Wrapped in Flames: The Great American War and Beyond

Reader mode
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

The Gunslinger said:
Man, Grant is in for a bloodbath.

This might be it for the Confederacy in Kentucky though, Smith was a solid leader and Cleburne is no slouch but Thomas has 2x the divisions.
Click to expand...

I actually did miss putting Henry Heth's division and Carter L. Stevenson's into the Army of Kentucky's roster! It's closer to 4 to 4 divisions actually. My apologies for the mistake, I hadn't realized I made the error until now.

My only excuse is I haven't seriously outlined the OOB's for the Western Theater since late 2018 so I can only beg forgiveness on that score :coldsweat:
 

The Gunslinger

EnglishCanuck said:
I actually did miss putting Henry Heth's division and Carter L. Stevenson's into the Army of Kentucky's roster! It's closer to 4 to 4 divisions actually. My apologies for the mistake, I hadn't realized I made the error until now.

My only excuse is I haven't seriously outlined the OOB's for the Western Theater since late 2018 so I can only beg forgiveness on that score :coldsweat:
Click to expand...
Well in that case, Kentucky is just going to be a free for all. The west is going to be bloody all around.
 

The Gunslinger

Icedaemon said:
Given what's going on in Kentucky, the obvious choice for them is clearly declaring to be an independent state, right?
Click to expand...
I think that would be a disaster in the long run and almost certainly lead to another war. Too many Kentuckians have served in either army and the government would constantly be pulled north or south, it could trigger a coup or foreign intervention from either side and ignite a conflict if Kentucky gets too cozy with one side over another.

I think its currently showing how the war has changed. Rather than having the Union pushing constantly you've got a stalemate with both sides pushing forward or falling back and Kentucky is bearing the brunt of this.
 
EnglishCanuck

EnglishCanuck

Icedaemon said:
Given what's going on in Kentucky, the obvious choice for them is clearly declaring to be an independent state, right?
Click to expand...

More than a few people in Kentucky would have preferred neutrality, and I guarantee you many partisans on both sides are regretting the whole war.

However, the war itself is changing many opinions.
 
Chapter 63: Grenada Run
  • Index
    • EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    Chapter 63: Grenada Run​

    Come on, come on, Come on, old man, And don't be made a fool, By ev'ry one, You meet in camp, With "Mister, Here's your mule." - C. D. Benson, Nashville, 1862

    “Pope had begun his march against Grenada in early March, departing at the same time as Grant had departed for the Tennessee. Taking his own three divisions southwards, he passed unopposed across the border into Mississippi where he paused at Horn Lake to send a missive to Washington “The armies of liberation have crossed into Mississippi where the home of the arch traitor Davis lies. We shall endeavor to plant the flag of Union upon its ashes so that it may never be removed.”

    Continuing onwards they faced almost no opposition save from guerilla sniping and cavalry skirmishes along their path of advance. The first serious Confederate resistance came at the crossings on the Tallahatchee River. Here Tighlman had sent his leading brigade under Abraham Buford to contest the crossings. Setting his headquarters in the town of Panola, Burford put his men and guns in breastworks atop the local hill line of Nelson’s Bluff, his guns covering the waters directly in front of the town, and the rail bridge Pope would require to support his advance.

    Marching to support him was the relatively weak brigade of Winfield Featherston, comprised of recently raised Mississippi troops…

    Winfield_Scott_Featherston.jpg

    Featherston​

    The leading regiments of Pope’s force (BG Eleazar Paine’s 3rd Division) in Daniel Tyler’s 3rd Brigade ran into the rough positions Buford had hastily thrown up along Nelson’s Bluff. With guns covering the river crossings directly ahead of Panola and sharpshooters much in evidence along the rail crossings, Tyler’s troops settled in to skirmish with their Confederate counterparts as the remainder of the army came up.

