GeorgeCrecy
12-17-2013, 01:09 AM
Dear Civil War-o-philes, fellow reenactors, and other forum stalkers,
You might have seen a few posts by me, but I have yet to fully introduce myself. I am GeorgeCrecy, the resident researcher and historian for the WoR team. Over the next four or five threads, I will be detailing the various battles of the Maryland Campaign, of which the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg is included, mainly so that you can see some of the things we take into consideration while creating this game. It is also to show the amount of time and effort we put in to see just how much we attempt to stick to what actually happened.
So, I begin this series with the background information and the lead up to the first engagement at Harper's Ferry.
The Maryland Campaign occurred in September of 1862 from the 4th through the 20th. But, before we can talk about the various battles, it
might be important to mention some of the background that led to them.
General McClellan of the Union Army of the Potomac had achieved a very successful Peninsula Campaign, up until General Lee
took control of the Army of Northern Virginia in June of 1862. At that point, and especially after the Seven Days Battle,
McClellan had his role reversed from victor to running scared with his tail tucked between his legs. Following this, Lee
moved into Northern Virginia, meeting up against Union General John Pope and the Army of Virginia. Both were resoundingly
crushed in the Second Battle of Manassas/Second Bull Run after Pope was utterly outmaneuvered by Lee.
However, in all these victories the Army of Northern Virginia was stricken with a manpower and supply deficiency, with the
land around them burned and foraged into hollow nothingness from the ample place it used to be. To resupply, Lee had to
take his army somewhere else. At the same time, Lincoln was faced with the coming new election of senators, where if things
did not turn around then more democrats might be elected into Congress, tipping the balance in favor of those looking to
end the war via negotiation or some other settlement. Lee, knowing this, decided to continue his attack on Northern morale
and ample supplies by making a daring raid into the North, switching what had been a defensive fight entirely in the South
to an offensive one in the North. War looks better from far away, rather than close and personal as the people of hard-hit
Virginia found out quickly, and Lee intended to return in full to the as-of-yet spared people of Pennsylvania and
Maryland. Additionally, a definitive win in the North might have given the Southern cause credence enough in the eyes of
European onlookers like France and England for them to come in on the side of the South and acknowledge them as an actual
nation.
So, Lee was taking a large gambit with his forces, with a lot at stake riding on his being victorious. At the same time,
Lee had one of the more sizable and battle-proficient armies fighting for the south, that should his army be beaten and
taken captive, might spell the doom of the South as well. Even more daring, Lee ventured to divide his army into several
parts - a big no no tactically speaking - that he might attack the North in several different prongs: one with General
Longstreet going into Boonsboro and Hagerstown, one with General Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry, and the remaining corps
of cavalry under General Jeb Stuart and a division of infantry under General Hill to guard the rear of the army at South
Mountain. They set out from Centreville, VA on September 3rd, and breaking up into several parts by the 6th while crossing into Maryland and after they had crossed as well on the 7th.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields...mpaign-map.jpg
With this, Lee was met with quite a bit of resistance from the people of Maryland, who for the most part did not share the
pro-secessionist views of their legislature. Where he was expecting a slave-holding state just waiting for a Confederate
banner to flock to, he instead was met with a call to arms against him by both Maryland and Pennsylvania, even in Baltimore
where at the beginning of the war civilians had thrown rocks at a passing regiment of men.
While Lee and his army invaded, word got back to Washington, causing quite the flurry of panic. McClellan left Washington
with 87,000 men on the 7th, though at his characteristic snail's pace. When they got to Franklin, Maryland on the 9th, Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Infantry discovered the infamous cigar-wrapping which had Lee's Special Order 191. With that, McClellan had all the plans of Lee with his daring split of his lesser forces, and all McClellan had to do was act and mop up the forces one by one. However, he waited 18 hours before he did anything. This allowed Lee, somehow alerted to the discovery of his plan, to begin moving his forces back into one formation, centered on Sharpsburg, Maryland. As long as the various Gaps at South Mountain could be held which separated Lee from McClellan, Jackson would have enough time to take Harper's Ferry and get back in time to reinforce Lee. Longstreet in the mean time was "foraging" supplies from the surrounding countryside for the supply-stricken army.
The die cast, the future would first be decided by what happened at the first battle of this daring campaign: the Siege of Harper's Ferry.
