Hell by the Acre, a book about the Stones River Campaign

I recently read “Hell by the Acre”,  a new history of  the Stones River Campaign. It’s a deep dive into the story. Most histories contain some accounts by participants. This one has  way more of them  than usual.

 

Those accounts confirmed some notions I’ve had about the Civil War. First, in the west, the standard position for infantry in combat was prone. Sometimes units would stand up to open fire, usually startling the target. If terrain offered some cover, they would remain standing. One account featured a firefight with a Union regiment standing while the Confederates lay prone. I assume the Union troops had some cover from the shape of the ground, since in most accounts all lay prone. Reloading while prone must have taken more than 15 seconds.

 

Second, accounts of the time almost always refer to enemy “columns”. It becomes clear in this book that “column” means a body of formed troops, not skirmishers. One account even says a “column” is in line formation. When a specific type of column is mentioned, as in column on the right division, then you can be assured the unit isn’t in line. But otherwise, it’s a body of formed troops.

 

The Union advance was slowed by the multi-day delaying action fought by the Confederates to allow Hardee’s corps time to concentrate with the rest of the army.

 

One interesting account of a delaying fight was the action by Captain Edgarton’s Union battery. Called upon to help another battery under artillery fire, he paused his guns in a wood and rode out with his section commanders. They all had their watches out. Each time the Confederate guns opened, they all noted how many seconds passed before the rounds hit. With the range calculated, they rode back into the wood. The battery was ordered out at the gallop. They rapidly deployed and opened fire. One percussion shell struck an enemy gun wheel, disabling the piece. Another struck just under another gun’s axle and exploded, throwing the gun end over end. Edgarton had a reputation as one of the most scientific gunners in the army.

If you’re looking for a detailed account of Stones River, this is the book for you. I have a Stones River scenario for Bloody Big Battles and this will help me update it.

 

The American Invasions of Canada

 

Since there has been buzz about annexing Canada recently, I thought it timely to post a brief summary of our previous efforts to annex Canada. And yes, those of you who know these wars well, I have left a lot of stuff out. It's a summary.

 

In 1775, before we even declared independence, a two-pronged invasion of Canada was launched. General Montgomery led the western force up the traditional Hudson River/Lake Champlain route, capturing the fort at St. Johns and Montreal on the way to Quebec. Benedict Arnold led about 1,000 troops up the Kennebec River and then down the Chaudière River to Quebec. His expedition suffered extreme hardship. Over a third of them turned back. The others had to dine on boiled cartridge box belts and candle tallow. An ancestor of my wife went up the Kennebec with Arnold. The two forces combined to storm the city on New Year’s Eve. 

 

Montgomery was shot dead; Arnold was hit in the leg. The assault failed, losing heavily in killed, wounded and prisoners. The attacking force was driven back to New York in the following Spring, since British reinforcements arrived once the ice melted on the St. Lawrence River. That was it for the rest of the 18^th century.

 

During the War of 1812, the War Hawks coveted Canadian lands. Others thought captured territory would make useful bargaining chips at the eventual peace conference. Ex-President Jefferson boasted that taking Canada would be “a mere matter of marching”. His administration and the succeeding one of his protégé Madison had starved the budgets of the Army and Navy, assuming that militia would suffice for any military needs. It was felt that professional military were tools of the opposition Federalist Party. The small, threadbare US army would start the war badly. Undisciplined militia would be found wanting when invading foreign soil, as would feeding and equipping forces with amateur supply troops.

 

The first action was an invasion from Detroit, led by General William Hull. British General Isaac Brock boldly ran circles around Hull with his smaller force of British regulars, Canadian militia and Native warriors led by Tecumseh. He bluffed the cautious Hull into surrendering his entire force of 2,000 troops and Detroit, with very few shots fired.

