Didz's American game blog.

[Didz]

I'm pretty sure Washington's dead already in my game. I'll have to check.

[Didz]

1799 Summer: What the hell are the French doing?

For several months now reports have been filtering in of a French army commanded by General Franck Delancy marching northwards through Cherokee Territory. It slow and tortuious progress has been monitored periodically to see if it posed any threat. There were various theories about what its goals might be, including the possibility that it might make a raid into Georgia, or swing west and try to retake Upper Louisiana. There was even possibility that it might be planning to try and seize one of the Cherokee's territories.

What was not expected was what actually happened.

For in the summer of 1799, Delancy's French troops reached the northern border of Cherokee territory and marched boldly north onto Iroquios land. Whether the French were lost, or were betrayed by the Iroquios remains a mystery, but whatever the reason they were immediately set upon by a large Iroquios Warband and routed retreating rapidly south in disorder.

This event was a source of speculation in itself, but far more interesting was the fact the the large Iroquis warband which had marched south to meet and defeat them had been the same forced that up till then had been blocking the path from Fort Hoo to the Iroquios main settlement at Niagra.

Suddenly, thanks to the French, the road was clear for General 'Jack' Cowell and his army of indian fighters to make a direct and decisive march and seize the entire territory.

1799 Winter: The Battle of Niagra

After a rapid but uneventful march Cowell's army arrived at the main Iroquios settlement of Naigra. Most of the warriors had left weeks before and were chasing the French further south and the settlement was now defended by Chief Menawa and 3,390 men and 6 rather old cannon. Cowell had 5,385 men (including 2,445 horse, 2,400 Foot and 36 guns.)

The battle opened with Cowell moving his army forward to deploy on a low ridge overlooking the indian settlement. He deployed his the seven regiments of dragoons on the left of his army supported by two batteries of horse artillery, whilst his three regiments of militia deployed in the centre protecting the four batteries of howitzers delpoyed to their rear, The two detachments of scouts were sent forward and deployed their anti-cavalry stakes halfway down the slope of the ridge to prevent he indian lancers charging the militia line directly. Whilst the armies right flank was guarded by a single regiment of militia cavalry.

The Iroquios were content to watch the deployment of Cowells army and wait for it to come within range of their guns, which were deployed in redoubt tom the south of the settlement. As soon as these guns opened fire two parties of lancers emerged from the settlement and made their way rapidly towards the left and right flanks of Cowell's line.


[The 12th and 14th Dragoons dealing with the Iroquios lancers.]

On the left Cowell ordered the 12th and 14th Dragoons to intercept the incoming lancers which they did most successfully, cutting most of them down and drive the rest off in panic.


[The 29th Provincial Cavalry charge the Iroquios Lancers.]

On the right the Iroquios Lancers came under fire from the long rifles of the scouts and had to make a wide detour to avoid their fire. When they finally regrouped and approached the American right flank they were met by a charge from the 29th Provincial Cavalry. Although, not being sure of the militiamens fighting ability Cowell also moved one of the militia infantry regiments to screen the right flank of his gun line and ordered two regiments of dragoon to move to the right in support. As it happens his concerns were unfounded and the 29th succeeded in routing the lancers just as the dragoons arrive to assist.


[The Iroquios guns are silenced]

In the centre little had changed the Iroquios were managing to inflict a few casualties on the dragoons with their guns, whilst the howitzers and horse artillery on the ridge pounded away at the redoubt until the last gun was silenced.


[Cowells forward scouts fire and retire before the indian attack]

As soon as their guns were silenced the remaining indian's in the settlement surged forward and up the slope fo the ridge towards the American centre. The two detachments of scouts defending the picket line fired and then retired behind the militia infantry. Most of them never reached the militia. Blasted by shell fire and shredded by cannister from the horse artillery and musketry from the militia most broke and fled.

One determined group tried to charge the Horse Artillery positions and was in turn charged by the 13th Dragoons.


[The charge of the 13th Dragoons]

And a small group armed with muskets caused problems for the right flank of the militia until the scouts with their long rifles were brought forward to deal with them.

Cowell lost 720 men out of a force of 5,385, the indian force of 3,390 was wiped out, and America secured the territory.

[Didz]

1800 Summer: Disaster in Algonquin Territory

Having seized Algonquin Territory in a 'coupe de main' due the the closing months of 1799, Cowell set about trying to prepare his army for the expected counter attack by the Iroquios.

It was not to be long in coming.

2nd Battle of Niagra

From the north a large warparty of 4,875 braves led by Chief Washinguhsahba descended on Cowell's Army.

Cowell drew his army up on a low ridge overlooking the settlement.

