On the evening of May 16, 1863, following the defeat of his forces earlier that day at Champion Hill, Confederate General John C. Pemberton ordered that the tete-de-pont at the Big Black River Bridge was to be held until Loring's Division could rejoin the main Confederate army and thus give the Rebels the strength they needed to hold the line of the Big Black. In the hours that followed first Vaughn's Brigade and then Bowen's Division slowly filed into position behind the earthworks to the east of the Big Black River. The morale of the Confederates was poor. Vaughn's Brigade, composed of East Tennessee conscripts, was of dubious loyalty and Bowen's men were still recovering from the heavy losses that they had suffered the day before. Furthermore, all the Southerners realized that their position was extremely precarious. Their only lines of retreat over the Big Black were the railway bridge and a floating bridge constructed by mooring the steamer Dot across the breadth of the river. This situation was made even worse for the artillery as during the night their teams of horses had been erroneously sent to the river's west bank. The dawn of the 17th heralded the arrival not of Loring's Division, which had retreated in a direction completely different than Pemberton had expected, but of the advance guard of McClernand's XIII Corps. The Federal commanders quickly realized that they had been presented with a rare opportunity to crush an isolated Rebel force. Therefore, after deploying their troops as soon as they could be brought forward, a swift assault was mounted. Lawler's Brigade (2/14/XIII) struck the center of the Rebel position and Vaughn's Tennesseans, posted at what was considered to be the strongest point on the line, collapsed. In the ensuing race for the river crossings the Confederates lost at least 1752 men as prisoners, 18 artillery pieces and 5 battleflags. Union losses came to only 39 killed and 237 wounded. The same day Pemberton ordered the final retreat into Vicksburg. The scenario will begin with the 7:30 a.m. turn and end with the 12:30 P.m. turn. The orders of battle, initial dispositions and reinforcements are as follows: CONFEDERATE Bowen's Division - Brig. Gen. J. S. Bowen (2) 1st Brigade - Col. F. M. Cockrell (2): lst & 4th Mo. (avg. 300/rifles) 2nd Mo. (avg. 500/rifles) 3rd Mo. (avg. 400/rifles) 5th Mo. (avg. 500/rifles) 6th Mo. ( elite 250/rifles) Wade's (Mo.) Battery (green, four- Napoleons) Landis' (Mo.) Battery (avg., two- 24 pdr. howitzers) Guibor's (Mo.) Battery (green, two-6 pdr. smoothbores and two-12 pdr. howitzers). 2nd Brigade - Brig. Gen. M. E. Green (2) 15th Ark. (green 300/muskets) 19th Ark. (green 300/muskets) 20th Ark. (green 300/muskets) 21st Ark. (green 300/muskets) 1st Ark. Cav. Btn. (dismtd.) (green 100/rifles) 12th Ark. Sharpshooter Btn. (green 100/rifles) lst Mo. Cav. (dismtd.) (avg. 400/rifles) 3rd Mo. Cav. (dismtd.) (green 50/rifles) Dawson's (Mo.) Battery ( green, two-6 pdr. smoothbores, two-12 pdr. howitzers and one-24 pdr. howitzer) Lowe's (Mo.) Battery (green, two-12 pdr. howitzers and two-10 pdr. Parrotts). Vaughn's Brigade - Brig. Gen. J. C. Vaughn (1) 60th Tenn. (mil. 600/rifles) 61st Tenn. (mil. 400/rifles) 62nd Tenn. (mil. 600/rifles 4th Miss. (green 400/rifles) A, 1st Miss. Lt. Art. (green, four-10 pdr. Parrotts). Lee's Brigade - Brig. Gen. S. D. Lee (1) 20th Ala. (avg. 500/rifles) 23rd Ala. (avg. 500/rifles) 30th Ala. (avg. 500/rifles) 31st Ala. (avg. 500/rifles) 46th Ala. (avg. 500/rifles). Baldwin's Brigade - Brig. Gen. W. E. Baldwin (1): 17th La. (avg. 500/muskets) 31st La. (avg. 500/muskets) 46th Miss. (avg. 500/muskets). Cockrell's Brigade, accompanied by Bowen, begins the game deployed behind the earthworks in El and E2. Vaughn's Brigade is deployed to the south of Cockrell in E3 and the Rebel line to the south of the railway is held by Green's Brigade. The Confederate artillery is deployed in the works to the south of Cockrell's position