The Frontiers of Humanity
If the major armies of the world were indeed trapped by their own doctrines, or lack thereof, then one might suspect that this was a universal truth of the age. It has been widely believed that the technology, the machines, the very tools of the day were most responsible for the mass slaughter that ensued across the battlefields of Europe and North America. If this were the case then why was it that armies outside these main theaters of conflict were not so stagnant. One can also argue that the same machines of war have been used ever since and have not resulted in such a huge stalemate.
One might think that with the largest armies in human history, being hurled at each other across the frontiers, that such smaller theaters of conflict would be completely overlooked. It is an old saying in the news business that holds as true today as it did then, “exceptions are the news.” With the entire world at war the mass killing was now common place. It was hardly heroic and very difficult to put a good face on. As such, the smaller theaters, even the very insignificant ones, drew much fanfare in the morning papers. Besides, given the stagnation of the huge mighty armies, it seemed as if the little guys were actually getting something done.
This was never more true than with a fellow that we have already been introduced to. He was the source of one of the many warnings, that flooded into the London home office, in the days prior to the opening hostilities. His name was Wyatt Earp and he was waging a war within a war. If Jack London’s writings can be believed then Earp had his own agenda. Nothing argues this more than the fact that Earp’s war with western Canada began even before general hostilities. Even when the war ended Earp simply started another.
One might think that he did so because he liked fighting. There is no way to know if this is true or not. An alternate theory, and one that has compelling evidence, is that this was simply Earp’s profession. That theory has been one of great controversy ever since the war. The United States Government has denied repeatedly that Earp was in their pay. There are many who believe that he was and it is still something of a sticking point between the government of the US and that of both Russia and Great Britain.
Very little is known about when and how Earp reached Alaska. It is more than likely that he arrived in Ketchikan sometime during the mass migrations of American immigrants that flooded the Russian territory during the gold rush days of the 90’s. There are some who claim that Earp had arrived there even earlier but there is no evidence of this. What we do know is that he took a job, in 97, with a consortium that was made up of both Russian and American business men. His duties were not spelled out. All that we have to prove this much is a single slip of paper, that was found in a San Francisco records vault, some years after his death. It was a pay voucher, belonging to the company in question, with his signature on it.
The company folded before the war so it is certain that Earp was no longer in their employ when he next shows up on the historical record. This was an act that he was both famous and infamous for and, in it’s own way, helped start the conflict. Jack London was present for the raid on the logging camp, so we have a very detailed account. There were others, who were present for the raid, that disputed some of the basic facts in the London telling. Some of these disputes may never be resolved but we do have a fairly firm grasp of the events.
At the forefront of the controversy was the exact location of the event. People still argue over where it was and if Earp really believed he was still in Alaska when he destroyed the place. London states that they were in Canada and that Earp knew this. One of Earp’s fellow raiders, a Russian dissident by the name of Vladimir Ulyanov, would swear for years that they were inside Alaska and that the Canadians had invaded. Ulyanov would later change his story but, by this time, he and Earp were rivals so his later statements have to be taken with a grain of salt.
Whatever the facts of the case are, what no one disputes is the results of the raid. News of the event was not well known, in the beginning, even in the halls of governments around the world. It was mostly forgotten in the wake of the larger crisis that followed. As the armies ground to a halt on every front, newspaper men began scrambling for more sensational stories. By an odd quirk, the Earp raid made it’s way to the front pages through a mutual acquaintance of someone else that we have already been introduced to. This man’s name was Theodore Roosevelt.
Following Roosevelt’s quick action at the Smithsonian, he eventually got his wish and found a way into the US Army. It was not his first stint. Roosevelt had served as a Captain of a New York Company for his two years service but, by the time of the war, had long since finished his military obligations. This would not deter the bull headed Roosevelt who had more than a few connections around Washington. Both Root and Roosevelt were from New York and the two men did know each other personally, even if Roots comments about Theodore were sometimes less than flattering.
Roosevelt was extremely persistent and it is quite possible that Root gave in just to get rid of him. Where Root had him sent too, hints at the fact that he was afraid the man might become a war hero and run for public office. Root never wrote about it but, some curious lines from the memoirs of John Hay speak to the subject. Hay found Roosevelt annoying and thought of him as what military professionals would call a “loose cannon.” It would be Taft who later recorded that Hay once said of Roosevelt, “lets hope at least one Reb can shoot straight.” (Hay later denied saying it.)
Roosevelt, while working in Washington on the Langley Talks, had come in contact with an Army Surgeon by the name of Leonard Wood. Both men enjoyed the sport of walking and in each other, they found a soul mate. Wood, a Captain, was the presidents personal physician and had longed for a field command. He and Roosevelt were assigned to the State of New Mexico where new regiments were being raised.
In popular lore, Roosevelt was given command of his cavalry in Root’s office. In truth this did not happen. Roosevelt and Wood both went to Santa Fe where they reported for duty to General “Baldy” Smith. Smith was a veteran of the American 61 who came out of retirement to take command of the Army Department of New Mexico. It was a back water command since Mexico was still neutral and Confederate activity was minimal. Smith had only just arrived a few days before Roosevelt and Wood. He was horrified to find out how little he had. His biggest shortage was in trained officers and this worked in the favor of his two new arrivals.
Both Roosevelt and Wood were promoted to Colonels of Reserves and sent further west to the small town of Tombstone, New Mexico. Tombstone was a sleepy little mining town that was mostly populated by German and Eastern European immigrants. Even as Roosevelt arrived at the town it had been slowly dying away because the silver mines were near dry at this point. There was very little of interest here for anyone except that it was so close to the Mexican border which, now, made it of prime interest to the US Army.