[Cowells army deployed on the hieghts overlooking Niagra.]

The centre of the line was held by the three regiments of provincial militia, screened by the scouts and supported by the howtizers deployed to their rear.

Each flank was secured by a battery of horse artillery (the one in the foreground was deployed on the top of a high bluff which prevented it being attacked from the front) and a brigade of dragoons.

Washinguhsahba begun the engagement by dispatch one warparty of lancers to attack Cowell's right flank. The lancers were bombarded with shell as they advanced then sniped at by the scouts, who were now safe behind their line of stakes, and finally charged by the 15th and 17th Dragoons.

[The 15th and 17th charge the Iroquios lancers.]
Nevertheless they put up a brave fight and kept the dragoons busy for most of the early phase of the battle.

Having forced Cowell to commit half of his cavalry on the right, Washinguhsahba now launched an all out assault on the American centre. The open ground between the ridge and settlement suddenly fills with Iroquios warriors and the American artillery plays upon them fiercely.

[Washinguhsahba's assault begins on Cowell's centre.]

The 1st Continental Horse Artillery begin to suffer heavy casualties from long range bow fire and the 8th and 13th Dragoons are ordered to advance a drive the enemy off.

[The charge of the 8th and 13th Dragoons]

Still the Iroquios continue to pick off the American gunners and so the 14th Dragoons are order to move to support them, but before they can assist the American gunners finally panic and abandon their guns leaving the 29th Provincial Militia Regiment to their left unsupported and exposed.

With the cannister fire of the 1st Horse Artillery silenced the Iroquios warriors let out a whoop and charge the centre of the Amercan line. The 25th Provincial Militia holding its centre are swamped with frenzied indian braves.

[The 29th under heavy pressure.]

On the right the 17th and 15th Dragoons finally finish dealing with with the indian lancers and charge down the slope into the indian bowmen supporting the attack on the centre. At the same time Cowell orders the 12th and 9th Dragoons guarding the armies left flank to advance and attack the enemy from the other flank.


The American militia in the centre panic and break and the 6th Provincial Cavalry which have been held in reserve are ordered to charge to stabilise the centre. All of Cowells cavalry have now been committed to the fight and the slopes of the ridge are full of struggling cavalrymen and warriors.

Only the 25th Militia hold their ground and some of the men even charge down the slope of the ridge in pursuit of their former attackers. With the centre of the line stabilised by the charge of the 6rh Provincial Cavalry and the stubborn defence of the 25th Militia, the 34th Militia rallies and returns to the line.

The india's begin to melt away and try to escape but are hunted down ruthlessly by the remaining cavalrymen.

It had been a bloody and chaotic battle. Made worse by the poor fire control of the American artillery which quite happily shelled and rained death on both friend and foe in the swirling melee that took place in on the plain below the ridge.

[This is a really annoying shortcoming in the fire at will routine, which never used to be a problem in earlier games. It basically, means you are resticted in what you can do becuase you can't rely on your troops having any intelligence. The other issue I noted in this battle is that artillery in particular suffer badly from 'target fixation'. In other words they will continue to fire at a pointless target even in some cases when it is out of range and ignore a much more dangerous unit standing right in front of them.]

Cowell was not impressed with their behaviour, nor that of the militia who had proven incapable of handling the shock of close combat against the natives.

American losses were heavy, 2,795 men our of 4,665 (59%). Washinguhsahba had lost almost his entire force only 20 braves managing to escape.

However, Worse was about to befall Cowell and his men.

Cowell's Last Stand

No sooner had Cowell's army dealt with Washinguhsahba's warband than another 5,330 braves appeared from the south under Chief Hiakatoo. There was no way that Cowell could possibly fight such a force with such a weakened army, but he was not allowed to retire. Therefore, he deployed his men and decided he would try and conduct a fighting withdrawal. That was the last anybody heard of General Jack Cowel or his army. [This is another annoying aspect of the game. For some inexplicable reason under certain conditions you are not allowed to evade an attack, even though its obvious that you should be able to. Not only that but even if you decide the fight the battle and successfully extricate you army from the fight, the progamme arbitarily elminates your army anyway, even though it clearly escaped. This is the land equivalent of the naval problem I came across with the USS Plymouth, and I'm not happy trying to write [AAR's] and promote a game that basically behaves illogically. Hopefully, someone in CA will take note and resolve this in a future patch.]

The President pays the price.
The massacre of Cowell's Army could not have come at a worse time for the government, just before an election.

