Day Two.

After going into a huddle over a few pints of beer the previous evening, the Union team decided to try a more supple approach.

Photograph showing the Union outflanking attack on the Confederate left. The Union centre can be seen immobilised in the middle distance.

Period 5.

Pushing forward a strong artillery line, consisting of six batteries, two brought over from the Union centre, the blue divisions of their First corps now began to attempt an outflanking manoeuvre around the Confederate left. This time their flanks were well protected, and their artillery line supported by several regiments. Things began to go well, as the Union brigades swung into line of battle and forced the much weaker grey brigades gradually back towards the centre. Unfortunately, with many of their regiments in the centre immobilised due to the thrashing they had received the previous day, the Union command attempted to bring troops over from their left to engage the Confederate troops in the centre, in order to stop them reinforcing their left. This did not work out well for the blue army. Although they moved troops to cover any attack coming in from the Confederate right flank, they created a gap between their forces allowing the Rebs to push forward three of their brigades, which wheeled to their left and caught the advancing blue units moving towards the centre. Once again things began to unravel rapidly on the Union side. The outflanking attack on the Confederate left stalled, as troops were sent to assist their beleaguered blue comrades in the centre, while away on the right of the grey line the Union troops sent in to keep the enemy occupied suffered a resounding defeat by advancing too far without adequate artillery support. The result of all this was a complete route of the Union forces across the whole field. Only a few of the regiments involved managing to make their way back to their own lines in one piece.

Photograph (taken by the unsteady hand of a team member!) showing the Union centre (middle ground) trying to stem the Confederate breakthrough.

Period 6.

It was now decided that, because of the losses incurred, and the state of morale in many of the Union regiment, a decision should be made as to whether it was possible for them to continue the battle. They still had a few thousand men available who had not been directly affected by the disaster, but it was thought that these would also, under "actual" circumstances, be demoralised by what had happened to their comrades. Therefore the Union team agreed to a "roll of the dice." Only by throwing two sixes could they continue the battle. A roll of a five and a six meant that they could take one full period to reform and then continue, but since the time factor was against this it was considered that they could hold their position but not attack. Two fives thrown allowed them to retire in good order. Anything below five would cause them to quit the field in disorder - and so it was.

Union right wing attempting to save their wagon train and what remained of their combat units.

The losses, which had been carefully recorded by an independent referee, came to 1,340 Union killed and wounded, * plus 1,000 prisoners and 14 cannon. The Confederates lost far less, suffering only 865 killed and wounded and 300 captured, the latter being liberated as the Union army fell back.

The war gamer can never really achieve anything like a true battlefield situation, even with the most elaborate rules. What the outdoor war game did show was just how much fun could be had by using large troop numbers, which at least made the game "look" more realistic!

I must apologise for the quality of the photographs taken during the battle. Only having a Kodak Instamatic camera, plus a limited amount of colour film, and also allowing for the time these pictures have been kicking around (almost forty years!), I feel lucky that any record of the game has existed this long.

Graham. July 2009

* It was decided that each regiment engaged would suffer wounded as well as killed. The former being a percentage taken from the overall "hits" that a regiment received during combat. These were considered to be still fit to carry on until the next period of the game when, after another fire fight, or coming under artillery fire, they were then added to the list of killed. The wounded from this period going into the next round in a similar manner.