 

Next, Major General Stephen Van Renssalaer led 3,500 troops to the Niagara River. Brock dashed back east to face this threat, gathering some 1,300 Regulars and Canadian militia. The American regulars and some militia crossed the river in a badly planned move; no one had assigned people to row the empty boats back across. A few did, some to escape the fighting. As the sound of gunfire erupted from the British side of the river, the militia waiting on the south bank suddenly discovered that their terms of enlistment didn’t include crossing into Canada. Stranded on the north bank, those who crossed were defeated in a tough fight, losing nearly 1,000 prisoners. The intrepid Brock was shot dead during the battle.

 

Those were the only two serious efforts to invade in 1812.

 

1813 saw the inept, corrupt and traitorous General James Wilkinson lead a force of 8,000 troops towards Montreal. Posthumously, Wilkinson was  discovered to have been on the payroll of Spain while he commanded the US army before the war.

 

Another force of 4,000 under General Wade Hampton was defeated by a much smaller Canadian force and fell back before joining with Wilkinson. Wilkinson then contrived to get only 2,500 of his force into contact with some 800 British and Canadian troops under Lt. Colonel Joseph Morrison, and was defeated, ending the invasion. Superior knowledge of the terrain by locals combined with insufficient training, discipline, supplies and leadership by the invading forces helps explain the continued defeats at the hands of smaller forces.

 

An attempted invasion further west by General William Henry Harrison ended in a stalemate after heavy fighting on both sides.

 

Late 1813 saw Harrison invade Ontario and defeat a smaller British and native force. Tecumseh was killed (and cut up for souvenirs). This was the only  Canadian territory of note held by the end of the war.

The US Army slowly expanded and improved, under the pressure of defeats. Incompetent generals were weeded out.

 

In 1814 General Jacob Brown led an invasion over the Niagara River, which saw some success before finally having to fall back to their starting positions. At the US victory of Chippewa, well-trained US regulars were dressed in grey uniforms, due to a shortage of blue cloth. The British commander Riall assumed they were Buffalo militia and was surprised when they fought like disciplined troops. “Those are regulars, by God!” he exclaimed and that is why the West Point cadets wear grey to this day.

 

Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to abdicate in April, freeing Britain to send veteran reinforcements across the Atlantic. Later in the year the US was on the defensive. A British offensive into New York failed when the US Naval victory on Lake Champlain cut their supplies.

 

A British amphibious invasion led by the bold General Ross routed a larger force of mostly militia, some regulars and Navy sailors at Bladensburg Maryland. Ross went on to capture Washington DC, where he burned the White House and other government buildings. He then went by sea and moved against Baltimore. Ross was killed by a sharpshooter early on. His cautious replacement decided to wait for the Royal Navy to silence Fort McHenry. This failed, giving us the Star Spangled Banner. The invasion force went back to their ships.

 

In time, this force was reinforced and sent to attack New Orleans, failing badly. It is often said that battle was fought for no purpose, since the peace treaty had been signed. I disagree. If you want to know why, my earlier post about it is here. 

 

Finally, after the American Civil War, a group of Fenian veterans of that war invaded Canada in 1866. They hoped to trade Canadian real estate for Irish independence. After they won a battle against Canadian militia, the startled US government shut down their Buffalo supply center and with it, the invasion. The Wikipedia article can be found here. Here's hoping that it was the last invasion of Canada.

Cowpens January 17, 1781 – Order of Battle

This is heavily based on “A Devil of a Whipping”, (link https://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-battle-of-cowpens-and-devil-of.html) which maintains that Morgan had more militia that he is usually credited with and that the militia suffered more losses than listed. The muddy streams covering the Rebel flanks are also based on this book. The Rebel officers are well-documented whereas the British command structure is conjectural.

