Americas Campaign: Apache

[Slaists]

On turn 1, declare a war path to the eastern-most rebel province in the war-past list. Send a full stack that way and hire mercs as you go. Mercs will have 0 upkeep. Use mercs to take all rebel settlements along the warpath. Use one unit of the original stack to garrison the newly occupied settlement and move on. I did not use the original apache warriors in any of the 1st war-path fights, just used them sparingly to garrison the newly conquered villages.

Note, in order for desertions not to kick in you will have to take each settlement on the first turn of arriving (no waiting). Use mercs to do the brunt of work and rehire as needed. By the time you reach the eastern-most rebel settlement you should be able to conquer all of the rebel settlements in modern day US South (except Florida).

Here's a caveat, which seems different from the Crusades: a stack of war-path mercs led by a captain does not seem to desert as long as it stays close to the other stack lead by the original war-path leader (general). This allowed me to tag along two war-path stacks using just one general.
--
playing a bit more with Apache's I've come to a conclusion that the European AI has a serious morale issues, facing native American troops consisting mostly of missile types. even when defending, the cocky AI (French) would attack (that's another problem...), allowing me to take the most advantageous position (on a hill-top) and wait. once hit with a barrage of missiles (no gunpowder needed), a full stack of European AI would rout even before reaching my lines. i guess, the europeans get a morale hit double whammy here: missile barage + being outnumbered about 2:1 (full stack versus full stack). feels almost like cheating...