    By the morning of March 11th Paine’s division had settled in across the Tallahatchee from their opponents. A series of sharp skirmishes had been running from 6am to the time Pope and his staff arrived to assess the situation, by which time Hamilton’s division was settling in behind Paine’s division. Pope determined that the position could be carried by assault crossing below the rail bridge in conjunction with Hamilton’s division which would march a mile north to secure a crossing at Belmont. There, Pope would simply envelop the enemy force and drive them southwards. Though the bridge across at Belmont was out, Pope assigned his engineers to begin repairing it…

    Fighting began in earnest at 4am on the 12th as pickets of 12th Louisiana espied the efforts to rebuild the bridge at Belmont. Supported by a battery of 4 guns from the Pointe Coupee Artillery, the disrupted early efforts to force a crossing of the river, while Hamilton rushed his own guns to oppose them. The attempted crossing at Belmont thus degenerated into an artillery duel as the engineers could not rebuild the bridge until the Confederate artillery had been driven off, and the sharpshooters proved difficult to dislodge and a skirmish became general across the ground.

    At the railroad bridge, the men of Paine’s division began attempting to ford the river in small batches on rafts constructed over the preceding day at 5am. This soon came under intense musket fire from the defenders on top of the bluff. Paine’s artillery opened up now to drive to drive the defenders away, and for 15 minutes an intense cannonade bombarded the rebel positions across the river, until the order to advance was given. It was the men of the 10th Illinois who led the charge, fighting up the muddy slope, but the ground was against them as one survivor described it “men charged up only to slip right down, leaving muddy furrows in the hillside as they tripped and fell or were shot down” which blunted the first attack after an hour of fighting. Tyler’s brigade rallied again, just beneath the enemy, mainly a mix of Arkansas and Alabama extraction.

    By 7am, Paine reasoned the attack could go in again, and the bugle was sounded and the men rushed up the slope once, more, initially to just as disappointing results. However, a sound minded captain in the 60th Illinois ordered his men to use their raft as a makeshift ladder, and soon they were climbing the slope and getting in amongst the defenders. The men of the 10th and 16th copied this tactic, much to the annoyance of Paine, who had to send orders to stop the use of rafts so more men could cross. But the damage had been done, and these makeshift ladders were up along the hill, with the 60th, 10th and 16th Illinois up in force alongside some of the 10th Michigan. Morgan’s brigade was soon following on rafts of their own, and hard skirmishing, some with bayonets and clubbed rifles, was erupting on the top of the hill. Though the fighting was so rough that Col. Toler of the 60th was struck down, Paine’s division held the top of the ridge so that by 10am most of Buford’s brigade was falling back, right through the green Mississippians who had only begun to arrive by 9am. These units, rather than stand and fight, began to trickle back amid confusing orders, nearly causing a general rout until Featherston managed to establish a general rearguard…

    Pope would spend the next three days repairing the bridges across the river, while Paine’s men chased the retreating Confederates as far as Hope’s Depot. The army began marching again on the 16th, some sharp skirmishing erupting at Hope’s Depot, but nothing like the Battle of the Tallahatchee. Many in the army soon assumed an easy capture of Grenada…

    Beauregard, at his headquarters at Grenada, after sending Featherston’s troops north had only his 1st Brigade under BG Robert Lowry largely composed of state troops, both militia and new volunteers. He had been, since the end of February and the fall of Memphis had been sending pleading and cajoling letters to Corinth trying to prompt Johnston to action. Letters to Richmond had first annoyed, and then alarmed Davis as it became clear the Federal army would be capable of mounting an offensive into Tennessee and Mississippi. He also asked that Johnston move, but Johnston would cite supply and manpower difficulties. This would strain the previously well kept relationship between friends, general and commander in chief. As Grant’s army was retreating to Paris, Davis implored Johnston to attack, but he made no move to strike Grant’s army.

    At the beginning of March however, he did order Polk’s 1st Corps to move south to Grenada to help defend the Confederate position there. Polk’s forces would actually manage to move parallel to Pope’s army, moving by rail to Tupelo, and then finally overland to Coffeeville and Grenada. They would join the retreating brigades of Buford and Featherston, with two divisions moving into existing earthworks and positions across the Yalobusha River.

    Pope’s corps arrived the morning of March 18th and began maneuvering to cover the town. Both armies were in relatively enviable positions. High ground was separating the two sides across the Yalobusha, allowing each side to command dominating positions along their front. However, each side was also not well place to assault one another. Beauregard though, had constructed eight major redoubts along the south bank of the river, stretching from Grenada itself and to the crossing at Graysport.

    With cleared fields of fire, earthworks and now 24,000 men defending it, Beauregard felt he could hold his position securely…

    Pope upon seeing the fortifications, hesitated. He still rankled from his repulse at Fort Pillow, and he was not totally unaware that Beauregard had been reinforced. The parallel march had not gone entirely unnoticed, and other than being certain that it was not Johnston’s whole army Pope could not be sure how much larger the Confederate garrison was. It was unfortunate that he now found himself slightly outnumbered by his Confederate enemies.

