Possibility of a Mexican Confederacy
- Thread starter mspence
- Start date
Circle of Willis
Well-known member
Probably not much. Both men were spent forces at the end of the American Civil War, Lee had only a few years left to live and Davis had suffered the disgrace of being captured while attempting to escape Union forces in his wife's clothing. The former had more or less retired and no longer wanted to do any fighting after the Confederate surrender IIRC, while the latter wasn't exactly a figure anyone would be willing to follow into battle and nation-building again, neither Mexican nor ex-Confederate.
However! There was an actual effort by some Confederate refugees to try to settle in Mexico, including some other generals (unfortunately they were mostly third-raters from the Trans-Mississippi Theater). These guys were aligned with the French-backed Empire of Maximilian though, while Juarez's republican rebels were backed by the USA.
An extended Radical Reconstruction might do the trick in driving a lot more Southerners to Mexico (as well as other Latin American countries, like Brazil), maybe enough to make the New Virginia Colonies actually viable in the long term. But you'd also need the Mexican imperial patron of these refugees to last - perhaps Maximilian doesn't just take the refugees in, but actually accepts J. O. Shelby's offer to organize them into a Confederate legion in his army, and they attain some crushing victories against the US-backed Juaristas while the Franco-Prussian War is avoided so the Second French Empire sticks around to continue propping the more successful Max up? Then you could have this ex-Confederate community and their descendants exert a good deal of influence in the surviving Mexican Empire, especially in its military establishment.
However! There was an actual effort by some Confederate refugees to try to settle in Mexico, including some other generals (unfortunately they were mostly third-raters from the Trans-Mississippi Theater). These guys were aligned with the French-backed Empire of Maximilian though, while Juarez's republican rebels were backed by the USA.
An extended Radical Reconstruction might do the trick in driving a lot more Southerners to Mexico (as well as other Latin American countries, like Brazil), maybe enough to make the New Virginia Colonies actually viable in the long term. But you'd also need the Mexican imperial patron of these refugees to last - perhaps Maximilian doesn't just take the refugees in, but actually accepts J. O. Shelby's offer to organize them into a Confederate legion in his army, and they attain some crushing victories against the US-backed Juaristas while the Franco-Prussian War is avoided so the Second French Empire sticks around to continue propping the more successful Max up? Then you could have this ex-Confederate community and their descendants exert a good deal of influence in the surviving Mexican Empire, especially in its military establishment.
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