army's claims, but many realize the severity of the situation. With Lincoln still claiming his legitimacy, there is a schism. The northern states are torn in their loyalties. New York, New Jersey, Missouri, and Maryland opt to back McClellan. The rest of the state governors, especially New England, Illinois and Indiana back Lincoln. But the people Indiana and Illinois are hardly loyal to Lincoln. Intense fighting breaks out throughout the Midwest. From the Alleghenies to the Missouri River, violence takes total control.
Given the total disintegration of order, four separatist movements flare into full effect. By December news reaches the West, and Utah and southern California resolve to declare their independence. In the Midwest, copperheads who back neither McClellan nor Lincoln are seizing the oppurtunity to try and break a new Confederacy out of the Northwest. But given the divided loyalties of the region, they do not have enough support to simply call state conventions and thus remain largely roaming guerilla forces.
The last area of dissent is perhaps the most unlikely one: New York City. In 1859, mayor Fernando Wood, a popular mayor who had a large following from the lower classes, proposed NYC's secession from New York and forming a new state. In 1861, emboldened by the Confederacy's action, he proposed the creation of an entirely separate country. The idea was largely rejected especially since the South's tarriff policy would make it extremely difficult for New York to compete in the global economy. But that only meant that the Confederacy had to lose. If Confederate victory seemed inevitable, then New York could not remain in the Union if it was to survive. There would be no way to compete, so the only choice would be full commitment to at least partial autonomy. And with chaos reigning throughout the continent, a military dictatorship in place in Washington, and Lincolnist counter-revolutionaries under Lafayette Baker terrorizing the population, nothing seemed particularly inspiring. But New York's hand is about to be forced...
On October 7, 1862, the USS Sonoma under the command of Thomas Holdup Stevens, fires upon and sinks the HMS Desperate which is believed to be escorting a Confederate blockade-runner. In England, news of the coup d'etat makes everyone certain that a peace treaty will be soon to follow and so recognition is given to the CSA. Then a few days after that, the news of the attack on the Desperate arrives. The result puts Britain at full alert and this is the beginning of a naval war that will escalate into a full conflict. British ships steam into New York harbor and begin a brutal bombardment of the Brooklyn Naval Yards in early December and then the area as a whole. Cut off from New Jersey, and running low on essentials like coal and food, Wood's supporters take to the streets, oust Republican Mayor Opdyke, and declare Manhattan, Staten Island, and Long Island a new republic: The Republic of New York. They immediately sign a separate peace with Britain, and the British begin sending food and supplies into the city.
Meanwhile, in the American West, the Native American tribes have been watching more and more Federal forts being abandoned as men are being called East and word of the disasters reach Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux. The Natives are willing now, realizing the oppurtunity ahead of them, to unite in a way that they never before have, but what to do? They can make war against the white man and take advantage of his weakness, but they do not have the strength to conquer him, and once stability returns, he may push them out of their lands altogether. Or they can align themselves with Lincoln and in his desperation for more fighting men, he will be forced to give in to the demands of the Sioux rather than risk war with them. It is an oppurtunity either way for the natives to ensure their survival and they are not going to be left out of this conflict.
Elsewhere in the Americas, the war is spreading. In Mexico, Santiago Vidaurri is seeking to join the Confederacy with the five north Mexican states he controls. Benito Juarez's Republican government is struggling for existence and not only must he combat the French and Imperialist Mexican forces, but now he must also suppress Vidaurri's bid for independence.
French-backed dictatorships in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Paraguay are making their own bids to become Monarchies, and soon the rest of South America will be drawn into the conflict. Chile and Peru, already in conflict with Spain, will bring themselves into alliance with the United States. Even Prussia and Russia might possibly be forced into the conflict.
Civilizations:
Lincoln government
McClellan government
Confederate States
New York City
Nation of the Deseret
Pacific Republic
Sioux
Juarista Mexico
Vidaurri government
Britain
France
Spain
Prussia
Russia
Brazil
Paraguay
Argentina
Chile
Peru
Spain, Britain, the CSA, France, New York City, the Nation of the Deseret, and the Pacific Republic and the Vidaurri government are in a locked alliance against the other alliance of the Lincoln government, Chile, Peru, and Juarista Mexico.
Brazil and Argentina are in a locked alliance against Paraguay.
Russia and Prussia are wild cards as are the Sioux.
The McClellan and Lincoln governments are in a locked alliance against each other, and the Lincoln government is in a locked war with the CSA, but the McClellan government is not necessarily although their objective for victory includes recapturing the Confederate states.
Basically, the goal for the separatist movements is basically to survive to the end of the game as is the goal of the Confederacy. The goal of either US governments is to overtake the other and bring order back to the continent and that includes the separatist regions. Britain has to try to hold onto Canada and France to hold on to Mexico. The Juarista government has to beat Vidaurri and the French. Brazil and Argentina have to beat the pants of Paraguay and Paraguay has to do the reverse. Peru and Chile have to push the Spanish out of their territory.
