Let us imagine that Lee won Gettysburg.



I know what you’re thinking, another “South won the war” scenario. But stick with it.



Lee won at Gettysburg. From there he faked a blitz toward Baltimore. Eights days later he was surrounding D.C. and severely outnumbering the local Union troops. During the night Lee sent a small number of his troops behind the lines and captured the officers. Ass the Sun peaked over the horizon Lee boots hit the White House’s carpet. A reluctant sigh bubbled from Lee’s chest. Negotiations were going to take a long time.



And it did. Tens of thousands of Union troops were encamped around D.C. while negotiations took place. Breaths were held and soldiers swore they could hear yelling coming from the White House.



Lee and Lincoln sat across from one another, sweat dripping from both their brows. Lincoln leaned forward and the words quietly sizzled between his clinched teeth.



“The South States never left the Union. That is the plain truth when seen clearly. There was no law, high or low, that provides for it. And if memory serves my election was completely legal. I didn’t threaten them with the taking away of their slaves. I spoke my mind. I said that it should remain where it was. There was no law passed and a man may speak his mind. For that our boys died when you attacked unprovoked.”



“Mr. Lincoln, you know perfectly well that your words hold weight above all other men. It is as if they were binding law. When you said that States should not decide the issue of slavery then you threaten the rights of all States. The Federal Constitution lays it forth plainly. The States hold more rights than that of Congress and the Presidency. We have the right to defend ourselves. The States also entered into this Union as a compact, retaining their sovereignty. Even President Jefferson spoke of the right of the States to void those laws they found to be outside the authority afforded to Federal Government.” Lee’s eyes burned behind his calm words and calculated rhythms.





Lincoln worked into the night, arguing passionately the fact that the Constitution held the Federal and Constitutional law were the Supreme law of the land. Being that the Executive Office was charged with enforcing those laws he was only acting with in his duty by sending out military forces. And to allow States to effectively usurp Federal authority under any circumstance would make Union and the Constitution unworkable and unenforceable.



This is where the two men came to a crossroads. They both realized that the Constitution did not provide for State secession and that each stood on either side of the conflict with some good points. It was here that Lincoln and Lee worked together.



Under Lee’s advice Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy put a moratorium on all activities, going so far as to disband militias and de-mobilize regular troops. Lincoln called Congress back (even from the Southern States) for a joint session and had the Supreme Court meet as well.



With much passion and deliberation they drafted the 13th Amendment (alternate amendment in this timeline). It provided for a joint court for a suit brought against the U.S. Government. It would have seven Justices, three coming from the Federal Supreme Court and three from the Supreme Court of the State bringing the suit. The seventh would be a neutral Justice or Judge agreed upon by both sides. After a verdict was announced both parties would have sixty days to come to an agreed restitution. If they did not the court would rule on restitution.



It was reluctantly ratified by all the States. But with the backing of both Lee and Lincoln, as well as the entire Congress, it was accepted. The next piece of legislation to come forth was the Lee-Lincoln Act, a resolution of the Civil War.



It said that (1) the Confederacy was not an actual government, but merely a provisional organization for the enforcement of the rights of participating States. (2) That participating States had never left the Union. (3) That no person could be bought, sold, or imported into the U.S. as a slave. (4) That a temporary tariff would be applied to all interstate trade and that the assets of the U.S. Army and Navy would be partially liquefied to pay for the freedom of all slaves with in the U.S. (5) All Confederate regulars would be attached to Union Army units.



Two days after this bill was signed into law the occupation ended. From beginning to end it had taken four months to get here. Confederate troops joined Union troops and Union buttons were applied to gray uniforms. Brothers and cousins embraced for the first time in over two long years.



Not all went so smoothly. In at least two State Capitols units would not put down their arms. They were eventually brought in line and tried in military courts. Several riots also broke out. Drunks were sitting on the roofs on State Capitols, prevented them from taking Confederate flags down.



All in all it was peaceful. The exception to this was about twenty thousand men from the Confederate militias and regulars who were livid over the end of the Confederacy. They took their families and slaves and move westward, too fast to be caught be authorities.



This would be the catalyst for the second Mexican-American War.



Visit this link for history on Maximilian I…

http://www.onwar.com/aced/nation/may/mexico/fmexico1858.htm



“The French encountered no resistance to their occupation of Mexico City. In June 1863, a provisional government was chosen, and in October a delegation of Mexican conservatives invited Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph von Habsburg of Austria to accept the Mexican crown, all according to the plans of French emperor Napoleon III. Maximilian was a well-intentioned monarch who accepted the crown believing that this act responded to the desire of a majority of Mexicans. Before departing for Mexico, Maximilian signed an agreement with Napoleon III, under which Maximilian assumed the debts incurred for the upkeep of the French army in Mexico. On June 12, 1864, the Emperor Maximilian I and his Belgian wife, Marie Charlotte Amélie Léopoldine, now called Empress Carlota, arrived in Mexico City. The republican government under Juárez retreated to the far north.



