Chapter 5

General Lee and General Jackson stood with German general Karl Linz of the 10th Panzer grenadiers Division who had join them a short time ago. Lee silently stood watching the battle on the far shore, deep in thought. He was quietly fighting a moral battle in his heart on the use of these new Artillery shells. The German who had briefed the Confederate command had called it mustard gas. When fired the shells would explode releasing the gas into the air around the enemy. They had been told that when in contact with skin it caused severe blistering, but when inhaled by breathing it would blister the lungs and suffocate the victim to death. To Lee, who was very honorable, it seemed an ungentlemanly and dishonorable way to fight. But it's use would vastly cut down on the number of his boys who would never return home to their loved ones. He sighed again, and turned to General Linz. " General please order the bombardment to begin." In moments a loud roar erupted as every battery fired in unison. Through his field glasses he watched the explosions from right behind the breastworks as they slowly crawled the barrage up to the edge of the city. Each explosion was followed by a thick cloud that Lee knew was the gas. After only a brief few minutes the guns went silent again and Lee continued to watch through his glasses. The federal firing began to slack off as the gas did it's job. Occasionally he would see a half blind union soldier crazed from pain and blindness, throw himself over the breastworks to fall into rebel troops who dispatched them. Even across the great distance of the river and up the hill where he stood he could now hear the screams of pain and agony as thousands of enemy soldiers slowly perished from the gas.

Lee lowered his head in shame and quietly spoke. " Gentleman, I do believe that history will not look upon what I have done here today with much kindness." He paused for a second, seemingly gathering strength for his next command. " Please order the Army of Northern Virginia over the breastworks. I want to advance to the edge of the city, then hold for orders." He said.

There was a large cheer from the river and the sounds of Panzer engines as the first Panzers of the 4th Confederate Panzer division crossed the freshly repaired pontoon bridge. Then a vast hurrah! as the army rose and surged over the breastworks like a grey tidal wave.

August 11th, 1861: Washington DC The White House

The grounds of the White House were surrounded by troops of General James Longstreet. Inside the building sat Generals Lee, Jackson, Stuart, and Longstreet at a large table. Opposite them were a large group of members of the US Congress. Outside through an open office window the sounds of battle could still be faintly heard as the troops fought toward the Northern edge of the city.

US Senators Stephen Douglas, Henry Anthony, and William Fessenden had appointed themselves as speakers for the group of US officials. Lee began to speak first. " As you now see for yourself gentlemen, our army has possession of your capital city. As you also may know the British and french governments are expected to formally recognize the Confederate States of America at any time. When they do, they have vowed to bring their powerful Navy's to our shores, breaking your governments unlawful blockade on our country. Many fine American young men will die, and many of your best ships will be lost. I wish to avoid more bloodshed gentleman. I am an American and regardless of where I call home I will always be an American first, a Confederate citizen second. That being said, kind sirs, I no longer wish to see American killing American, brothers and fathers killing one another. To that effect I propose an immediate cease fire, followed by a signed peace agreement. I will then order all Confederate forces from US soil and back to our prewar boundaries." The US congressmen leaned close to one another, quietly speaking.

August 14th, 1861 Washington DC

The city lay quiet and still, more so than normal. Occasionally a patrol of the Army of Northern Virginia would march down streets, keeping the peace. Ongoing discussions between the US government, and the Confederate government had stalled and little of consequence had been agreed upon. While the politicians verbally sparred with one another, men continued to fight and die.

Atop The Little rocky hill stood General Robert E Lee, commander of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Generals Longstreet, Ewell, and A.P. Hill had joined him. These three men were his corps commanders that made up the Army of Northern Virginia. The Army of Northern Virginia, or ANV, had recently been reinforced by a large portion of the Army of the Tennessee. That army had been largely dissolved after it has destroyed the federal Army if the Cumberland. It has tried to cross into Louisville over the Ohio River. The German Luftwaffe had caught the majority of the Cumberland on the river while it crossed. The bombing and strafing that followed had decimated the federal force.

As Lee and his generals we watched far down below, the federal armies tried another valiant push against the entrenched Confederate forces. Lee knew that this latest push by the union troops wouldn't break his lines. In the end nothing would be accomplished but the loss of more lives. Since the talks in Washington had broken down, Lee has no choice but to continue pushing the union forces back from their capital. He had already agreed with president Davis, they would not be occupying the north. The goal was to keep the union troops far enough from Washington, then to entrench his army and defend safely. Lee also knew though that as long as Lincoln remained the federal president, peace would never happen. So to that end Davis was meeting with the Yankee congressmen who had remained after the federal retreat.

August 16th, 1861 Norfolk, Virginia: Norfolk Navy Yard

Captain Otto Kruger of the U-2413 unterseeboot, or submarine, stood atop his conning tower looking both forward and aft. On the nearby pier a large crowd of both Confederate military men, and curious citizens stood watching the strange craft. Kruger shouted into the voice tube on the tower. " Warm up north diesels and line up a battery charge." From far below and to the rear a loud squeal was heard as high pressure air was forced into the engines cylinders to start them running. With a few coughs from both port and starboard engines they burst into life spewing blue tinted diesel smoke from the exhausts over the subs sides. After a few moments the engines idling smoothed out into a dull throb that you could feel through the deck. Once sure that the boats engines were operating as they should, the captain gave the order to cast off all lines. This would be the first reassembled uboat to go to sea for trials prior to war patrols.

Barely had they left the harbor when Field Marshal Rommel's headquarters had changed their orders.

