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Texas has cast off the shackles of the Federal dictatorship and declared its independence. Adding a further 2,404 volunteers to the miltia,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3432797486
The Confederate Congress passed the Militia Act I, which authorised the raising of additional state militia units on a 12 month contact of service.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433430865
The passing of the Militia Act leads to a surge of volunteers, 27,954 additional volunteers wish to serve.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433433552
Abraham Lincoln has taken over from Buchanan as President of the Union States. This is bad news for the Confederacy as Lincoln is a known hard-liner who has expressed his determination to crush the freedom of the South to force them back into the Union.
The Confederate Congress authorise the formation of the Confederate States Army to defend the Confederacy. However, no new units will be raised until war is declared. The announcement attracts a further 605 volunteers willing to serve in the CSA.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433435238
The key point of note is that the Union has not begun mobilising its forces. So, militarily nothing has changed since February although the South now has many more volunteers willing to serve. However, we don't know how many northerners are willing to fight to restore the Union.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433439798
The Confederate Congress have begun enacting the 'Government Funding I' policy which will allow them to increase tariffs and subsidies as well as unlock further financial acts.
I was not sure if this was the best option to choose as my second policy. The alternatives were 'Military I', 'Industrialisation I' and 'King Cotton I', but I figured that as most of the others involved spending money it was probably best to go for the one that increased revenue first.
the Financial Strategy is working so far. My decision not to spend anything in the early campaign has resulted in a positive income of $29M and a fall in Interest Rate. despite maximising the Subsidies available. The only bad news is that the Union seem to be following suit and benefiting to an even greater extent at the moment.
https://youtu.be/t8NHeLew05s?si=cOmdvrHA6XLJDJA1
It's a good point, as I've simply assumed that subsidy worked the same way all the other did and built up a fund that could be spent later. But actually I don't think it does.
I cancelled the Politic's Subsidy for a few days, which would have saved me $10M per year. But on checking I quickly realised that there are six projects that are reliant upon Political Subsidies for funding and so I changed my mind and put it back to maximum.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433764518
Reports from Washington confirm that the Union is investing heavily in securing support from the European Nations in the form of trade and the supply of weapons.
Economic Subsidies increased from $5M to $12.5M
Industrialisation I is being discussed by the Senate and should be enacted in 25 days time..
We could do with more time to prepare, but I doubt it will be forthcoming.
Our Credit Rating is Good, our financial situation is sound and improving and trade is increasing. We currently have an annual surplus of £19M and a treasury balance of +$7.6M. That won't last long once war is declared but it's a better start than I had for my Union Campaign.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433985120
I am slightly concerned that Virginia has not seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy, but I am assured that it will happen. At the moment the Confederacy has a buffer of neutral states between its borders and those of the Union.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433989818
We are also short of arms with over 43,000 volunteers but only a few thousand rifled muskets.
- 6,000 Springfield Rifled Muskets
- 3,000 Mississippi Rifles
- 510 Maynard Cavalry Carbines
- 510 Plains Rifles
Artillery pieces are equally sparse.- 21 x 24 Pound Howitzers with an additional 21 on order.
- 4 x 10 Pound Parrot Rifles
- 16 x 12 Pound Field Guns
- 16 x 12 Pound Howitzers
Not much to equip the 43,185 volunteers we currently have available.The good news is that for the moment the Federal Government seem content to ingratiate themselves with Spain and Europe and are no more focused on war than we are having only equipped 2,367 volunteers to our 2,481.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3433983068
The supply situation of Fort Sumter has become critical and President Lincoln has ordered a relief expedition of ships led by former naval captain Gustavus V. Fox to land supplies and additional troops at the fort.
He notified Francis Wilkinson Pickens the former Governor of South Carolina of his intentions and assured him that only provisions for the garrison would be landed, even though that was not the intention.
The Confederate Cabinet has been notified and is meeting in Montgomery Alabama to discuss the situation.
