Political Disconnections

AKA: Robbing the Banks, Fremonting Unrest, The Butler Did It, Pulling the Wool over our eyes, More Than My Wadsworth

 It is a fact of history that not all those elevated to high command during the Civil War (or any war) were suited to it. This is certainly a problem which the British suffer from in BROS, often to a greater extent than is really realistic (i.e. turning historically skilled generals into bumblers).
The Union, however, seems in BROS to have a talent for stripping out their most unskilled officers to give them insultingly minor commands - in spite of how in real history the same officers were often politically very important, or in some cases in high positions in the regular army.

Major-General John C. Fremont

As of the Trent affair, Fremont was in a high position in the army - the only unassigned Major-General of Regulars, second only to McClellan in seniority - and without a command, after having lost his position in command of the West for advancing emancipation without approval.
Fremont was also a very powerful political figure, being essentially the preferred presidential and military candidate of the Radical Republicans (the more extreme wing of the Republican Party) who often tried to pressure Lincoln to adopt their policies. For this reason in reality in March, Fremont was placed in command of the "Mountain Department", a newly-created designation between the eastern and western sections of the Union Army.
As a general, Fremont was proud and status-conscious - refusing to serve under Pope on the grounds that Pope was junior to him. He would also turn out to be lackluster at best as a commander.

In Burnished Rows of Steel, Fremont is appointed to a nowhere command without any prospect of serious action.

“Farther west is the Department of the Northwest, headquartered in Saint Paul; given the ruggedness of the territories to the east and north, your suggestion of Major General Fremont as its commander was well-taken, Mr. President,” Mansfield said.

Ruggedness? More like remoteness…the old general may have been a soldier first and foremost, but he was no fool, and understood the politics, Nicolay thought. Offering the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate and its foremost abolitionist an active command in the field, after relieving him in Missouri, but in a region where nary a slave was to be found, had been a stroke…

This is distinctly odd as Fremont is the natural choice for commanding any newly constituted major Union army, but makes sense if the intent is to get Fremont out of anywhere he can influence events. Indeed, he never appears again (at least in the new version of the TL, though in the old TL he appears commanding roughly one large brigade of infantry – which is taken away again by December leaving him with militia and one cavalry brigade.).
The stated reasons for giving him the command would work equally well to assign him to any of the more important departments - especially the Union army to be sent against Montreal - and would be more realistic in terms of his political importance; however, this would put him in a place to actually make meaningful mistakes.
In particular, the adjacent Union Department of the Lakes is given to W.T. Sherman. Oddly, Sherman is promoted to “Major-General” (instead of Brigadier-General) and is given this much more important post, in spite of having just been relieved of duty on account of a nervous breakdown.
(Sherman's promotion to Major-General is later redacted back to Brigadier-General in April for Grant to take over.)



Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks

Another important figure in the Republican Party, Banks was given significant commands for most of the war. His position in the army as the first Major-General of Volunteers (making him fifth in the army, after McClellan, Fremont, Halleck and Wool) and politically as an important Republican Party figure made him a natural choice for command, and indeed in early 1862 he was effectively in command of the forces in the Shenandoah Valley. Later in the war he was given such important positions as to command a Corps under Pope's army, or the entire Army of the Gulf.
The only problem with him as a commander was his repeated display of a lack of ability - most notably in the defeat which led to his sobriquet as "Commissary" Banks, after his army lost a large quantity of wagons and stores before First Winchester.

In BROS, he does not appear at all. The commands which historically went to Banks are instead assigned to other generals, and he appears nowhere else - the top-ranking Major General of Volunteers has simply evaporated, taking with him any suggestion of his lack of competence.


Major-General Benjamin F. Butler

Another political general (like the above), Butler was also a high-ranking Major General (third in seniority among the Volunteers). Historically he spent most of the Civil War being moved from one command position to another, including leading the first expedition to secure New Orleans (the Confederacy's most important port), and was popular enough politically that it was not possible to deny him new postings (including command of the Army of the James). As of the Trent War, he was the third-ranking Major General of Volunteers by seniority, behind Banks and Dix.
His main deficiencies were his arrogance, dictatorial attitude as a military governor, and his frequent military mistakes.

