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

[King Kurt]

As rashly promised - a stirring speech - used an excuse to write some purple prose!!

Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon awoke just before dawn. Pulling on his blue serge coat he emerged from his tent to be greeted by the pleasant aroma of brewing coffee. Pausing only to dip his cup in the billy can which served as a makeshift coffeepot, he strode through the lines of troops mostly still asleep in the hastily built defences that had been prepared during the night. He afforded himself a brief smile, his men had done well. To his professional military eye, these trenches would serve his men well during the day. They needed all the help they could get. The reports estimated the rebel forces as twice his with a significant advantage in cavalry. But the fate of Missouri was in his hands.

As he walked down the front face of the hill, briefly pausing to swig the bitter coffee, the first weak shafts of the dawn sunshine broke across the valley. A mist hung over Wilson’s Creek, suggesting a hint of foreboding amongst the beauty of a summer’s morning. On the opposite hill, the embers of camp fires, the smell of cooking food and the background noises of a military camp waking up betrayed the position of the rebels. Soon the peace and quiet of this blissful scene would be shattered by the turmoil and chaos of war – a civil war, brother vs, brother. Nathaniel stroked his beard as he contemplated the events to come, his resolve grew in his chest - his cause was just, their day had come. His train of thought was broken by the chatter of the men nearby. An older man was reassuring a youngster about the battle to come. Nathaniel looked closer at the men around him, they looked nervous, but determined – a pride was bubbling up inside them but fear of the unknown was not far away. He realised their lives were in his hands – it was up to him to ignite the flame in them that already burnt in him.

Looking around, he noticed a small tree stump roughly in the middle of his positions. He strode over to it and jumped up. His strong voice, still tinted with his Connecticut accent, boomed over his troops as he addressed them.

“Men of the Union Army of the West, my fellow Missourians and our friends from Iowa and Kansas, today we meet our day of destiny. Today we meet the rebels on the field of battle to ensure that the State of Missouri stays within the Union and does not slip into that state of anarchy and evil that is the Confederacy. Our cause is just. These upstarts not only wish to subject our fellow man to slavery, they wish to force you good, God fearing men into spreading their evil doctrine. This shall not be!!”

He paused as a cheer rippled through the lines of troops, now eagerly following his words. As silence returned, he continued.

“Now for many of you this is your first taste of battle. You will be concerned, nay frightened about the possible events of the day. To this I say, be not a feared. We have the shield of a just cause to protect us. May God be our witness that, as our cause is just, so must we preserver. We face an enemy who has more men than us, but I pity them… because each one of you is worth 10 of them, so in God’s eyes we will prevail.”

Again a roar swelled through the ranks of troops. This time more guttural, more determined.

“I want to share with you some words of John Brown, spoken during his trial. He said” Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I submit; so let it be done!" With these last words a roar started to grow across the camp. This time Nathaniel continued, his voice rising to a crescendo with the waves of naked enthusiasm that swept around him:
“Today is our day to be remembered for ever. These ragged rebels are coming soon. Don’t forget to give a true Missouri welcome. When they come boys, give ‘em hell!!! “

Now if that doesn't turn the battle our way, I do not know what will!!

[CountArach]

[Franconicus]

Peter Joseph Osterhaus is an immigrant from Germany, more precisely from Prussia. He served one year in the Prussian Army and he knows what military drill is. He has done everything to prepare his men for the battle.

Peter Osterhaus had to leave the Old World. He believed in the ideals of the revolution, he fought against the monarchy, and he saw the defeat of freedom.

Now he is in the New World, in the land of the free. Once more he is willing to fight for freedom, just like many thousand other German immigrants, which had to leave their country to live in freedom. Now they are willing to pay for this freedom, pay with their blood. If it is up to them, there will be no step back.

He stands among his regiment, 2nd Missouri Infantry and listens to the speech of the General. The words of the commander are inspiring. He hears cheers from the other regiments, but his men stay quiet and look helpless. Osterhaus knows that most of his men cannot follow the English speech.