The Confederate Cabinet initiated a review of its administrative procedures to speed up future political decision making.
The bombardment of Fort Sumter began as 4:30 this morning when Lt. Henry S. Farley acting on the orders of Captain George S. James fired the first shell from a 10" mortar at the Union held fort.
This act was the culmination of a series of exchanges which took place yesterday between General P. G. T. Beauregard of the South Carolina Militia and the fort commander Major Anderson. General Beauregard sent his aide Colonel Chesnut with a final ultimatum to the garrison demanding the surrender of the fort. But Major Anderson aware of the imminent arrival of the relief force under Captain Fox refused but stated that the fort would be evacuated by sea before April 15.
Colonel Chesnut was not impressed with Major Anderson's promise and refused to accept it as a condition for granted a four-day delay. Instead, he gave the garrison one hour to surrender before the besiegers opened fire.
Following the first shot from Lt. Farley's 10" mortar a general bombardment commenced from the 43 guns and mortars housed in the fort and floating batteries surrounding the Union-held fort.
The garrison did not begin firing back until after breakfast at 7 am, but the bombardment was enough to deter the ships of Captain Fox's relief force from approaching the fort for the rest of the day.
Colonel Louis Wigfall, a former U.S. senator, who had been observing the battle decided that this indicated the fort had endured enough. He commandeered a small boat and sailed over to the fort from Morris island, waving a white handkerchief from the tip of his sword his sword, and successfully avoiding the occasional incoming shells from nearby Sullivan's Island.
He met with Major Anderson, and pleaded with Major Anderson to put an end to the fight by evacuating the fort. Anderson agreed as he was low on ammunition, and his men were hungry and exhausted, but only on the condition that the United States flag was honoured by a 100-gun salute as it was lowered.
Wigtail accepted and his white handkerchief was raised above the fort to indicate that it had surrendered. The bombardment ceased at about 2 pm with no casualties having been suffered on either side. The handkerchief was spotted in Charleston and a delegation of officers representing Beauregard. Stephen D. Lee, Porcher Miles, a former mayor of Charleston, and Roger Pryor—sailed to Sumter, unaware of Wigfall's visit and attempted to negotiate their own terms for the Union surrender.
Major Anderson was outraged that these officers refused to honour the terms he had already agreed with Colonel Wigfall on the grounds that he did not have General Beauregard's authority to negotiate them.
The dispute was only resolved when General Beauregard himself intervened and sent another delegation with instructions to accept the original terms of surrender agreed by Colonel Wigfall. The Union garrison formally surrendered the fort to Confederate personnel at 2:30 p.m., April 13.
At that point, nobody had been killed on either side by the bombardment. However, sadly
during the 100-gun salute to the United States flag that Major Anderson had insisted upon as a condition of his surrender a pile of cartridges blew up from a spark, mortally wounding privates Daniel Hough and Edward Galloway, and seriously wounding the other four members of the gun crew; these were the first military fatalities of the war and the salute was abandoned after firing about fifty shots.
Hough was buried in the Fort Sumter parade ground two hours after the explosion.
Galloway and Private George Fielding were sent to the hospital in Charleston, where Galloway died a few days later; Fielding was released from hospital six weeks later. The other wounded men and the remaining Union troops were placed aboard a Confederate steamer, the Isabel, where they spent the night and were transported the next morning to Fox's relief ship Baltic, anchored outside the harbour.
Following the opening of hostilities on the 12th April Virginia has finally seceded from the Union and joined the Confederacy.
The Union currently have 3,114 more men under arms than the South. However, they have fewer armies (4 to 9) which means that their forces are more concentrated
I have over 63,000 volunteers willing to fight for the cause and the initial nine corps created automatically when the war broke out only muster 15,868. So, the objective is simple enough, get more men into uniform FAST.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3434502507
However, I discovered last night that it wasn't that simple.
