Micro Table Battles - Part Nine.

First of all, thank you to all of you that offered suggestions as to what General Archer should do. It was about even between attack and defence. Everything from give them cold steel, to don't throw away the brigade in a pointless charge.
I must admit I spent a long time looking at the tabletop and pondering the options. My eyes were continually drawn to the massed ranks of blue and the wide open space the rebels would have to cross. Even if they made it to musket range, they cannot move and fire in the same turn, so the Union battle line would have in essence, a free shot. Then if the following turn initiative roll went in favour of the Union, they would be able to pour a second volley into the brigades ranks. What would be left after that?
True, even if they waited for Davis and his brigade, that ground would still have to be covered, and with it the carnage that was sure to bring, but with a second wave, then at least the sacrifice would hopefully not be in vain, as second wave troops would then be still in shape to fall upon the enemy.
The only fly in the ointment, in waiting for Joe Davis, was that even though it was still the same table, another day would have passed, and then the lottery of rolling for reinforcements could immediately bolster the Union ranks, but add nothing to the rebels.

Decisions, decisions!


General Archer's luck holds, no reinforcements this turn.

Brigadier General Barlow, officer commanding 1st Division, had two messages on the table before him. One from Ade Ames, his 2nd Brigade commander, the other from his boss, Major General Oliver Howard, commanding officer of XI Corps.
Ade was once more asking for more reinforcements to stop the rebel advance up Crooked Valley. The Confederate forces in the valley could not amount to more than a brigade, even the reports of enemy numbers provided by Ade himself, give weight to that argument. At this moment two of his brigades were involved in stopping this incursion. Surely that was enough.

His eyes moved to the other message, his boss was pre-warning him that 1st Division would shortly be receiving orders to move west and rejoin XI Corps. The whole Army of the Potomac was moving north in an attempt to keep pace with Bobby Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. He got to his feet and walked over to a huge map on the wall. Could the enemy spare a force any larger than a brigade, to cause mischief in the valley? Bobby Lee was already outnumbered. Well so far that brigade was tying down two of his, maybe that was the plan, prevent his division from joining the rest of the army. He would not allow that to happen, Ade would have to make do with what he already had. His two brigades should be more than ample for the task.



Ade and Leo, the two Union brigade commanders and their men had been stood in battle formation for nearly three hours, it was now approaching 1800. They had seen plenty of movement down the valley, troops of cavalry appearing and disappearing, all well out of range of the artillery. Occasionally, a unit of infantry could be seen marching up to the top of the escarpments, only to march away again.

'It would appear our friends have no intention of giving battle today.' Leopold von Gilsa, commander of 1st Brigade said, 'The enemy commander has seen the size of our combined force, and decided against action. To my reckoning that confirms the force opposing us is just that small brigade you fought last night. He has not been reinforced.'

Adelbert Ames tugged on his beard, 'You may be right my friend, he would have surely attacked by now.' Ade was actually pleased that no attack had come, his brigade and the two units of Leo's brigade that had marched through the previous night, were all dog tired, many had not slept for over 36 hours, or had managed a couple of hours at most. 'Perhaps he wants us to strike against him, then it would be our boys that would have to cover that open ground.'

Leo shook his head, 'We will not be giving him that advantage, if he wants to continue up the valley, he will have to push us aside first. I suggest we put out strong patrols and stand the men down, they can eat and catch some much needed sleep. The onus is on the enemy to attack us, let us wait and see what he does in the morning.'

'By the morning our strength will have grown, my request for reinforcements should see at least one more brigade join us during the night, whilst the enemy will hopefully receive none. If that is the the case, then if he does not offer battle, we will go on the offensive and drive him back down the valley.'

At that very moment Joe Davis' Brigade was just a two hour march away to the south.



The following morning, both armies rose and took their place in the respective battle formations. The Union brigades, formed up much as they had the day before, they had no reason to alter anything.

Brigadiers Archer and Davis, after studying the ground at first light, decided to put the plan of attack they had decided upon last night into effect. As Joe remarked, a slice of deception never goes amiss, if you can fool the enemy and keep him guessing, you maintain the initiative.

To all intents and purposes, the rebel force looked exactly as the Union commanders had hoped and expected. The only addition appeared to be an extra battery of artillery. Both Ade and Leo were puzzled by this development, had the enemy delayed his attack to gain just a single battery of guns?

Arrayed out of sight behind the Confederate battle line, stood four more battalions of infantry, their presence would soon be felt, as the deception plan unfolded that morning.