Osterhaus jumps on the barricades:

“Männer des 2. Missouri Regiments, Männer aus Deutschland. Seht dort hinüber, auf die andere Seite des Baches. Dort seht ihr die Sklavenhalter! Sie versammeln sich, um die Sklaverei auch in diesen wunderbaren Staat zu tragen. Hier stehen wir, die wir unser schönes Deutschland verlassen mussten, um in Freiheit zu leben. Wir werden nicht zulassen, dass die Sklaventreiber diese Freiheit zerstören. Wenn sie die Sklaverei nach Missouri bringen wollen, müssen sie an uns vorbei. Männer! Lasst es nicht zu! Kämpft für die Freiheit! Schlagt sie in Fetzen!“

Now his men are applauding. Their Yankee comrades did not understand a word, but soon they all know the new nickname of Osterhaus – ‘Fetzenpeter’!

[King Kurt]

Not only rousing speeches, but multi lingual - these rebels don't know what's coming for them!!!!!!!!!

[CountArach]

I'm a bit busy with schoolwork tonight. I should get it up tomorrow.

Thanks for the speeches guys, very cool with the writing in German Franc!

[Franconicus]

At your service!

[CountArach]

Chapter 6 – The Artillery Rang Forth!
August 10th, 1861 – 0530 – Clear day, just after Dawn.

The Hills rang out with the sound of the three Confederate field pieces crying forth their song of death. They started by firing a couple of rang finding shots, and then they started to pound the trenches in an effort to kill your infantry. So far, there has been only light damage and a handful of casualties. Some of the men are noticeably concerned. The enemy artillery is located a few metres ahead of the rest of their men, and the smoke is providing a screen around the centre of their line.

Your artillery completed unlimbering only a few minutes after dawn, and awaited your orders. You were about to give the order to open up on the infantry on the opposite hill, until one of the proponents of firing upon the enemy positions changed his mind and whispered something in your ear. You consider his proposition for a moment and then speak back to him, “Yes I suppose you do have a good point, we are better to save our cannonballs and powder. It could be a long battle ahead of us.”*

You have sent your messenger off to the cavalry around Dixon, who still appear to be remaining in position. He is carrying the message that will tell them to attack any lone artillery that they find, in order to relieve pressure on your men. It is unknown when he will arrive at Dixon.

Your men are in position and they seem less nervous and more determined now that the speech has been given to them. Further, the 2nd Missouri, comprised of many German immigrants, has even higher morale after the speech that Major “Fetzenpeter” Osterhaus gave them.

*There was a tie in voting between firing on the Infantry and holding your fire (Corleone changed his vote without bolding it for those who wish to go back and count it). I flipped a notepad to decide which of the two things go with, and holding fire won.

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
The enemy artillery is pounding your trenches. What do you do?
Option A – Charge our cavalry at them.
Option B – Return fire with one of our batteries
Option C – Return fire with all of our guns.
Option D – Do nothing
Option E – Other

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades
The artillery has caused some light damage to the barricades you set up. No gapping holes have been created, however timber has burst open in some sections. What do you do?
Option A – Send out men to try to chop down some more trees in the no-man’s land in front of you.
Option B – Chop down part of the farmhouse
Option C – There is nothing we can do.
Option D – Other

Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries
Your batteries are behind your lines and have unlimbered. You must decide what target to shoot at for the moment. This can be reassessed later.
Option A – Target Infantry that is on the Hill
Option B – Target the Artillery on the Hill.
Option C – Target the Cavalry on the Hill.
Option D – Do not fire; wait until you can see some other targets.
Option E – Other

[Marshal Murat]

Regarding artillery.

Do we want to try to use either shrapnel or shell, and try to kill the Confederate artillery crews?

I suggest that the commanding officers go along the trenches, provide some serious moral fiber.

[CountArach]

Hmmm, it would seem there isn't a great deal of activity. I will give you 30 or so hours from now.

[Tran]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
Option A – Charge our cavalry at them.
Give them no chance, I say.

