 | |
| Author | Robert Skimin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Press |
Publication date | February 1988 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 378 |
| ISBN | 0-312-01374-4 |
| OCLC | 16871347 |
| 813/.54 19 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.K49 G7 1988 |
Gray Victory is a 1988 alternate history novel by Robert Skimin, taking place in an alternate 1866 where the Confederacy won its independence.
The first point of divergence occurs during the American Civil War in May 1864, when General J. E. B. Stuart survives the wound which historically killed him at the Battle of Yellow Tavern. Then, in July, a second point of divergence occurs when Confederate President Jefferson Davis does not replace the "plodding" General Joseph E. Johnston, in command at Atlanta, with the "dashing" General John Bell Hood, as he actually did. Johnston, rather than leave the fortifications of Atlanta and get his army destroyed by William T. Sherman's Union forces, as Hood did in our time line, keeps his soldiers inside, fighting a long-drawn siege war of attrition until the Northern elections of November 1864. Abraham Lincoln loses the support of the war-weary voters and Democratic candidate and Major general George B. McClellan is elected president. McClellan orders a cease-fire, followed by a peace in which the independence of the South is recognized.
Despite the South's victory, the population is still coming to terms with the enormous costs of the war. Edward A. Pollard, the editor of the Richmond Examiner is one of them; he blames J. E. B. Stuart for having caused the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg, which lengthened the war by one year and cost so many more lives in intervening battles. Seeking reelection in 1867 (as his 6-year-term ends on February 22, 1868), Jefferson Davis convenes a court of inquiry to provide a public airing of the accusation. Though Stuart welcomes the inquiry as an opportunity to clear his name, Davis intends to make Stuart the scapegoat for the defeat.
(Note that the reelection business is a bit odd, as the Constitution of the Confederate States limited the President to a single term. It must be assumed that the Constitution had an amendment in the alternate 1865.)
To represent him in the tribunal, Stuart approaches his good friend Colonel John S. Mosby. Now the head of military intelligence, Mosby accepts, juggling preparations for the inquiry with his other duties. His primary concern is "Abraham," an organization of southern African Americans pursuing an end to slavery in the South. Enjoying a cordial relationship with the movement's leader, a local businessman and preacher named Jublio, he nonetheless recruits an informant to monitor Jublio's activities.
Yet Abraham is not the Confederacy's greatest problem. A band of northern abolitionists and freedmen, bitter at the way the war ended and southern slavery continued, form a terrorist cell known as "Amistad", named for the famous slave ship. Organized by Thomas Wentworth Higginson, they plot to infiltrate the Confederate capital of Richmond and stage an incident which will rally the slaves and restart the war. Though the cell is made up of African Americans, the leader is Salmon Brown, the surviving son of John Brown, who is consumed with guilt at having backed out of his family's raid on Harpers Ferry and determined to redeem himself. Brown is unsettled, though, by the addition of an octoroon woman named Verita to the cell, while the group's plans are jeopardized by a vainglorious member code-named Crispus Attucks who writes compromising letters to the authorities in Washington taunting them about the cell's upcoming actions. Not wanting to jeopardize relations with the Confederacy, President McClellan orders General John Rawlins to investigate the letters. Former President Lincoln, still regarded as a hero by many, also sponsors Rawlins' mission.
The court of inquiry attracts considerable attention from the public and the press. Many prominent women rally around the handsome Stuart, most notably Bessica Adams Southwick, a beautiful and wealthy widow. Her casual flirtation with Stuart soon develops into love, though Stuart's sense of honor restrains him from betraying his marital vows. Intrigued by the opportunity presented by the trial, Higginson arranges for Verita to travel to Richmond. Posing as a French actress, she is hosted by Southwick, who soon gives Verita access to many prominent Confederate figures, most notably Judah P. Benjamin, with whom Higginson encourages Verita to begin an affair so as to learn what the Confederate official knows about funding for underground activities. Higginson also orders the remainder of the group to Richmond in preparation for their attack.
