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…