With all of southern Ohio up in arms against his raiders, John Hunt Morgan determined to try to make his escape back to Southern lines via the river crossing at Buffington Island. Accordingly, he marched into the town of Chester on the afternoon of July 18th and, after some delay in locating a guide, set out for the small river hamlet of Portland. Arriving as darkness was rapidly approaching, Morgan decided to wait until the next morning before advancing to the ford at Buffington Island. This decision was made because Union units of unknown strength could be seen behind some small entrenchments on the road to the river crossing. During the night the Ohio militia occupying these works abandoned their position, but the delay in Morgan's advance allowed the pursuing Union cavalry to steal a march on the Southerners. Although they were poorly coordinated, the commands of Henry Judah and Edward Hobson force marched into positions which threatened to surround Morgan's raiders. At first light both Union commands groped forward through a heavy fog towards the Confederate lines. Judah and his men were the first to make contact, running headlong into a Confederate force detailed to capture the approaches to the Buffington Island crossing. Morgan's time was rapidly running out. The scenario begins with the 5:00 a.m. turn. The first three turns are foggy, visibility being limited to two inches and the hidden movement rule (10.1) being used. The game ends when the Confederates have either all exited from the North edge of the table in the area designated as "A" on the map, or have been surrounded and surrender. They are considered to be surrounded and will surrender when the Union player(s) is able, for three consecutive turns, to block any Confederate line of retreat through clear terrain to the North edge of the table. This line is blocked by any Union unit, or by its 3 inch zone of protection (2.3e in the JOHNNY REB rules). The orders of battle, initial dispositions, and reinforcements for the scenario are as follows: CONFEDERATE: Morgan's Cavalry Division - Brig. Genl. John H. Morgan (+2 benefit) Duke's Brigade: Basil W. Duke = +1 benefit 2nd Kentucky Cav. Elite - 200 men with rifled muskets 5th Kentucky Cav. Elite - 300 men with rifled muskets 6th Kentucky Cav. Elite - 300 men with rifled muskets 9th Kentucky Cav. Elite - 300 men with rifled muskets 9th Tennessee Cav. - Avg. - 400 men with rifled muskets Johnson's Brigade: Col. A.R. Johnson = +1 benefit 7th Kentucky Cav. - Elite - 300 men with rifled muskets 8th Kentucky Cav. - Elite - 250 men with rifled muskets 10th Kentucky Cav. - Elite - 200 men with rifled muskets 11th Kentucky Cav. - Elite - 250 men with rifled muskets Byrne's Kentucky Battery - Elite - four 3" Ordnance Rifles Morgan and Johnson are set up with the bulk of the cavalry within 8 inches of "C" on the map. These units are considered undeployed. To assume any formation and move they must first be given an "FM" order. This may not be done until an enemy unit has been sighted by a Confederate unit. One regiment is deployed in skirmish order (mounted or dismounted) across the Chester - Portland Road within 24 inches of "C" on the map. Duke, accompanied by three regiments and Byrne's Battery, deploy in line (mounted or dismounted) within 12 inches of "C" on the map. UNION ORDER OF BATTLE Hobson's Command: Brig. Genl. E.H. Hobson (+1 benefit) Kautz's Brigade: Col. A.V. Kautz (+1 benefit) 2nd Ohio Cav. - Elite - 100 men with breechloading carbines 7th Ohio Cav. - Average - 100 men with rifled muskets Sander's Brigade: Col. W.P. Sanders (+1 benefit) 8th Mich. Cav. - Average - 250 men with Spencer Repeating Carbines 9th Mich. Cav. - Average - 250 men with Spencer Repeating Carbines 11th Michigan Battery - Green - two 10 pdr. Parrott Rifles Shackelford's Brigade: Brig. Genl. J.M. Shackelford (+2 benefit) 3rd Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Elite - 200 men with breechloading carbines 8th Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Green - 400 men with breechloading carbines 9th Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Green - 200 men with breechloading carbines 12th Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Avg. - 400 men with breechloading carbines Highland County Mounted Militia - Militia - 320 men with muskets 22nd Indiana Battery - Green - two 10 pdr. Parrott Rifles Wolford's Brigade: Col. F. Wolford (+1 benefit) 1st Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Elite - 300 men with breechloading carbines 2nd East Tenn. Cav. - Avg. - 400 men with breechloading carbines 45th Ohio Mounted Infantry - Avg. - 300 men with rifled muskets Mountain Howitzer Battery - Average - four 12 pdr. Mountain Howitzers Judah's Command: Brig. Genl. H.M. Judah (+1 benefit) 5th Indiana Cav. - Avg. - 350 men with breechloading carbines 11th Kentucky Cav. (Union) - Avg. - 300 men with breechloading carbines 14th Illinois Cav. - Avg. - 300 men with breechloading carbines Henshaw's Battery - Green - two 3" Ordnance Rifles / four 12 pdr. Howitzers NOTE: There were two Union gunboats involved in this battle which should be used if the players have access to gunboat models. A search of the Official Records did not reveal the actual guns used by the boats so the following is strictly an educated guess based on the typical boats used at that time. If gunboat models are not available to you (Stone Mountain carries some very nice models), you mig.ht make some plain cardboard or wooden large counters to represent them. U.S.S. Moose - two 20 pdr. Parrott Rifles U.S.S. Allegheny Belle - two 20 pdr. Parrott Rifles Kautz's Brigade enters mounted in column along the Chester - Portland Road at map point "B" on the 5:00 a.m. turn. At 5:15 a.m. Judah's Command enters from the south at map point "D". His units may be deployed in line or column, mounted or dismounted. Sander's Brigade, along with Hobson, appears on the Chester - Portland road at map point "B" on the 5:30 a.m. turn. Shackelford and Wolford's Brigades enter along the Chester - Portland Road (map point "B") at any time after 6:30 in the morning. However, the Union player(s) must note his intention to bring up Shackelford and/or Wolford two turns in advance. The two gunboats enter from the south on the Ohio River at 6:30 a.m. VICTORY CONDITIONS Victory for one side or the other is determined solely by the number of Confederate units which manage to exit the north side of the table. The Confederate side receives 10 victory points for each unit that escapes before a surrender is forced upon him. If Shackelford's or Wolford's Brigades are brought up by the Union side the Confederate victory points increase to 15 per escaped unit. If BOTH of those brigades are brought up, the total rises to 20 points per exited unit. However, if Morgan himself does not escape, the Rebel side subtracts 50 from its victory points. A total of less than 25 points is a significant Union victory, less than 50 points is a marginal Union victory, over 50 points is a marginal Confederate victory, and a total of over 80 points is a significant win for the gray! NOTES: The 2 gunboats are not armored and can therefore be eliminated in the same manner as an ordinary artillery unit. However, they do not need to check morale and do not pay any firing penalty if they move. They fire as an average gun crew. Movement rate for them is 36 inches per turn moving downstream (south) and 30 inches moving upstream (north). Back to The Zouave Vol II No. 1 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1988 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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