zompist bboard

While Lee gets occupied in raiding Maryland and destroying sections of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, McClellan withdraws to the Fort Circle. Lincoln replaces McClellan with Halleck as General in Chief and Burnside as the head of the Army of the Potomac in late September (as opposed to November 9 OTL). He tells Burnside to lure Lee by attacking the Orange & Alexandria railroad. Burnside says that with Lee still in Maryland, Richmond is the best target. They make a compromise plan; the army will seize the railroad up to Gordonsville and then switch route (a railroad to Richmond intersects with the O&A). Burnside splits his force. A smaller part, led by General Hooker, would execute the plan; the larger would stay in Washington in case if Lee goes the wrong way or another army intercepts Hooker. This plan is done more to get rid of Hooker, whom Burnside didn't like. When Lee finds out the Union went South (not knowing the direction of travel), he sends word to Davis to send the defence forces of North Carolina to bolster Virginia and to evacuate to Danville. Davis agrees. Lee splits his force as well, sending half of the army, led by Jackson, ahead to Gainesville as the other half brings the war supplies found in Harper's Ferry. As Hooker fights against reserve forces and militias down the railroad, the whole of Lee's army meets up somewhere to the North of him (I forgot where; I think it was near Opal). An outnumbered Hooker manages to beat Lee in a Union surprise attack. Confederate General D.H. Hill dies in the attack. Lee's army splits into two again and runs from the battle. They march to Fredericksburg while the Union pursues them. Lincoln decides that the victory is enough to deliver the Emancipation Proclamation in January. Hooker sets up camp near Fredericksburg and requests reinforcements. Burnside and Lincoln decide instead that Hooker should go back to the original plan and that Burnside will take the rest of Army of the Potomac to meet Hooker. Hooker is ordered to go north to meet Burnside. Lee figures out what the Union is doing and tries to get to Gordonsville before the Union can. He gets as far as Louisa by the time AoP reach Gordonsville. The AoP spend a day prepare to attack while Lee digs trenches to fortify the train station in Trevilians. The ensuing battle serves somewhat like a Gettysburg equivalent, except that Lincoln couldn't visit the site as it's too dangerous to go to Virginia, and the battle isn't nearly as famous. Lee retreats to Richmond and gets the population to evacuate. In the meantime, the Army of the Cumberland is ordered east to reinforce Burnside. The Union army attacks the Richmond & Danville railroad. They intercept a message replacing Lee as commander of the army with Jackson. The Union then destroys the surrounding countryside, starving Lee's army. Lee surrenders. The Confederate Cabinet moves to Greensboro. The Union seizes all of Virginia. The Cabinet decides to flee to Europe. Their ship is caught by a US blockade. Davis resigns so that his political opponent Vice/Acting President Stephens would be the one to surrender to the Union. The Governor of North Carolina negotiates a conditional surrender. Other states follow suit, with Texas being the last one (mid-June). Some states, like Georgia, refused to negotiate a surrender at all. These were the centers of the insurgency. The surrender of Stephens in March 1864 is still considered the end of the war.