Introduction
The 1864 Valley Campaign had started out well for Jubal Early’s Army of the Valley. Initial victories in the valley were followed up with an offensive against Washington DC itself in the summer of 1864. Although Early was turned back Grant needed to find a general who could aggressively defeat Early and close the Shenandoah Valley for good. Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan was made the new Federal commander and he launched an offensive to recapture the valley and drive Early back. Sheridan’s offensive succeeded in pushing the Army of the Valley back up the valley. Sheridan destroyed large amounts of supplies and devastated parts of the rich Shenandoah Valley to keep them from again being used to feed Lee’s army besieged in Richmond. After completing his mission Sheridan was ordered back to Winchester where he would then dispatch the VI Corps to Grant’s army and continue to garrison the valley with the remainder of his Army of the Shenandoah.
But the Confederates were not done in the Shenandoah Valley just yet. Just as Sheridan began to move the VI Corps eastward for Manassas Gap the Confederates appeared once again at Berryville. Rumors had circulated that Longstreet’s Corps had been dispatched from Lee to reinforce Early and that the Confederates were now nearly equal in strength to his own force. Sheridan discredited the reports as Grant assured him that no troops had left Petersburg for the valley. Nonetheless Early’s movements now were more aggressive than had been and the rumors persisted of trainloads of Confederates arriving in the valley to reinforce Early. As the sun rose on October 17, 1864, Union scouts could make out Early’s Army of the Valley moving through Berryville in the distance. Always anxious for a fight Sheridan knew that his army had proved much in the past few months and was ready for the climatic battle to determine the fate of the Shenandoah.
As the sun rose the two forces were on a collision course north of Berryville.
An overhead map of the battlefield without any forces on it. Note the two yellow stars representing the objectives both sides will seek to control.
Confederate Info
Early’s army was still a dangerous force but desperately in need of reinforcements if they were to regain the valley and keep Sheridan from reinforcing Grant. With no men to spare from the Petersburg lines Jefferson Davis would have to call upon other sources of manpower which were becoming less and less as the war progressed. Hood’s Army of Tennessee had been forced out of Atlanta and were then moving into northern Alabama in an attempt to draw Sherman back from Atlanta. Once it became clear that Sherman had his own plans Davis decided to return to his earlier strategies of stripping one department to reinforce another briefly.
Maj. Gen. Benjamin Cheatham would take two of his divisions, Cleburne’s and Brown’s, and move through East Tennessee and through the Carolinas to reach the valley. Accompanying him would be a small division of cavalrymen under Forrest. These 11,000+ men would be all the help Early could count upon to retake the valley.
Reorganizing his small army into three infantry and one cavalry corps Early set out to expel Sheridan from the valley and force Grant to abandon his siege by threatening Federal positions around Washington.
VICTORY CONDITIONS
There are two objective flags on the battlefield. The Confederates begin the battle with a Draw status. In order to maintain this you must hold at least one objective by the end of the battle. Should the Yankees capture both objectives and hold them they will be victorious.
CASUALTY LIMITS
The reality is that many of the games we play are borderline unrealistic bloodbaths in which commanders have no need to rationalize their losses because there is "no tomorrow". Actual Civil War generals were constantly reminded about the importance of keeping their army intact and of minimizing losses for both political and military reasons. Even the most bloodiest of battles rarely saw casualties exceed 35% of the available men engaged for either side. Therefore, I have set casualty limits for both sides which will automatically result in a defeat should they lose too many men in the battle.
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​The Confederates have 41,000 men on the battlefield in total. You can afford to take 35% losses in the battle before being forced to abandon the field – this amounts to 14,350 men. Artillery losses do NOT count towards this total – only infantrymen and cavalrymen.
To the right is the overhead map showing the starting locations and arrival times and locations of Confederate reinforcements. Above is the Order of Battle for the Confederate Army.
Union Info
VICTORY CONDITIONS
There are two objective flags on the battlefield. The Federals begin the battle with a Draw status. In order to maintain this you must hold at least one objective by the end of the battle. Should the Rebels capture both objectives and hold them they will be victorious.
CASUALTY LIMITS
The reality is that many of the games we play are borderline unrealistic bloodbaths in which commanders have no need to rationalize their losses because there is "no tomorrow". Actual Civil War generals were constantly reminded about the importance of keeping their army intact and of minimizing losses for both political and military reasons. Even the most bloodiest of battles rarely saw casualties exceed 35% of the available men engaged for either side. Therefore I have set casualty limits for both sides which will automatically result in a defeat should they lose too many men in the battle.
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​The Federals have 47,000 men on the battlefield in total. You can afford to take 35% losses in the battle before being forced to abandon the field – this amounts to 16,450 men. Artillery losses do NOT count towards this total – only infantrymen and cavalrymen.
Above is the Union map complete with reinforcement locations and times which they will roughly begin to arrive.
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To the left is the Union Order of Battle for the scenario.