1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 646: Stationing Troops in Omaha

After a whole day of wrangling with Montgomery Blair, Robinson was certain that Blair had no sincerity in the negotiations.

The reason is simple. Although there were twists and turns in the entire negotiation process, after the two sides had been arguing for a long time, Robinson always continued to lower his bottom line, and Blair always agreed to Robinson's demands after some bargaining.

But once Robinson asked for a written document, Blair either avoided the question or refused, saying that the matter was of great importance and he did not have such power and needed to consult the president.

"Blair has no sincerity in negotiations and is unwilling to sign any written documents. Everything he discussed was just verbal agreement." Robinson reported the situation to Liang Yao. "Just as you expected, Blair's negotiation delegation is just here to delay time."

Sending McClellan to Omaha to reorganize the army already made Lincoln's attitude clear.

This Philadelphia boy, who was less than 34 years old and was rapidly promoted from a staff officer to a general in charge of an army, was by no means a mediocre person. Although McClellan's reputation in the army was not high at that time, the generals were not optimistic about McClellan.

But McClellan was one of the few generals in the Northern Army who was trained in a formal military school, participated in the Mexican-American War, and had visited the Crimean battlefield and had practical combat experience.

Based on this alone, McClellan was superior to many Northern generals.

Historically, before the first Battle of Bull Run, McDowell took only one month to train 35000 Union reserve militiamen into a field force barely capable of fighting head-on under hail of bullets, which shows his strong organizational ability.

Such a person, regardless of his background, can stand out in any era if given a chance. If Lincoln had not been unable to withstand the pressure of public opinion and had to let McClellan go to war without adequate preparation, the Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle of the Civil War, would not have been such a disastrous defeat for the Northern Army.

"If we can't negotiate, then we'll fight them! Beat them until they beg us to talk." Liang Yao was very determined.

After the Battle of Fort Sumter, the Confederate Army never took large-scale military action against the North again. Liang Yao was not sure whether this was due to the South's poor organizational and mobilization capabilities, the strategic conservatism of the Southern top leaders, or whether the Southern top leaders had ulterior motives.

But he knew one thing: he could not rely on the Confederate Army for the survival of the American Republic.

Since Lincoln was unwilling to give up the middle frontier and was unwilling to demilitarize the middle frontier, he helped Lincoln demilitarize the middle frontier.

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The headquarters of the newly established frontier military district was located in Omaha.

Since the situation became tense, the frequency of train departures from this small town's train station can even compete with New York's Grand Central Station, the busiest station in the United States.

Although the capacity of the Omaha train station increased dramatically, there was no chaos at the train station and everything remained so orderly.

Trainloads of supplies were unloaded and moved into newly requisitioned civilian buildings, because the warehouses in Omaha had been filled up a week ago. McClellan had to requisition civilian buildings near the train station for military use.

The city was busy and the scene outside the city was also bustling.

Under the command of officers, the young men, who had just put on military uniforms, dug trenches and set up artillery positions outside the city of Omaha.

The faces of these recruits were full of relaxed and happy expressions, as if they were here for a picnic, not for a war. The Northern generals who regarded themselves as the orthodox American army generally looked down on other domestic armies and their generals. The so-called other domestic armies naturally referred to the Southern Army and the Western Army.

The Federation from top to bottom was immersed in a mood of extreme optimism, even though the security alert in Washington, the capital of the Federation, had not yet been completely lifted.

But almost all the federal soldiers and civilians, including many federal officers, believed that this was only temporary. As long as the federal army launched an offensive, the situation would be reversed immediately. The brave federal army would end this civil war within three months.

Compared with the current temporary disadvantage, the federal army, from generals to privates, is more worried about the war ending too quickly and not being able to gain military merit. As for defeat, most federal officers and soldiers have never considered this issue.

Being sober is sometimes painful, especially when everyone else is drunk and I am the only one sober.

McClellan had held several meetings to rectify the atmosphere of underestimating the enemy in the army, but with little success.

The fact that most of the Union Army had not experienced battle for a long time was a true portrayal of the vast majority of the Union Army. After all, there were only a few Union generals like McClellan who had inspected the Crimean battlefield, participated in two Mexican-American Wars, and had direct contact with the Confederate and Western Armies.

"General, Colonel Albert Ames of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment reports to you." Colonel Albert Ames, who had just arrived in Omaha by train, came to the headquarters to report to McClellan.

"Well done, well done!" McClellan was very happy about Albert Ames' arrival.

"Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Commander of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment, reports to you." The adjutant who came with Ames also saluted McClellan with a not very standard military salute.

"You didn't graduate from a military academy?" McClellan frowned and glanced at this well-mannered lieutenant colonel who couldn't even salute properly.

"Teacher, Joshua is my adjutant. He is a well-known professor of modern languages ​​in our hometown. He volunteered to join the army to suppress the rebellion." Ames introduced him to McClellan. Ames graduated from West Point University, and McClellan was his instructor when he taught at the school.

"Linguistics professor, isn't this nonsense? You're stuffing all kinds of people into the army." McClellan said seriously, "This is a place to fight, not a place to gild your reputation."

"Joshua knows nine languages ​​and he is also the most outstanding sinologist in Maine." Ames explained to McClellan that he knew Chamberlain and knew that Chamberlain really joined the army with a passion for military service rather than just to gain experience in the military.

McClellan's face lightened up after hearing this. He knew Chinese and was well versed in Sinology, which was somewhat useful. He stood up and stared at the map and thought carefully, then made a deployment for the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment: "Your troops will be stationed in the western suburbs, and I will give you another 1800 Maine militiamen, and you will be responsible for their training."

Ames was his student, and McClellan knew Ames inside and out. With Ames' ability, he could complete the training of 1800 people in a short period of time.

At present, Omaha City was heavily armed, with 4 troops gathered. With 4 troops plus Mason's brigade stationed in the Kearny Fortress Group, McClellan's troops no longer had a numerical disadvantage against the Western Army.

But McClellan was still worried because his troops only had quantity but no quality. Among his 4 troops, there were only 7 volunteers, and the remaining 32000 were basically militiamen with little combat experience and poor training. The Western Army was an elite division reorganized from the original Western Brigade.

This is why McClellan was very happy about the arrival of the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Volunteers, especially organized volunteers, were troops that he could directly deploy into combat without spending too much effort on training. What's more, the commander of this volunteer regiment was his student.

(End of this chapter)