Battles of the Civil War - The Battle of Wilson's Creek

[Franconicus]

... That is in the Order of Battle...

From the OoB:

Battery F, 2nd U.S. Artillery – 84, 6 Guns
Capt Totten

What does 84, 6 guns mean? Err, I think I understand now. That means 84 men with 6 cannons, right.

looking into detail, both sides have 15 cannons. If I understand right, two of our batteries are regular, while the rebels are new. This, plus the better position, should give us some advantage in artillery,

Cavalry:
We have 675 horse soldiers, including 200 homeguards and 125 dragoons (I think these are mounted infantry!). The core are 350 cavalrists!!

The rebels have 1,370 plus 1,800 mounted infantry. If they try a frontal assault (which is quite propable for unexperienced soldiers) we can defeat them.

More dangerous would be, if they use their cavalry, esp. the mounted infantry to bypass our flank. I think the eastern side is more exposed.

We can repel this threat with our 4. Brigade reserve, if we can deploy it in time.

This is my proposal for the battle:
Use the core cavalry (350 raiders) to patrol at our flanks. We must know immediately what is going on there.
Use the dragoons as mobile infantry to reenforce the position, esp. the flanks, when needed.
Use the home guard as shock cavalry, in case our infantry or artillery gets in trouble and has to be bailed out.

What worries me most is that our best cavalry (350 men) is out in the night. The enemy has 4 times as many horses and he will have patrols out there. If he manages to catch our cavalry, he will be able to overwhelm them. There is nothing we can do to help them. Loosing them would be a relapsing. I would rather have them back! We need them to patrol at our flanks.