April 17, 2021: scenario updated based on Buchanan's "Road to Charleston". Details below.
Cornwallis abandoned
the Carolinas seeking easier pickings in Virginia. (He would find Yorktown.) Greene
headed back to South Carolina to root out the garrisons left behind. British
Lt. Col. Stuart offered battle at Eutaw Springs. Both armies were short of
provisions. It would become clear the Americans were hungrier. Stuart sent 300
troops out to dig sweet potatoes. Greene’s army was closer than suspected. The
foragers were ambushed by Continental cavalry. 60 were captured, the rest scattered
until the battle was over. The remaining British and Loyalist troops hurriedly
formed up west of their camp.
Greene came on in two lines, militia in the first, Continental regulars in the second with a small reserve of Washington’s Light Dragoons operating with Kirkwood’s Delaware Light Infantry company. A lengthy musket duel ended with a bayonet charge that drove the militia back. The Continentals advanced and renewed the fight. It swayed back and forth but finally most of the British broke and ran through their camp.
The famished
Continentals pursued into the camp and began looting food and drink. Discipline
vanished in a twinkling. Marjoribanks’ elite battalion stood firm on the
British right and New York Loyalists held the brick house against what few
troops Greene managed to get forward. In time the British rallied, recapturing
their looted camp from the disorderly Americans. Greene’s losses in killed and
wounded were somewhat higher than British losses, but when the numerous
prisoners taken before and during the battle are added in, Stuart smaller army lost 692
to 882 (depending on sources) to Greene’s 525 to 579. After some policing up the field, Stewart fell
back towards Charleston. This was the last major engagement of the war save
Yorktown. Losses on both sides were extremely heavy.
“Loose Files
& American Scramble” rules call for each of my stands to represent 30 infantry, 20
cavalry or 2 guns. My collection requires 36 infantry, 24 cavalry and two guns per
stand in order to avoid having any British or Hessian troops appear on the
American side. As it is, Hessians will stand in for Loyalists and various other
substitutions must be made. But they are all from the right war. Some units
have been amalgamated for ease of play. The numbers are given below for those
who wish to have a raft of tiny units alongside large ones.
Units |
# troops |
# bases |
Morale class,
etc. |
Royal
artillery 2 6#, 1 4#, 1
3# |
4 guns |
2 |
2nd
class artillery, 1 medium, 1
light |
Coffin’s
Loyalist Cavalry |
70 |
6 |
3rd
class cavalry |
Marjoribanks’
(MW) Elites |
281 |
8 |
1st
class infantry |
3rd
Foot |
340 |
9 |
3rd
class infantry |
63rd
Foot 64th
Foot 2/84th
Foot |
96 180 82 |
10 |
2nd
class infantry |
1st
Delancey’s New Jersey
Volunteers Provincial
Light Infantry |
73 66 108 |
7 |
2nd
class infantry |
New York
Volunteers |
47 |
1 |
2nd
class infantry |
|
|
43 |
|
Cavalry 3, artillery 2, flank companies 8, center
companies 18, Tories 8
Units |
# troops |
# bases |
Morale class,
etc. |
Lee’s Legion
horse Foot |
120 140 |
5 4 |
2nd
class cavalry 2nd
class infantry |
1st
Continental Artillery 2 6# |
2 guns |
1 |
2nd
class artillery |
Washington’s
Dragoons |
80 |
3 |
2nd
class cavalry |
Kirkwood’s
Delaware |
80 |
2 |
1st
class light infantry |
SC State
Cavalry |
73 |
3 |
3rd
class cavalry |
William’s (WIA)
Brigade 1st
Maryland 2nd
Maryland |
180 180 |
10 |
2nd
class infantry |
Campbell’s
Brigade 4th
Virginia 5th
Virginia |
150 150 |
8 |
2nd
Class infantry |
Sumner’s
Brigade 1st
NC 2nd
NC 3rd
NC |
120 120 120 |
10 |
3rd
class infantry |
Pickens’ (WIA)
SC Militia
Brigade SC State
infantry |
307 72 |
10 |
3rd
class infantry |
Marion’s SC
Militia Brigade |
240 |
8 |
3rd
class infantry |
Malmedy’s NC
Militia Brigade |
150 |
4 |
4th
class infantry |
Continental
Artillery 2 3# |
2 guns |
1 |
2nd
class artillery |
|
|
69 |
|
Marion’s and Pickens’ militia are rated higher due to their experience and leadership. They fought well at this battle. Technically, Kirkwood’s unit is too small for the rules but my feelings for this tiny band of heroes kept me from amalgamating them with another unit. Ditto Sheridan's NY Volunteers, who played a crucial role in the battle.
OB source: Greg Novack’s “Rise and Fight Again”.
Scenario rules: British win if less than 4 American units enter their camp. Otherwise recapturing the camp ends the game in a tie, a pyrrhic victory as in the actual battle. If the Americans capture the camp and keep it, they win a convincing and rare victory. Greene will have a much easier life after the war.
Any American unit that enters the
camp will roll a die at the end of the turn if not in combat. On any roll less than 6 the unit starts
looting and gets 1 DP. At the end of each consecutive turn, the unit will stop
looting on a roll of 6 or if in combat. Add 1 to the die roll if Greene is in contact. Units
looting will not fire or move. In combat they count as flanked. If forced out of the camp they stop looting.
* Pickens and Marion are unit leaders. They move with their units, can rally one DP each turn or add +1 in combat. If wounded or worse they are removed from the game.
I invite comment.
Edit:
Eutaw Springs is one of the first battles in the American Revolution I ever read a detailed account of. When a young lad, Disney had a TV series based on the wartime exploits of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, complete with jaunty song. In the series Marion was a handsome young fellow. He would sneak into occupied Charleston, climb up a balcony and romance the beautiful young daughter of middle-aged Banastre Tarleton. Chased, he always hid behind a tree while British cavalry galloped past. I asked my mother for a book about Francis Marion. She got me one, a young adult’s history. The book revealed that Tarleton was a young man in his twenties and Marion was in his forties and not particularly handsome. This was an early lesson about the historical accuracy of Hollywood, learned at age 10. Years after another book, The Road to Guilford Courthouse, informed me that the one time Tarleton went after Marion in earnest, Marion and his men ran all the way to North Carolina. But they did escape. Eutaw Springs was the one stand-up battle Marion and his partisans ever took part in and they acquitted themselves well. I’ve been looking to stage this for many years.
2 comments:
I have never played either Camden or Eutaw Springs. I will have to fix that soon.
Thanx for sharing .
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