Arkansas Post, 1863:

A Johnny Reb III Scenario

by Andrew Birtle

BACKGROUND

In late December 1862 the Confederates successfully thwarted Major General William T.Sherman's thrust toward Vicksburg at Chickasaw Bluffs. Sherman fell back up the Mississippi River, where he was joined by Major General John A. McClernand. As Sherman's senior, McClernand assumed overall command of the two forces, which he dubbed the Army of the Mississippi. Until the overall commander of U.S. forces in the region, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, decided what course of action he wanted to take following the failure of the Vicksburg offensive, McClernand had some time on his hands.

He resolved to make the most of it. McClernand and Sherman cast their eyes on Fort Hindman, a Confederate bastion located at Arkansas Post, an old French settlement on the lower Arkansas River. The fort controlled water access to Little Rock and served as a launching point for Rebel raids on Mississippi River commerce. The two generals believed that they could seize Fort Hindman and return to the Mississippi River in time to execute whatever the next phase of Grant's Vicksburg offensive might be. Rear Admiral David D. Porter heartily agreed, and together the three men loaded the Army of the Mississippi onto transports and steamed up the Arkansas River. Rebel scouts detected the movement and reported it to higher headquarters. Lieutenant General Thomas H. Holmes, commander of the Confederate Arkansas Department, ordered Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill, the commander at Arkansas Post, to "hold out until help arrived or until all dead."

The Union armada hove-to several miles below Arkansas Post on January 9, 1863. The following day McClernand deployed his men about 1,000 yards from the Rebel position while Porter's gunboats bombarded the bastion. At 1:00 p.m. on January 11, 1863, Union gunboats opened fire once again for a thirty minute bombardment, after which the Army of the Mississippi made its assault. Porter's gunboats, with the support of several heavy land batteries, quickly silenced the Rebel artillery in Fort Hindman, and several light draft gunboats passed the fort and began firing on the Confederate lines from the rear.

Nevertheless, the poorly armed and vastly outnumbered Rebel garrison held out for several hours under a horrific shower of shot, shell, and bullets. Meanwhile, the Union ground assault foundered, pinned down by the defiant rebels. Then, at 4:30 p.m., a number of white flags suddenly appeared among the ranks of the 24th Texas Cavalry. Confusion rapidly spread up and down the rebel line, and many soldiers laid down their arms. Rebel officers tried to rip down the white flags and ordered their men to stand fast, but the damage was done. As the firing slackened across the front, Union soldiers, elated at the sight of the white flags, rose up and advanced rapidly into the Rebel works.

Though Churchill had not ordered the surrender, he was compelled to accept what had become a fait accompli. The battle for Arkansas Post was over.

Casualties

Federal casualties, including naval personnel, numbered approximately 1,100 men. The Confederates suffered under 200 casualties, a figure that implies that much of the fire from Federal artillery and gunboats was ineffective, despite the Union's success in counter-battery work. More serious for the Confederates, however, was the fact that nearly 4,800 men surrendered. McClernand spent a day or two demolishing the fort before loading his army and the Rebel prisoners onto the transports and returning to the Mississippi River.

The Scenario

The Confederates had little chance of holding Arkansas Post against the combined land and naval force the Union threw against them in January, 1863. Churchill's hope was merely to hold out until nightfall, when he could evacuate his men under the cover of darkness. For our scenario, the Confederates win if they can achieve any one of the following four objectives:

Opposing Forces

Note: Troop strengths have been adjusted to best fit Johnny Reb III (JR III).

Confederate Order of Battle

Army of the Lower Arkansas and White Rivers

Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Churchill, level 2

1st Brigade Colonel R. R. Garland, level 1

2nd Brigade Colonel James Deshler, level 1

3d Brigade/Fort Hindman Garrison Colonel John Dunnington, level 1

Crawford's Arkansas Infantry, 480 men, RM, green

Garrison Artillery:
Manned by gunners from Hart's battery, the 4th Texas Field Artillery (Van Dorn Light), and the Confederate States Navy. The fort's defenses consisted of 1 x 9" Columbiad, in casemate; 1 x 8" Columbiad, in casemate;1 x 9" Columbiad, barbette carriage; 4 x 10 lb. Parrotts; and 4 x 6 lb. SB.

To fit JR III, the fort will be represented by:

Mounted Reserve

Two Louisiana and one Texas cavalry companies under the command Captain Alfred Johnson, Texas Cavalry Spy Company, 120 men, mixed muskets, veteran.