When the inquiry begins, Mosby quickly becomes aware of the hostility of the members of the court — Braxton Bragg, George Pickett, and John Bell Hood — towards Stuart. Nonetheless, he mounts a vigorous defense of his friend. A greater challenge for him is the growing romantic interest of Spring Blakely, the niece of Confederate States Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge and a secret abolitionist. While attracted to Blakeley, Mosby holds back, still grieving for his recently deceased wife. He also attempts to deal with the threat posed by Amistad. Alerted to the possibility of a plot by Rawlins, the two pursue their investigations in consultation with one another.
As the inquiry continues, Amistad prepares to carry out their plan to attack the dignitaries assembled in the courtroom. Approaching Jublio, they attempt to utilize his Abraham branch in their plans, but he keeps a wary distance from the plotters. Brown also attempts to deal with his growing jealousy over Verita's affair with Benjamin, and when confronted by her he admits his love. Distracted, he is unaware of Crispus's growing instability, which threatens to expose the group. Nevertheless, it is Crispus who identifies Mosby's informer, a man named Israel Jones among the Abraham organization. He kills Jones, but not before Jones succeeds in sending to Mosby a garbled name "Saman Brown" which Mosby eventually figures out is that of Salmon Brown. T.W. Higginson, having been informed by Jubilo that Brown and Crispus' plans have turned to madness, tells Brown to cease and desist but is murdered by Brown.
Mosby enjoys a great breakthrough in Stuart's case. After careful study of the records, he decides to shift the blame for the defeat to James Longstreet, who long sought Stuart's court-martial for his actions during the battle. With Davis's plans in ruins and the members of the court preparing to clear Stuart of all blame, the Confederate president suffers an additional blow when Robert E. Lee himself agrees to testify. Lee's appearance catalyzes the Amistad plotters. On August 14, 1866, while Lee testifies in the courthouse, the plotters dynamite the Confederate White House, the destruction of which draws away many of the guards stationed at the courthouse in anticipation of an attack on the inquiry. With the courtroom weakly defended, the Amistad plotters rush the room, and gloatingly hold the famous Confederates hostage. Finally, a firefight erupts in which most of the Amistad group die, but they succeed in killing a number of people, including Benjamin, P. G. T. Beauregard, and Stuart, who takes a bullet for Lee - and also Rawlins of the USA. [1] A decisive factor in the battle is the sudden appearance of the armed Jubilo, who decided to turn against the Amistad group and who kills Salmon Brown (who in real life lived until 1919, when he committed suicide in Portland, Oregon).
With Lee surviving, a US officer among those killed by the Amistad group, and Jubilo having turned informer, the incident fails to reignite the war between the USA and CSA which the conspirators hoped for. However, there is much rioting and bloodshed inside the Confederacy's own territory, with angry mobs attacking random Blacks and the Black activists of "Abraham" succeeding to fight back in some locations. A meeting between Mosby and Jubilo in the aftermath gives the impression that the Confederate government will have to change its attitude to the Black population - not only eventually abolish slavery but also grant civil rights to the increasingly organized and self-aware Blacks.
In October, Verita - the only one of the Amistad group to survive the fighting - has been sentenced to death by a military tribunal, analogous to the case of Mary Surratt in our timeline. She haughtily rebuffs Mosby's suggestion that she ask for clemency, telling him "I will be alive when you are dust" and prepares to die as a martyr and create a heroic myth for future radicals.
The novel ends as both nations are massing troops together, and it is suggested that a second war may be inevitable unless changes are made. In the final page, Mosby visits Stuart's grave and loses himself in memories of his first sight of the great Cavalier.