Maximilian, schooled in the European liberal tradition, was a strong supporter of Mexican nationalism. He soon found resistance from all quarters of the political spectrum, however. The conservatives expected the emperor to act against the Reform Laws, but Maximilian refused to revoke them. Mexican liberals appealed for military assistance from the United States on the basis of the French violation of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, but the United States was involved in its own civil war. The end of the Civil War in the United States in 1865, however, prompted a more assertive foreign policy toward Mexico and released manpower and arms that were directed to help Juárez in his fight against the French. In Europe, France was increasingly threatened by a belligerent Prussia. By November 1866, Napoleon III began recalling his troops stationed in Mexico. Conservative forces switched sides and began supporting the Mexican liberals. United republican forces resumed their campaign on February 19, 1867, and on May 15, Maximilian surrendered. He was tried and, on Juárez’s orders, was executed on June 19.”



Juan Ruiz de Álvarez, a Mexican reformer, had set up a democratic government in Mexico that had been overthrown by a joint occupation force made up of Spain, Britain, and France to collect debts. In this timeline Maximilian I is contacted by the former Confederate troops who have a proposition for him. They want to have the unregulated right to own their slaves without interference from the U.S. They are willing to declare themselves Mexican citizens and help take back former Mexican territory in exchange for that unregulated right. The former Confederates are also in contact with two rich plantation owners who are U.S. Congressman. They are willing to provide intelligence. They emphasize the fact that with the extra territory he could levy more taxes and pay back his debt faster.



Maximilian’s interest is peaked. He feels both a surge of national pride and a want to give more to the Mexican people. He is also impressed by this secret army of twenty thousand, which is nothing to balk at. He also needs to get political pressure off his back. It would give the military something to do and the Priesthood in certainly interested in reclaiming missions in what is now Protestant lands. The Conservatives end up liking the idea because it is a show of force and resolve, cementing his emperorship.



He rationalize it by pointing out to himself that the U.S. is pacified, licking its own wounds, and that they won’t invest the energy in reclaiming sparse frontier land. He cements the deal with the former Confederates.



With intelligence provided by their contacts in D.C. they launch raids against frontier forts, collecting arms and ammo as they go. Mexican troops march in and occupy pacified territories.



Numerous reports came by telegraph of a force of white soldiers bearing the Mexican flag attacking Union strongholds. Hundreds and even thousands of white settlers had escaped capture by Mexican forces and showed up in Eastern cities. In January on 1865 President Lee sent General Grant out West to deal with the problem.



Along the way they encountered the traitors who now sat under the Mexican flag. They ambushed them at every turn, launching raids against their supply lines and sniping officers. Grant got in his share of shots, taking out two thousand of the five thousand that made up the raiding force. He trapped clusters of them along his lines and ground them into the dust. At times the battle became so fierce that the ground was slick with blood and men were loosing their footing. However, Grant only had seven thousand men, most of them irregulars. He suffered losses of about 3,500. He men were exhausted, supplies were depleted, and his forces were in disarray. Grant took a fatal chest wound, splinters or rib bone imbedding in his lungs. Most of his men were captured. About half were taken to an isolated valley by a few hundred of the men. They were then disemboweled, stretched out on racks, had their eyes burned out, and were even burned at the stake. The former Confederate soldiers carried it out with a psychotic glee. Once their commanders learned about what happened they sought to return to their base of operations. The other half of the Union troops were taken back as prisoners. Some made it back with news of what happened.



Lee was quiet when he heard what had happened. He moved quietly to a cabinet and took out his old Confederate uniform. He put it on, removed the long jacket, and put on the blue jacket of a Union soldier. He applied the appropriate medals and patches and then said this, “I am ashamed those men ever marched under any flag.” After sheathing and fitting his saber to his side he said one last thing that night, “I just wanted to make sure they still fit.” His aides noticed that his hands had been trembling.



Being the brilliant military mind he was he realized that Grant wouldn’t have taken those casualties with out someone telling them he was coming. He suspected several men, most of whom were in Congress.



He pushed through a war declaration against Mexico and tallied those who voted against it. Ten in the House and two in the Senate. Lee was wily on this one. He let the Pinkertons use agents buried in various Congressional staff to monitor and retrieve telegraph messages from their offices. This and receipts for various gifts received from the ambassador of Mexico gave enough information for search warrants to be issued for their arrest. They were tried, found guilty of treason, and executed by hanging with in the week.



Lee raised a force larger than that of the Union during the Civil War. A large number were veterans. It took about twelve weeks to train new recruits. They were mobilized.



Lee led the force himself. He tapped the Texas Rangers to do observation and tracking behind enemy lines, while capturing officers and blowing up ammo dumps. This softened the traitor forces. He swept over them and those that weren’t killed were taken prisoner.



Mexican occupying forces were routed and either sent retreating or taken prisoner. U.S. forces joined with Juan Ruiz de Álvarez’s at the Mexican border and pushed toward Mexico City. They encamped around Mexico City and Maximilian surrendered. Mexican and traitor forces were organized into work camps to repair the damage they did and officers were tried and executed by a guillotine that France had given the U.S. to test. Out of gratitude, and to avoid its debts, Mexico became part of the Union.