American Forces

Commanding Officer: Brigadier General Daniel Morgan excellent 1,432  

 

South Carolina Militia Colonel Andrew Pickens average

Unit	Strength	Rating	Class
Roebuck’s battalion	150	Militia	D
Thomas’s battalion	150	Militia	D
Hayes’ battalion	150	Militia	D
Brandon’s battalion	150	Militia	D
Cunningham's SC & GA Riflemen	112	Green	C
McDowall's North Carolina Riflemen	75	Green	C
Total	787

 

Continentals Lt. Colonel John Howard good  

Unit	Strength	Rating	Class
1st Maryland Continentals	180	Veteran	A
Kirkwood’s Delaware Light Infantry	80	Veteran	A
Tate’s Virginia Militia	113	Green	C
Triplett’s Virginia Militia	112	Green	C
Total	525

 

Cavalry Lt. Col. William Washington average

Unit	Strength	Rating	Class
Washington's Light Dragoons	80	Line	B
McCall’s State Dragoons	40	Green	C
Total	120

 

An argument can be made that the first 4 militia battalions are seasoned and should be C class. As you can see, I don’t buy it. Instead, if your rules have militia check morale when first seeing the enemy, have them pass that test because Morgan asked them to fire a couple rounds each and then fall back. It was a clever ploy to keep them bolting before firing. Then they should head to the rear after firing, needing to be rallied to return to the fight, as Morgan and Pickens did. You might give them a first fire bonus, since permission to leave made them calmer than usual. The riflemen fired a couple rounds, said to have emptied 20 saddles of Tarleton's leading Dragoon unit. Then they fell back and joined the militia line.

 

Tate & Triplett’s troops are former Continentals and a cut above standard militia.

British Forces

Commanding Officer: Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton good 1,161

 

Front line Major Newmarsh (7^th) average  

Unit	Strength	Rating	Class
7th Foot Regiment "Royal Fusiliers"	177	Green	C
Tarleton's British Legion Infantry	271	Green	C
Light Infantry (4 companies)	150	Veteran	A
17th Light Dragoons, 1 squadron	50	Line	B
British Legion squadron	50	Green	C
Royal Artillery 2 3pdr galloper guns	20	Veteran	A
Total	698

 

Reserves  Lt. Col. Tarleton  

Unit	Strength	Rating	Class
1/71st Foot Regiment "Frasier's Highlanders"	263	Veteran	A
British Legion Dragoons	200	Green	C
Total	463

 

I cannot find an account of any officers serving between Tarleton and the unit commanders. I have put the CO of the senior regiment in the front line (7^th Foot) in charge, just so Tarleton has one brigadier. The 7^th regiment is usually listed as having a large draft of recruits intended for the fort at Ninety-Six while some say it was all seasoned veterans. Based on their performance at the battle I’ve opted for the recruits being present and rated them as green. This regiment had been captured during Montgomery’s invasion of Canada in 1775 and later exchanged. It would be captured again at Yorktown. Major Hanger, second in command of the Legion, was on sick leave.  

This is what I came up with in 2008 and don’t recall exactly how the numbers were arrived at.

Olustee Florida, February 20, 1864 via BBB

Konstantinos Travlos has designed some very small scenarios using Bloody Big Battles. We played his small battle scenario of the largest ACW battle fought in Florida Saturday. Twice. I didn’t have the proper high pine trees but decided to use my palm trees (requiring a major archaeological dig in my closet) for that Florida feeling. No gator for the pond. I resisted the urge to put down a contemporary strip mall. I visit in-laws there once a year.

 

A small battle fought using Bloody Big Battles rules. It works. Previously we played the 1864 Battle of Oeversee from the 2^nd Schleswig-Holstein War. It was also fun, and like this, unbalanced. But it plays in about an hour so you can switch sides and see how you do with the underdog. One thing I might do for future games of Olustee is use two bases for each one called for and treat each pair as one, just to put more figures on the table for looks. But cracking games they are. Confederate units are in italics on the photos.

