Shiloh, Part II
Withdraw to the Hornet's Nest
That's the title the game gave this section; it ended up being rather quite misleading.
"It is advised to quickly secure this area before our flanks get overrun." I'm getting hungry. A sandwich sounds like a much better plan.
This is a modest distance west of where our new plan of defense lies.
** 10:30 AM -- Both parts of the battle now unify under one command; both Corps, all 5+ divisions. We're getting pressed on both sides and it seems a 'fighting retreat' is in order here. Properly co-ordinating it doesn't look like a lot of fun. It's been a hell of a morning ... literally. Our new goals are to hold both
Shiloh Church and the
Hornet's Nest for another two hours.
I still think that sandwich is a better idea.
In all seriousness though, it looks like we can hold the church for a while in the west, but the rebels are going to break through on the east eventually. Heintzelman takes that flank, and I send the elements of his Corps(two infantry brigades, Devin's cavalry) that way with him. Loomis's division will remain in the centre of that side keeping things solid, while Stewart remains on the west with most of Wagner and Durrell's divisons to hold this. Main goal is to inflict as much damage as possible, and then retreat is something resembling order when it finally becomes necessary.
We do finally have both supply wagons on site, so that will help.
** 10:37 AM -- The first supply wagon, led by Branch, reports that he's out. Fantastic. The second one just coming up now is full. That's Barrett, but I have a feeling he's going to be drained quickly. He'll start on the more pressured positions in the east and move up and down the line a lot until he runs out. Hopefully that doesn't happen for a while. Nobody's run out of ammunition completely, but I don't know how long it will last. Above all, I'm keeping a close eye on our artillery, trying to balance effective firing positions with the need to keep them secure from attack.
** 10:46 AM -- Sometime recently our time goal switched to three hours: about 1:30 PM now we need to hold until.
** 10:50 AM -- CRAP. Just what I was trying to prevent. And I messed up the screen I had of it as well. Cavalry makes it's way undetected through to one of our artillery units, and
Cpt. Darryl Root is wounded early on in the attack. Preston is nearby, but the damage will have already been done by the time he arrives.
Half of Root's brigade is taken down by the time we chase them off. Meanwhile,
Gen. Buell is early, or at least the division led by
Nelson is. Three fresh infantry brigades coming up will be most useful.
** 11:08 AM -- Ammunition is our biggest concern. Continuing to scrap with the rebel horsemen,
Lt. Col. Steve Preston has been killed. His men were doing well holding them off -- a pretty unlucky leader.
** 11:35 AM -- Unless they press us harder, it's looking like we may not have to fall back to the Hornet's Nest at all.
** 11:56 -- We lose another one.
Lt. Col. Kelly Walton is killed defending the left flank over on the western side of the Shiloh Church area. So far his men have done well, with over 1800 rebel casualties that they can take credit for. The heavy fighting has taken it's toll though, and with their leader dead they retreat into the woods a bit.
** 12:08 -- The line hasn't moved in some while. That's a good thing, because Bartlett is now empty as well. Once again I am rueing not having more supplies. I'll definitely need another sharp increase there after this is over. More than an hour to go, and I have to pull a few brigades out based soley on the fact that they have nothing left to shoot with. I'm hoping Nelson's men can fill the gaps adequately enough.
Soon I'm no longer concerned with the integrity of keeping Corps and Divisions together -- it's more a case of the closest brigade that has something to fire at the enemy here.
** 12:35 AM -- Another charge in the east is repulsed: Elder and Kirk send Martin scurrying here. They are pushing us back, but only slowly; this is where most of the ammunition went so they've still got plenty.
** 12:41 AM -- The final volley from Kemper's Brigade(last of our Lorenz guys to have anything left) sends the rebels scurrying, gaining valuable time. Nelson's relief division takes over defense of the church area, and none too soon.
** 1:03 AM -- Looks like we're going to hold, but none of the artillery and only half the infantry is still firing. What used to be Preston's cavalry helps turn the tide of a pitched melee in the forest here, right in the centre of the battlefield.
** Note: In game terms, you can still shoot if you are out of supply, but your volleys are much less effective and reloading takes a long time. Kind of a strange 'middle ground' between normal combat ability and having nothing but your guns and bayonets to club people with.
Hold Pittsburgh Landing!
Line of defense with what? Are we supposed to throw rocks at them or something??
Good news at least.
** 1:30 PM -- We need to keep this up for another four hours. That's hilarious. Nobody cares about the other objectives anymore though, so it's time to pull back where at least the ironclads can help us.
** 3:00 PM -- 90 minuts later most, but certainly not all, of our units make it back to fortifications at Pittsburgh Landing. Woods' skirmishers, from Wagner's 1st Division on I Corps, notably don't make it. As in, none of them do -- the brigade is utterly annihilated. The choice of who defends this is simple; if you still have something resembling a projectile to fire out the businss end of your rifle, it's you. Those ships are helping, but it's still not the best of situations.
At least by now, ours aren't the only men running out of ammo.
What happens next is pretty much hell on earth. A constant, unending barrage from both sides. Charges are repulsed, defenders rout and reform, and it was clear the undertakers were going to be the only winners here. The only goal is survival.
A couple of artillery batteries bravely tried to take position at the center of the wall. They didn't accomplish anything except making themselves targets; there wasnt' enough to shoot with to make an impact. First time I've seen artillery fortifications though, so I had to try, right?
For the last hour-plus I couldn't do anything to really adjust or improve position. I could only sit there and watch the men on both sides die. Fortunately the rebels didn't have enough left to dislodge us.
I did take a quick gander at our generals, and noted that we lost about a quarter of I Corps and a third of II Corps. In one freaking
day. Ballparking it, that's about 7,000 men.
And I'm confident the rebels fared worse.
Anyway, *phew*! We did it!! Thus ends Shiloh ...
Oh. That's only the first day. How droll.
Coming up later today: the conclusion of the Battle of Shiloh, and the aftermath.