Camp Cromwell at Murfreesboro

Murfreesboro, which seems to better known here as Stones River was fought over 3 days from Dec 31 1862 to Jan 2 1863.   Rosecrans was pushing south through central Tennessee towards Chattanooga.  Bragg moved north to meet him & made a surprise attack on New Years Eve.

The Union right was pushed back 90 degrees hinging about the Slaughter Pen - a patch of forest with rocky ground that favoured the defence.   

The Feds in the Pen held out long enough for Rosecrans to form a new defence line at right angles to his initial position. 

The next day both sides reorganised themselves & there was no fighting.   

On Jan 2 the Rebs attacked again thinking the Feds were beaten.  This time they attacked the Union left which was bent back at 90 degrees.  The Rebs were initially successful & drove the Feds back across Stones River.  

Then they discovered that Rosecrans had anticipated their attack & had assembled a battery of 57 guns on the rise above the river.  The Reb attack shuddered to a halt & Brag ordered a withdrawal.   

The battle had many similarities to Shiloh. The battlefield had the same feel, being mainly wooded, but with fields scattered about.  The Rebs won the first day & telegrams went to Richmond claiming crushing victory.  But again the Union General did not concede defeat.  Rosie seems to have learned a thing or two from Grant.  The Union army didn’t retreat as the Rebs expected & when the battle resumed, the Rebs were whipped.

The battlefield today isn’t in quite as good shape as Shiloh, but has enough left to get the feel of it & it has a good informative visitors centre & self-guided drive around. 

Near the battlefield there are remains of Fort Rosecrans – a huge Union supply base used as the starting point for the Chattanooga campaign later in 1863 & the advance on Atlanta in 1864.

Wargaming Shiloh on the road

Before we set off I made set of counters to allow us to play wargames on the road while memories of battles visited were fresh.  Before we left we did Champion Hill to test the system (see below).   Two days after we visited Shiloh we set it up as a wargame. The first thing that stood out was that Shiloh was actually a very small battlefield for over 40,000 men a side.  At a scale of 6"=1km Champion Hill covered two A1 sheets: 8km x 5m.  Shiloh fits in a 5km square.  The green wrapping paper I got at Dollar General was 750mm wide so perfect.  But Shiloh had over 42,000 men a side while Champion Hill had 22,000 Rebs & 32,000 Union.  To make the Shiloh simulation practical I had to make the units brigades of 1,600 men rather than demi-brigades of 800 as at Champion Hill.  Thus the units represented 2 lines of regiments not one.  This works as the counters are to scale with the ground scale in frontage, but way too deep.

I didn't try to put the intricate pattern of open fields on the map - too hard without my big screen PC & a printer.  But at this scale minor tactics is not the main game.  Pittsburg Landing is in the corner near my cold tea.  We simulated the surprise by saying the Union were Disordered for the first two turns.

The Rebs have mixed success along the line, generating a jagged front line & opportunities for flanking attacks. 

Some Reb units break , but many more Union have done so.  Normally we remove broken units.  We do this for two reasons: 1) It is arguable that in most periods troops that break seldom comer back. 2) It shortens the game - allowing a decision with an prolonged end game that can get tedious.  But clearly at Shiloh broken troops did rally & return to the fight.  So we said that broken units fell back to a rally point. 

The gains of the Rebs in first shock were never got back & more & more Union units broke & ran back to their rally line.  As did a few Reb units.

 Things just got worse & worse for the Union.

Almost all the Union units have now broken & fallen back.  The Rebs have only lost a few units broken, but many of their units are shaken or nearly so.  By now it was judged to be nightfall.  The Rebs have taken the ground fought over, though not their objective, Pittsburg Landing.  By our normal rules it is a clear Confederate victory.  But when Sherman said to Grant.  "They've whipped us today Sam." Grant replied.  "We'll whip them tomorrow." 

We didn't continue the battle the next day, but the Union would have rallied their units, plus received reinforcements so a repetition of the historical result looks pretty sure.

It is clear that for a valid simulation of a large ACW battle rules must allow broken units & formations to rally.  Otherwise our Mini Hail Mr Lincoln works pretty well.  As we travel we are also debating issues regarding command & control in the densely wooded terrain of the western battlefields.

