Introduction: Setting up the Battle
Campaign Background
After the fall of Corinth in the summer of 1862 the Confederate forces in Mississippi were in a demoralized state. Gen. Pierre Beauregard’s army had fallen back from the strategic town after being overpowered by Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck’s much larger Union force laying siege to them. President Jefferson Davis, hoping to reinvigorate the Confederate forces in the west, divided the Confederate force and sent Gen. Braxton Bragg with half of the army to Chattanooga to rendezvous with Gen. Kirby Smith’s Army of Kentucky for an invasion of East Tennessee and Kentucky. Meanwhile, Beauregard, maintained by Davis despite the loss of Corinth, was charged with reversing the setbacks in the Mississippi Valley. Gathering his available forces Beauregard mounted as many men as he could and soon had an effective cavalry screen led by the intrepid Brig. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest soon proposed a movement to the west to cut the main enemy line of supply and communication between Memphis and Corinth along the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Doing so would force the Federal forces to retreat from Corinth and reverse the losses of the summer. Beauregard seized the initiative and began moving his army to the northwest out of sight of the Union army then occupying Corinth.
For the Federals the summer had been one of slow advances and little fighting. Halleck’s success in taking Corinth was muted as the Confederate force had slipped away unharmed from the confrontation. Nonetheless, Halleck was promoted to the role of general-in-chief and called to Washington DC to command all of the Federal armies. Halleck left Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in command of the Corinth army as he departed for the east. Grant’s Army of West Tennessee was soon aware that Beauregard’s newly christened “Army of the South” had abandoned their positions south of Corinth and began a new campaign. Grant’s own information led him to believe the Rebels were attempting a movement to retake Memphis and he rapidly began to move his forces westwards to defend the Mississippi bastion. But the telegraph lines to Memphis were soon down and the railroad cut to the west. Grant’s army would need to reclaim the railroad line to connect Memphis and Corinth once more or risk losing their hold on the northern Mississippi region they had just won.
On October 5, 1862, Grant’s army began moving south towards Grand Junction where Confederate cavalry had been spotted in force the day before. Grant hoped to recapture the railroad hub and drive Beauregard’s army back out of Tennessee. To the south, Beauregard’s cavalry was across the railroad line and awaiting the arrival of infantry from the main army. Beauregard ordered the line be defended and Grand Junction be held at all costs. The battle was about to begin.
The Battlefield Map as shown from above. The Battlefield consists of more open land in the center while the east and west sides of the map are more heavily wooded. The main east-west road runs directly between the railroad towns of LaGrange, Grand Junction, and Saulsbury.
Union Backstory
Grant’s army is divided into four roughly equal wings as it approaches Grand Junction. These wings are led by Rosecrans, McPherson, Ord, and Sherman. For the past few months Union forces in Tennessee had been terrorized by the better-led and numerically superior Confederate forces. Grant has decided to combat this by consolidating his cavalry forces under Brig. Gen. John McArthur and sending them on a risky flanking march to the west. Reinforced by a brigade of U.S. Regular Infantry, the cavalry force is moving quickly for LaGrange. Additionally, a small diversionary force has been sent to the east to make a raid against Saulsbury.
Rosecrans’s Center Wing has taken the lead for the advance towards Grand Junction. Behind them the Reserve Wing of Sherman’s is moving in support. To the east the Left Wing, under Ord, is moving while. To the west the Right Wing, led by McPherson, is covering the army’s right flank. Altogether Grant’s forces number 58,000 men.
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To the right the Union's Order of Battle is listed. The four Wings consist of two divisions each. Each Wing has five brigades. The Cavalry Division contains three cavalry brigades and one infantry brigade.
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Below is the Battlefield Map showing the starting locations of the Union forces on the field of battle. Note that only Union forces are shown on this map. Rosecrans and Sherman lead the main advance directly towards Grand Junction while McPherson enters on their right and Ord on their left. McArthur's Cavalry arrives from the west while just a small diversionary force arrives from the east.
Confederate Backstory
Gen. Pierre Beauregard has, just as at Shiloh, created an army composed of four small corps. These corps are commanded by Sterling Price, Earl Van Dorn, Simon Buckner, and John Breckinridge. Beauregard's cavalry division is led by Nathan Bedford Forrest and contains three reinforced brigades. Beauregard’s Army of the South has moved rapidly to cut the railroad line supplying Corinth from Memphis at Grand Junction. Forrest’s cavalrymen were the first to reach the railroad and have already begun destroying the track. Behind Forrest's troopers are the main body of the army moving to permanently sever the lines of communication and supply for the Federals into northern Mississippi. The Confederates must hold the railroad long enough to damage it and force the Federals to abandon Corinth.
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To the right the Confederate Order of Battle is listed. There are four corps, eight divisions, sixteen infantry brigades, and three cavalry brigades.
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Below is the Battlefield Map showing the starting locations of the Confederate forces on the field of battle. Note that only Confederate forces are shown on this map. Price and Van Dorn begin the battle on the map moving northward for Grand Junction and Saulsbury. Breckinridge arrives shortly and is heading towards LaGrange. Buckner comes up in a few hours and heads towards Grand Junction.
Victory Conditions
In the scenarios I create I do not use the traditional victory conditions. Instead, I use objectives and casualty limits to determine the victor in the scenario.
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Winning with Objectives
For this battle I wanted to give the Federals a couple of different ways to win the battle offensively. Therefore, I placed three different objectives on the map - LaGrange, Grand Junction, and Saulsbury.
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If the Federals are able to capture the Grand Junction objective flag they will automatically win the battle. If they capture both the LaGrange and Saulsbury objective flags, holding both at the same time, they will win the battle automatically. This gives them a few options and forces the Confederates to defend multiple points across the map.
Winning with Casualties
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 50,000 men on the battlefield in total. They can take up to 35% losses in the battle (17,500 men). Artillery losses do NOT count towards this total – only infantrymen and cavalrymen.
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The Federals have 58,000 men on the battlefield in total. They can take up to 35% losses in the battle (20,300). Artillery losses do NOT count towards this total – only infantrymen and cavalrymen.
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If either side crosses their threshold for casualties it results in an automatic win for the other side.