Reinforcements

24th Arkansas Infantry, 240 men, RM, green

Union Order of Battle

Army of the Mississippi Maj. Gen. John A. McClernand, level 2

XV Corps, Major Gen. William T. Sherman, level 3

1st Division

Brig. General Frederick Steele, level 2

1st Brigade, Brig. Gen. Frank P. Blair, level 1

2nd Brigade, Brig. Gen. C. E. Hovey, level 1

3rd Brigade, Brig. Gen. John M. Thayer, level 1

1st Division Artillery

2nd Division

Brig. Gen. D. Stuart, level 2

1st Brigade, Colonel G. A. Smith, level 1

2nd Brigade, Colonel T. Kilby Smith, level 1

2nd Division Artillery

XIII Corps, Brig. General George W. Morgan, level 2

1st Division

, Brig. General A. J. Smith, level 2

1st Brigade, Brig. Gen. S. G. Burbridge, level 1

2nd Brigade, Colonel W. J. Landram, level 1

1st Division Artillery

2nd Division

, Brig. General P. J. Osterhaus, level 2

1st Brigade, Colonel L. A. Sheldon, level 1

2nd Brigade, Colonel D. W. Lindsey, level 1

3rd Brigade, Colonel F. J. DeCourcy, level 1

2nd Division Artillery

Naval Flotilla Rear Admiral David D. Porter DeKalb,

Cincinnati, Louisville, Lexington, Rattler, Monarch, New Era, Black Hawk (flagship)

Deployment

Deploy units as shown on the map. The Texas Cavalry Spy Company is the only Rebel unit with horses and may operate either mounted or dismounted. The 24th Arkansas enters on any road behind the Confederate position at 4:00 p.m. DeCourcy's Brigade enters from the Union rear along the road bordering the river at 4:00 p.m. Colonel Lindsey and the 3rd Kentucky are aboard the Black Hawk.

Terrain

The river is unfordable. Only the Confederates may cross the bayou. The woods along the periphery of the battlefield are light woods. The belt of woods in front of the Rebel trenches, however, is a special terrain feature.

It was laced with gullies, rocks, and downed trees forming a natural abatis. Treat this area as rough terrain, with the additional feature that any unit that moves into, through, or out of this area becomes disordered (stationary units inside the woods may reform, but become disordered again the instant they move.) Troops in this area receive defensive cover benefits of woods. However, unlike normal woods, the area does not block line of sight or fire, and artillery may shoot over and through it to hit targets beyond without penalty. The open ground immediately between the center woods and the rebel trenches was quite swampy, so treat this area as broken ground.

The Rebel trenches are light woks; Fort Hindman is classed as medium works, with the exception of the one casemate gun section, which is treated as heavy works.

Special terrain rule, for Confederate eyes only: There is a deep gully at the base of Fort Hindman on the side facing the Federal lines. It is not represented on the map. This gully is impassable. It is not visible to the Federals until and unless they move to the base of the fort, at which point they will be informed of its presence and prevented from advancing further.

A Note on Map Scale

The map was designed for 15mm figures using JR III's scale of 50 yards per inch. However, in order to fit all the model artillery pieces into the fort, I increased the size of Fort Hindman to that shown on the map. In proper scale, however, each side of the fort should measure only 2". Players who desire proper scale should represent the fort by a single square redoubt, 2" to a side, and keep track of the various artillery pieces in the fort on paper. If you chose to shrink the fort to its historical size, you will have to reduce the total land frontage of the Rebel position by a similar amount. I have also made the Arkansas River much wider on the map, than it was historically, in order to allow players to employ model 15mm boats. For those who wish to use a truer scale, reduce the width of the river to only 6" and use cardboard counters to represent the gunboats.

Special Rules

1. No more than eight stands of Rebel infantry can be inside Fort Hindman at any one time.

2. During the night before the battle, the Union threw up several redoubts to protect their heavy land batteries. These are marked on the map. The leftmost redoubt contained detachment A of the 1st Wisconsin Artillery, one section of 20 lb. Parrotts. The center redoubt was large enough for two sections of 10 lb. Parrotts from the 17th Ohio Artillery. The remaining section was limbered in reserve 200 yards behind this position. If the 17th Ohio loses a section of guns in the redoubt due to enemy fire, the reserve section will automatically move forward and replace it during the following turn. The reserves may not fire in the turn they move forward. This is the only possible action allowed to the 17th Ohio's reserve section. The rightmost redoubt housed both sections of Hart's 20 lb. Parrott battery. Treat all Union redoubts as light works. None of the Union guns initially deployed in the redoubts are allowed to move during the course of the game.

