American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I'm going to dispense with all the boring "Politics" of the issue as all of you know those issues well. Suffice it to say that By Jan-1861 Southern States are seceding and Militias ar springing up on both sides of the divided nation.....The first spark of violence occurs in Baltimore in March 1861. Maryland is still nuetral in the dipute. Both sides have Militias there and the Federal Government has decided to pass a large force through the city to protect Washington. Those forces have orders not to engage the Southern Militias unless fired upon. That does not mean the Militias of either side are under any such restrictions. What happened next was a bit confused, so I'll just add the Newspaper accounts from each side. First the Southern one:

"Baltimore Times Observer Chronicle Post Dispatch Herald

Baltimore Massacre!!!

An outrage occured today in our fair Southern city, when a group of men belonging to a "Southern Rights Men's Club" were attacked by a Unionist mob. Reports thus far indicate that the completely innocent group of equestrians were out on a morning pheasant hunt when they apparently took a wrong turn and ended up in Baltimore proper. They were surrounded by Unionist sympathizers, supported by regular Federal troops and led by one William "The Butcher" Passmore who fell upon them like the mad dogs they are, though completely unprovoked. The number killed is said to be upwards of 200. Most were shot in the back, and many were said to have been executed after having surrendered. As many as 200 survivors, were then stripped of their carbines and horses and apparently imprisoned, merely for exercising their Southern God Given right to a morning ride!!!!!

Have we not had enough of our Rights trampled by these Unionist money grubbing thugs? It is time for all good Southern men to stand up for our Sister States who now from the Confederate States of America and withdraw from the Union!!!! We must end these outrages against our people once and for all!"


Next The Unionist version:

"Harper's Weekly Special Edition

Today happened a fair outrage upon all loyal Americans!!! As all loyal citizens of Baltimore know, this past week has seen many unprovoked outrages by those wishing to see Maryland secede from the Union! Today has thus far seen the worst of these events. Just before noon a heavily armed group of drunken secesch scum led oy one Sam Wood entered the city and began looting several buildings. They then were confronted by angry citizens who demanded that they leave immediatly. Their response was to mount a completely unrovoked charge into the civillians in their rear. Several were killed on both sides. The Secesch then became utterly confused in their drunken stupor and began firing on each other. Scores were killed before the few who had not passed out threw down their weapons and surrendered to one Ima F. Pigg, the lovely daughter in law to be of the renowned State Militia commander, General William "The Young Napoleon of the Americas" Passmore. Miss Pigg supervised the Southern lowlifes to the county lockip where they are now sleeping off their big adventure. It is rumored that they will be handed over to Federal authorities.

It is time for all the loyal citizens of the Great State of Maryland to rise up and throw the secesh scum out of our state!!!! If they wish to join the Confederacy, then let them!!!! Just not while they live in the confines of Maryland!!!!!"


Yet another account of the events that fateful day. The excerpt that follows is taken from Shelby Foote's excellent narrative Against All Odds: The War of Northern Aggression and the birth of the Confederate States of America:

"pp.234:
"...and so it happened, amidst this atmosphere of mutual distrust and loathing, that the city of Baltimore became the first location where blood was spilled by Americans, against Americans, in a war that would see blood spilled in so many places. On the morning of March 30th, Maj. General Nick DeStefano was awakened by one of his orderlies, who reported a Union force of unknown strength was rapidly approaching the north-eastern suburbs of Baltimore. DeStefano had ridden forth from Winchester, Virginia the previous week under orders to organize the quickly swelling group of recruits who had recently sworn allegiance to the Revolutionary Army then being formed in Virginia. Upon his arrival, he discovered to both his delight and dismay, a large group of nearly <redacted> infantry, and attached cavalry and artillery being drilled by the gruff Major General Issac Trimble. Trimble, himself a transplanted Virginian who now called Maryland home, had begun the laborious process of arming and drilling his troops in the face of an inevitable advance from the North East by what promised to be veritable legions of Yankee troops.
Delight because Trimble had already assembled a rather numerous force, and this number looked to be added to shortly, by increasing support amongst the citizens of Baltimore and the Western Shore if only the recruiting centers could stay open. Dismay because these already assembled troops were in regards nothing more than an armed mob with regimental numbers. Haphazardly armed and crudely drilled, they could not be expected to hold long against superior numbers if confronted. General DeStefano immediately ordered the troops to dig-in astride the Frederick Pike (much to the merriment of these Baltimore rowdies, who jeered at the idea of hiding behind defensive works, and who chafed at being held back from the city proper) while his cavalry, under S.A.M. Wood began the process of locating the Yankee force reportedly heading right for Baltimore.
What followed was nothing short of murder.
As Wood, accompanied by the 1st Maryland Cavalry, galloped into the streets of Baltimore from the South, allegedly, according to one survivor, to screen their movement as they sought to find the enemy, they ran smack into a brigade of newly recruited Yankee infantry under Brig. Gen. John MacArthur. Just as Wood realized his predicament, and ordered a withdraw, a sub-altern called his attention to a regiment of Yankee cavalry bearing down on their rear. Wood sounded the charge, determined to cut his way free of both the cavalry and the growing mob of Union sympathetic citizenry who had begun to hurl both insults and cobblestones at the mass of Revolutionary cavalry. Wood's men charged, not without difficulty in the narrow streets thronged with angry citizens, but could not break through the Yankee unit...suddenly bayonets were leveled at Wood and his men, and after a short fight in which approximately 200 men fell dead or wounded, the remaining 200 threw down their weapons and were led tamely into captivity. The Yankee commanding general, Willie "The Butcher of Baltimore" Passmore, reported that Wood was drunk: "I knew S.A.M. Wood from before the war, and the man was a notorious drunkard; once while stationed in St. Louis, after drinking most of a barrel of wine, S.A.M. was seen to be riding up and down Main Street wearing a woman's corset and performing riding tricks he supposedly learned from the Red Indians! Well, I've never seen an Indian do THAT to a horse before!

pp. 239
Following the murder of 200 men, and the capture of 200 more, General DeStefano decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and sought to save what he could of this command, before they were served in similar fashion by what he was convinced was a force at least as large as his own, if not larger. He had chosen his position well, as it allowed him to withdraw directly to Frederick with all but the 400 men of the 1st Maryland and one newly commissioned Brigadier General S.A.M. Wood.
Leaving Baltimore, much in the same way he had arrived in it; with both delight and dismay (delight at having saved the force, dismay in having lost both what he already had and what he could have had gained) he set his troops on the Frederick Pike to link up with forces already being recruited there. He sent the following telegram to President Davis shortly after leaving, having it smuggled into Baltimore to the still operational lines into Virginia:

TO: Jefferson Davis, President, CSA
FROM: Maj. Gen. N. DeStefano, CSA, Army of the Shenandoah, cmmdng.

<SIR>
stop
<ABANDONING BALTIMORE>
stop
<ENDEAVORING TO SAVE NEW RECRUITS>
stop
<HAVE LOST 1 REGIMENT CAVALRY, CAPTURED, UNIT MAY HAVE GONE OVER WHOLESALE TO YANKEES>
stop
<BELIEVE GENERAL WOOD CAPTURED>
stop
<WITHDRAWING TO FREDERICK TO COLLECT RECRUITS>
stop
<WILL REPORT IN UPON REACHING DESTINATION>
stop
<DIRECTIVES AND ORDERS CAN BE SENT TO THAT LOCATION>
stop
<YOURS, MAJ GEN DESTEFANO, ETC.>


fin


The truth of exactly what happened that day, lies somewhere between the radicalized Newspaper accounts, but suffice it to say that the Rebel Militias were driven from Baltimore in March of 1861, thereby denying the area and its resouces to the Southern cause. More to come shortly.....We'll take up events in May 1861 when things began to get a bit hotter.....

Any of you whom may have participated in any of the events expounded on in this series may feel free to add your perceptions of the events as you wish....Posts should be "In character".....

I forgot to mention the casualties in the afair at Baltimore. There were 180 Rebs Killed or wounded and 220 captured while the Yanks sufferd only 12 Killed and wounded. I also failed to mention that Genral Ringbloom sucessfully led his command through Baltimore and on to Washington to secure the Union capital.

Moving on to the month of March: There was a skirmish at Bowling Green, Kentucky which involved no casualties, but resulted in the Union Militia retreating to Paducah. Two, more serious affairs, occured at Jefferson City, Missouri and Frankfort, Kentucky.