with the exception of Landis' Battery, which is set up in A3 along with the 3rd Mo. Cav. (dismtd.). Lee's Brigade arrives in column along the road in A2 on the 10:00 a.m. turn and Baldwin's Brigade arrives in column along the same road on the 10:30 a.m. turn. UNION Army of the Tennessee - Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant (2) XIII Corps - Maj. Gen. J. A. McClernand (1) 9th Division - Brig. Gen. P. J. Osterhaus (2) 1st Brigade - Brig. Gen. T. T. Garrard (1) 118th Ill. (avg. 300/rifles) 49th Ind. (avg. 350/poor quality rifles) 69th Ind. (avg. 300/rifles) 7th Ky. (avg. 250/rifles). 2nd Brigade - Col. D. W. Lindsey (1) 22nd Ky. (avg. 300/rifles) 16th Ohio (avg. 250/poor quality rifles) 42nd Ohio (avg. 300/rifles) 114th Ohio (avg. 300/poor quality rifles). 7th Mich. Lt. Art. (avg., six-10 pdr. Parrotts) 1st Wis. Lt. Art. (avg., six-20 pdr. Parrotts) Cos. A,E and K of 3rd Ill. Cav. (avg., 100/breech-loading carbines). 1st Brigade, 10th Division - Brig. Gen. S. G. Burbridge (1) 16th Ind. (avg. 350/rifles) 67th Ind. (avg. 350/rifles) 83rd Ohio (avg. 300/rifles) 23rd Wis. (avg. 300/rifles) Chicago Mercantile Battery ( avg., two-3" Ordnance rifles and four-6 pdr. smoothbores). 14th Division - Brig. Gen. E. A. Carr (2) 1st Brigade - Brig. Gen. W. P. Benton (1) 33rd Ill. (elite 400/poor quality rifles) 99th Ill. (avg. 400/poor quality rifles) 8th Ind. (avg. 350/rifles) 18th Ind. (avg. 300/muskets). 2nd Brigade - Brig. Gen. M. K. Lawler (1) 21st Iowa (avg. 400/rifles) 22nd Iowa (avg. 400/rifles) 23rd Iowa (avg. 400/rifles) 11th Wis. (avg. 350/muskets). A, 2nd Ill - Lt. Art. (avg. , two-6 pdr. smoothbores and two- 10 pdr. Parrotts 1st Ind. Lt. Art. (avg., four-Napoleons and two- 12 pdr. howitzers). Benton's and Lawler's Brigades (1/14/XIII, 2/14/XIII), accompanied by Carr, Grant and McClernand enter in G3 on the 7:30 a.m. turn. The 33rd Ill. begins the game already deployed in skirmish order in the woods in F3. Osterhaus' Division (9/XIII) enters in G4 and the western side of G5 on the 8:00 a.m. turn. Burbridge's Brigade (1/10/XIII) enters in G5 on the 10:00 a.m. turn or in F5 two turns later. Victory points are awarded as follows: 1 VP for each enemy infantry casualty 1 VP for each enemy gun destroyed or captured 2 VP for each enemy officer casualty 5 VP to the Confederates for each Confederate regiment on the east bank at the beginning of the game that they can withdraw to the west bank of the river by the end of the game. 20 VP for the Union for each of the two river crossings they hold undamaged at the end of the game. 5 VP if the railway bridge has been burned. Notes 1) All wooded areas are impassable to artillery. 2) Do not consider the railway trestle as an obstacle to movement. 3) Consider the Confederate earthworks as medium fortifications. 4) The Confederate artillery in the fortifications may only use hand-pushed movement. 5) The railway bridge and the Dot may be burned by the Confederates in any movement phase on a die roll of 1-5. Roll separately for each, and once ignited, the fire can not be extinguished. (The Confederates had prepared the crossings for burning by placing barrels of turpentine and turpentine soaked cotton on each span.) 6) The dismounted Confederate cavalry units were cavalry in name only; treat them as infantry in all respects. 7) The 3rd Mo. Cav. (dismtd.) is correctly listed above as being 50 strong. SOURCES Edwin C. Bearss, THE CAMPAIGN FOR VICKSBURG, Vol. 11,1986 R. U. Johnson and C. C. Buel (eds. BATTLES AND LEADERS OF THE CIVIL WAR, Vol. III, 1887-88. United States Geological Survey, Bovina, Miss. Quadrangle, 7.5 Minute Series, 1972. Frederick P. Todd, AMERICAN MILITARY EQUIPAGE 1851-1872, Vol. II, 1983. THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES, Vol. XXIV, Parts 1,2 and 3, 1880-1901. Atlas to Accompany the Official Records, Plate XXXVII, 1891-95. Map Back to The Zouave Vol I No. 6 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com