What Would You Do #3

[johan_steele]

Option 1: You are a General in the US Army serving in the Western theatre during the fall of 64. You command a newly raised Brigade of 5 Cav Regiments w/ a battery of Horse Arty. Three Regimenst are largely equipped w/ Spencer Carbines and Rifles the other two carry a mix of Sharps, Hall and Smith Carbines. They are all well equipped and in peak physical condition. The most pressing problem is a lack of adequate mounts. You've gone so far as to requisition mules for about a third of your two older Regiments and every horse w/in fifty miles has been taken if not by the US than by the CS. Your two new Regiments are fresh from the frontier, they have been fighting Sioux for the last two years but they have never faced the Rebs. However, is fighting the Indians the same as fighting that wizard Forrest? The other Regiment is fresh from the Army of the Potomac.

You have been told that your Cav will be placed in a Division under the command of a General who has never commanded Cav, a West pointer. The next campaign is to be against Forrest w/ the intention of destroying him once and for all... it's been tried before.

Adding more problems is rivalry between the troops from the east and west... Your western veterans call them "Potomac Polishers" and the easterners call the westerners "Mule pushers" and several times the exchanges have ended w/ blows. Their officers are quite disdainful of the westerners, primarily because they lack polish.

How do you solve the horse issue, rivalry problems and prepare your men for the toughest opponent of the War; Forrest?

[johan_steele]

Option 2: You are a Colonel in command of a Brigade of Cav under the command of the legendary General Forrest. You have 6 Regiments of Cav and a battery under your command; though in all honesty many are Cav in name only. Many of the old veterans are gone; dead, deserted or captured. There are enough mounts for only about a quarter of your men. Most are well armed w/ a mixture of Enfield 2 & 3 Band Rifles and a dazzling array of carbines mostly courtesy of the US Army. They have the advantage of short supply lines and the added benefit of defending their homes.

Many of your men have become quite dispirited of late w/ the mounting failures in the east and the loss of Atlanta. Morale is a real problem; A Company of Texans in a neighboring Brigade deserted en masse taking their mounts with them. Shermans March to the Sea and Savanah has not helped matters either. None of your men have been paid in the last six mos, few have received govt rations or supplies since August. Recent recruits have been a disaster, many completely unfamiliar w/ horses, some too young to be trusted alone w/ firearms and some too old to be used for anything but teamsters and medical orderlies. Worst of all is a company of volunteers from the State Prison; while you appreciate the addition to your Brigade; you're not quite certain how far to trust them.

You are short of fodder for the horses you do have. Rations and arms for your men are not really a problem though an inconsistant quartermaster department is a problem. The only thing you have plenty of us arms... and Yankees to shoot at. Your only real consolation is the knowledge tht your yankee counterpart has the same problem w/ remounts that you do.

You have led seceral reconoiters yourself and are well versed with the enemy dispositions. There are several fresh Regiments from the Army of the Potomac facing you as well as several fresh from Indian fighting on the Frontier. You've licked Union Cav before and w/ Forrest in command you are confident that your men will perform to the best of their ability.

What can you do to ready your men for the inevitable Yankee push?

[gunny]

This one took some serious thinking.

#1 - First, I mount the eastern regiment on the mules that my two old regiments had and trade their horses to my old regiments.

Second, since the two frontier regiments have experience in guerilla style warfare, I have them play the OpFor as Forrest.

Third, I command the two old regiments and my new mule regiment, and have my regimental commanders (east and west) work together to make split second decisions in the face of the frontier regt.s agressions.

The horse issue will be soved by dismounting one of the frontier regt.s and distributing their horses to the other regt.s

Hopefully this will instill some cohesion between the east-west regt.s and utilize the Frontier boys to their best ability as the aggressors.



#2-How do I prepare for the Yankee push?

I suppose I prepare my men by offering a stirring speech to grip their hearts and minds and tell them how valuable each of their services are, and that they may be utilized in positions they find unattractive, but it is for the good of the unit. I dismount all my troopers and reform a special unit - made up of hand picked men, this will be the samllest and best equipped unit, it will not be redesignated, but retain the numerical i.d.s of all of the men's regts.

They will know they are the cream of the crop. The remaining men will be mounted with the reamining horses. I will leave one regt. dismounted entirely to cope with the encampment and erect fortifications. This one is made up of new recruits and to instill trust in the convicts, I place them in charge with one of my close staff officers to oversee their strict compliance with the loosest army regulations - primarily not to mistreat or misuse the newest recruits. These new men will be trained in manual of arms and target practice on a regular basis, until one of my little raids can capture some more horses from my opponent.

Hope it works!

[gunny]

Shane,


What do you think? I don't think anyone else will respond, so give me the heads up on my ideas.

[johan_steele]

I took these from info I had gathered on Wilson's Cav Strike into Alabama... the New Union Cav Commander was Upton. Gunny I believe you have read some of the same sources as I; or are quite familiar w/ the realities of the War as again your actions are similar enough to what was actually done to say thats the way to go.

There were very real problems between eastern & western troops. The mules... IIRC there were just about 300 of them carrying the best marksman of the Brigade. There was a "shoot off" to see who was worthy to be put in the "elite" mounted rifles. There was a fair number of those Indian fighters and westerners... comparatively few easterners which cmed some of the animosity. The best shooting being done by one of the "Indian Fighters" a Sgt in an Iowa Regt; a string of 11 shots w/ a Sharps Carbine @ 200 yards forming a group you could cover with your hand. Not as impressive as one might first think, except that he was firing from the back of a moving horse. They fared quite well under the command of General Upton.

Option 2...A corps of the best horseman and most experianced veterans were given the pick of the horses. The new recruits of dubious quality were given defensive duties as dismounted Cav w/ the former inmates (many possibly wielding firearms they had made in the arsenal) as a independent company under the direct command of the General. Their orders to protect the battery at all hazards.

Morale was a critical issue, w/ "French Leave" being a real problem.

The CS Brigade was mauled; ceasing to exist as a fighting force in a matter of hours. Several picketts were either taken unawares or deserted. I'm inclined to believe they were taken by those men who were quite adept at fighting Indians.

[gunny]

Shane,

Believe it or not, I haven't read amy of those accounts, but I suppose my background and knowledge of the era play a part. Thanks for the results, It is remarkably similar. Post another one of these things, or I'll come up with one too.

Thanks,
Jamie