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades
Option B – Chop down part of the farmhouse
Is the "no man's land" the location between two opposing armies? I think sending people there will be suicidal. Farmhouse is a better choice.

Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel

Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries
Option A – Target Infantry that is on the Hill

[seireikhaan]

Decision 1- Artillery.
Option B- Give some response, but conserve some of our ammo for other needs.

Decision 2- Broken Barricades.
Chop down part of the farmhouse.- We want our barricades in good shape, but going into no man's land is suicide right now.

Decision 3- Artillery Ammo.
Option A, Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery.

Decision 4- Artillery Batteries
Option B – Target the Artillery on the Hill.

[Gurkhal]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
The enemy artillery is pounding your trenches. What do you do?

B. Although we shouldn't waste our ammunition, give our artillery strenght or positions away this early, I think it might be good for our people to know that we arn't just taking beating. A few rounds might also tempt the enemy into thinking that we are weaker in the artillery field than we really are. Making it a nasty suprise when he advance with his infantry towards us. I think that fooling the Confederates into thinking we are weaker than we are might make them go for a frontal attack, and increase our chances of winning. Although it might of course be to late for this kind of tactic. Since someone said earlier than both sides have a lack of experience among both the troops and the leaders, this feint might well come home. If they are looking for an easy victory, it will further add to them attacking.

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades
The artillery has caused some light damage to the barricades you set up. No gapping holes have been created, however timber has burst open in some sections. What do you do?

B. The fight haven't started, and we should make sure that we have as a good start as we can. But sending out people into the no-mansland will leave them open to get struck by artillery and I don't think it would do any good. Both our numbers and morale might take a beating from such a thing. Break appart a few pieces from the farm house is probably the best thing to do.

[B]Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?]

B. I think that the key to win is to tear the enemy's infantry formations appart. And I also think that we shoud let them come closer before we open fire. The battery sending a few gifts to the enemy crews shoud use sharpnel. I hope that it's possible for different types of unites to use different types of ammunition.

Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries
Your batteries are behind your lines and have unlimbered. You must decide what target to shoot at for the moment. This can be reassessed later.

D. Don't fire for now. The best thing, as I belive would be for the remaining batteries to keep silent and wait. If everything goes as I hope, this would then happen. The enemy fires at us, they recivie a rather bleak respons, thinking we are low on ammunition or on guns. They think we are weaker than we are and attack, expecting to sweep away a small desperate force of enemies. When the enemy infantry leaves cover and advance against us, and comes close enough, under scattered fire, then the other two batteries open up in one great barrage. This I hope might give the Confederates two things. First, confusion and fear, even panic if we are really lucky. They might also get less confident in their own abilities, fearing further suprises. This of course will proably not happen, but I think that I should put my suggestions into a context. We have to thinking more than just one steep ahead to win.

[Csargo]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
The enemy artillery is pounding your trenches. What do you do?
Option A – Charge our cavalry at them.
Option B – Return fire with one of our batteries
Option C – Return fire with all of our guns.
Option D – Do nothing
Option E – Other

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades
The artillery has caused some light damage to the barricades you set up. No gapping holes have been created, however timber has burst open in some sections. What do you do?
Option A – Send out men to try to chop down some more trees in the no-man’s land in front of you.
Option B – Chop down part of the farmhouse
Option C – There is nothing we can do.
Option D – Any attempt to repair the barracade will most likely be a waste of time. Do not repair it at all.

Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries
Your batteries are behind your lines and have unlimbered. You must decide what target to shoot at for the moment. This can be reassessed later.
Option A – Target Infantry that is on the Hill
Option B – Target the Artillery on the Hill.
Option C – Target the Cavalry on the Hill.
Option D – Do not fire; wait until you can see some other targets.
Option E – Other

[Franconicus]

Tricky! Right now the enemy is doinh exactly what we thought he would do. However, this could be a red herring, too.


Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery

I wonder what is the best thing to do. A cavalry charge would be silly. Why should we expose our small cavalry to the superior rebel cav and the infantry fire?
My first idea was to sit and wait. The enemy has three cannons. Hardly enough to do much damage or to panic our soldiers. I think he is just doing the standard preparation for the assault. However, at the moment there are 15 US cannons against only three rebelguns. Maybe this is a good chance for us.

