Fight For Henry House Hill

The Battle of First Manassas was joined when McDowell launched a flanking attack against scattered Rebels on Matthews' Hill.  All replays of this mid-morning fight ended with the Confederate Army in tatters.  In every refight, the Rebels lost three brigades early on in the fight.  The destruction of these three Confederate brigades mirrored the historical outcome.   Once on the backfoot, the Confederate Army struggled to regain its balance.  Actually it never did regain its footing and all games, ultimately, tipped for the Federal Army.  These results were ahistorical.  How could this be?  Well, there could be many reasons why but one observation was that the Confederates fed their troops into battle piecemeal and exposed them to risk too early.  The Union Army was much better at managing unit rotation and replacement.

To give the Confederate Army a fighting chance, the next scenario resets the battle after the early afternoon lull with Jackson already on Henry House Hill and Rebel reinforcements streaming pell-mell to the field.  Would this change the outcome? 

On short notice, I was able to dragoon four players into taking up the gauntlet of command.  Players (and their blogs) are:

USA:

Chris (Horse and Musket Gaming) as General Heintzelman (three brigades total).

David B. (The Ragged Soldier) as General McDowell, General Tyler, General Porter (three brigades total).

CSA:

Tony (Prometheus in Aspic) as General Beauregard (three brigades total).

Mark (Mud Blood and Steel) as General Johnston (two brigades plus Hampton's Legion).

As a reminder, the battlefield at the start of the 1pm game turn looked like this:

Situation 1pm.

Let's see how the battle played out in yesterday’s game!

After putting the Confederate Army to flight following the action at Matthews' Hill, the Federal Army pauses to regroup.  Burnside's Brigade is wrecked and Porter's Brigade has sustained some casualties. Their division commander has been wounded and carried from the field.  The stage is set for the fight at Henry Hill. 

As the action unfolds, Porter deploys along the Warrenton Pike facing the enemy positioned on Henry House Hill.  Tyler brings up Sherman and Keys' Brigades on his left while Heintzelman brings his division down the Sudley-Manassas Road.  With Hampton's Legion covering the salient at Robinson House, Johnston deploys Jackson and his brigade on Henry House Hill.   

Federal Army poised along Young's Branch

while Tyler brings up two brigades of his division on the left.

Sherman moves up to support Porter.

Jackson silently watches from afar.

Hampton's Legion at Robinson House.

With Tyler bringing up two brigades on his left and Heintzelman bringing up three brigades on his right, Porter boldly crosses the Young's Branch stream.  Cautiously, Sherman shakes his brigade out into line as he comes up in support of Porter.  Wilcox leads his brigade across the stream on the Federal far right with an eye toward turning the Rebel left.  As the Federals step across the stream, Jackson orders some of his men off the heights and down to the road.  What?  One Rebel regiment and one gun section are quickly followed by a second regiment and gun section.  Now, Jackson has four guns and support astride the road.  The two armies begin exchanging artillery fire. 

Union troops splash into Young's Branch.

Sherman shakes his brigade out into line.

Jackson orders troops off Henry Hill and
 onto the Sudley-Manassas Road.

Wilcox marches across the stream intent on turning a flank.

Jackson stands ready.

With reports of Cocke's Brigade of Rebels moving up on Jackson's right toward Robinson House, Porter moves to envelope Hampton's Legion before it can be rescued.  With Sherman moving up in support and Keyes swinging even farther left, Porter attacks.  To prevent Cocke from reinforcing Hampton, Keyes moves around against the Rebel right.  Lining the stream and occupying the woods, Cocke holds on.  Advancing up the slopes to Robinson House, Porter's first attempt is shattered.  Reconsidering, Porter switches to musketry to try to root the Rebels out of the farm.  Robinson suffers but stands firm at first but eventually succumbs. 

Porter prepares the attack on Hampton's Legion

as the Long Blue Lines form up along the pike
all the way to Sudley-Manassas Road.

Porter attacks!

Keyes moves up on Porter's left.

Keyes attacks!

With the Federal left stuck in a firefight with no advantage gained, the battle focus shifts back to the fight along the Sudley-Manassas Road.  Franklin moves up to cover Howard as he brings up his brigade and deploys for battle.   The 33rd VA positioned at the foot of Henry House Hill absorbs punishment from Franklin and Federal artillery firing down from Matthews' Hill.  Suffering some, they remain firm.  Meanwhile, Howard's lead regiment is cut down before it can successfully deploy as Elzey's Brigade forms up on Jackson's left across the Sudley-Manassas Road.  Elzey's lead regiment shares a similar fate as it is shredded forming up into line.  With Wilcox working his way around the Rebel left, does McDowell still have time to push the Rebels from Henry House Hill?

Firefight below Henry House Hill.

Wilcox works his way onto the Rebel left.

Jackson is relieved to see Elzey arrive!

With Bonham arriving onto Henry House Hill,
Rebel positions look secure.

Wilcox cannot counter the arrival of more Confederates. 

With Porter and Franklin nearing their breaking points, McDowell calls off the attack.  The Rebellion will not be quashed today.

Dispositions at battle's end.

After nearly four hours of play and the hour late, the Federal Army, while not conceding defeat, calls off the attacks.    

Victory and congratulations to the Confederate commanders of Tony and Mark!  My condolences to David and Chris.

Having the same group of players fighting over much the same ground within a few weeks' time is a joy.  With rules and situation still fresh in mind, tactics are developing and rules are becoming more familiar.  Still, Henry House Hill is a rather large game to tackle at the regimental level and remotely.  Could the Union Army have fought on?  Yes it could.  Would the outcome have been changed?  We will never know but the Confederate positions looked solid upon Henry House Hill.  Having only momentarily gotten a toehold at Robinson House, the Federals never really threatened Henry Hill.  The Federal Army may have won the battle in the morning on Matthews' Hill, they lost it in the afternoon on Henry House Hill.  Did the introduction of a lull (and reset) between the fight on Matthews' Hill and Henry Hill alter the outcome of the previous, full battle fights?  It did. The Rebels carried the day.  

My many thanks to Chris, David, Mark, and Tony for a very enjoyable session.  What's next?  While there remain battles to yet chronicle, I look forward to the next new scenario.  Will we stick to ACW?  Stay tuned.

Up next is a second run-out of this Henry Hill scenario on Thursday.