Battle of Stones River- ( Or Murfreesboro) December 31 1862- The battle.

 The big day was on and the table was ready ( obviously!!) when the Brothers arrived.  
For ease of identification I have underlined and italiscised the Confederate commanders

Ralph was Braxton Bragg and he then would 'step down' and actually play Hardee's Corps ( Cleburne's and McCown's Divisions) on the Confederate left. On the Confederate right Phil was Breckinridge holding Wayne's Hill. In the centre, Tom ( playing his first historical game ever- welcome to the BOWB!) was Leonidas' Polk and he played Wither's Division. Richard was his subordinate playing Cheatham's Division.

Paul was  Rosecrans and gave all his orders. He then 'stepped down' and played Crittenden controlling the Union Left Wing. In the Center, commanding George Thomas'  Corps with its two Divisions was Spyros. On the Union right Ross was McCook playing Davis' and Johnson's Division. Chris was his subordinated, playing Sheridan's Division. 

Ideally it would have been good to have had a total of 13 players- each commanding a Division ( 8 Union and 5 Confederate) but by juggling everyone around,  I made sure that everyone was into the action reasonably quickly and in the thick of it almost from the start.

I used the Fire and Fury Western Scenario booklet and transferred the Order of Battle to Rank and File which was a pretty simple process.

The table with the relative deployments - by Division.
Blue is of course Union, grey is the Confederates

The Confederate left hook- Hardee's Corps ( McCook's and Cleburne's Division)...deployment at start.

Bragg and Rosecrans  were given the historical briefs- and rather than give a full historical recount - suffice to say that historically both commanders planned to attack on their respective left wings. Bragg's attack went in an hour before 'Old Rosie's ' was supposed to go in, getting the jump on Union army. 

Taking the situation at that point I allowed the commanders latitude to make changes to their respective orders, based on the current deployment.

In the case of our game- Rosecrans ( Paul) decided that he wasn't going to panic, but in fact, up the ante by continuing with his flanking manoeuvre with Van Cleve's and Wood's Divisions. He also ordered McCook ( Ross) to put the pressure on the Confederates by pushing Davis' Division into Cheatham's face. (Historically they sat and absorbed the punishment from the attacking Rebs)

Bragg (Ralph) on the other hand, went pretty much with Bragg's original plan using McCown's. Cleburne's and Cheatham's Divisions to hit the Union right as hard as possible. The one thing he did differently was order Wither's to hold the entrenchments - which Tom did throughout the battle. Wither's Division with its four Brigades and two batteries was in a continual fire fight with double that number of brigades ( Sheridan's, Negley's and Rousseau's Divisions and their respective batteries - 7 in fact!)

THE GAME

The Union Right/ Confederate Left

McCown's and Cleburne's Divisions came screaming our of the early morning mist. Each of McCook's Brigades had to roll to determine their levels of preparation as historically they were in various levels of  readiness when the Rebs launched their attack. About half the brigades were deemed 'not ready' and were firing or fighting at half strength in the first turns. Ralph's (Cleburne and McCown) hit McCook ( Ross) hard and the Union troops fought every desperately every foot of the way. 

The Confederate left hook- Hardee's Corps ( McCook's and Cleburne's Division)...deployment at start.

The 0900hrs turn looking from the north: Johnson's Division ( Kirk and Willich) has been forced out of the woods and has fallen back as Baldwin's Brigade is preparing to assist.

The 11:30 am turn.
Hardee's two divisions have finally seen off McCook's divisions but at significant cost.
Cleburne himself was twice wounded - and died of wounds. 
Just to the left of this pic , Sheridan's Division and the last of Davis' and Johnson's Divisions ( not much) are forming a line. Johnson had been killed as well!

The Center

The Center. Withers was under orders to hold the entrenchments. He was outgunned by the two divisions of Thomas' Corps . Four Brigades vs Eight Brigades- Two Artillery Batteries vs 7 Artillery Batteries.
The entrenchments evened the playing filed and a long range firefight took place for much of the battle. Wither's was still holding by day's end. 

Loomis' Brigade staring out of the entrenchments

By the 1000hrs turn, The Union Brigade in the Round Forest ( A key position on the field) - on the right of the pic, had taken so many casualties it was forced to retire- leaving the Round Forest vacant!

Empty! Historically this had been a key position on teh field as Wither's Division had fought the defending Union Brigades in a bloody fight that saw it still held by Union troops at day's end. In our game, it was abandoned by the defending Union Brigade (Hazen's) and left empty.

Game in full swing!

The Union Left/ Confederate right

The situation in the north differed fundamentally then the actual historical events. 'Old Rosie' ( Paul) decided that he wouldn't panic and unlike Rosecrans historically, he ordered his troops there ( Crittenden's Corps) to stick to the original plan and capture Wayne's Hill to establish batteries there in order to bombard the Confederate lines.

The northern end of the battlefield.

Van Cleve's troops get stuck in

The view from Wayne's Hill- Union troops opposite ( Morton's pioneer brigade- also dug in and supported with artillery, Stone's River between them.

Crittenden ( Paul) kept feeding troops across the river.

Small reinforcements for Breckinridge- Jackson's Brigade

Hanson's Brigade had been holding the entrenchments on Wayne's hill- but by the 1000hrs turn they were under fire from four batteries .....some lucky hits, some assaults by Van Cleve's troops...they were whittled down and eventually broke- leaving the guns unsupported.

The final act on Wayne's Hill:
Cleared of Confederate defenders- in a bloodbath- Woods Divisional Artillery deploy to begin firing into the rear of Wither's Division in the Confederate entrenchments on the western side of Stones River.

                              

MORE PICS

Thomas' Corps- Rousseau's Brigade moving down the road.

Morton's Pioneer Brigade. Dug in and firing at Breckinridge's troops across the ford on Wayne's Hill

The last of Breckinridge's brigades try to retake Wayne's Hill

Wayne's hill with Union troops dug in opposite the ford.

Pic from early in the game- Davis' Brigades actually charged out at Cheatham's troops...and got into trouble!! ( they were following orders!)

Despite the fact that McCook's Division was pushed back substantially and lost over half its strength on the southern edge of the battlefield, Bragg ( Ralph) satisfied with the enormous casualties that he had caused, philosophically looked at his depleted brigades ( those that had spearheaded his attacks- (McCown, Cleburne and Cheatham) and stated that they didn't have the strength to continue.

On the northern edge, Crittenden and Breckinridge  had fought tooth and nail over Wayne's Hill- and it eventually fell to Palmer's Brigades who placed their artillery on it, surveying the Confederate position.

In the end- on casualties, the Confederates had inflicted substantial losses on the Union troops- but tactically the control of Wayne's Hill meant that Bragg would be in trouble- so the boys in Blue took the laurels for the day!

I collapsed in a heap in the corner after we packed it all away......and slept like a baby that night!!