My proposal is to talk with the commanders of our batteries. If the say that the enemy's artilley is close enough to wipe it away with two or three volley of our 15 cannons, let them do it. If we can destroy the three cannons, this should boost the moral. If not, keep them in silence. Then it will be better to surprise the rebel infantry with concentrated fire.

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades
The artillery has caused some light damage to the barricades you set up. No gapping holes have been created, however timber has burst open in some sections. What do you do?

Do not worry. Some men of our reserve can prepare some tumber, either from the farm house, or they could chop some trees at our flanks. Do not try to repair the barricades now.

Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

??? We have to prepare, that the rebels charge soon. Therefore, canisters should be in range. If we decided to destroy the rebel cannons, it should be D, I guess.


Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries
Your batteries are behind your lines and have unlimbered. You must decide what target to shoot at for the moment. This can be reassessed later.
Either fire on the artillery or wait!

[King Kurt]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery

We should open up with all our guns - shrapnel to kill the crews.

Decision 2 – Broken Barricades

Probably not worth mending - the broken timbers in front will hinder the attackers as well

Decision 3 – Artillery ammunition?

Shrapnel in the short term until the infantry are in cannister range.

Decision 4 – Artillery Batteries

Counter battery for a few rounds then their infantry - we want them to attack. Also our troops would be getting a little demoralised with no return fire.

[Don Corleone]

Decision 1:
Option C
Return Fire. Try to silence their guns. Winning an artillery duel will help to boost our men's morale.

Decision 2:

Option C Leave the barricades alone. Nothing to be done now. They'll still slow their cavalry down.

Decision 3:
Ammunition: A or D. A will break the caissons, D will kill the men. I'll go with D, maybe we'll hit stray infantry or cavalry in the area to boot. Don't worry about preparing the caissons erh, cannistor rounds yet. You don't just charge, they have to line their men up. We'll have some forewarning, even if it's short.

Decision 4:
Target: Option B I'm going back to what I had said earlier. Their artillery is having more success than we thought. Time to silence them.

Sorry for not bolding before, CA. Noted for the future.

[CountArach]

No problem Don...

I'll try to get this up tomorrow, this has been a rather busy week.

[CountArach]

Chapter 7 – The Tension Rises, The Battle Comes Yonder
August 10th, 1861 – 0600 – Clear day, just after Dawn.

You get up onto the front of the trenches and look out. The men nearby look up at you, admiration painted on their faces. You do not speak; you simply raise your arm. You can hear the artillery crews rolling out their cannon balls along the line. You smile a knowing smile; those Rebels don’t know what is going to hit them.

Waiting until it appears that your order has been carried out, your smile widens. This was always the best part of any battle, the artillery bombardment. Quick as a flash, you bring your arm down and right along the line a single word is yelled fifteen times.

“FIRE!”

All of your 15 cannons ring out and fire their shells into the enemy position. You wait for a second, observing the rebel artillery positions. One moment the sky is blue, with only a trace of cloud, then the sky is filled with explosions, caused by the spray of shrapnel.

You wait nervously until the smoke has cleared and look at the Rebel positions. Many of the men around you have propped themselves up in their trenches to join your observations.

The smoke clears to reveal a horrible sight. The Rebel guns have finished reloading, seemingly unhampered by the first volley. They fire back, not at the men this time, but at your artillery pieces.

This set the scene for the next ten minutes. Your artillery would fire, and then the Rebels would respond. However, all that changed at about 0550. Your cannons fired on the enemy positions, however when the smoke cleared, only one cannon responded. The other two cannon’s crews had been panicked off. A couple of corpses were visible on each of the guns; however the main reason was that their morale had simply snapped.

In addition to the noise caused by your cannons, the sound of axes on the Farmhouse featured prominently in the air, as the men cut down timber in an effort to fix the barricades. They have nailed together most of the broken areas, yet most of the nails are used up so you will be mostly unable to fix any more breakages.

