Southern Men, the thunders mutter
Lincoln's call to the states to issue up a force of 75,000 men to 'subdue this perfidious Southern rebellion' was met and then some. The United States Army, as it stood on the eve of the War Between the States, was only comprised of 16,000 men; the majority of whom were scattered far and wide in garrisons across the west. To address this crucial shortage of men -- most of whom would take quite some time to cross the nation to the Southern theatre -- the President made the famous call for troops on April 15th, 1861. The results were immediately evident as men rushed in droves to fight for the Union. Immigrants, usually hardbitten Prussian immigrants who refused to cotton with such disorder, were especially eager to don the blue. 87,000 men signed up quickly, according to the recruitment offices which had to be established specifically to handle such an influx, with more on the way. It would turn out to be more than needed, however, as the news hit the border states like an atomic bomb. Virginia announced her secession only two days later, on April 17th, followed by Maryland on the 20th, and was followed into the month of May by Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, North Carolina, Missouri, and finally Delaware. The flood of outraged secession from the Union -- "it is not the purpose of the Federal government," declared one state legislator "to make war upon her constituents" -- was unanticipated entirely by President Lincoln and the Union government, and would come to have significant consequences.
Both the United and Confederate states enacted conscription shortly thereafter. While Lincoln was able to put such measure into effect with relatively little difficulty, raising 132,000 troops within the space of a few months and securing a mandate from Congress for 500,000 conscripts as the need arose; President Davis personally went before the Confederate Congress and pleaded to them the need of conscription. They duly obliged, authorising the conscription of 150,000 men, but this measure was rather unpopular amongst segments of the Confederate population and the speaking tour of Vice-President Stephens to provide volunteers to defend the Southland was met with jeers of disapproval. Still, war is not merely battles on the plain and throughout the lull of early months -- mostly occupied by organisation of armies on both sides -- the Union engaged in a dual campaign of building so-called 'ironclads' and winning the hearts and minds of the public. The former met with interesting results. The ironclad was more or less a theoretical idea which had been batted among various international navies for awhile, and while Congress earmarked some funds for their construction Lincoln's idea of a 'fleet' of them went nowhere fast. The campaign to raise public support was rather like preaching to the choir or painting a white wall white, and met with about as much success as could be expected.
In the Confederacy, meanwhile, news of a US blockade was met with concern. The Confederate Navy was quite pitiful, seeing as almost the entirety of the US Navy stayed loyal to the Union, and was not expected to improve although efforts were underway to construct ships at several Virginian shipyards. The blockade stifled Confederate trade and communication with the world and rendered several nations with much less cotton than would normally be expected but could easily be evaded by experienced smugglers. The Confederate government saw to it that fledgling industrial centres in Virginia and the Carolinas were geared towards the production of war goods, but this meant little considering the already-paltry output of such factories. Of greater import was the organisation of Confederate armies. The Army of the Potomac, under the command of Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard, took up positions at the mouth and around the Shenandoah Valley with about 30,000 conscripts, while the Army of the Carolinas, and the Army of the Western Territories similarly were formed and deployed. It was soon afterwards, in late July, that the first battles were met.
The entirety of the professional United States Army, which had finally gathered itself a few months beforehand, was ordered by President Lincoln into the Shenandoah Valley; eschewing the use of conscript forces in favour of professional soldiers. This turned out to be a mistake. The Army of the Potomac had been waiting for just such an opportunity to ensnare Union soldiers and were able to use the geography of the area to their advantage, sweeping down and trapping the Army under the command of General McClellan. The ensuing battle was not at all the gentlemanly affair of previous wars and was best described as a slaughter. Many of the units of the US Army were entirely unsuitable to operate in such a terrain, such as those poor souls carrying heavy artillery along with them, and the Battle of the Valley quickly turned into a humiliating rout. The General finally put up the flag of surrender after several bloody hours and the remaining ten-thousand or so Union soldiers were allowed to slink away. When asked why he did not choose to take them captive as Prisoners of War General Beauregard famously declared that "in every war, a Southern gentleman must show mercy." This was a lesson which would later come in handy for the United States. In a scheme which could at best be described as 'harebrained' President Lincoln and the War Department decided that, logically, the best way to follow this up would be a seaborne invasion of Richmond. Loading as many troops onto transports, clippers, and whatever else he could scavenge from the vast array at his disposal, Lincoln attempted to sail five thousand troops up the James River to assault Richmond. This was a disaster as many of the ships which were used in the invasion were unable to transverse rivers and variously capsized or run around. Those who swam to shore were rounded up and interned.
In September, Lincoln's coup de grace was put into effect. Marching straight south, the twenty-thousand-man Army of Washington headed for Richmond. Forsaking such things as subtlety, strategy, or tact the President was determined to end the war in a single blow. Unfortunately for him, General Robert E. Lee had other plans. Intercepting Union forces outside Richmond, Lee -- who had been derisively nicknamed 'King of Spades' in the Confederate capital due to the trenches he had due around the city -- immediately gave battle. The Army of the Carolinas was the largest of the Confederate armies by far, at 60,000 men, and was lead by a brilliant commander who was popular with the men under his command. As he engaged the Army of Washington on the fields outside Richmond, Lee was joined by the Army of Tennessee under Lieutenant General James Longstreet and his forces further bolstered to a heady majority. The Army of Washington, again under McClellan, was formed entirely of a mix of unenthusiastic conscripts and very enthusiastic volunteers, but quickly broke as it was flanked by the two large Confederate armies. Those that cut and ran were killed, as were many of those who stayed and fought, and those captured were interned. It was a stunning victory in a campaign which had been marked by Union incompetence, and there was another in store.
The Army of Virginia, under General J.E. Johnston, was very careful about their whereabouts. Again at 30,000 troops they moved carefully through western Virginia and through the corner of Pennsylvania before descending upon Washington City. Although with the secession of Maryland the federal capital was technically surrounded Lincoln and much or Congress refused to move to Philadelphia; and were consequently captured when Confederate troops entered the city. No provisions for the defense of the city had been made and while some advanced notion of the attack had allowed members of the Cabinet to escape, both the President and swathes of Congress were shocked when, on the 4th of November, Confederate soldiers were camped on the Mall and on the lawn of the White House. With their government effectively decapitated and having suffered two (three, if you count the invasion by sea of Richmond) humiliating defeats in the space of a year, things were looking grim for the United States. Acting-President Steward and portions of Congress were assembled in Philadelphia, and could theoretically still direct the large conscript armies at their disposal, but it wouldn't be easy.