The problem I discovered is that adding multiple brigades to an existing army becomes less and less efficient as the numbers increase. So, the first Brigade might take 12 days to muster and equip but by the time one has added five or six the time needed to muster them has risen to 56 days.
Plus I'm pretty sure that mustering new troops into an army has a negative effect on its readiness recovery. So, doing so will hamper my ability to move my armies in the early game.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3434500980
The problem I immediately ran into with this approach was the lack of Confederate General Officers. The system seems determined that every new corps has to be commanded by a Major-General and basically, there aren't any spare.
I found myself in the stupid situation of having to promote junior officers to General Officer status just to create a new state militia force and i remember in my Union Brigade ending up with loads of useless Major Generals and a dire shortage of junior officers to take command of my artillery. So, I wasn't happy with this approach.
Basically, add as many brigades as possible to the existing army without incurring an excessive delay (e.g. keep the delay to under 20 days). Whilst trying to find enough decent officers to form new corps in reserve to mass-recruit the rest.
I'm not happy with it, but so far cannot come up with a better approach.
I tried bringing the Army of the Potomac up to strength by just using the Quick Recruiting feature, and it looked as though I was getting lower mustering delays by using this feature to create the new units.
The only weird thing I noticed was that some of these new brigades seemed to be recruiting from Maryland and Delaware, which are not Confederate states. Take a look at the artillery battery in the screenshot above that is taking 61 days to muster and is recruited from Delaware.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435025937
The brigade has been equipped from the Columbus Depot and so I used the research done by the Army of Tennessee re-enactment Association to determine the typical clothing issued by that depot.
https://first-tennessee.co.uk/articles-uniform
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435026560
Cheatham's Brigade models to typical clothing issue of a Tait 'Kersey' Gray Jacket, with Brown Jean Trousers. Hats and caps were typically chosen for protection and style by the individual soldiers the civilian slouch hat being the most common.
This seems like a solid approach as one can assume that the various US re-enactment groups are keen to present an authentic appearance and so are diligent in their research, even if their members might not stick to the recommendations.
To this end I simply used the 'Quick Recruit Method' to add brigades to bring the Army of the Potomac up to the strength set by the 'Square Division Template;.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435551666
The result was a varied mix of brigades from various states including 'Copperhead' brigades from Maryland and Delaware. The earliest brigades will be formed in 10 days, but some require as many as 52 days.
I am going to repeat this process for each of the other nine starting armies to raise as many troops in the shortest time possible, I will sort out the mess later once I have more officers capable of commanding their own Corps and can begin to match brigades to logical divisions and commanders. For the moment it seems more important to get as many men in uniform in as short a time as possible regardless of where they come from,
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435793182
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435794710
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435796330
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435797565
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435799056
As you can see I was unable to raise many of the existing corps to the full 'Square Division Template' goal laid out in my strategy simply due to a lack of commanders,
But, I have made sure that every Corps now has at least one brigade of cavalry for scouting purposes and at least one battery of artillery.
According The Grand Illustrated Herald's special correspondent in Washington DC we are not the only ones with a recruitment crisis to deal with. The Union is facing unprecedented difficulties finding enough volunteers to fill the ranks of its armies and the number of volunteers has dwindled so low that they have been forced to abandon the formation of new regiments.
However, whereas we have a shortage of suitable commanders, it appears the Union has a shortage of actual volunteers to fill the ranks, Lincoln is concerned that if they cannot raise enough troops the Union may be vulnerable to invasion and is pushing for new recruitment laws to encourage men to come forward and fight.
Major General John Magruder's Corps hasbegun work on thye task to turn Richmond into a major supply base for the CSA.
- A depot is being established to supply the troops that will be raised and replenished in the area.
- A hospital is being established to handle the sick and wounded.
- A Fort is being built to protect the city from Union aggression.
- The city already has a Telegraph Station and is linked to the southern telegraph network.