Camp Cromwell takes Fort Donelson

Grant's first significant achievement as a commander was to take the riverside forts that prevented the Union using the Tennessee & Cumberland Rivers as routes into Tennessee.  Fort Henry on the Tennessee fell easily as it was poorly sited, not finished & not fully garrisoned.  The Union gunboats silenced the guns & Grant took it without undue difficulty.  Visiting Fort Henry is a bit tricky now as it is under a hydro lake.

He immediately pushed on to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland about 15 miles away across the ridge between the rivers.  This fort was well sited, well constructed & defended by a force that was initially bigger than Grant's.  After the navy arrived with reinforcements Grant ordered a naval attack.  This time the fort won.  It had more & better guns than Fort Henry & they were in better works at a better elevation.  There was also a line of entrenchments around the fort manned by about 20,000 men & at least 2 too many Generals.

The gun boats retired with significant damage.  While Grant was having a conference with his admiral on board ship, the Confederates tried to break out to the east.  He arrived back at the front to find his right wing in chaos.  His reaction was to order an attack on the western side of the defences.  He figured that if they were attacking in such strength in the east, their other flank must weak - typical Grant logic.  The Union took the line of entrenchments on that flank by nightfall & camped in them.

The victorious Confederates on the east side may have been able to break out, but exhausted & short of ammo they rallied back.  Grant reorganised his right to bottle them back up again.

Overnight the Confederate Generals argued about what to do next.  The 2 most senior ones decided to escape on a river boat.  Buckner, left in command, decided to surrender with his men & sent a message to Grant asking for terms.  Grant's reply is famous.  "... no terms but unconditional & immediate surrender. I propose to move immediately upon your works."    Bedford Forest decided to escape down the river bank with his cavalry & got away, 13,000 Confederates were captured along with much equipment the South could not afford to lose. 

We wargamed Fort Donelson about a year ago.  In our game the breakout did not go so well & though Smith's attack on the Union left did not break through, the Rebs failed to break out with none able to escape.  I think we got the terrain pretty right, the Union just did a lot better before Grant showed up.

Much of the battlefield is not built over & a lot of the entrenchments are plain to see, though badly eroded.  The river forts have been partly reconstructed with real cannon barrels on replica mounts.  As with many other places the fields of view are now hidden by trees whereas in 1862 the ground had been cleared by the Rebs. As at Shiloh there is a very informative visitors centre, friendly rangers, a good drive around guide & good info boards.

Camp Cromwell goes to Shiloh

We drove from Vicksburg to Corinth in a day, well placed to get to Shiloh the next day.  We followed the back roads to see the real country you don't see from the Interstates & checked out some minor sites on the way.  At Corinth we found some of the old fortifications surviving in the woods around the town.  An interesting day, but not much worth blogging.

Our first stop at Shiloh was the interpretation centre where we picked up a pamphlet/guide to a drive around the battlefield.  Before we set off we caught Rangers' doing demos on loading & firing artillery & muskets.

This ranger with the coolest Tennessee accent went right through the drill of firing a cannon, including the roles of all the 10 crew & where they put the limber & horses.  He really knew his stuff.  Lots of food for thought re artillery rules.

This bloke was all kitted out as a Reb lucky enough to have a good rifle.  He demonstrated the loading & firing drill.  He fired two shots in 1 min 18 secs (I timed it).  But he was a new recruit for the summer season so still learning.  You could see 3 a minute from a veteran would be possible for a short time. 

The battlefield was made a reserve in the 1890's while vets were still around to help restore it & the whole field is in the National Park.   The woods are probably a bit more overgrown than in the battle, but still in the right places with the fields shaped as they were.  The self guided battlefield car-tour was brilliant.  The pamphlet & signs guided you from significant point to significant point with very informative interp panels at each point.  There are cannons placed in important battery locations (all genuine barrels, but on new carriages).

The interp panels were great.  They clearly showed what happened in front of them & exactly when & on which day.  Despite the complex nature of the battle with attacks & counterattacks generally going north on day 1 & then south on day 2 they made it all easy to understand. 

Here is the Confederate battery of 50 guns lined up to bombard the hornets nest from across the field south of it.