It was Wood and Roosevelt’s job to organize the local militia into a cohesive force, in preparation for the eventual federalization of the unit. Eventually they would have five companies made up substantially of men from Tombstone, Bisbee, Cochise, and some even as far away as Prescott. It was certainly a motley collection of men that made up the 1st New Mexico Cavalry and it seems a miracle that anyone ever got them organized in the first place. They had little to work with but Wood’s organizational skills and military acumen combined with Roosevelt’s personality and drive. The two men complimented each other and they accomplished their task.
The two Colonels never would have achieved their goal had they not had a lot of local help. Most notably was the man who would become, at first, the Regimental Sergeant Major. His name was Buckey O’Neill and he was quite an enigma. He had a reputation for being a rough and tumble western sheriff. In reality, O’Neill was a soft spoken, well read, business man who was good at getting elected to offices like the one he was holding at the start of the war. O’Neill had many business contacts and has been praised by Roosevelt as being arbiter, supplier, and all around handy man when it came to tasks like dealing with local political situations.
The man who was accredited as being equally helpful was the town marshal of Tombstone. This is the man we are most interested in here because he was none other than the brother of Wyatt Earp. Morgan Earp had relocated from Iowa. We know that his entire family had relocated to western New Mexico sometime in the late seventies, quite possibly to take advantage of the silver rush going on at the time. It is unknown if Wyatt went with them. The two eldest Earp’s, James and Virgil, were both still in the state at the time but neither would do military service. They had both served in the first war against the Confederacy.
Morgan became the company commander of B Troop, 1st New Mexico Cavalry. Being a local business magnate himself, Morgan would work very closely with both Woods and Roosevelt, in forming the Regiment. Not long after he received his command, of B Troop, he received a letter from his brother that spoke of the fighting on the Alaskan border. He related many of the tales to O’Neill and Roosevelt, who were eager to hear of any war news. After all, their own particular front was very quiet at the time.
It was Roosevelt who would write of these tales in correspondence to a personal friend of his back in New York. At the time, Richard Harding Davis was working for William Randolph Hearst as a war correspondent. Davis was already well known for covering hot spots around the world. What Roosevelt told him in the letters intrigued him. Alaska was virtually unheard of and Davis knew a story when he saw it. Davis would eventually write many articles about the exploits of Wyatt Earp, even after Davis’ falling out with Hearst. Eventually Frederick Remington would also help to immortalize the little war at the top of the world and on the very frontiers of the human race. For better or worse, the war had created it’s first media star.
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Thos. Merchant
Bmovievillain:
You have woven quite a fascinating hitory featuring many of the more prominent movers and shakers of our own late 18th Century. Pure genius finding a way to incorporate The Earp Boys, Tombstone and TR together, whom collectvely are hugely responsible (along with Hearst's scandal rags, errr, newspapers) for the Mythos of American Exceptionalism created back in the Gilded Age. Well done, sir!
Also, your vast knowledge of military history and tactics is evident, in such that you have shown the outdated plans that caused the calamity and stagnation of 1914 could have just have easily occured 16 years earlier. the only difference being that the machine guns of '14 were far superior to those being used in '98!
I must admit I wake up each morning excited about the new chapter of this alternate history you have posted (well, and to see what lovely Damsels you have placed in dire peril, but that is beside the point! Hee hee hee!). Thank you.
Until the next time, BMV,
Keep up the SUPERBLY BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD work!
Tooms
Thank you Toom! Glad you're enjoying it!
One note about the machineguns, it's actually a common misconception but, believe it or not, the models of machineguns invented in the late 19th century were not only the exact same ones used during WW1 but, they were the exact same models being used in 2001 and even now. There simply was nothing they could do to really improve the mechanics. The most famous machinegun of all time, the "Ma Deuce" fifty caliber was actually invented in the late 1890's but wasn't picked up for service until after WW1. Like a lot of weapons (the Browning Automatic Rifle comes to mind), it would have entered service during the First World War but they couldn't manufacture enough of them before the end of the war.
The limits on machinegun technology is material based. Cooling the barrel is the single biggest factor. The water cooled machineguns of WW1 were already invented and in service, in several armies, by 1898. The next technological advancement of machineguns wouldn't come till after WW1. The models they used in that war were largely tripod mounted, crew served, weapons and they were too heavy for one man to carry and use. Everybody knew they needed a weapon that was mobile and Germany, France, and Britain experimented with the air cooled, replaceable barrel systems during the war. None of them worked very well but this category of weapon is called the LMG (light machinegun). It would be the Germans who came up with the first dependable LMG in the 1930's. It's ultimate evolution was the MG-42 which, believe it or not, is still in service to this very day. So are all it's variants including the famous US weapon, the M-60. So, some designs are just impossible to improve on and the machinegun is one of them. The big thing with machinegun evolution wasn't so much the technology as it was the military's of the world figuring out what to do with them. Even as late as WW1, you still have officers that considered them to be light artillery as opposed to infantry weapons. The German's eventually laid that idea, completely and totally, to rest with the invasion of Poland in 1939.
Ah, the water cooled machine gun.
A technological marvel until you invade Siberia in the winter of 1918-19, as the Allied forces in support of the White Russians did and found their main weapon of choice frozen solid and unusable!
And we wonder why the Soviets were so afraid of the Western Powers Invading? We did at the end of the Great War, to disasterous results!
Ah, must we always be subject to the caprice of history?
Tooms, with his nose in a history book.