BACKROUND By about 9:00 a.m. on the morning of April 6th, 1862, the battle of Shiloh was already four hours old. Of the Union divisions on which the might of the Confederate Army of Mississippi fell, only W.T. Sherman's was maintaining any kind of organized defense. This was out of sheer desperation and would not last long. Prentiss' 6th Division had been scattered to the four winds and the Rebels stood on the brink of a great victory. Unfortunately, the earlier fighting had disrupted the Confederate offensive and confusion reigned. To make matters worse, false reports of Union strength on the right flank caused further delays and troop movements which weakened the Confederate center. These holdups resulted in Union reinforcements being able to take up a strong defensive position, which was to prove crucial to the outcome of the battle. For seven hours this natural stronghold held out against furious, but uncoordinated, Confederate charges before the line gave way. The bullets flew so thick and fast during this clash that one Rebel private dubbed it the "Hornet's Nest'. NOTES: This is a big one, with almost the entire Confederate army present. However, it should be within the grasp of most clubs with at least four players. The scenario covers the period from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (28 fifteen minute turns), which handles the formation of the Union defense all the way to its defeat. Most weapons carried during this period in the west were smoothbores. However, a die roll of 1 or 2 for the Rebels, and 1, 2, or 3 for the Union will arm regiments with rifled muskets [the editor suggests that these numbers be lowered to 1 for the Confederates and I or 2 for the Union if using brigades rather than regiments so as to reduce the possible number of brigades armed with rifles). I have been unable to obtain the composition of many Confederate batteries, but it would be realistic to have a mixture of smoothbores, rifles, and howitzers, with the 6 pdr. smoothbores dominating. Being early in the war, many regimental strengths are on the large side. Therefore, I feel that it's easier to work within brigade complements for this game. Because Shiloh was the first fully pitched major battle in the west, I would make most troops Green, with the better trained artillery contingents as Average. If you know better, then by all means change the morale rating. For the same reasons as above, I would also make most commanders Average, although perhaps Gibson and Cheatham for the Kebels, and Prentiss for the Union, deserve to be above average. I believe that A.S. Johnston should also be no more than Average [ED--is this going to set off a firestorm of reader controversy?] You can get one further scenario from this article. Earlier in the morning, both Jackson and Chalmers' brigades had been ready to assault the Union line after the break up of Prentiss' division. However, they were re-directed to the right flank, giving the Federals time to consolidate their defence. What would have happened had these Rebel brigades immediately attacked instead of moving? In order to find out, the start time for this extra scenario would be 8:30 in the morning. McArthur's brigade stays in position, Williams moves forward to the field north of the Hamburg-Purdy road, and Lauman is just to his right. Prentiss arrives between F and G on the map at 10:00 a.m., and Wallace's division remains where it is. On the Confederate side, Cheatham/Stephens is back nearer the table edge, while Adams, Jackson, and Chalmers arrive at Point C on turns 3,2, and 1 respectively. The game then continues as the original scenario does, with the Rebels trying to overwhelm Hurlbut and prevent a solid Union defense before 10:00 a.m., or you could continue right up until 5:00 p.m. VICTORY CONDITIONS Quite simply, the Confederates have to inflict a 60% loss on the Federals by the end of the game. The Federals need only to survive that long. TERRAIN: Only the fields and roads are clear areas. The rest is covered by light woods, with occasional dense thickets. Encampments are Broken Terrain, as are creeks, but the latter have rough banks for an inch on either side. Apart from the Hamburg-Savannah road and the Eastern Corinth thoroughfare, I