Campaign Climax - Battle of Vicksburg, 1863

It is six months since we played a trial version of the Vicksburg campaign at the club with Lawrence and Dennis.  Since then we have started (back in July for an initial face-to-face meeting, followed by play-by-mail for a few months) the campaign proper.  I intend to give a full account of the campaign in a separate post, but suffice it for now to say that the Union managed to invest Vicksburg on turn 5, and as the Confederate operational commander, Gordon realised that unless he could break that siege, the campaign was going to very quickly wind up as a Union victory.  Accordingly, he scratched together several divisions of the Army of the Mississippi in a rapid concentration, and persuated Ross, as Grant, to accept battle in the field just south of Vicksburg.  Here is the operational situation as the battle opens (the battlefield is the red rectangle):

Stevenson triggered the battle by marching up the Cayuga road toward Tuttle, after Forney and Bowen had positioned themselves.  The result was a starting battlefield with just one Federal division - Tuttle's, of three brigades and no artillery - on the field facing four Confederate divisions.  In addition, the heavy guns of Vicksburg threaten the northern end of the battlefield, and Loring's division in the town itself is able to offer additional support.

The guns of Vicksburg, with the Jackson-Vicksburg railroad

I commanded the Union forces, with Angus facing me, at this level with Ross and Gordon, respectively, as our deputies.   The battle started around midday, and the onus was on the Confederates to win the battle by inflicting more losses by nightfall than they suffered, for there was no prospect of their breaking a Union force that far outnumbered them. Since they had forced the battle, and had temporary superiority of numbers, I assumed that they would attack.  Tuttle's division lined the edge of a wood, eyeing Stevenson's across an open field, and waited for them to come on.  But they did not come.

It was understandable that Stevenson would hesitate to cross the open ground before the Union muskets, but Brown's and Forney's divisions also, rather than attacking Tuttle's right flank, manouevred to unite with Stevenson.  

Looking north at Tuttle's division.  Stevenson's Confederates are across the open ground to the right,
while Bowen and Forney's divions are southward, to the left.  Bring it on, Rebs.

Meanwhile Smith, in the north, lined the woods immediately south of the railway line in anticipation of XVII Corps' arrival from that direction.  With no attack developing, and massive Union reinforcements due any time, victory for the North looked likely.

An hour later, things started to develop.  The rest of  the Union XV Corps, led by Phil Sheridan, arrived from the west, Steele's division in pursuit of Forney in the south and Blair shoring up Tuttle's left flank.  And just as well, for the Confederate garrison of Vicksburg was pouring out and down the road, eager to join the fight.

Blair's division rushes on from the west, catching the Vicksburg garrison in march column. 
This could get ugly.

Deploying hastily into battle lines as Loring's men appeard from behind the woods, Blair's leftmost brigade got a volley off into the surprised Confederates before they could react, but did little harm.  Before the rest of the division could be got into proper order or the artillery deployed, the Confederates wheeled sharply into line and returned a cracking opening volley that tore holes in the Union force, flinging it back on its fellows in confusion.  At an awkward angle and with the leading brigade in a mess, Blair was never quite able to get his division's act together in the face of relentless pressure from the Confederates, despite his superior numbers and Sheridan's personal attention.  

Blair's division, failing to get its act together.

With Union casualties mounting the onus of attack now shifted.  It was imperative for the Union to reclaim the initiative and to crush the Confederate force, which was after all surrounded and seriously outnumbered.  At this moment, XVII Corps began to arrive in the north.

Smith's division of the Army of the Mississippi, awaiting the onslaught of McPherson's XVII Corps

Two divisions against two brigades, they swarmed over the line of the railroad and slammed straight into the waiting rebels.  Smith was flung back into the woods, taking casualties but giving as good as he got.

The onslaught

Meanwhile, McPherson's artillery, of no use in a scrap in the woods, deployed as a grand battery on the  of Corps' right, covering the flank and rear of Loring's division who were giving Blair so much grief.  If they could be broken it might be possible to slip up the road and into Vicksburg itself!

The grand battery

But the afternoon was wearing on, and blue bodies were still falling faster than grey ones.  Crocker and Mcarthur continued to grind away at Smith in the northern woods, but he held on tenaciously, and the artillery firing into Loring under the very walls of Vicksburg was not having the desired effect.  The remainng division of XVII Corps, Logan's, now entered the battlefield from the North-East to turn Smith's flank, only to be met by Stevenson, who at last showed some activity, turning his back (mostly) on Tuttle to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Smith against McPherson's men.

Logan's divison, with Smith's flank temptingly in sight. 
But coming  through the trees at left is the bulk of Stevenson's division in support.

Stevenson's remaining brigade, though, Cummings', continues to face Tuttle
across the open field, as they have all afternoon.

Forney and Bowen, meanwhile, had finally got loose from the southern woods and onto the clear country about the road.  Steele was hot on their heels, though, and the final Union reinforcement, Osterhaus' division of XIII Corps, came following Stevenson up from the Big Black River crossing.

With dusk approaching, and three fresh divisions in hand, the Union tried one last desperate assault to crush the Confederate southern flank before nightfall.  Tuttle at last emerged from his woods, forming up all three brigades to rush across the open field on Cummings' brigade.  Meanwhile, Steele and Osterhaus set out to scrag Forney, likewise rushing heedless of danger into the attack.  Rather surprisingly, this one worked.  Forney's division was forced into a tight square, then squashed like a bug between the two Union divisions.

Forney's last stand

Unsurprisingly, though, the other one didn't.  Tuttle's division was decimated by accurate long-range musket fire as it emerged from the woods, and by the time it reached the Confederate line had just enough puff to make a token attack before falling back, exhausted.

As darkness fell, it was clear that early complacence followed by rash assaults is no way to win a battle, even if you do have more men.  Neither army was close to breaking, but with the balance of casualties well and truly in favour of the Confederates the battle, and the campaign, went to them.  Well played, Angus and Gordon!