CAVEAT  Altering history can be dangerous.  Do not attempt it in your own home.

(Author's Note: The initial parts of this history derive from Harry Turtledove's book, The Guns of the South.  The scenario itself, however, is my own interpretation.  Toggle Word Wrap for best results.)

After years of fighting, the War Between the States had turned against the Confederate cause.  The Union, with its greater resources and relatively unmolested countryside, retained a significant advantage over the battered South.  Though the Rebel soldiers fought bravely, their cause increasingly looked to be lost.  But when a group of mysterious visitors approached General Robert E. Lee with an offer, the war would be changed forever.

The men dressed in odd uniforms and spoke with strange accents.  Though some of the men noted that they sounded vaguely German, the visitors claimed to be from the nation of South Africa, a nation which did not show up on any world maps.  The men claimed to be from the future, and recounted how their own government had handed over control to the masses of inferior natives, thus rendering them as fugitives.  They had come to offer General Lee an opportunity to win the war.  That opportunity came in the form of virtually unlimited quantities of a powerful rifle the South Africans called the AK-47.

With this new weapon, the South knew it had a fighting chance.  Troops were trained in the use of the weapon, and newly equipped units began to see combat.  Soon, the tide of war began to change, with Union survivors straggling back to their camps telling stories of a new weapon in Confederate armies, weapons capable of cutting an entire battalion apart in a matter of minutes.  The South, bolstered by their newfound technological advantage, began to lay waste their Northern foes, and soon threatened the Union capitol itself.  Within months of the visitors' arrival, the Confederacy had siezed Washington, forcing a reluctant President Lincoln to concede Confederate victory in November of 1864.

The two leaders, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, met in December to negotiate a peace at the former home of General Lee in Arlington, Virginia.  The Arlington Accords set a precident for the North American continent as the United States of America officially recognized the sovereighty of the Confederate States of America.  The two nations immediately ratified the Treaty of Arlington, pledging an immediate peace between the two peoples.  Ambassadors from the British provinces in Canada and the nation of Mexico also attended, though their presence was received somewhat coldly by the American leaders, who saw their early recognition of the Confederacy as a threat to national security during the war.  Even so, both sides left Arlington satisfied that, after four years of violence, peace could finally be restored to North America.

With the conclusion of the Arlington Accords, the Confederate States of America rejoiced in their newfound independence.  Their celebration was dampened considerably with the assassination of President Davis outside Richmond by a Union sympathizer on Christmas day.  The North, seeking to dispell rumors of conspiracy, quickly denied any part in the shooting.  The provisional Confederate government met at an emergency session and nominated General Lee to the presidency.  Realising the possibility of renewed warfare, Lee accepted and immediately set to re-establishing amicable relations with the North.  The two presidents met again at Richmond, where Lincoln and Lee spent several weeks discussing issues of state.  The two leaders found each other agreeable and honourable, and by the end of January had eased fears of a second Union/Confederate conflict.  

Unfortunately, the conference at Richmond produced three events which entailed disasterous consequences for the Union.  Through December and January, the nations' attention had been centered around the capitols of Washington and Richmond, but in the Pacific west undercurrents began to emerge which would again threaten the Union.  Pacific veterans, isolated from the east by thousands of miles, had sought additional compensation from the United States government for their participation in the war effort.  President Lincoln had previously replied that the matter would be addressed at wars end, but the assassination of President Davis forced Lincoln to delay action on the issue.  During the ensuing two months, dissention among Pacific veterans grew, with the military split into two camps, a pro-Union camp and an increasingly dominant Separatist camp.  Finally, on February 2, 1865, the state of California announced that, with the backing of the California populace, she had decided to secede from the Union.  The next day Oregon announced that she would join California, followed two days later by the territory of Alaska.  Delegates from the two states and territory met at Portland a week later and set up a provisional government which would convene at San Francisco.  On February 23, the delagates met on a chartered passenger liner in San Francisco bay to discuss the creation of the new state.  By the end of the day, the delagates had drafted a declaration of independence and a rudimentary constitution, and had nominated Captain Jean-Paul Martinez, a charasmatic Union veteran and lifelong Californian, as the country's first president.  From San Francisco, Martinez relayed a message to President Lincoln informing him of the creation of the Pacific States, his election as President of the new country, and the "honourable seizure" of Union supplies within California, Oregon, and Alaska.  Within two days, both Mexico and British Canada had reached tentative peace agreements with the new nation.  Also, to the chagrin of the Union commander in chief, President Lee also reached tentative agreements with Martinez.  Lincoln considered this a personal loss, as he had previously urged Lee not to recognise the Pacific States, though in his heart he knew that his request would most likely go unheeded.

To President Lincoln, the loss of the Pacific states came as bitter news.  He knew that he could not officially recognise the breakaway states, but also knew that his country could not sustain another war against fellow Americans, particularly ones on the other side of the continent.  That Martinez had been appointed President came as some relief; Lincoln had met Martinez once, just prior to the war, and had been impressed by the young first officer's capabilities.  Martinez had grown up on an affluent California ranch, which his father's family had owned for over a century.  His love of the sea derived from his mother, a French-Canadian expatriate whose family traded along the St. Lawrence river.  Lincoln recalled that in addition to his notable record as a naval officer, Martinez seemed rational and amicable, if somewhat coarse, and hoped that, whatever the outcome of this latest crisis, Martinez would prove as open to negotiation as Davis and Lee.  This hope stood in contrast to Lincoln's relationship with the British governor in Canada, John A. MacDonald, with whom Lincoln had severed diplomatic ties in responce to MacDonald's official recognition of the Pacific States.

If the secession of the Pacific states cost Lincoln sleep, the next crisis could only be the stuff of nightmares.  Throughout January and February, disturbing reports had begun to filter to the Union capitol from Salt Lake City that the Mormons, after a decade of uneasy submission, were beginning to talk of renewed struggle against the United States.  By mid-February, the reports began to include armed raids against Union outposts in the region, along with the seizure of several weapons caches.  Finally, on February 27, a message arrived in Washington from Salt Lake City.  In it, Brigham Young, the aged spiritual head of the Mormon church, declared Utah independent of the Union as the Theocracy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Furthermore, Young vowed revenge against the United States, which he cited as "that most decadant of nations, unworthy of further existance in the eyes of God and His Most Holy Son."  A day later, a similar letter arrived in Richmond, much to the dismay of President Lee.  Both Presidents found the prospect of renewed warfare extremely disturbing.

Unfortunately, the Mormon crisis did not contain itself to Utah.  By late February several of the plains indian tribes had lodged appeals with the United States and Confederate governments for aid in repelling Mormon attacks.  The various tribes knew that both governments wielded significant forces which could be used to secure the tribes' lands against further incursions by Mormon militias, who had targeted the indians as a pagan scourge requiring either conversion or outright extermination.  The various tribes knew through hearsay that the Mormons were on the verge of war with both nations, and as a result believed that troops would soon arrive.  Few indians realised the full severity of the war in the east, and as a result failed to anticipate a delay in military deployment.  By March, the various tribes, united under the Souix chief Sitting Bull, realised that help was not coming, and severed relations with the eastern states, hoping to maintain a hold on the lands they still called theirs.  The west had become a dangerous place for both Union and Confederate citizens, and the fragile peace in North America seemed once again imperiled.  