If the South Had Won the Civil War is a book by MacKinlay Kantor, a work of “speculative fiction” rather than science fiction. The premise hinges on a cat startling Ulysses S. Grant’s horse prior to his ascendancy to top general.
If you want to get into the historical weeds, prior to Vicksburg. The horse throws him, and Grant, purportedly the one guy who can win it for Big Blue, dies. A horse accident, one guy’s death, changes the course of human events.
Historians would likely disagree. There are broad historical, demographic, and other reasons why the South got its ass beat.
If all the important folks on both sides hadn’t been friends and someone had insisted on enforcing the statute against treason and upholding the Constitution, at least all the Confederate leaders would have been appropriately hanged.
Instead, we have Nathan Bedford Forrest and all the same traitors continuing the fight by other means, unto this day.
I know of one other book with this, the Confederacy possibly winning, as a subject. It involves time travel. Twentieth century South African Apartheid guys go back in time with AK-47 knowledge with the objective of helping the Confederacy win.
I read it a long time ago. I believe another time traveler goes back and helps set things right. Sort of. He helps the Union win but he cannot undo the introduction of new weapons onto the scene. There are consequences of the interventions from the future.
I may have to revisit that book to refresh my memory. Obviously, the elements that stuck with me were the South Africans, AK-47’s, and there is also that the first battle where the new guns made a difference was the Battle of the Wilderness, which was already historically a horrible thing.
The Wilderness was the first major battle in which Grant was in charge, unless I am mistaken. It’s good to know even science fiction writers have some sense of historical verisimilitude. Is that even a concept? Historical accuracy might be more precise.
In this fictional revision, Jeb Stuart, the Confederate cavalry general, also is jazzed about these new weapons which can be used by cavalry. In the Battle of the Wilderness, the Union’s dismounted cavalry had Spencer repeating rifles, which somewhat bridged the firepower gap.
The other character who comes up is Nathan Bedford Forrest. Like assassins, he is generally referred to by all his three names.
At the Battle of the Wilderness, as portrayed in this fiction, the Union has dismounted cavalry with Spencer repeating rifles in the fore, pickets perhaps.
FYI, Spencer repeating rifles have seven shots before having to reload. AK-47’s are a bit faster with more rounds up front. Seven rounds in a repeating rifle is not exactly the same as a thirty-shot magazine, and the rate of fire because of the firing action, pulling or holding a trigger as opposed to working a lever after every shot, and accuracy is therefore definitely on a different level, but the fiction, for some reason, focuses on this as if enough guys with Spencer rifles could put up a fight against guys with AK-47’s.
Now, you might think you know where this is going, and you may not care. But wait for it.
I Dwell In Possibility 