    On the 19th, probing attacks began immediately in the early hours of the morning. Aping their success from the Tallahatchee, troops from Morgan’s brigade crossed in the early hours under cover from their artillery, but the veterans from the Army of Tennessee in Cheathan’s division were waiting for them…

    The attack was a disaster leading to the loss of 400 dead, and 700 captured or wounded. Pope would ride the lines along the remainder of the 19th and 20th, and come to the unfortunate conclusion he would need more men to overwhelm the defenders at Grenada and continue south. A forlorn private would write home, 'Gone were the proud hopes, the high aspirations that swelled our bosoms a few days ago.... [The army] has strong limbs to march and meet the foe, stout arms to strike heavy blows, brave hearts to dare — but the brains, the brains! Have we no brains to use the arms and limbs and eager hearts with cunning?' …” – On the Shores of the Mississippi: The Western Theater of the Great American War, Francis MacDougal, University of Boston, 1996
     
  • Index
    • EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    So we're probably going to be out west until Chapter 66. The current plan is to make next chapter about Grant again, then we do a brief visit with Thomas in Kentucky, spin northwards to the 49th Parallel and then we wrap up June 1863 to head east again! Grant's campaign has been frustrating to write sadly, but I split it off from this chapter and he will be the focus of chapter 64!
     

    Khaine

    Icedaemon said:
    Is this war affecting the other nations of the world in some way? How is this affecting Napoleon III? Tsar Alexander II?
    Click to expand...
    You would think that either France or Russia is indeed making use of Britain being occupied in the west by either aiding the Americans or doing some colonialism of their own by for example sending more troops to Mexico to support Maximilian.
     
    EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    The Gunslinger said:
    Is Johnston living up to his stereotype, or is he just being cautious?
    Click to expand...

    Different Johnston remember! He's actually just being cautious because he got really beat up at Grand Junction in February, and is still not confident he can predict what Grant is doing. The loss of Memphis stings, but he also knows his army, just by dint of existing, hampers the true strategic movements Grant can make, has he has quite aptly demonstrated against Pope here.
     
    EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    Icedaemon said:
    Is this war affecting the other nations of the world in some way? How is this affecting Napoleon III? Tsar Alexander II?
    Click to expand...
    Khaine said:
    You would think that either France or Russia is indeed making use of Britain being occupied in the west by either aiding the Americans or doing some colonialism of their own by for example sending more troops to Mexico to support Maximilian.
    Click to expand...

    Chapter 43 lays out some of the events going on in the wider world at large since 1862. You can definitely infer some things there, while other things will be saved for later on. I can assure you though that the Tsar is definitely doing things in Asia and Europe the British would rather he not...

    The French meanwhile are basically following their historical track record right now. They got beaten at First Puebla as historically, and have come back for Round 2. As Lee was riding through Maryland to move on Washington, General Bazaine (who replaced General Forey) has gathered 24,000 French troops and roughly 3,000 Mexican auxiliaries under Leonardo Marquez and has been besieging Puebla since March. Napoleon III has been following the Anglo-American war with interest, and he's delighted by what he sees. It has given Slidell more access to the French court than he enjoyed historically, and the campaign in Maryland has been followed very closely by French observers, which has the wheels in Napoleon's head turning.

    When we get to the end of 1863 (God willing before 2021) I'm going to do another general world update. Mexican events will get their own chapter in 1864.
     
    Icedaemon

    Icedaemon

    Thank you! I tried looking through the posts, but missed that one for some reason, sorry. Probably read it as well when I first reached this thread, but forgot about it in the interim.
     
    EnglishCanuck

    EnglishCanuck

    Icedaemon said:
    Thank you! I tried looking through the posts, but missed that one for some reason, sorry. Probably read it as well when I first reached this thread, but forgot about it in the interim.
    Click to expand...

    No worries! I'm always glad to encourage re-reading. It keeps me fresh too as sometimes I'm weeks/years away from writing something and it slips my mind! I just noticed a goof I needed to fix in the Western theater today, but it will hopefully work out in Chapter 65! My notes can be a bit messy.
     
    Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Top
    Top