The following is a summary of my ACW summer campaign conducted using the mechanisms previously described in the pages of LW.
I started the campaign by sitting and pondering on what Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman would have written to the commander of a small army operating on his periphery of operations. The order, received by telegraph on the day it was sent ended up as follows:
SHERMANS ORDER
Headquarters Army of the Tennessee, May 2, 1864.
Major-Gen. R.T. Riddles, Commanding Army of the Severn,
You will proceed south from Tipton. Move to take control of all passes through the Lickey hills, and secure all bridges at Worcester Bridge. Secure the railroad eastwards, making good the road as you go, link with the Army of the Terne who will be making good from their direction. Secure the railroad westwards to Hillside Fork. Leave Tipton and the surrounding area under the command of an efficient officer with an infantry division, artillery and cavalry. Pay special attention to the railroad since it is vital. The matter of supply I leave to you the railroad should be able to provide all necessary items. Remember, you must achieve all objectives by 30th June at the latest. A delay by any one army affects all others and this is totally unacceptable.
02/05/1864. Before doing anything else I chose four locations on the map on or around the railway then diced for where commanders and troops were located with the initial troop dispositions.
The weather was diced for (7) meaning fine, the chance card revealed nothing, so I decided to have a meeting with my corps commanders who, it just so happened were handy. The meeting took place in the late afternoon which resulted in orders being written. Basically 1st Corps was to proceed through Bredon's Gap down to Boarsgrove then on to Worcester Bridge. Cavalry, infantry, and artillery to guard the Dodford Gap, the army's right flank, would be detached at the appropriate time. 2nd Corps would leave a division to guard the railway and the supply trains, the remainder of the corps taking the left flank proceeding through Spadesborn Gap.
All orders were despatched to the respective divisional commanders except for Brig. Gen. Z. Schemmeling who was not located until 4th May. Brigade commanders received their orders on 3rd May and commenced organising supplies and order of movement.
12/05/1864. By now 1st Corps had a division on the outskirts of Drayton Cross with another 5 miles behind, both on the Lickey road. The 3rd division was in Hinton's Field, having encountered no enemy so was 9 miles away. Meanwhile 2nd Corps was having a few problems with the 1st division strung out heading for Hinton's Field, 2nd division only just having left Lickey End, whilst the 3rd division was re-organising itself to protect the railroad and guard the supply trains having got its orders late.
13/05/1864. A battle (large skirmish) developed at Drayton Cross between 2 veteran brigades of Rebel infantry (disposition entrenched) and a battery of artillery and 1st division of 1st corps. The Rebels were doing quite well to start with but the arrival of 2nd division and later by 3rd division, coming in on the flank resulted in a hasty retreat.
20/05/1864. The detached force (3rd Division) from 1st Corps was approaching Dodford Gap having suffered delays. The remainder of the corps making excellent time was 14 miles from Boarsgrove. Bredon's Gap had been established as a forward supply, as had Spadesborn Gap where 1st division of 2nd corps was awaiting the arrival of the 2nd division still some 12 miles distant.
26/05/1864. The weather played havoc with everybody for 4 days causing delays all over the place. The railroad was cut by Rebel cavalry with a 3 day delay for repairs. 1st corps was approaching Boarsgrove. The detachment at Dodford gap was awaiting supplies and had requested reinforcements having collided with the Rebels defending Dodford Gap and suffered 20% casualties. There were 3 brigades of infantry and an artillery battery, but luckily, for the Union at least, they were mostly raw recruits with a less than adequate commander (sometimes the dice are kind). These were defeated, even losing their artillery as they were pursued by the cavalry. The 1st division of 2nd Corps was now 2 miles from High Junction with 2nd division some 4 miles behind.