A scout arrived literally a minute ago, reporting movement just to the south of Sharp’s farm; it looks as if most of the Rebels have chosen to join the fight.

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
There is only one cannon left in this battery, the other two cannon crews having panicked ten minutes ago. What do you do?
Option A – Continue to fire with only one of our batteries
Option B – Continue to fire with all of our guns.
Option C – Fire on something else (Please Specify)
Option D – Stop firing, conserve the ammunition.
Option E – Other

Decision 2 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel.
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

Decision 3 – Approaching Enemies
The Rebels appear to be approaching from the South. What do we do about them?
Option A – Send most of our scouts down there to keep an eye on them
Option B – Send most of our cavalry to observe them
Option C – Do nothing. They will arrive when they arrive.
Option D – Other

[King Kurt]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
There is only one cannon left in this battery, the other two cannon crews having panicked ten minutes ago. What do you do?
Option A – Continue to fire with only one of our batteries
We need to keep their heads down and the morale low. Also, we should switch to shot to conserve our shrapnel and also to possible knock out a gun or 2.
Decision 2 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
See above - we will use shrapnel and shell when the infantry come into range.
Decision 3 – Approaching Enemies
The Rebels appear to be approaching from the South. What do we do about them?
Option D – Other
We should keep them under observation, but just with a few scouts. The rest of the scouts should continue scouting all possible avenues of attack. Also I assume these troops are out of range of our guns. If they are not, we should lob the occasional shell to hinder their deployment and to get them a bit riled up. Idealy we would like a precipitious attack to occur where they come at us in poor order and uncoordinated.

Finally - good to see that the counterbattery using shrapnel was so effective - morale is key to this battle and we should always think along those lines.

[Franconicus]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
There is only one cannon left in this battery, the other two cannon crews having panicked ten minutes ago. What do you do?

Option B – Continue to fire with all of our guns.

I say give them another full volley. Guess the last crew will run away too, now that the commrades are gone. However, just one volley, then stop firing! Prepare for the infantry/cavalry charge, that will certainly follow.

The moral of our men should be alright, now that we almost whiped the enemie`s art. away. No sense in shelling unmanned guns.

Option E – Other

Decision 2 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel

Both! One round for the cannons - round shots. Maybe we can hit one or two guns!
Then change to canisters. The infantry charge will come; I say wait until we can shell them at short range. Then the result will be as bloody as possible.

I do not agree with KK in this special point. We should not disturb their deployment. Wait until they come. If they are able to approach in close formations, the cannons and musquets will have a better harvest!

This is the beginning of the CW. The rebels do not know what concentrated defensive fire can do. Most of the generals did not realize it until the end of the war.


Decision 3 – Approaching Enemies
The Rebels appear to be approaching from the South. What do we do about them?

Option D – Other[/QUOTE]
We are on a hill and we should see at least if there is something coming. We are prepare anyway. There is little else we could do.

Use all scouts cavalry to patrol at our flanks. We have to know every flanking move at once!!

[King Kurt]

Franc - a couple of points

I propose to keep a low level of shelling on the guns as we have broken their morale - once they are not under fire and an officer gets hold of them, they may well return. They are less likely too if the position is still under fire.

I also believe we shold shell their infantry as soon as they are in range. this could do one of 2 things - they may run away - unlikely, but who knows? or they may get their blood up and charge without orders. If a couple of regiments come, we will slaughter them and their morale will break, taking them out of the game and affecting the morale of any troops behind them. If say 6 regiments come in good order, we will kill the same number, but spread over 6 regiments not 2. That might lead to them making it to our positions and potentially overwhelming us - remember we are outnumbered. With the green troops about on the rebel side, they are unlikely to sit under fire forming up for an attack, much more likely to loose discipline and attack us piecemeal. We must always consider morale as our main weapon and use it accordingly.

[Franconicus]

Kurt, if we shell their cannons, the last crew may leave too. We keep on shelling until the infantry charges, then we ahve to change the target anyway. During the infantry charge, the crews will return anyway.