Fresh off his victiory at Bowling Green, Confederate General Terry Dancer decided to do the same at Frankfort. After a short skirmish, he was able to drive the Yanks to Louisville short 247 men (50 of these captured). Report below:

""After sizing up each other for many hours, the Unionists made an attempt at capturing Kershaw's Mounted Rangers in town, giving them a good pasting as Kershaw made a daring dash to safety outside the town. All the while, the wily old General Dancer, brought up his main body , and tried to gauge how long it would take the Union to vacate Frankfort. He thenled a wild vociferous charge into town capturing a full yankee regiment, and blooding the nose of another. The Battle Cry seemed to be " Freedom for Kentucky" The good folk of Frankfort can now let there children and women free to enjoy the daytime, unlike when they had to stay inside in safety from the holigans of the Union's occupying forces.""

Confederate losses were just 131 killed and wounded.

Rebel state troops then advanced from Springfield and drove the Yank militia off to Booneville. General Al Baker led the assault. A man of few words, he sent only a breif report posted below:

""The Union has abandoned Jefferson City, Missouri rather than meet the Confederate forces in battle. Light casualties were inflicted as our troops took the city and captured six emplaced 100 lb Parrot artillery pieces.
The Union army escaped across the Missouri River then anchored their gunboat across the ford. This effectively stopped Confederate pursuit. The Union troops were last seen moving at a fast pace toward Booneville.

Gen A.C. Baker
Protector of the Far West""

Casualties in this affair were actually 113 Killed and wounded for the Union and 165 for the Confederates. Most of these men fell in the charge that took the Union battery. 124 of the men manning the battery surrendered after a brief melee.




















t

This update I am going to a little more ground. In May, there was a fight at Louisville in which the now famous General Dancer, flush with his earlier successes, committed a foolhardy blunder by taking on a much larger Union force. The result was predictable as ir was disasterous. General Dancer was himself captured leading a particularly ill fated if heroic charge. The result was Louisville in Union hands and General Dancer a POW. Confederate losses amounted to 653 killed and wounded, while the Yanks lost just 421. Union General Groce's report follows:

""Rebel forces under the guidance of Gen. Dancer, fresh off a victory and full of confidence, having the Union forces outnumbered and out gunned moved to put the women and children of Louisville under thier oppressive rule, not knowing what awaited them. A small, out gunned, but fiesty handful of Union men under the leadership of Gen. Groce were able to turn back the rebels and also capture Gen. Dancer. We eagerly await the opportunity to exchange him for one of our own as soon as the opportunity arises, his constant compalining about the lack of grits and cornpone is annoying.BG Groce
AoP

"Rapidly advancing to the rear"

Gen. Groce""

From:Against All Odds: The War of Northern Aggression and the birth of the Confederate States of America by Shelby Foote.

pp.396

The Revolutionary troops in Frederick, were not idle, fresh from their unceremonious expulsion from Baltimore at the end of March, they had been constantly drilling and recruiting new troops. Supplies flooded in from the countryside, from the Chesapeake to the Potomac, men and weapons and ammunition made its way to the swelling host now forming and preparing outside of Frederick. However, their commander was non-plussed: "I needed to preserve those troops, they had just joined and were under my protection, had we fought the Yankee's we may have won, yes. But we may have lost, and had we done so, the Yankee's may well have won in the end..." he remembered, years later. History may well have borne him out on this statement.
Major General DeStefano's <redacted> infantry, cavalry and artillery were hard at work arming themselves and the nearly <redacted> recruits then joining their ranks. Their sergeants hard at work hammering the raw novices into well trained soldiers. Batteries were expanded, regiments reinforced, cavalry re-equipped. Trimble was now gone, having refused to serve any longer under "that damn'd Eye-tie" for his alleged timidness outside of Baltimore. The General sat at his camp table, poring over the returns of the day: regiments augmented, batteries supplied, new recruits sworn in. He was interrupted by his aide-de-camp, Major James Davenport who bored a sheaf of dispatches from various sources: from a woodsman near Charleston VA, "thar must be a hunnerd thowsand Yanki's here!" and the nearly hysterical report from an actor in Baltimore "The New England Vandals are at our gates, they must number more than the stars in the sky! You must come, for heaven's sake! I estimate nearly fifty-thousand, desecrating our fair soil!" to the reports from Confederate naval lookouts on Rip-Rap Island, near Norfolk, reporting "...more than 100,000 of all arms, strongly entrenched and well supplied..." to the most ominous of all: "Over 165,000 men, estimated, garrisoning the works around Washington City..."
DeStefano looked up from his reports, "Are these sources reliable?" he asked skeptically.
Davenport glanced over from his reading, "They may be partially true, sir. As I'm sure you do, I doubt that the Yankee's could have gotten nearly half a million men armed and assembled in so short a time, however..." he let the implication hang in the air.
The General shrugged. "I would fight them if they were a million. We have work to do."



