Second American Civil War (Alternate Wither)

The Second American Civil War, commonly referred to by Americans as Civil War II or CWII, was a major conflict in the United States of America from August 13, 2025 to September 16, 2032. The war was ignited following the 2020 and 2024 United States presidential elections, both of which Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, lost. Following the 2020 election, Trump made baseless claims of voter fraud, and following the 2024 election, called for the twenty-four states that voted for him in the election to secede from the United States to form the Patriot States of America. Florida, Trump's home state, was the first to declare secession. The temporary capitol was the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump's residence. In the coming months, twenty-one more states seceded, leaving Alaska and Kentucky, with Democratic governor Andy Beshear, the only state that voted for Trump in the 2024 election to not secede. However, Beshear was term-limited and could not run in the 2027 gubernatorial election, which was won by Republicans, and the state seceded. Alaska, although was mostly a red state, did not secede as to not be involved in the war. Alaska was thus the only Republican-voting state to not join the Patriot States throughout the entire war.

The conflict that led up to the war began on May 5, when Florida seceded from the United States. On May 16, the states of South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana seceded, on June 13, Texas, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi, and the other thirteen states other than Kentucky later did too, up until the secession of Iowa on August 7. The first battle occurred only four days later, when the Patriot army invaded Atlanta in an attempt to take Georgia for the Patriot States. They caught the Union off guard, and were able to push the Union army back to Raleigh. The Battle of Atlanta marked the first battle of the Second Civil War.

The war effectively ended on September 16, 2032, when the Patriot States surrendered. In the coming weeks, Patriot president Josh Hawley, who had been president ever since the death of Donald Trump in 2028, and vice president Ted Cruz, were captured by the Union and imprisoned for treason. The Patriot States of America then dissolved, and the remaining states that had not rejoined the Union all became a part of it once more.

The end of the war saw dominance in the Democratic party, in a similar fashion to the Republican dominance seen following the first Civil War. Larry Hogan, the last presidential candidate of the Republican party, was defeated in a landslide during the 2028 presidential election, and Harris ended up being re-elected with no major challengers. The Conservative party was soon created, but the party lost most elections for years, including elections for the Senate, House of Representatives, and governors of states. After President Kamala Harris's term was up in 2037, Vice President Pete Buttigieg became president and in 2041, Union General and Secretary of Defense Mason Frederickson was elected as president. The war lasted just over seven years, almost twice as long as the first was, being just over four years.

Many historians and others drew parallels to the two civil wars. Like the first, in the Second Civil War, the breakaway nation, in the case of the Second Civil War, the Patriot States, was not recognized by the United States or any foreign nations. However, the Patriot States had an established government, with elections for the positions of president and vice president, state governors and other state offices, and seats in the Patriot Senate and House of Representatives. The Patriot States president also had a cabinet.

Many Patriot politicians ended their political careers, as many of them were viewed as traitors. All except for president Hawley and vice president Ted Cruz were let go. Hawley and Cruz were captured and convicted of treason, and were imprisoned for a life sentence. The Republican party of the United States split, but the Conservative party was created by Republicans who did not support the Patriot States, namely former Maryland governor and 2028 Republican presidential nominee Larry Hogan, Utah senator and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, former vice president under the Trump administration in the United States, Mike Pence, and former president George W. Bush. This became one of the two main parties, and the party's first president came in 2053.

2020 United States Presidential Election
Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, ran for reelection in the 2020 United States presidential election. He faced little to no challenge in the Republican primaries, and was renominated easily. However, the Democratic side was a different story, with tons of candidates, including former vice president Joe Biden, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, businessman Mike Bloomberg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, and Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, to name a few.

After the primaries, Biden won with 2,687 delegates. He gained the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, and California senator Kamala Harris was nominated as his running mate. Due to mail-in ballots and the COVID-19 pandemic, it was four days after the election until Biden was declared the winner. Biden gave his acceptance speech, but Trump refused to concede, claiming mass voter fraud. Biden was still declared the winner despite lawsuits.

Attack on Washington, DC
January 6 was set to be the day in which the election results were certified for Joe Biden by the 117th congress. However, Trump incited a riot, called "Save America", on the Capitol building to attempt to overturn the election. No members of congress were hurt; however, four rioters (one shot by a police officer) and one police officer were killed. 138 police were injured, and 15 hospitalized, many with severe injuries, including several with traumatic brain injuries, one with two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs, one stabbed with a metal fence stake, one who lost three fingers, and one who was smashed between a door and a riot shield that allegedly caused him a concussion.

The attack was the most severe on the Capitol since 1814, when the British burned Washington as part of the War of 1812. Many offices of congress members were vandalized and looted, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office heavily vandalized. Despite the attack, vice president Mike Pence declared Biden and Harris the winners of the election, causing rioters to chant "Hang Mike Pence".

Trump's Second Impeachment
Trump had already been impeached for getting Ukraine to release information on Biden before the election (as Trump viewed him as a political rival), and became the first president to be impeached twice following the Capitol riot. The trial happened after Trump left office, so the question was not whether or not he would be removed from office, but whether or not he would be barred from holding public office again. In his impeachment trial, he was voted guilty 57-43, although since the 67 votes threshold to convict him was not reached, he was acquitted. Every Democrat and seven Republicans voted to convict him, however; the Republicans being Richard Burr (NC), Bill Cassidy (LA), Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (UT), Ben Sasse (NE), and Pat Toomey (PA). Thus, he was allowed to run for office after his second impeachment.

2024 United States Presidential Election
After being acquitted during his second impeachment trial, Donald Trump ran for a second, nonconsecutive term as president in 2024. He was nominated quite easily. Joe Biden ran for re-election and easily won the Democratic nomination. On election day, Biden won the election 320-218 in the electoral college, winning every state from 2020 and flipping North Carolina and Maine's second congressional district. Like 2020, Trump refused to concede and claimed mass voter fraud. However, this time, he did not incite a riot. After election day, he called for the states that voted for him in 2024 to secede from the United States and form the "Patriot States of America".

Secession of the Republican States
Florida was the first of the red states to secede, with the state seceding May 5, 2025. Donald Trump became the acting president, and on May 16, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana seceded from the Union. President Biden had previously commented on the situation on Twitter, but gave a speech about it on June 14. By this time, Texas, Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Mississippi had also seceded. He condemned Trump trying to "destroy this great nation, the United States of America!". The last state to secede in 2025 was Iowa, on August 7. This was also the last state to secede before the beginning of the war.

The Beginning of the War (2025)
Virtually all historians agree that the war actually began on August 13, 2025, four days after the secession of Iowa, at the Battle of Atlanta. However, the conflict leading up to the war arose many years earlier. President Biden officially declared war on the Patriot States on August 14, 2025, the morning after the Battle of Atlanta.

Battle of Atlanta
On August 13, the Patriot military marched to, and attacked, Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia military members and members of the National Guard fought back, but were severely unprepared. The Union suffered 1,465 casualties, the Patriot military suffered only 737, and 124 civilians were killed. With the Patriots taking Georgia, the Union started to retreat back to Washington, D.C., but unknowingly were being followed by Patriot troops.

Battle of Fort Myrick
After marching for two days, on August 15, the Patriots skirmished Fort Myrick (named for Union general Harry Myrick) at around 5:00 A.M. and again caught the Union off guard. The Union suffered 57 casualties, while the Patriots only suffered 12. With early victories, the Patriot States were on track to easily win the war with the unprepared Union. The Union continued to retreat through South Carolina.

Battle of Lumberton
The next battle was just outside of Lumberton, North Carolina, on August 16.