Therefore I do not see any reason to shell the empty positions.

The main problem with artillery is, that the enemy has 15 cannons in total. We have to deal with the nine others later. Now we should be glad that we took some of the crews out of the game.

The charge: I agree that the rebels will attack as a wild bunch. Propably there will even be a combined charge of cavalry and infantry. The rebels will give up order.

Our front is not very wide. I don't think that the first two or three rows can be more than about 2,000 soldiers. We can stop those with one single volley of our rifles. Additionally we have 15 cannons that shell canisters into the rear lines.

After our first volley, the assaulting rebels will hesitate. They haven't expeted high casualties. The cries of the wounded and the panic of the horses will spread. Our second volley will increase the chaos.

If we are lucky and the rebel commander is more patriotic than clever, he will send to other waves into the fire. Then 4,000 rebels are dead, the moral is low and we won the battle.

The danger is, that he may learn faster than we can kill the rebels. Then he will stopp the assault and try something else, artillery bombardment or flanking. Therefore we have to kill as many rebels at once as possible.


Other scenario: we bombard the rebel deployment on the other side of the valley. We kill only few, but show that we are serious defending. The rebel captain becomes worried, he sends only 500 of his bandits, which we kill. Then he decided to change his tactic and to bypass the trench.
Not good!

Therefore, keep quiet until there are masses of rebels in front of our trench and then kill them all.

[Kommodus]

This looks interesting, and I'd like to jump in, if I may.

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
There is only one cannon left in this battery, the other two cannon crews having panicked ten minutes ago. What do you do?
Option A – Continue to fire with only one of our batteries
Option B – Continue to fire with all of our guns.
Option C – Fire on something else (Please Specify)
Option D – Stop firing, conserve the ammunition.
Option E – Other

After reviewing the thread, I'd say we would've been better off holding our fire in the first place. We're going to need all the ammunition we have to beat back the waves of rebel infantry when they attack. A single rebel cannon is not much of a threat to us - the three that were there before did very little damage - and is not worth the trouble. We must execute option D at once.

Decision 2 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel.
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

Since our artillery's main purpose is (should be) to take out enemy infantry, I'd say we're down to B or C. It seems logical to me that the artillery could use shrapnel when the enemy infantry begins to advance, then switch to canister once they are close enough for it to be effective. There are two issues with this, however:

1. How quickly can the artillery switch between types of ammunition? If they can't switch quickly, it might be better to simply wait until they're in range and then tear them apart with canister.

2. Even if they can switch quickly, it may be desirable to leave them unmolested until we can deal one massive morale blow with a great volley of canister shot. This could be a long battle, and I don't want to waste a lot of ammunition in the beginning.

Therefore, I'll go with option C here. (EDIT: I meant B; I think we should hold fire until they're within range of cannister volleys.)

Decision 3 – Approaching Enemies
The Rebels appear to be approaching from the South. What do we do about them?
Option A – Send most of our scouts down there to keep an eye on them
Option B – Send most of our cavalry to observe them
Option C – Do nothing. They will arrive when they arrive.
Option D – Other

Good intelligence is vital; we need to know as much as possible about rebel movements. Obviously, we need to be careful that we don't deprive ourselves of our eyes - if we send out scouts/cavalry haphazardly too quickly, we might miss movement in other areas. Nevertheless, I suspect this could be a major movement, and I'd like to know more about it - numbers, composition, direction, etc. So I'll go with option A - we should conserve our cavalry at the moment.

[CountArach]

This looks interesting, and I'd like to jump in, if I may.

Everyone is free to come and go as they please.

1. How quickly can the artillery switch between types of ammunition? If they can't switch quickly, it might be better to simply wait until they're in range and then tear them apart with canister.

Ammunition can be changed fairly quickly, just a bit longer than it takes to load a gun.

[Marshal Murat]

Don't we have to reposition our artillery pieces to fire canister effectively?
If I understand the situation, the artillery pieces are behind our infantry, firing over their heads. If the artillery fires canister, won't it shatter the Union infantry. We aren't dealing with expertly trained artillery crews, and mistakes are deadly.