fin

This brings us to Juy 1861, when Union troops entered the Western portion of Virginia attacking Charleston in what was more of a glorified Reconn in force than an actual asault. After a particularly vicious and determined defence by Confederate Major General Nicolas "Quick Trot" Destafano, the Confederates abandoned the town having suffered a disasterous 17 casualties. General Destafano, blamed the "Government" for his inability to have had a more "complete" victory than the one he "won" before his "strategic relocation" to the upper valley of Virginia. He claimed to have been short of ammunition......General Destafano's report below:

Gents,

Just finished up my smallish (though LONG) engagment at Charleston VA in August 1861.

I had about "CENCORED FOR GAMEPLAY FOW".

From what I could gather from the Yanks, I counted 3 Infantry Brigades and 1 Cavalry Brigade.

4x5?? man regiments per Inf Bde and 2x4?? and 2x1?? man Cavalry regiments in the Cav Bde.

I estimated the total strength of this Yankee force at around 9-10k men. 3 batteries of guns, at least 2 with 6 tubes.

I would have tried to bleed them some, but I was sorely lacking in ammo (both small arms and artillery) which is my fault.

I burned the bridges over the Kanawha, and tried to get a twist on them as they came across, but there are fords to the North and South of town which I would
have been hard pressed to cover if they had tried to move on them. I only had 10 rounds of arty fire, which I had intended to save to for when the Yank's tried
to come across the RR Bridge into town, but as it was, it took the Yanks most of the day to get to town, then they set about trying to outflank me (most ungentlemanly if you ask me).

total losses: 4 Union cavalry (long range arty) and 17 Confederate Inf. (from close range Yankee arty fire across the river)

I have withdrawn to CENCORED and CENSORED some more.

<salute>
NickNick DeStefano"""

Next the Yanks attacked Frankfort, from Cinncinnatti. General Niall Murphy attempted a futile defence but was hopelesly outnumbered, and was quickly overwhelmed. The Rebs fell back to Perryville. Losses were 471 Southernors killed and wounded, (many of these while attempting to surrender), and just 117 Yanks. Southern Report Below:

""Mr. President, Sir,

I wish to report on recent activity in my command.
On July 10th, heavy Union forces attacked Frankfort. It was readily determined that my troops were heavily outnumbered - I believe I faced at least 2 Union infantry divisions of approximately 7,000 men, 1 cavalry brigade of approx 2,000 men and 3 batteries. My owm forces were CENSORED. I was forced to abandon Frankfort but decided to initiate a short engagement with the enemy to season my troops. In the resultant skirmish my troops performed poorly, routing disgracefully towards the enemy and precipitating a scramble to escape the field. I lost 470 men in this debacle.
Enemy infantry units identified were:
30th Penn, Sanborn's Brigade (approx 600 men)
2nd, 3rd and 4th Ohio, Dennis's Brigade (each approx 500 men)

My troops have now retreated to Perryville. I believe the enemy will pursue. BALANCE OF REPORT CENCORED

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant

Lt Gen Niall Murphy""


Well Gentlemen,

This brings me FINALLY to the main point of this thread. We are short at least one Rebel player, in the FTW design playtest which we are running. If you are interested, either email myself at hanksteph AT comcast DOT net or apply to President Jefferson "Whitehead" Davis (Kennon Whitehead). Things are just now getting rolling in the war, so it should pick up considerbly in terms of violence.....

Regards,
Hank