would treat the rest as trails. The Union line along the sunken road counts as Hasty Works. DEPLOYMENT: I have used a code in the Order of Battle for this. The letter indicates the position of entry and the number of the Turn. If the code is next to a brigade title, then the whole brigade arrives on that Turn. Where individual units or commanders differ from their parent formations, I have indicated them separately. If the unit has no code, it is already deployed on the map. ORDER OF BATTLE UNION Army Of The Tennessee 2nd Division: Brig Genl. W.H.L. Wallace 1st Brigade (1804) Col. J.M. Tuttle 2nd Iowa, 7th Iowa, 12th Iowa, 14th Iowa 2nd Brigade (2296) Brig. J. McAthur 9th Illinois, 12th Illinois, 13th Missouri, 14th Missouri, 81st Ohio 3rd Brigade (3632) Col. I. Sweeny 8th Iowa, 7th Illinois, 50th Illinois, 52nd Illinois, 57th Illinois Artillery William's Bty, 1st Illinois (4 x 6 pdr. Rifles, 2 x 12 pdr. How.), Welker's Bty., 1st Missouri (2 x 20 pdr. Parrott, 2 x 6 pdr. SB), Stones ~ 1st Missouri (4 x 10 pdr. Parrotts), Richardson's Bty., 1st Missouri (4 guns) Unattached 8th Illinois (476) (G5) 4th Division: Brig. Genl. S.A. Hurlbut 1st Brigade (2323) Col. N.G. Williams 3rd Iowa, 28th Illinois, 32nd Illinois, 41st Illinois 3rd Brigade (1522) Brig. Genl. J.G. Lauman 31st Indiana, 44th Indiana,17th Kentucky, 25th Kentucky Artillery Mann's Bty, 1st Missouri (4 x 6 pdr. Smoothbores) 6th Division: Brig. Genl. B.M. Prentiss Miscellaneous (1000), 18th Missouri, 25th Missouri, 18th Wisconsin, 12th Michigan Reinforcements 23rd Missouri (490) (F2) Artillery Hickenlooper's Bty, 5th Ohio (4 x 6 pdr. SB, 2 x 6 pdr. Rifles), Munchs Bty, 1st Minn. (4 x 6 pdr. Rifles, 2 x 12 pdr. Howtzr) CONFEDERATE ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI Major Genl. A.S. Johnston (D9) 1st Corps 1st Division 1st Brigade Bankhead's Term. Bty. (6 guns) (A22) 2nd Brigade (1000) (H24): Brig. Genl. A.P. Stewart 13th Arkansas, 4th Tennessee, Stanford's Miss. Bty., (6 guns) (A20) 2nd Division: Brig. Genl. B.F. Cheatham 2nd Brigade (1900): Col W.H. Stephens 7th Kentucky 1st Tenn., 6th Tenn., 9th Tenn., Smith's Mississippi Battery (6 guns) 2nd Corps Major Genl. B. Bragg (C5) 1st Division Brig. Genl. D. Ruggles (A20) 1st Brigade (2300) (B4) Col. R.L. Gibson 1st Arkansas, 4th Louisiana, 13th Louisiana, 19th Louisiana 2nd Brigade (1634) (C20) Brig. Genl. P. Anderson 1st Florida, 17th Louisiana, 20th Louisiana, 9th Texas, Confederate Response Battalion, Washington Artillery (2 x 12 pdr how., 2 x 6pdr SB (A23) 3rd Brigade (part) (1000) (A21) Col. Smith Crescent (La.) Regiment, 38th Tennessee, Ketchum's Alabama Bty (6 guns) (A23) 2nd Division Brig. Genl. J.M. Withers (E20) 1st Brigade (2000) Col. Adams 21st Alabama, 22nd Alabama, 25th Alabama, 26th Alabama, 1st Louisiana, Robertson's Battery (4 Naps.) 2nd Brigade (2200) (E20) Brig. Genl. J.R. Chalmers 5th Mississippi, 7th Mississippi, 9th Mississippi, 10th Mississippi, 51st Tennessee, 52nd Tennessee 3rd Brigade (2000) (E8) Brig. Genl. J.K. Jackson 17th Alabama, 18th Alabama, 19th Alabama (E20), 2nd Texas (E20) 3rd Corps 1st Brigade (2000) (C18): Col. R.G. Shaver 2nd Arkansas; 6th Arkansas; 7th Arkansas; 3rd Confederate Infantry; Swett's Mississippi Battery (4 x 6 pdr. Smoothbores, 2 x 12 pdr. Howitzers) (B20). Other Artillery: Triggs Battery (4 Guns) (B22) Hubbard's Arkansas Battery (2 x 6 pdr. Smoothbores) (B16). Reserve Corps Brig. Genl. J.C. Breckinridge 1st Brigade Byrnes Miss. Bty (6 Guns) (B18), Cobb's Kentucky Bty (6 Guns) (B18) 2nd Brigade (1100) (D9) Brig. Genl. J.S. Bowen 9th Arkansas, 10th Arkansas, 2nd Confederate Infantry, 1st Missouri 3rd Brigade (3000) (D8) Col. WS. Statham 15th Mississippi, 22nd Mississippi, 19th Tennessee, 20th Tennessee, 28th Tennessee, 45th Tennessee, 3rd Tennessee Cavalry (463) (C9), Rutledges Tenn. Bty (6 Guns) (A18) Unattached: Robert's Arkansas Battery (6 Guns) (B23) BIBLIOGRAPHY Shiloh Bloody April - W. Swoni Battles of the ACW - Johnson & McLaughlan; Battles & Leaders - Johnston & Buell Unit Organizations of the ACW - R. Zimmermann; Units of the Confederate States Army - J. Crute. Back to The Zouave Vol IV No. 4 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1990 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