Battle of Chancellorsville (Jackson's Flank Attack)

"Are you ready, General Rodes?" "Yes, sir." "You can go forward then." -- Jackson and Rodes, 17:15 on 2 May (traditional, from staff recollections). Twenty-eight thousand men had just finished a day-long march round through the forest. Evening of 2 May 1863, west of Chancellorsville. Hooker's Army of the Potomac, seventy thousand strong, is gathered round the crossroads, and Lee has divided his army. To the south-east stand the fourteen thousand of Anderson and McLaws. To the west, Jackson's twenty-eight thousand have marched round beyond the Union right flank and finished forming three lines in the woods on both sides of the Orange Turnpike. A mile ahead of them, the Union XI Corps faces south and is preparing its supper. [How to win] The result is decided by a single margin. Margin = (points of objectives you hold - points of objectives the enemy holds) + (losses inflicted - losses suffered). There are eight objectives worth 140 points: Chancellorsville (the crossroads) 40, Fairview 20, Hazel Grove 20, Dowdall's Tavern 15, U.S. Ford Road 15, Talley Farm 10, Bullock House 10, Catharine Furnace 10. The Union starts with 130 points; the Furnace belongs to no one. If the margin seen from the Union side ends above the victory line (-44 points), the Union wins; below it, the Confederates win. Finish 14 points beyond the line for a tactical victory, 111 for an operational victory, and 223 for a strategic victory. Short of 14, it is a draw. If the two divided Confederate wings join at the crossroads, its forty points pass to the Confederates. [Who moves first] The Confederates move first. On turn 1, at 17:00, the lines leave the woods. [The corps at supper] The Union XI Corps (the brigades of von Gilsa, McLean, Schimmelfennig, Krzyzanowski and Buschbeck, with Dilger's guns) is on standby. It begins to wake little by little from turn 2 (18:00), and wakes on the spot if attacked. The Union II and V Corps are also on standby and begin to wake from turn 6 (06:00 the next morning). Hooker never truly committed these two corps. [The divisions sent away] Birney's and Whipple's divisions of the III Corps, with Barlow's brigade of the XI Corps, have gone south of Catharine Furnace, pursuing what they took for a Confederate retreat. [Counters that can move at once] Union: eight. Confederates: thirty (nearly the whole army). The counters of Jackson's corps carry one extra point of combat strength to represent the shock of surprise. [Night] The night of 2 May is skipped by the clock. Turn 4 (20:00) is followed by turn 5 (05:00 on 3 May). [Reinforcements] The Union I Corps arrives at the north edge by the U.S. Ford Road: on turn 4 Meredith (the Iron Brigade), Cutler, Paul and Phelps; on turn 5 Root, Baxter and Leonard; on turn 6 Rowley and Stone. [Commanders] Confederates: Jackson = Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson; Lee = Robert E. Lee; Stuart = J. E. B. Stuart (cavalry; takes over the corps in the night); A.P. Hill = A. P. Hill. Rodes's division (Iverson, O'Neal, Doles, Colquitt, Ramseur), Colston's division (Paxton = the Stonewall Brigade, J.R. Jones, Warren, Nicholls), Hill's Light Division (Lane, McGowan, Heth, Pender, Thomas, Archer), Anderson's division (Posey, Wright, Perry, Mahone), McLaws's division (Kershaw, Semmes, Wofford), artillery (Crutchfield, Breathed, Alexander). Union: Hooker = Joseph Hooker. XI Corps (von Gilsa, McLean, Schimmelfennig, Krzyzanowski, Buschbeck, Barlow, Dilger), XII Corps (Knipe, Ross, Ruger, Candy, Kane, Greene, Best = the 34 guns at Fairview), III Corps (Graham, Ward, Hayman, Franklin, Bowman, Berdan, Carr, Revere, Mott), II Corps (Caldwell, Meagher = the Irish Brigade, Zook, Brooke, Carroll, Hays, MacGregor), V Corps (Barnes, McQuade, Stockton, Ayres, Burbank, O'Rorke, Tyler, Allabach), I Corps (Meredith, Cutler, Paul, Phelps, Root, Baxter, Leonard, Rowley, Stone), Pleasonton = the guns at Hazel Grove, Devin = cavalry. The upper name on each counter is the commander, the lower the unit (for the Union, the corps). [The decisions this board asks] First (Confederate): drive the lines straight along the Turnpike towards the crossroads, or swing them north against Bullock House and the U.S. Ford Road to threaten the line of retreat. Second (Confederate): how far to push before dark. During the night the clock stops, and the next morning the Union corps on standby begin to wake. Third (Union): leave Sickles's men, sent south of the Furnace, at Hazel Grove, or bring them back to the crossroads. Abandon Hazel Grove, and Confederate guns will strike Fairview from the flank. Fourth (Union): spend your eight moves on patching the collapsing right, or on holding the crossroads. [Outcome] At 17:15 the lines came out of the woods. The XI Corps broke from its right flank within minutes, and while Buschbeck's brigade held the shallow trench at Dowdall's Tavern for nearly an hour, night fell. At about nine o'clock, as Jackson's party rode back from reconnoitring the front, the 18th North Carolina mistook them for enemy cavalry and fired. Jackson lost his left arm and died eight days later. The corps passed to A. P. Hill, and then to Stuart. At dawn on 3 May Hooker had Hazel Grove abandoned. The Confederates massed thirty guns there and struck Fairview from the flank, and within the morning the fighting became some of the fiercest of the war. Shortly after nine a shot struck a pillar of the Chancellor house and Hooker fell. Around ten the Union army gave up the crossroads and fell back to the line before U.S. Ford, and Lee rode into the clearing before the burning Chancellor house. The divided army was one again. Three days later the Union army withdrew across the river. "He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right," Lee wrote. Out of the supper smoke came the deer and the rabbits and behind them three grey lines In the night woods, a friendly volley struck down one general In the morning thirty guns stood on the abandoned height Before the burning house, the divided army became one The board runs from 17:00 on 2 May to 10:00 on 3 May. The flank march itself is not on the board (it begins at the moment the march ends), and the fighting at Fredericksburg has been given its own board, "Second Battle of Fredericksburg". Jackson's death has no effect on victory (he was shot by his own men on the night after his success). 1 hex = 400 m, 1 turn = 1 hour, 1 CS = about 500 men. T1 = 2 May 17:00 (the lines leave the woods), T2 = 18:00, T4 = 20:00, T5 = 3 May 05:00, T6 = 06:00, T10 = 10:00 (Lee enters the crossroads).