1. D
2. B
3. D - Keep a couple scouts around to tab the situation. We don't want any surprises.

I am of the opinion that the Rebs will probably throw three waves at our position, hoping to crack it.
Rebel yell - Charge - Rifle volley and canister - Retreat

The commander might launch only two, but he will launch 2.
The first wave to overwhelm any Union troops. If it shows any chance of reaching the trench, then the commander will launch a second charge. The 2nd charge would probably hit and maybe reach the trench, but most likely will fail.

I think that the commander, Lyons, takes personal control of a section of Union soldiers with a couple sergeants, pulls them out at a point in the battle, leads them to the rear in a scattered formation. Trick the rebels into thinking that the Union troops are cracking, launch another assault.

[Don Corleone]

I think we have a misunderstanding. Franc is talking as though the Rebel batteries fled. They didn't, ours did. We only have one battery left....

And MM is right. If we load cannister, we either need to reposition the guns or open a gap in our lines.

Not voting yet, just want to make certain we're all on the same page.

[CountArach]

Umm, 2 of the 3 Rebel guns in the Battery fled. None of yours did.

[Marshal Murat]

This set the scene for the next ten minutes. Your artillery would fire, and then the Rebels would respond. However, all that changed at about 0550. Your cannons fired on the enemy positions, however when the smoke cleared, only one cannon responded. The other two cannon’s crews had been panicked off. A couple of corpses were visible on each of the guns; however the main reason was that their morale had simply snapped.

Our cannons seem to have scared off the Rebel crews.
Got it.

[Don Corleone]

Thanks for the clarafication, CA. I misundertsood.

First off, I think we're all in agreement, that morale, rather than actual casualties inflicted is the name of this game, so early in the war with so many green troops. The question is how best to improve our own morale while beating down theirs. We won the artillery duel, that helps. Now we need to follow that minor victory up with more....

Question 1: Option C, Other target With our morale boosted, we should be able to take a few stray shells now. Start firing down on their infantry before they get too close, take the wind out of their sails. Taking out that one lone gun won't don much for our morale, but taking out a good chunk of their infantry should do wonders.

Question 2: Option C, shrapnel, long-range, anti-personnel. Save the cannister for when they really start getting close. Though I'm inclined to agree with Komodus a little bit... time to start keeping an eye on the powder.

Question 3: Option A... yes we want to know what their intended approach route is, how many men in column and so forth. Buth they were very quiet last night. Last thing we need is for a second column to appear on our flank. If there's a second column coming, better to know about it sooner rather than later, so we can respond, not panic. Keep the cavalry and scouts roaming all around the field, committing none too many to any one sector.

[Csargo]

Decision 1 – Enemy Artillery
There is only one cannon left in this battery, the other two cannon crews having panicked ten minutes ago. What do you do?
Option A – Continue to fire with only one of our batteries
Option B – Continue to fire with all of our guns.
Option C – Fire on something else (Please Specify)
Option D – Stop firing, conserve the ammunition.
Option E – Other

Decision 2 – Artillery ammunition?
What form of ammunition do you want your artillery to use?
Option A – Standard round shot – Long range, mainly damaging against buildings, trenches, artillery
Option B – Canister – Short Range, anti-personnel
Option C – Shrapnel – Long range, anti-personnel.
Option D – Shell – Long range, between round shot and shrapnel.

Decision 3 – Approaching Enemies
The Rebels appear to be approaching from the South. What do we do about them?
Option A – Send most of our scouts down there to keep an eye on them
Option B – Send most of our cavalry to observe them
Option C – Do nothing. They will arrive when they arrive.
Option D – Other

Conserve our ammunition, There's only one that can currently fire at us. I doubt it will be able to do much damage. Wait for the rebels to get deployed and start attacking before we fire at them. The shrapnel will be more effective that way. Send the Scout cavalry out to watch the rebels movements just so we can get some sort of idea how they may want to attack us.