A review in the Virginia Quarterly Review said of the novel "Skimin crafts his characters and their setting with such care that one cannot help but enjoy the ruse—and marvel at the story's finale. A history lover's delicacy." [2]
Authors Paul Ashdown and Edward Caudill have mentioned the novel in their two novels The Mosby Myth [3] and The Myth of Nathan Bedford Forrest. [4] John S. Mosby is mentioned in the novel as the chief of the military intelligence in the regular Confederate States Army, with the specific duty of monitoring Abraham. [3]
James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart was a Confederate army general and cavalry officer during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of his given names. Stuart was a cavalry commander known for his mastery of reconnaissance and the use of cavalry in support of offensive operations. While he cultivated a cavalier image, his serious work made him the trusted eyes and ears of Robert E. Lee's army and inspired Southern morale.
The 1864 United States presidential election was the 20th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan, by a wide margin of 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. For the election, the Republican Party and some Democrats created the National Union Party, especially to attract War Democrats.
How Few Remain is a 1997 alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove. It is the first part of the Southern Victory saga, which depicts a world in which the Confederate States of America won the American Civil War. It is similar to his earlier novel The Guns of the South, but unlike the latter, it is a purely historical novel with no fantastical or science fiction elements. The book received the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1997, and was also nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1998. It covers the Southern Victory Series period of history from 1862 and from 1881 to 1882.
John Singleton Mosby, also known by his nickname "Gray Ghost", was an American military officer who was a Confederate army cavalry battalion commander in the American Civil War. His command, the 43rd Battalion, Virginia Cavalry, known as Mosby's Rangers or Mosby's Raiders, was a partisan ranger unit noted for its lightning-quick raids and its ability to elude Union Army pursuers and disappear, blending in with local farmers and townsmen. The area of northern central Virginia in which Mosby operated with impunity became known as Mosby's Confederacy.
The following is a list of engagements that took place in 1862 during the American Civil War. During the summer and early spring of the year, Union forces gained several successes over the Confederacy, seizing control of Missouri, northern Arkansas, Kentucky, and western Tennessee, along with several coastal areas. Confederate forces defended the capital of Richmond, Virginia, from Union assaults, and then launched counter–offensives into Kentucky and Maryland, both of which end in Union victories.
The Battle of Fort Pillow, also known as the Fort Pillow massacre was fought on April 12, 1864, at Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River in Henning, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. The battle ended with Confederate soldiers commanded by Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest massacring U.S. Army soldiers attempting to surrender. Military historian David J. Eicher concluded: "Fort Pillow marked one of the bleakest, saddest events of American military history."
The Battle of Dranesville was a small battle during the American Civil War that took place between Confederate forces under Brigadier General J. E. B. Stuart and Union forces under Brigadier General Edward O. C. Ord on December 20, 1861, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as part of Major General George B. McClellan's operations in northern Virginia. The two forces on similar winter time patrols encountered and engaged one another in the crossroads village of Dranesville. The battle resulted in a Union victory.
The eastern theater of the American Civil War consisted of the major military and naval operations in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the coastal fortifications and seaports of North Carolina.
Loudoun County, Virginia, was destined to be an area of significant military activity during the American Civil War. Located on Virginia's northern frontier, the Potomac River, Loudoun County became a borderland after Virginia's secession from the Union in early 1861. Loudoun County's numerous Potomac bridges, ferries and fords made it an ideal location for the Union and Confederate armies to cross into and out of Virginia. Likewise, the county's several gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains that connected the Piedmont to the Shenandoah Valley and Winchester were of considerable strategic importance. The opposing armies would traverse the county several times throughout the war leading to several small battles, most notably the Battle of Ball's Bluff.
Edwin Henry Stoughton was appointed a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, but his appointment expired after it was not confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Four days later, on March 8, 1863, he was captured by Confederate partisan ranger John S. Mosby while asleep at his headquarters in the Virginia village of Fairfax Court House. The incident became well known, and Stoughton became an object of ridicule as a result. He was included in a prisoner exchange two months later but resigned his commission after he was not reappointed as a brigadier general.
