Virginia

From Turtledove

For the ship, see Virginia (Ironclad)

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a Southeastern state on the Atlantic Coast in the United States of America. It is named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was known as the Virgin Queen because she never married. The Virginia Colony was the first part of the Americas to be continuously inhabited by colonists from its founding as a European colony up to the American Revolution.

Contents 1 Virginia in A Different Flesh 2 Virginia in The Disunited States of America 3 Virginia in The Guns of the South 4 Virginia in Southern Victory 4.1 Notable Virginians 5 Virginia in The Two Georges

[edit] Virginia in A Different Flesh

Virginia was the site of the first permanent Britain colony in North America. The site of the colony was not conducive to agriculture, and the presence of sims made life very difficult for the colonists.

Nonetheless, the colony survived, and eventually, even thrived. In 1738, Virginia joined other English colonies in breaking away from the mother country and forming the Federated Commonwealths of America.

[edit] Virginia in The Disunited States of America

In the alternate where the United States failed, Virginia was one of several independent countries located in North America. It was a constitutional republic. The House of Burgesses was its legislative body. The consul was the head of state. Like many of the former slave-holding states, Virginia was sharply divided along racial lines, with blacks kept as second-class citzens. Negroes had nonetheless launched rebellions several times in the country's past.

This racial hierarchy created a substantial paranoia in white Virginia. Consequently, while Virginia was a republic, many liberties and freedoms were not as sacred as in the home timeline's United States.

In this alternate, Virginia's borders included both the home timeline's Virginia and West Virginia, as there was no American Civil War for West Virginia to secede from Virginia.

In 2097, after a period of escalating tensions with its neighbor Ohio, Ohio and Virginia declared war. A few weeks into the war, Ohio disseminated a virus among the Virginians and followed through with a ground invasion. Virginia took the brunt of the fighting; Ohio forces took Virginia towns near their shared border and Negroes (armed by Ohio) in Virginia launced a rebellion. The virus and the rebellion stymied Virginia's efforts to meet the Ohio advance. However, after a few weeks of fighting, the war was ended by a truce.

A very small number of Virginia whites saw the war as a wake-up call for the country to re-evaluate its racial hierarchy. Covertly, Crosstime Traffic helped to finance these moderates, who gained seats in the House of Burgesses.

[edit] Virginia in The Guns of the South

[edit] Virginia in Southern Victory

Virginia joined the Confederacy during the War of Secession. Its state capital, Richmond, became the national capital.

Virginia was a critical front during the Great War. Some of the fiercest fighting was on the Roanoke Front. When the Confederacy lost, most of northern Virginia was annexed to the U.S. state of West Virginia. Richmond was not part of that territory.

Early in the Second Great War, Virginia was again a strategic target, as Confederate President Jake Featherston steadfastly refused to leave Richmond. In the wake of Operation Blackbeard, the U.S. military turned to a counter-attack in northern Virginia in 1941. The attack, led by General Daniel MacArthur, was a failure in the short-term. After the Confederate advance was stopped and destroyed at the Battle of Pittsburgh in 1943, and Irving Morrell invaded the Confederacy, MacArthur was given another opportunity to invade Virginia in 1944. This time, Virginia fell in short order.

The Confederate superbomb project was located at Washington University, at Lexington, Virginia. The project was able to complete North America's first bomb, which was used against Philadelphia. In response, the U.S. destroyed the Virginia town of Newport News with its own superbomb.

[edit] Notable Virginians

• Jake Featherston
• Thomas Jackson
• Thomas Jefferson
• Robert E. Lee
• James Madison
• James Monroe
• George Patton
• Clarence Potter
• Jeb Stuart
• Jeb Stuart III
• Jeb Stuart Jr.
• George Washington
• Woodrow Wilson

[edit] Virginia in The Two Georges

In the aftermath of the Seven Year' War, Virginia was one of a number of colonies that chafed under unrepresentative direct British rule. However, a new arrangement was peacefully negotiated forming the North American Union. Thus, Virginia was one of the oldest Provinces of the Union.

Virginia was the home of Roland Oliver who was a Crown Prosecutor for the province.