With the New Orleans expedition cancelled, Butler's existing appointment as the commander of the Department of New England should take priority. Instead, he is relieved of command by Sumner (a Brigadier-General of Regulars who is illegally promoted to the rank of Major-General - into a slot which does not exist, only Congress can raise the number of Major-Generals of Regulars - and who should be junior to Butler in rank, seniority or both) and is instead made Provost-Marshal General for the Department of New England.

This is frankly ridiculous - there were few people with the position of Provost-Marshal General in the Union army during the entire Civil War. The one for the entire Union army was James B. Fry, and his rank as of gaining the position (in March 1863) was Colonel; the Provost Marshal of the Army of the Potomac was a Brigadier-General, but only commanded roughly one brigade of troops (after being appointed post-Antietam) despite having responsibility for what would eventually end up being the entire Eastern Theater.
Butler has been superseded by a man who should be junior to him in rank, and placed in a made-up job which is at best appropriate for a Colonel (two slots lower) or perhaps Brigadier-General (one slot lower) and which entails recruiting and hunting for deserters. There is no indication that Butler is anything other than happy with this utter humiliation.



Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth

Historically Wadsworth was the commander of a brigade of McDowell's component of the Army of the Potomac at the time of Trent. Subsequently, he was placed in command of the Military District of Washington (i.e. the Washington Defences) during which time he caused a serious weakening of the Army of the Potomac's Peninsular Campaign (having McDowell's large corps reassigned to him instead of to the Army of the Potomac). His subsequent performance in the field was mixed (good performance at Gettysburg, poor at Chancellorsville and the Wilderness).

Like Banks, Wadsworth does not appear in the timeline. His position commanding the Washington defences is taken by Ord, though there is no good reason why Wadsworth would not gain this command TTL (certainly he did not win the command for a major victory OTL or anything of the sort - his reason for being appointed appears to have been partly political as he was a major Republican party organizer).
It seems as though the reason for Wadsworth's removal was simple – his insistence on retaining troops in Washington led TFSmith to delete him, as TFSmith later reduces the Washington garrison much further than Wadsworth would be happy with.








Major-General John E. Wool



Wool's record as commander was mixed enough in the original timeline. Commanding the Department of Virginia (i.e. Fort Monroe) he was chiefly distinguished by his refusal to subordinate himself to any of the other Major-Generals of Regulars. (Wool himself is an oddity, as he was additional to establishment and paid as a Brigadier-General. Unlike when TFSmith has Regular officers moved up whenever he wishes without any problems, Wool was bitter about his supernumary position and did not recognize the seniority of any of the Major-Generals of Regulars.)
Historically Wool considered himself to be a military genius (claiming that he could have taken the Peninsula with only 25,000 men if he had had the command instead of McClellan) and refused to cooperate with McClellan in the Peninsular Campaign to the extent of refusing to give any of his troops to reinforce McClellan, refusing to issue clothing to McClellan's regiments, and refusing Smith's division permission to land at Fort Monroe. His political friends (about whom he boasted, claiming to have 'many friends who are determined I shall not be overlooked') included senators and the editors of newspapers, and he got his active command as an upgrade to his position in command of the Department of the East.



In BROS, Wool hands over his regiments to Burnside (his junior, a Brigadier-General of Volunteers historically at this time) without any quibbles or qualms, and heads back to New York to take over the Department of the East again – in spite of being the fourth ranking officer in the Regular Army, and thinking of himself as being the most senior of all. Odder still, he relieves Morgan (a Major-General of Volunteers) as the head of the department, but Morgan is the obvious choice to head the Department of the East in the first place – he is also Governor of New York, and can hardly be assigned out of state.









Recapitulation of seniority
Fremont (2^nd most senior in the army, very important Radical Republican): One oversized brigade in an out of the way position.
Wool (4^th most senior in the army): Department of the East, later retired entirely
Banks (5^th most senior in the army, important Republican figure): Vanishes entirely
Butler (7^th most senior in the army): Provost Marshal General for the Department of New England
Wadsworth (major Republican party organizer): Vanishes entirely



This is in addition to McClellan (most senior) who has his authority reduced.

The realistic effect of all these reshuffles is hard to estimate. It is entirely possible the result would be a revolt against Lincoln's handling of the war from within his own party; it is hard to fathom any of these men accepting their newly unimportant positions, especially as in four cases they are the most senior men in the army and in three cases key members of the Republican Party itself.