Further Regional Depots will be established as and when the manpower and resources are available.Note: The Richmond Depot has an adequate supply of 'Richmond Gray' cloth available from local suppliers so troops raised and equipped in this area will be dressed in this colour. This will include brigades raised from Virginia and North Carolina.
Fort Smith already has an established supply depot and a fort so makes a logical supply base for the west. The Western Army located there has been redesignated as the Arkansas State Militia and will complete the construction of a Telegraph Station and hospital to complete the depot.
Fort Smith was one of the historical clothing depots of the CSA, but details of the colour and style of uniforms it supplied have been difficult to confirm/ The best source I've found suggested that the quartermasters department at Fort Smith suffered less disruption of supply than many depots further east and was able to secure large quantities of imported grey cloth from Peter Tait of Limerick Ireland. I have therefore uniformed my Arkansas Troops in 'Tait Grey' jackets and trousers. That I believe is prone to fading to a dirty brown colour under campaign conditions.
The city of Columbia SC looks like a good location for another supply base with good communication and rail inks. So following their victory at Fort Sumter, the South Carolina Militia is ordered there to construct a supply and recruitment depot.
The Florida State Militia have been ordered to abandon the siege of Fort Pickens and march to Montgomery AL to establish it as a base of supply for Alabama.
The Florida State Militia has arrived in Montgomery AL and begun work on the depot and fortifications. The corps has been renamed the Alabama State Militia though it still includes the Florida Brigade.
The Confederate Congress in Montgomery AL have approved a massive investment programme to encourage the growth of industry in the South. It is hoped that this will increase the wealth of the southern states and encourage the growth of industry and the innovation of arms for the war effort.
The South is woefully short of weapons most notably rifled muskets and canon and desperately need to encourage an increase in domestic production.
Under increasing pressure from rabble-rousers and agitators in the North, Lincoln has finally caved in and allowed a token invasion of Northern Virginia.
The 'Yankee' Army of North Eastern Virginia crossed the Potomac River on the 23rd April and has occupied the town of Alexandria VA on the south bank with 17,000 men and 25 guns.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3437019340
Major General Cocke did not oppose the invasion as his army is still in the process of mustering and currently only has 5,529 men and 22 guns under arms. His army is currently blocking the road to Culpepper Court House and guarding the railroad junction at Manassas VA. However, he has warned the General ib Chief that if the 'Yankees' chose to march South his army lacks the strength to prevent it.
Fortunately, for the time being, the 'Yankees' seem content at having made a token gesture of aggression and are remaining at Alexandria.
The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America meeting in Montgomery condemned the invasion of Northern Virginia as a blatant act of aggression against an independent sovereign state.
President Davis noted that 'in every portion of our country there has been exhibited the most patriotic devotion to our common cause.
A people thus united and resolved cannot shrink from any sacrifice which they may be called on to make, nor can there be reasonable doubt of their final success, however long and severe may be the test of their determination to maintain their birthright of freedom and equality, as a trust which it is their first duty to transmit undiminished to their posterity.'
The Union are already said to have 43,069 men under arms, whereas we in the South have only managed to field 17,556. We are outnumbered more than two to one by the 'Yankees' and, unless something changes, shall inevitably be overrun.
So, we can match their strength but need time to muster our troops.
I am considering making a number of deliberately aggressive moves in the west to act as a distraction and perhaps make the AI consider delaying any more advances in the East and perhaps transfer troops from its Eastern Armies to the West.
My concern being the old advice from Napoleon that one should never disturb an enemy when they are making a mistake. At the moment, the Union seem content to sit on their laurels and wait at Alexandria. The longer they sit and do nothing the stronger we get. So, perhaps I should 'let the sleeping dogs lay.'
I have moved Johnson's Army from the Shenandoah Valley to Mantissas as additional support for the Army of the Potomac. Combined they can now field 10,810 men against the 17,000 Union troops occupying Alexandria VA.
So far, the AI seems content to remain passive and having made a token advance has not moved further south. This is all good news as the longer the AI delays the stronger my forces become.
