Sedgwick REJECTed at Salem Church

In a reminder to just how far I have fallen behind in duties to write and post battle reports, the calendar shows that the following game was played on 14 September with five of Postie's Rejects.  Gaming in September has picked up after a more relaxed summer and I am behind the curve already.

Armies arrayed for battle.

Anyway, the game on the 14th featured five Rejects taking their seats at the remote table to refight the 1863 Battle of Salem Church.  Lee (three brigades of McLaws' Division of Kershaw, Semmes, and Wofford) and Dan (McLaw, himself, Wilcox and Mahone's Brigades) would command elements of the Rebel Army while Richard (Sedgwick, Russell and Wheaton's Brigades), Steve (Newton's Division of Shaler and Browne), and Ray (Brooks' Division of Brown and Bartlett's Brigades) would take the helm of Sedgwick's Federal XI Corps.  After two weeks and three more Salem Church battles in the books since then, let's see how much of this battle I recall.

The Rebels await the attack they know is coming.

With the Rebel Army lined up in a mostly north-to-south line passing through Salem Church on the Orange Plank Road, the Federals waste no time in bringing the fight to the enemy.

Rebel army is poised to respond to the attacks.

Brown launches a frontal assault against the Rebels
hunkered down in the dense woods.

One of Wilcox's regiments is driven out of the woods
 and Rebel guns are overrun.
Payback is a B*** and Brown is stopped by canister.

The attack at Salem Church stalls.

Russell leads an attack against the enemy in from of Perry Farm.

The Rebels are thrown back into the farmstead but before

that attack can be carried out...

Bartlett attacks Wofford on the Federal Left.

Despite some success,
 Kershaw's large Brigade is stirred into action.

Kershaw advances from his defensive positions
to put Bartlett under pressure.

Bartlett looks vastly outnumbered!

In fact, he is!
His brigade is thrown back with heavy casualties.

Bartlett is spent.

Seeing another stalled attack, Sedwick looks elsewhere.
Federals are reinforcing success north of the Orange Plank Road.

Russell and Browne coordinate attacks
 against the Rebel held Perry Farm.

Attacks on the right grind down gaining little ground.

With Bartlett wrecked and attacks against Salem Church and Perry Farm going nowhere, Sedgwick orders his Corps to disengage and head north to cross the Rappahannock before that escape route is severed.  This fight is over, but Sedgwick lives to fight another day as he moves to join Hooker.

Butcher's Bill

The Butcher's Bill shows a relatively low number of destroyed regiments in both armies, but first impressions are deceiving.  Brook's Division has suffered the brunt of the heavy fighting.  Bartlett's Brigade is wrecked and Browne's Brigade is teetering on being wrecked, itself.  For the Confederates, Wofford's Brigade is wrecked from the tussle with Bartlett, but the Federal Left has collapsed. 

Congratulations to Dan and Lee for fighting back the Federal hordes!  Still, with the relatively light casualties across both armies, I reckon that the fighting could have continued.  Sedgwick (Richard) assessed that continued fighting here against Reels in the woods would only precipitate wrecking his entire Corps.  Given that he still had an escape route available before that door was slammed shut, Sedgwick opted to disengage and move north across the Rappahannock.

This battle only saw two game turns played.  That was a lot of fighting and decision making contained in only two turns.

Thank you, Gentlemen for an engaging session!  The Rebels are 1-0, thus far, at Salem Church.  Is this a fight the Federals can win?  Stay tuned...