Merrybrook is the only known remaining home of American Civil War Confederate spy Laura Ratcliffe. The house is located south of Herndon, Virginia, in Fairfax County. She lived here from the earliest days of the Civil War until her death in 1923. The interior, out-buildings and grounds still retain the atmosphere of earlier times.
The Skirmish at Miskel Farm, also known as the Fight at Miskel Farm or Gunfight at Miskel Farm, was a skirmish during the American Civil War. It took place April 1, 1863, near Broad Run in Loudoun County, Virginia, between Mosby's Rangers and the 1st Vermont Cavalry as part of Mosby's operations in Northern Virginia. The 2nd Pennsylvania surprised and attacked the Rangers, who were bivouacked on the farm of Thomas Miskel. The Rangers successfully defended the attack and subsequently routed the 2nd Pennsylvania, inflicting heavy casualties and taking many prisoners.
Thomas Nelson Conrad was the third president of Virginia Tech and served in the Confederate Secret Service during the Civil War.
African Americans, including former slaves, served in the American Civil War. The 186,097 black men who joined the Union Army included 7,122 officers and 178,975 enlisted soldiers. Approximately 20,000 black sailors served in the Union Navy and formed a large percentage of many ships' crews. Later in the war, many regiments were recruited and organized as the United States Colored Troops, which reinforced the Northern forces substantially during the conflict's last two years. Both Northern Free Negro and Southern runaway slaves joined the fight. Throughout the course of the war, black soldiers served in forty major battles and hundreds of more minor skirmishes; sixteen African Americans received the Medal of Honor.
The Fight at Aldie was a small cavalry skirmish between Confederate forces under Major John S. Mosby and Union forces under Major Joseph Gilmore and Captain Franklin T. Huntoon in Aldie, Virginia, on March 2, 1863, as part of Mosby's Operations in Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. The fight which resulted in a Confederate victory was significant in that it was the first action of Mosby's Rangers within their operating territory in the central Loudoun Valley. In the fight Mosby and his men displayed many characteristics that would become their hallmark including the attack on numerically superior force while inflicting disproportionate casualties to those received.
American Civil War alternate histories are alternate history fiction that focuses on the Civil War ending differently or not occurring. The American Civil War is a popular point of divergence in English-language alternate history fiction. The most common variants detail the victory and survival of the Confederate States. Less common variants include a Union victory under different circumstances from actual history, resulting in a different postwar situation; black American slaves freeing themselves by revolt without waiting for Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation; a direct British and/or French intervention in the war; the survival of Lincoln during John Wilkes Booth's assassination attempt; a retelling of historical events with fantasy elements inserted; the Civil War never breaking out and a peaceful compromise being reached; and secret history tales. The point of divergence in such a story can be a "natural, realistic" event, such as one general making a different decision, or one sentry detecting an enemy invasion unlike in reality. It can also be an "unnatural" fantasy/science fiction plot device such as time travel, which usually takes the form of someone bringing modern weapons or hindsight knowledge into the past. Still another related variant is a scenario of a Civil War that breaks out at a different time from 1861 and under different circumstances.
The Raid on Chambersburg, often identified as J.E.B. Stuart's Chambersburg Raid, was a Confederate States Army cavalry raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania on October 10–12, 1862 during the American Civil War. It became known as Stuart's "second ride around McClellan" because it duplicated Stuart's reconnaissance ride completely around the Union Army of the Potomac under Major General George B. McClellan during the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign.
Timeline of Fauquier County, Virginia in the Civil War
Lindsley Parsons (1905–1992) was an American film producer and screenwriter. He worked throughout his career at the low-budget Monogram Pictures and its successor, Allied Artists. He generally produced cheap gangster, action and Western films. He was the father of film producer Lindsley Parsons Jr.
Frank Stringfellow was a Confederate officer and spy who survived the American Civil War, and married the sweetheart for whom he repeatedly risked his life to court – Emma Green. After the war Stringfellow married Green, and became an Episcopal minister.