This is the view from the hornets nest to the south across the field.  You can't see the guns deployed in front of the trees on the other side, but they are there.

This is looking into the hornets nest.  Generally the woods are fairly free of undergrowth, but visibility distance is limited by the density of trunks.  We are thinking a lot about rules for fighting in woods.

As we followed the route around the battlefield the course of the battle emerged more clearly than in any book or doco.  The command & control problems in the woods must have been terrible.  Tactically, the random distribution of fields which were not mapped made following any order a lottery.  Many units got cut down coming onto a field & a deadly crossfire.

After our tour we caught a 45 minute recreation movie/doco that was very well done, with the re-inactors doing their stuff on the original battlefield.

As long time Grantophile, I already had a good grasp of the battle & there were no surprises, but there really is nothing like being there.  It was a chaotic battle for everyone but Grant.  With pandemonium all around he calmly plugged the gaps & played for time while he built a wall of guns & men the Rebs were never going to get past.Then he "whipped 'em tomorrow".

Not all battlefields are great to visit - often they are just another patch of ground like any other in the vicinity, but this is one of the best. 
- The terrain is important. 
- It had a lot of complex movement. 
- It is very well preserved. 
- It has by far the best interpretation laid on of any battlefield I've been to.
- It's free. 
- And the good guys won.
Nothing not to like.

Camp Cromwell takes Vicksburg

Our attempt to get to Grand Gulf where Grant's navy failed to silence the batteries, or the spot downstream where he did cross due the Mississippi being in flood.

The first land battle of the Campaign was at Port Gibson.  The Rebs were heavily outnumbered by Grant's advance guard, but the terrain was all wooded ridges with lots of steep gullies.  There's not much to see or features to identify, but we sure got the vibe of the terrain.  The woods usually look passable without a lot of close undergrowth but the trees are close together & visibility usually less than 50m.  Finding the way & coordination must have been a nightmare.  Nevertheless the Rebs couldn't hold the position.

We then followed Grant's route NE towards Jackson along the Natchez Trace - originally an Indian trail, then a rough trade route, now a good road.  Grant advanced with no supply train living off the land - which once you are away from the Mississippi swamps became more & productive & less wooded.  At Raymond a Reb brigade attacked the advance guard thinking it was smaller than them.  They got a nasty shock when they found they had picked a fight with a whole division. 

This battlefield was easy to find with a row of replica cannon deployed on a field beside the road where the Feds deployed it prior to driving the Rebs away.

Here there are still a lot of wooded areas making recon difficult, but also a lot of cleared farmland ground giving fields of fire as well as lots of supplies for the Union army.

After the battle deployed one division covering his rear towards Vicksburg Grant & pursued the Rebs back to Jackson a few miles further east with most of his army.  The large Confederate force there couldn't stop him & withdrew.  He took the town, destroyed the infrastructure & turned back west towards Vicksburg.

The Vicksburg garrison came out to meet Grant, making a stand at Champion Hill.  Grant advanced in 3 columns on wide front.  His right attacked Champion Hill, his front extended several miles to the south.  Champions Hill isn't much of a hill but it is & was heavily wooded.  To the south there are, & presumably were, areas of cleared ground. 

So on the hill the Feds had the difficulty of coordinating attacks in heavily wooded ground & in the south the Rebs had positions with good fields of fire.

 The Rebs put up a good fight, but numbers won.  The Rebs had more men in the area, but Grant's strategy ensured that every battle was fought with the numbers on his side.

The Rebs retreated to Vicksburg & their inevitable doom.

We too advanced to Vicksburg where a large part of the area of the fortifications has been preserved with a drive-thu road and loads of interpretive signs.  The trenches are heavily eroded by the years before any care was taken to preserve them & woods have sprung up obstructing the fields of fire, but enough remains to get the vibe.  The resemblance to WWI is striking. 

12 lb parrot guns were monsters compared with the 6pdr Napoleons.

A feature of the Park was the remains of the USS Cairo.

The Cairo was sunk by mines in the Yazoo in one of the naval actions.  It was raised in the 1960's ina botched salvage operation that damaged much of what remained.  But she has been reconstrcuted on a glulam wood frame with the slavaged original components complimented by new bits to give you a real feel for the size & workings of a Union gunboat.