27/05/1864. The cavalry of 1st division 1st Corps had found the Rebels in Boarsgrove, 8 brigades of infantry and 2 batteries of artillery but they were in column of march (lucky dice or what). By the time they had sorted themselves out I had my artillery well and truly in action, my cavalry on their flanks, and my infantry massed for attack (some days the dice just go your way). Net result was a victory. Meanwhile down on the left flank 2nd Corps had collided with the Rebels at High Junction. I rolled double six, which meant 36, yes thirty six, Rebel units. I dealt out most of the card pack and got 18 infantry brigades, 10 cavalry brigades, and 8 artillery batteries. Disposition of the force meant only a third of it was in line of battle. Add to that a rash Brig. Gen. A. Barnes and the result was I got well and truly clobbered. Luckily 1st division did stop when it bumped into 2nd division who built a roadblock. A delay of 5 days for rest, re-organisation and reinforcements was a must.
03/06/1864. The cavalry of 1st division 1st Corps was now scouting around Worcester Bridge whilst the cavalry of 2nd division was heading towards Malvern Rock. The infantry and artillery were proceeding towards Worcester Bridge repairing the railroad as they went. Meanwhile 2nd Corps had been re-supplied, received reinforcements, at the expense of 1st Corps, and Major General T.H.E. Catt had arrived with them. They returned to High Junction, cautiously, to find it empty of Rebels. Catt held a council of all commanders to decide what to do and discovered that Crow's Tavern was 30 miles south of the railroad, not on it. They sent the cavalry on the road to Newton's Cross to determine if the Rebels had used that road.
05/06/1864. Cavalry of 1st division, 1st Corps had established contact with the enemy at Worcester Bridge, which consisted of 7 infantry brigades and 3 artillery batteries entrenched, and retired to report to Major General Whittington. Being cautious he decided to await the arrival of 2nd division and split his cavalry into regiments to establish contact with 2nd Corps. Major General Riddles arrived and concurred, sending orders for the Dodford Gap detachment to come forward. A Courier was duly despatched on a 49 mile trip! The cavalry of 2nd division, 2nd Corps had returned, reported broken wagons containing lead ingots and every indication that the Rebels had taken that road. The order was issued to take the road to Headless Heights and down to Malvern Rock.
12/06/1864. The courier arrived, slightly battered, at Dodford Gap and orders were received. The detachment at this point had covered 4 miles of the 30 it had to travel but chance, in the shape of felled trees was slowing progress. It seemed that 2nd Corps luck had changed, chance gave them extra supplies courtesy of Johnny Reb, Corbett's Mine was abandoned but the equipment had been destroyed so not all the rebels went south.
17/06/1864 1st Corps had repelled an assault by the force holding Worcester Bridge, who had now retired back into their entrenchments. The Union force of 6 infantry brigades and 2 artillery batteries had entrenched across the railroad and cut the road to Dodford Gap. The remaining cavalry, patrolling the railroad eastwards had found 2nd Corps who had taken Malvern Rock but failed to capture the train heading east. Leaving a brigade of infantry, all the cavalry and an artillery battery the remainder of the force headed for Worcester Bridge.
28/06/1864 All Union forces (14 infantry brigades, 4 artillery batteries, 3 cavalry brigades) had now arrived. With 3rd division 1st Corps having encountered two road blocks, fought another battle (skirmish), lost a supply train (careless) it arrived on half rations and a fitness level of 55 (between tired and exhausted). With time running out Riddles (that's me) decided that assault at dawn was his only recourse.
Unknown to him the Rebel commander had decided to withdraw southwards to Whyse's Way during the night leaving a rearguard to destroy the bridges.
29/06/1864. A beautiful fireworks display saw the bridges explode just minutes before the artillery bombardment was to commence. Major General R. T. Riddles was now the proud new landlord of Worcester Bridge, prime objective, but he now had to rebuild the bridges. Contact had been established with the cavalry of the Army of the Terne who had collided with the Rebels at Newton's Cross and after a hard fight the Rebels had retreated south.
Overall
So overall I enjoyed my campaign and I'm only glad I don't have to explain to Sherman how "I took Worcester Bridge, and I promise to rebuild the bridges in a couple of weeks while I push west to secure Hillside Fork." Still, in a strange way, it followed the historical pattern of campaigns in the ACW reasonably closely. It gave me many happy hours of fun. Now I shall start my research into Wars of the Roses just for a change.
Happy soloing, Graham.
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