- Infrastructure Reform: to increase transport capacity and supply distribution.
- Subsidise Industry: to increase industrial productivity.
- Weapon Production: to increase weapon production.
We are now working on the Tariff Act so that we can increase the income earned from trade.I have no idea why that should be the case, but what it means is that I should be able to muster the volunteers from those states that don't have a Major General available to form their militia as garrison brigades.
That will at least start the process of mustering them to the colours and I can transfer them to an army once they are muster and ready for battle.
Major General Price has been forced to abandon the depot at Rolla following the appearance of the federal army of the Department of the West three times it's number. Price has burned the depot and is withdrawing towards Springfield.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3437818261
The Arkansas Militia are marching from Fort Smith to join him and the Army of Tennessee has left Nashville and is marching west with every available man to intercept the Yankees.
On the 7th May the Army of Tennesse arrived at Cairo and were preparing to disembark when Zollicoffer ordered a change of plan.
Realising that the Federal Arsenal at St, Louis had been left unguarded he ordered the army to reembark and sail immediately to capture it.
[[h1]Zollicoffer captures the Federal Arsenal at St.Louis.[/h1]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3437827064
Zollicoffer's Army of Tennessee has seized the Federal Arsenal at St.Louis without opposition.
The enemy Department of Ohio has captured Nashville Depot with 8,000 men and has forced the Tennessee Militia to withdraw towards Columbia TN. Informed of the situation Zollicoffer has ordered the immediate destruction of the St.Louis Arsenal and has ordered the Army of Tennessee to return to defend it's home state, whilst inflicting as much damage as possible to Federal infrastructure en route..
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3438218391
Zollicoffer immediately orders the Federal Arsenal and city of St.Louis destroyed and marches the Army of Tennessee backto Nashville to deal with the invasion by the Department of the Ohio.
The Confederate Congress in Montgomery have enacted the Tariff Act allowing an increase in tariffs on goods imported to the confederacy from 30% to 50% to increase trade revenue. This angered the South's foreign trade partners and reduced their support for the Southern cause.
Zollicoffer and the Army of Tennessee have arrived back at Nashville with just over 12,000 men and 6 guns and have confronted the 8,000 man Department of Ohio commanded by McClennan.
The Alabama State Militia has joined Zollicoffer with a further force of 3,000 militia and 6 guns from Montgomery who were marching to support the Tennessee Militia bringing Zolicoffers total strength to 16,357 men and 15 guns.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3439824238
I decided to award the Army of Tennessee with 'River Expeditions' as its third perk. I've never used this perk before, but Zollicoffer has been making heavy use of river transport to move his army back and forth along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, so the +10% movement bonus should prove useful.
In addition to 'River Expeditions' the Army of Tennessee; also has the 'Ambulances' and 'Flying Column' Perks.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3445713130
The artillery of the Army of Northern Virginia reached the high ground overlooking Piece Mill Bridge and immediately became engaged in counter-battery fire with the superior Union Artillery in the valley below.
Frost's division moves forward down the slope and detaches skirmishers to try and pick off some of the Union gunners.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3445716552
The Union defenders attempt to drive off Frost's skirmishers but run into the main firing line of Frost's division hidden amongst the tree's on the far side of the bridge and are driven back. The Federal gunners begin to abandon their guns.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3446416822
This seemed to be the last straw as far as the Yankee's were concerned and they began to give ground right across the field. Confederate units now began to give general chase and the entire battlefield echoed to the eerie sound of the 'Rebel Yells' as Confederate soldiers chased the enemy through the undergrowth.
At 8 am the Yankees move their artillery forward to commence a bombardment of the Old Town Road Fort and the Confederate Artillery began counter-battery fire.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3452598064
As dusk begins to fall the Union defence begins to waver under the pressure of the Confederate assault. The Confederate Cavalry moves forward and begins to harass the enemy fugitives trying to flee the battlefield.