3. Col. Lindsey and the 3rd Kentucky start the game on board The Black Hawk. While on board, the regiment suffers no casualties to enemy fire, although if the ship is sunk, the entire regiment is lost. To disembark them, The Black Hawk must start the turn adjacent to the shore. It takes an entire turn for the troops to disembark, during which they may not fire. If fired upon during the turn of disembarkation, treat as a disordered target. At the end of the turn, the regiment automatically forms into any formation desired by the Union player.

4. Artillery units in Fort Hindman treat "horse hits" as misses. Confederate artillery in the trenches, as well as all Union artillery, do take horse hits.

5. The U.S. Navy's primary concern was to knock out the heavy Rebel batteries in Fort Hindman. Consequently, neither the gunboats nor any of the Union Army's 20 lb. Parrott sections may fire on any target other than Fort Hindman until the two sections of Columbiads in the fort are silenced (either destroyed or without crew).

6. Confederate infantry units in Fort Hindman never suffer any casualties from artillery fire unless and until both the Columbiad batteries in the fort are silenced.

7. The Rebs can use other gun crews to recrew the Columbiads if their original crews are lost. When so doing, the replacement crews operate at one lower morale grade to reflect their inexperience in operating heavy ordnance.

8. The gunboats had difficulty hitting the Columbiad on the barbette carriage because it was situated above the elevation capability of most of the guns aboard the Union ships. Consequently, whenever Union gunboats fire on the section of Columbiads in barbette, they suffer a special -2 modifier.

9. Union naval gunfire at the Confederate trenches was particularly ineffective during the battle. This was because the sailors aimed high in order to avoid hitting the assaulting ground troops. Consequently, the following rules apply to naval gunfire against Confederate units deployed in the trenches:

10. All guns, regardless of size, may fire every turn. Both the Columbiads in the fort and all naval guns receive a +1 DRM for each consecutive turn of fire on the same target (A target is defined as a ship or as a particular gun section within the fort. The fort, in and of itself, is not a "target.") The effect is cumulative.

11. An "MC" result against a fort gun that is in a casemate has no effect.

12. An "MC" result against a gunboat has the following effects: If the boat is an ironclad, treat as "no effect." If the ship is a tinclad, treat as a 1*. If the ship is a timberclad or unarmored, treat as a 1.

13. For each hit on a ship, roll a D6 with the following results:

If the result is a critical hit, roll again:

Naval Rules

Players who have their own favorite naval rules can integrate them into the JR III system as they please. For you land lovers like me who like to see the toy boats on the table, but who don't know the difference between a wheel house and an out house, here is a set of simple rules governing the use of the gunboats in the game.

1. Movement: Ironclads move 8" per turn; all others 12". Turning costs 4" and is done by pivoting the ship in place. Each time you attempt to move a ship, roll a D6. 1 through 4, the ship moves; 5 or 6 it gets caught on a snag and can not move that turn. The ironclads are not permitted to move past Fort Hindman. No ship may move through the pilings.

2. Gunnery: Boats that move and fire lose a die. In any given turn, a gunboat may fire at only one target. All gun sections on board that can be brought to bear may fire at that target. A gun section at the front of a boat may fire at any target that is directly in front of the front face of the boat. Gun sections on the sides of a boat may fire at targets that fall within two imaginary lines drawn out from the front and rear corners of the boat. See diagram below: Gunnery is resolved using JR III, with the following additions/modifications:

3. Ships never run out of ammo.

4. Schematics illustrating the layout of each of the gunboats can be found at the end of the article. For simplicity, only three types of guns are represented: 100 lb. Parrott (A), 30 lb. Parrott (B), and 24 lb. smoothbore (C).

5. Ships can take the following number of hull hits before they are sunk: ironclad 12, large tinclad 8, small tinclad 6, timberclad 4, unarmored 3. Gun hits permanently destroy a gun section. Crew hits eliminate a crew section. Each ship has one crew section per gun plus one additional crew section. These sections can be moved about the ship at will to assume various duties without penalty. A gun can not be fired unless there is a crew section available to fire it. Ships can not move unless one crew section is dedicated to sailing the ship that turn. Crew sections can be transferred from one ship to another if both ships are stationary and in physical contact. The transfer takes one turn to complete. Neither ship may fire any of its guns during the turn in which a crew transfer is affected. Any ship that is devoid of crew at the end of the game is considered "sunk" for the purposes of determining victory.

Large Map (slow: 130K)

Jumbo Map (extremeley slow: 438K)

Ship Outlines (very slow: 214K)

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