Until the next thread.
You might have seen a few posts by me, but I have yet to fully introduce myself. I am GeorgeCrecy, the resident researcher and historian for the WoR team. Over the next four or five threads, I will be detailing the various battles of the Maryland Campaign, of which the Battle of Antietam/Sharpsburg is included, mainly so that you can see some of the things we take into consideration while creating this game. It is also to show the amount of time and effort we put in to see just how much we attempt to stick to what actually happened.
So, I begin this series with the background information and the lead up to the first engagement at Harper's Ferry.
The Maryland Campaign occurred in September of 1862 from the 4th through the 20th. But, before we can talk about the various battles, it
might be important to mention some of the background that led to them.
General McClellan of the Union Army of the Potomac had achieved a very successful Peninsula Campaign, up until General Lee
took control of the Army of Northern Virginia in June of 1862. At that point, and especially after the Seven Days Battle,
McClellan had his role reversed from victor to running scared with his tail tucked between his legs. Following this, Lee
moved into Northern Virginia, meeting up against Union General John Pope and the Army of Virginia. Both were resoundingly
crushed in the Second Battle of Manassas/Second Bull Run after Pope was utterly outmaneuvered by Lee.
However, in all these victories the Army of Northern Virginia was stricken with a manpower and supply deficiency, with the
land around them burned and foraged into hollow nothingness from the ample place it used to be. To resupply, Lee had to
take his army somewhere else. At the same time, Lincoln was faced with the coming new election of senators, where if things
did not turn around then more democrats might be elected into Congress, tipping the balance in favor of those looking to
end the war via negotiation or some other settlement. Lee, knowing this, decided to continue his attack on Northern morale
and ample supplies by making a daring raid into the North, switching what had been a defensive fight entirely in the South
to an offensive one in the North. War looks better from far away, rather than close and personal as the people of hard-hit
Virginia found out quickly, and Lee intended to return in full to the as-of-yet spared people of Pennsylvania and
Maryland. Additionally, a definitive win in the North might have given the Southern cause credence enough in the eyes of
European onlookers like France and England for them to come in on the side of the South and acknowledge them as an actual
nation.
So, Lee was taking a large gambit with his forces, with a lot at stake riding on his being victorious. At the same time,
Lee had one of the more sizable and battle-proficient armies fighting for the south, that should his army be beaten and
taken captive, might spell the doom of the South as well. Even more daring, Lee ventured to divide his army into several
parts - a big no no tactically speaking - that he might attack the North in several different prongs: one with General
Longstreet going into Boonsboro and Hagerstown, one with General Jackson to capture Harper's Ferry, and the remaining corps
of cavalry under General Jeb Stuart and a division of infantry under General Hill to guard the rear of the army at South
Mountain. They set out from Centreville, VA on September 3rd, and breaking up into several parts by the 6th while crossing into Maryland and after they had crossed as well on the 7th.
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields...mpaign-map.jpg
With this, Lee was met with quite a bit of resistance from the people of Maryland, who for the most part did not share the
pro-secessionist views of their legislature. Where he was expecting a slave-holding state just waiting for a Confederate
banner to flock to, he instead was met with a call to arms against him by both Maryland and Pennsylvania, even in Baltimore
where at the beginning of the war civilians had thrown rocks at a passing regiment of men.
While Lee and his army invaded, word got back to Washington, causing quite the flurry of panic. McClellan left Washington
with 87,000 men on the 7th, though at his characteristic snail's pace. When they got to Franklin, Maryland on the 9th, Corporal Barton Mitchell of the 27th Indiana Infantry discovered the infamous cigar-wrapping which had Lee's Special Order 191. With that, McClellan had all the plans of Lee with his daring split of his lesser forces, and all McClellan had to do was act and mop up the forces one by one. However, he waited 18 hours before he did anything. This allowed Lee, somehow alerted to the discovery of his plan, to begin moving his forces back into one formation, centered on Sharpsburg, Maryland. As long as the various Gaps at South Mountain could be held which separated Lee from McClellan, Jackson would have enough time to take Harper's Ferry and get back in time to reinforce Lee. Longstreet in the mean time was "foraging" supplies from the surrounding countryside for the supply-stricken army.
The die cast, the future would first be decided by what happened at the first battle of this daring campaign: the Siege of Harper's Ferry.
Until the next thread.