Camp Cromwell on campaign

Our expeditionary force landed in Houston & successfully got past the US border patrols.  Our first objective was USS Texas a 1912 vintage dreadnought that saw action off Normandy in WWII. Unfortunately we couldn't get aboard because it was closed to riff-raff that day for a D-Day ceremony.  But even from the shore she looked seriously impressive & worth a visit.  We could see the places where the WWI anti-torpedo boat defences had been removed when she was upgraded for WWII with AA batteries everywhere.

However, every cloud has a silver lining & that misfortune gave us an early start on our advance on Vicksburg.  We reached Natchez on the Mississippi that day & stayed there overnight ready to start our Vicksburg campaign the next day.  On the way we began to get an appreciation of the size of the country, the distances, & the difficulties of the terrain, involved in the Civil War campaigns. 

A Medieval Battle

As Chris & I are heading off to the US tomorrow we moved wargames night to Monday this week & picked on Medieval as a complete change from the ACW that will obsess us in coming weeks.

Jim & Mark command the force on the near side, Chris & Mike the other side.  Both armies have 3 infantry divisions & 2 cavalry divisions.  The numbers are equal, but near side has more dismounted knights & the far side more mounted knights.

Jim & Mark took the initiative & made a general advance except Mark held his cavalry back on the far flank & supported them with crossbowmen from the adjacent infantry division.

The cavalry fight on this flank turned into a 1 all draw.  On t far flank Mike's knights charged the crossbowmen giving Mark the chance to use his Sergeants to advantage over Mike's second line.  Mark's dismounted knights on the right were left without fire support so charged forward taking out Mike's bowmen.

On the near flank both sides have reorganised their cavalry while content to exchange bow fire with their foot.  Marks' two infantry division have fallen back but his cavalry is getting on top.

Jim's cavalry has beaten Chris' on this flank & Mark's has broken Mike's on the far flank.  Chris & Mike have pulled back onto the hill most of their enemies are too badly mauled to follow them.  But mark's cavalry still had some pips left & charged up the hill against Mike's flank.

Mark's horse has beaten the infantry on the hill to win the battle.  Chris & Mike have lost 3 of 5 divisions, Jim & Mark have lost none.  It was still close though as none of the winner's divisions are in good shape.  If the last cavalry charge hadn't worked it would have been a draw as no one had enough troops capable of offensive action left to force a result.

Champion Hill 1863

Next week Chris & I are heading to the USA.  We're flying to Houston then driving a hire car through the battlefields of the Civil War - basic plan: Vicksburg, Shiloh, Fort Donaldson, Murfeesborough, Chattanooga, Shenandoah & on to Richmond.  I have designed a portable wargame system we can take with us so we can fight the battles we visit as we go.

Champion Hill near Vicksburg is one of the first battlefields we will be visiting & Chris I used it to play test our portable wargaming system.

The battlefield is a paper map drawn with highlight pens to a scale appropriate to the battle we are simulating.  We will buy paper over there to make disposable battlefields.  The units are 50mm x17mm counters designed on excel, printed on paper, gluing to 2mm card & cutting it up.  The rules are basically Hail Mt Lincoln, but modified to facilitate bigger battles with more units than we usually have fought at a much smaller scale. 
Chris is commanding the three Union columns approaching the outnumbered Rebs on a heavily wooded battlefield.   This battlefield is drawn at a scale of 6"=km (the squares are 250mm=1 mile).  At this scale the units represent demi-brigades of 2 battalions.

 The Union left is pinning down the Rebel right as Grant outflanks the Reb's left on Champion Hill.

The Rebel line is holding well on their right & centre, but superior numbers are telling in the Union attack on Champion Hill on their left flank.

The Union left & centre has failed to break through & is pulling back,  but Grant's attack on Champion Hill is grinding on.

The Rebel left had finally broken & though they have held off the attacks on the right & centre, the Rebs have no choice but to withdraw to Vickburg while they can.

The system lacks some of the visual appeal of minatures, but the game rattles along quickly & it makes doing battle simulations very easy.  We expect it will help us get a better understanding of the battles we visit as well as giving us a mobile wargames fix.