Chapter 1639 - 1545: The One Who Ended the War

Chapter 1639: Chapter 1545: The One Who Ended the War

Napoleon’s expression was like a man who hadn’t eaten for three days, watching helplessly as a table full of delicacies disappeared right in front of him.

He was almost roaring: "What the hell is going on in the Southern United States? Damn, aren’t all the people there growing cotton?"

The Governor’s Assistant was startled, somewhat nervously saying: "Haven’t you heard the news? General Jourdan has released a large number of slaves in South Carolina, and nearly all the plantations there have stopped working..."

Napoleon had been on a long campaign and was indeed unaware of the situation in the east. He was momentarily stunned: "Are you saying, General Jourdan? Isn’t he still gathering troops in Mobile?"

"That was a month and a half ago," said the assistant, "General Jourdan received reinforcements from Santo Domingo, quickly raided Pensacola, and then marched victoriously, occupying Long Bay in less than a month."

Long Bay was already at the northernmost part of South Carolina.

Napoleon squinted. From Pensacola to Long Bay, even marching nonstop would take a month. In other words, while he was attracting all the American troops in the west, Jourdan took the opportunity to score victories in the southeast!

The bastard!

He was somewhat puzzled: "But in such a short time, the Southern United States wouldn’t be chaotic enough to force Jefferson to cease hostilities, would it?"

The Governor’s Assistant smiled: "Actually, General Jourdan stopped at Long Bay.

"It was those freed slaves who gathered to incite a revolt.

"Well, you know, there are many free blacks in the Florida army, and they probably provided some weapons to the rebels privately.

"In just about 20 days, large-scale slave uprisings have erupted in Georgia, the Piedmont Plateau, and the southern regions of North Carolina, with an estimated over 20,000 black slaves attacking plantations all over, freeing more slaves.

"Oh, they say there are rioters along the Roanoke River."

The Roanoke River was already in the northern part of North Carolina, and 150 kilometers further north was Richmond, America’s largest port for wheat, cotton, tobacco, iron ore, and slave trade.

Due to most of the Southern United States militia being deployed to fight in the west, they were utterly powerless to suppress the surging slave uprisings.

Washington urgently mobilized troops in the northeast regions like New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, but after half a month, only less than 3,000 soldiers had gathered.

Americans also had to consider Jourdan, who was watching Long Bay like a tiger—if he suddenly launched an attack, these 3,000 American troops could be annihilated in one battle.

Remember, most of these mobilized soldiers were state militia, and one should not expect much from their combat effectiveness.

After extensive discussions with the military, Jefferson concluded that only if General Wilkinson’s main force returns to the south immediately can the overwhelming slave uprisings be quelled.

And they’ve just received news that the French Army first suddenly took Memphis, then ambushed the American Army in Alabama, and subsequently raided Adams Fort—effectively pummeling Wilkinson.

At this time, unless the French make allowances, wanting to retrieve the troops to quell the unrest is akin to dreaming.

Jefferson was also highly decisive, immediately sending someone to New Orleans to request a ceasefire.

In fact, Hamilton was already leading the Federalist Party in Congress to push for "abolition legislation." Currently, states like Vermont and Massachusetts, among others, have already legislated abolition. Although places like New Hampshire and Illinois haven’t made it clear in law, overall, they lean towards abolition.

Although there are nine slave states, Georgia, North and South Carolina, among others, exert significant influence, while western states like Tennessee mostly remain undeveloped lands with little voice in Congress.

And the Federalist Party’s stance is also quite persuasive—if the whole country abolishes slavery, the southern slave revolts will immediately calm down, eliminating the need for large-scale troop mobilization.

But for the Democratic-Republican Party, which represents the interests of southern plantation owners, maintaining the slave system is their bottom line.

This was also one of the important reasons for Jefferson’s urgent ceasefire.

He must resolve the southern chaos in the shortest possible time, otherwise, support for the Federalist Party would keep growing.

Napoleon, feeling somewhat exasperated, waved at the Clerk: "Immediately draft me a letter to expose to the Regent King that Jourdan deliberately avoided battle to grab credit, putting our army in immense crisis!"

He could hardly restrain his anger. On the North American battlefield, he endured almost the entire American Army, struggling to regain the advantage in a highly unfavorable situation, just when he was ready for the final blow, the war was over!

And the person who ended the war hadn’t even fought a single medium-sized battle—Jourdan!

What he didn’t know was that ever since Jourdan arrived in North America, he’d been sending secret messages weekly via smuggling ships back to Paris, reporting the war situation to the Regent King in detail.

Indeed, he dared not "scheme" against Napoleon, but the Regent King had that authority. He was merely faithfully executing the Regent King’s American strategy.

...

The ceasefire negotiations in North America proceeded very smoothly.

Four days after the American negotiation representatives arrived in New Orleans, they boarded an escort ship bound for Washington, carrying the draft ceasefire agreement and feeling somewhat grateful.

According to the President’s requirements before departure: First, the United States must not relinquish any existing territory; second, the compensation amount must not exceed 900,000 US Dollars; lastly, all French and Spanish troops must withdraw from US territory.

This was hell-level difficulty!

He originally thought it would take at least a month of arduous negotiations, not necessarily meeting the demands, yet unbeknownst to him, Governor Elcano only proposed conditions such as

"The United States promises not to invade or interfere with Florida in any form," "Dismantle all fortresses on the East Bank of the Mississippi River," "Complete a comprehensive boundary delineation with the Iroquois Duchy," "Withdraw from any form of alliance with England and Portugal," "Compensate Florida and Louisiana for a total loss of 1.1 million US Dollars."

Only the war compensation slightly exceeded the President’s authorization, but he believed Congress would accept this figure.

However, there was one condition from the French that troubled him somewhat: the United States must recognize the certificates granting freedman status to slaves signed by the Governor of Florida.

Understandably, in the past two months, an estimated eighty to one hundred thousand slaves had escaped to Florida—Georgia, South Carolina, and other states affected by the slave uprisings had over 800,000 slaves; a tenth had escaped, which was considered few.

If the Federal Congress promised not to pursue these escaped slaves, many southern plantation owners would go bankrupt instantly.

But he judged that Congress would ultimately approve this ceasefire agreement. After all, it could save the remaining 90% of the plantations and the Democratic-Republican Party.