Two hours later the type XXI uboat slowly made headway into the harbor enterence at Baltimore. At periscope depth Captain Kruger panned the scope around a full 360 degrees, making sure no enemy ships were nearby. "Down scope." He ordered

He then walked a few feet to his charts and spoke again. " Both engines ahead slow, right full rudder to course 145." he said, which was then repeated by the crew. As the sub came abreast of the harbor enterence he ordered the full compliment of contact mines he had aboard to be armed and to begin loading for deployment. He would deposit the mines in huge "X" patterns a few 100 feet apart all along the harbor entry.

After several hours of quietly and slowly placing their weaponry, the entire harbor entrance had been mined. The magnetic type mines had been left at base in favor of these due to the large number of wooden hull ships still in service. As the last mine had been lain, the crew silently took a breath of relief. The captain then ordered a message be sent to Norfolk that the mission was successfully completed and gave the orders to head back to the base.

August 17th, 1861 Baltimore Harbor

Abraham Lincoln sat on the rear deck of the USS Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania was a ship of the line. It was very large and one of the most powerful ships in the union Navy. The ship was split into 4 decks and carried 105 guns. 90 32lb cannons, 12 8inch chambered cannons, 2 9lb cannons, and a small brass swivel cannon. The Navy had chosen this ship to take Lincoln to Nova Scotia to plead with the British government to not enter the war on the Confederate side.

Lincoln knew in his heart that if he tried hard enough, and said all the right things that the British would see reason. Or at least to not provide the confederacy with military assistance. As he sat on the deck he watched the other ships in his little fleet begin to gain speed as the wind picked up a bit.

As the Pennsylvania sped along, it's hull managed to barely scrape one of the horns on a contact mine, shortly followed by a second contact. Lincoln has just enough time to hear the explosion from below the decks. In seconds he was surrounded by flame and flying debris. The last thought he had was as his body flew through the air from the force of the dual explosions. Then there was nothing but darkness. Within hours of the Pennsylvania being destroyed, Vice president Hannibal Hamlin was sworn in as the 17th president of the United States.

August 17th,1861: off the coast of main, later that day.

As Hamlin was being sworn in and the new president in Pittsburg, a large fleet of unknown ships appeared over the horizon. They appeared to be heading in the direction of the state of Maine.

A few fisherman in a boat sat and silently watched the gigantic grey ships pass nearby. Through the heavy rain squall they could hear powerful engines from inside the ships, but couldn't make out any flags or markings.

As the light of dawn broke the next morning, the sun revealed a fleet of over 100 ships that lay anchored in Casco Bay, just beyond Portland, Maine. 3 of the largest ships were easily as long as 4 or 5 city blocks and has a large flat area atop them. It was from one of these large ships that a small motor whaleboat came heading toward the docking area of Portland. A small federal Army unit had set up on the pier, their muskets pointed at the oncoming boat. Just beyond them a quickly growing throng of civilians had grouped up, each trying to see what was happening. As the boat approached the dock, it slowed and a voice rang out. " Ahoy there on shore.." It said, then continued. " I need to speak to president Abraham Lincoln immediately." The man said. Captain John Trevors, the man commanding the small Army unit on the dock spoke. " Stranger I don't know who you are, where you came from, or why you are here. We don't usually take strangers to see our president just because they were politely asking. Besides, President Lincoln is dead. Some kind of underwater bomb destroyed the ship he had been on while on his way to see the Brits." At this news the men in the boat worriedly looked at one another and we're speaking in quick whispers. One of the men in the boat then stood up. " Then we need to speak to whomever the president is now." He said. Trevors was by now becoming impatient with these strangers. " Alright gentlemen, then whom may I tell the president is requesting to see him?" Said Captain Trevors. One of the men in the boat who had been silent until now then stood up to speak. His white uniform was an unfamiliar cut to Trevors but his experience told him the more gold braid on a uniform, the more you pay attention. The man then spoke, saluting Trevors. " You can tell the president that Admiral Chester Nimitz commanding the US Pacific fleet wishes to speak with him."

August 19th, 1861: off the Maine coast

President Hamlin stood on the deck of the ship admiring the advanced technology. He had been here for two days listening to Admiral Nimitz and still found it all hard to believe. Standing here seeing it all made it more believable for him. Admiral Nimitz had explained the war with the Germans from his time and used moving pictures to show him. He also had explained how the world had come together to defeat Germany and her allies. He explained that during the early part of the year that Germany had surrendered they had captured a German scientist who had went for a walk in the night. He had refused to say what he had been doing in the mountains of Germany but had eventually told that he had been part of germanies experiments into time travel.

After much time being interrogated he had eventually agreed to work with the American and British forces in that field. Over time they had built a working prototype of the German machine. The American machine had been built much faster and without the trial and error that had accompanied germanies program. Because of this the German version operated slightly different than the American machine. Without the ability to make an anchor machine at their destination, they chose to build a machine with a much bigger field of effect. One big enough to carry everything they would need in one trip. To this end it had been decided to build a ship specifically designed to carry, power, and operate it.

Over the next few days Hamlin had members of his cabinet, and senior members of the army to meet with Admiral Nimitz aboard his ship. He had told them that this ship was an aircraft carrier. That it was able to carry war machines that flew through the air. These alone had the military men in awe. After a few more days of discussion the president and his people were able to hammer out and agreement accepting the help of his countrymen from the future. Just south of Portland the president gave Nimitz and his people 3500 acres for use as a base. Nimitz immediately went to work transforming this area into a proper base of operations. He ordered his dozens of cargo and tanker ships in close to the shore. He ordered his LST's, or landing ships, to begin offloading food, fuel, and building material onto some beaches designated for landing. He also had US Navy Seabees building fencing around the property along with buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. Other crews came in to build machine shops, factories, and electrical production plants.