The Grand Tour: Minnesota

The first state to secede in the second wave was its most reluctant member. Minnesota was its own Territory in 1855 at the time of the Anderson expedition, and was not included in the generals original mandate. Minnesota has ties to the Fort Pierre expedition, however, as one of its members, Major Thomas Garfield, twice commanded Fort Ridgely in the state.

The Land of Ten Thousand Lakes has always been of great strategic value to General Anderson. Minnesota provides the Republic with access to the Great Lakes. Though technically prohibited by treaty from building up a navy on the lakes due to a treaty signed between the United States and Great Britain (The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817) to limit naval forces on the lake, the Republic was not going to let a piece of paper stop it from defending itself. The official position of the Republican Foreign Office is that since the Republic of Ansdale is a sovereign power at war with the United States and has no treaty with Great Britain, she is not beholden to agreements signed by the former possessors of the land. As long as Great Britain remains neutral in the struggle, ironclads will move only toward United States owned shores, not toward Canada.

If the diplomatic double talk is accepted by Great Britain, General Anderson will have shortened his theatre of war considerably. Even with trains an invasion of the east is problematic, but access to the Great Lakes opens up effortless bombarding of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Since Texas opens up the east coast to attack, the Great Lakes will help the Republic keep the United States surrounded. Now, if they can only build ships fast enough.