 

The first game saw Bill commanding my Yankees and I leading his rebels. We were using our house rules for dismounted cavalry since we have horse holders and such painted up. I thought they should start mounted. Keep your eye on them. On the first turn the small Union cavalry brigade rode up to dismount. Before they could, I fired at them with two artillery batteries, to get the favorable column shift while they were still mounted. I rolled 10 on 2D6, a 1 in 6 chance. That knocked out one base and the remaining one fled. If I’d rolled higher, the artillery would have gone low on ammo, so the 10 was perfect. The rebels soon gained all three objectives. A late game attempt by the Union to gain one that the rebels had abandoned failed when the move was curtailed by a hail of lead. The pictures below tell the story.

The first game saw the Union lose a base of cavalry (with the other run off) and a base of infantry against two Confederate infantry bases lost. The CSA victory took all of an hour and 20 minutes.

 

Andrew arrived mid-game and took command of the Yankees for the next game. Bill switched to the Confederate side of the table while I sat out and watched. Andrew’s cavalry started out in a forward position. Bill’s artillery fired and rolled a 10. Adios, cavalry brigade. So much for those Spencer carbines. Again, see below.

Andrew was able to see Montgomery’s brigade (54^th Mass and 1^st NC Colored Infantry) first cause heavy losses to Colquitt’s veteran Georgia brigade with fire and then defeat them with a bayonet charge, chasing them for a ways. It was glorious but moot since it didn’t capture an objective. The game clocked in at one hour, 2 minutes. Union losses were 1 cavalry (the other run off), 1 infantry and 1 artillery base. Confederate losses were 4 infantry bases and Colquitt himself. We have a house rule for officer casualties but since I couldn’t find my wounded officer vignette, we didn’t roll the dice to see his fate. Perhaps a roll for gator attack if he hid in a body of water?

The text and the photo differ on the title of the NC Colored regiment. The text is  correct. Errors on the photo are always found after hitting save.

 

I had a notion previously of using BBB rules and One Hour Wargame scenarios. Never more than 6 units per side and a randomized order of battle makes for some tasty short game possibilities. This sparked my interest again. Perhaps when we return from our coming sojourn in Maine…

Shiloh Revised and Revisited

We tested the in-progress revision of the Bloody Big Battles Shiloh scenario yesterday. Jay and Andrew played the Confederates, while Bill stood in for Sherman and I as Grant. I didn’t roll any dice until after Grant appeared on turn 4.

 

The game started with Hardee’s corps defeating Sherman’s raw division, which fell back spent. On the other flank, Withers soon drove deep into the Union left. Aggressive Andrew and prudent Jay had their usual trash talk. Andrew once asked about friendly fire.

 

Hardee defeated McClernand in a sanguinary brawl, unhinging the Union right. Withers returned to the fray and unhinged the Union left, threatening the Hornet’s Nest position from behind.

 

The Union wins a sudden death victory if 4 of the 6 Confederate infantry units become spent. Breckinridge charged across the open space of Duncan field to flank Tuttle, exposing their right flank to the fire of two artillery battalions in the Hornet’s Nest. Several blasts including one that rolled boxcars saw Breckinridge spent. Ruggles, Clark and Cheatham had earlier become spent so this gave the game to the Union, just as Withers was about to smash the Hornet’s Nest from the rear. Withers needed a movement roll that allowed any movement. Instead, the dice said rally in place. Their first target would have been the rear of an artillery battalion that had been damaged and silenced. They would have exploited into the rear of Prentiss, who was disrupted and low on ammo.

 

We played 7 turns in 2 hours, 35 minutes, a tad over 20 minutes per turn. That’s better than we have done recently.

 

Union losses were 7 infantry bases, 1 run away of the 34 on table at start, and 1 artillery base. Confederate losses were 10 infantry bases of 36.

 

A nail-biter ending and a great game. Thanks to all the Fencibles. It has been a while since we’ve been able to get 4 at a game. We had enough time left to watch the Confederate attack in John Huston’s 1951 “Red Badge of Courage”. If you haven’t seen this, you really should.