They managed to retain power, though many of their current ministers lost their seats and President Holbourne who had done wonders for the international standing of the United States was replaced by the lack lustre Hadwin Stapleton (Skill 3+0). The rest of the cabinet were:

Vice President - Clive Clapperton (Skill 3+0) another dollard,
Treasury Secretary - Aaron Abbot (Skill 2) an idiot who could barely count let alone manage the nations finances.
Justice - Kenneth Bestow (Skill 4+) a passable justice minister.
Secretary of State - Timothy Boscawen (Skill 4+2 Army Research) quite a usefull appointment.
Secretary of the Navy - Augustus Goodfellow (Skill 5+4 Naval Research) a really nice appointment that would boost the Navy.

Abbot was immediately kicked out of office and replaced by Zahariah Croucher (Skill 6/+3% Tax/+6% Trade/+6% Town Wealth) a really fortunate appointment. But, the Vice President must also go as soon as possible.

[Didz]

1800 Winter: Revenge isn't sweet, its Greene.

Even before the massacre of Cowell's Army, General Nathan Greene had been marching as fast as he could towards Algonquin Territory. The fact, is he didn't want Cowell stealing all the glory and was determined to get his fair share.

Cowell had made some scathing comments about Greene's caution when fighting the natives, and whilst Greene would never have wished upon Cowell the disaster that befell his so-called 'Indian Fighting Army', he certainly felt vindicated that his Army and tactic's has secured him a string of victories whilst Cowell's new fangled idea's had cost him his life.

Greene arrived at Cuyohoga in the late summer of 1800, just in time to hear of the massacre at Niagra, and he marched immediately to avenge Cowell's death, razing the indian settlements at Fort Preque and Allegany en-route.

He arrived at the Niagra settlement to find that Hiakatoo and his warband of 4,810 braves had settled down for the winter and reconstructed their wooden longhouses on the site of the original settlement.

He wasted no time in forming his army into the tried and trusted square formation he had used in all his previous indian battles. His men knew the drill and most were veterans of at least two indian fights. As soon as they were in position his artillery began bombarding the indian village and its surrounding woodland with shell. Much of the firing was blind but the indians were so closely packed that most shells hit something.

Enraged and tormented by the bombardment several war parties tried to charge the American positions but a combination of shell and accurate musketry drove them back with heavy loss. Finally, the entire of Hiakatoo's warband charged the American square. The slaughter amongst them was terrible, but once again Greene was amazed at the resilience of the Iroquios warriors, and it seemed that once they started 'whooping' their battle cry's nothing would stop them except a bullet.

The 3rd and 4th Continentals on the front left of the square bore the brunt of the assault and fierce hand to hand fighting ensued as the indians tried to break through into the squares centre and get at Greene and the gunnners. However, unlike the militia of Cowell's army the men of the 3rd and 4th were highly expereinced and disciplined veterans. They fought the indian's to a stand-still and then drove them off, finally cutting the last of them down with musketry.

After this the battle was merely a hunt of the fugitives and the bombardment into obliteration of any last signs of resistance.

Greene lost 1,080 men out of an army of 6,825. Hiakatoo's warband of 4,810 was wiped out.

1801 Summer: The State of the Navy.

Naval Secretary Goodfellow is pleased to report to congress that the current programme of ship building is almost complete and that the final 3rd Rate should be ready for commissioning by the end of the year. The navy will then have a fleet of 14 x third rate ships of the line ready to protect American interests at sea and should be more than sufficient to deal with any immediate threat to American commerce.

It is not the intention to commission further ships of the line at this time. Though, funds permitting congress may wish to consider increasing the number of frigates available. At present the Navy has a total of 9 x 24pdr Frigates, 1 x Carronade Frigate, 1 x 5th Rate, 1 x 6th Rate and 1 x sloop. It should be noted that the USS Plymouth, which was lost to the British has never been replaced.

The current number of frigates is more than ample to cope with peace time trade protection, but would be badly overstretched if the nation was put on a war footing.

On a specifc note reports from traders in Madagascar confirm that the British are making repeated attempts to wrest control of the sea lanes in that region from the Spanish, whilst the USS Yorktown patrolling the East Indies has reported seeing a British Squadron in the area. Given the war with both the British and Spanish is inevitable we will need suffiecient force in every trade zone to protect our commerce, and that may need a force of twenty frigates to achieve.

In the meantime, research is progressing well, however, all attempts to acquire additional knowledge from friendly nations have been unsucessfull. It will therefore be several years yet before American ships will be able to match the performance of their British counter-parts. The only avenue which has not been explored is espionage, mainly because the risks are unlikely to be justified by the rewards and because the assignment of gentlemen to that activity would actually distract them from their research and so could be counter-productive.