Ware Bottom Report

Ware Bottom Church Report

Played: June 14th 10am to 2:45pm

Length: Played @12 turns

Commanders:  USA Jeff (Hawley), Gary (Howell), Carl (Plaisted) vs. CSA Mike (Lewis and Terry) and myself (Ransom and Corse)

Mike led the Confederate side while Jeff acted as the Union commander. The battle began with Lewis and Terry's Confederates occupying the hasty works/rifle pits/skirmish line on the Union side of the creek. When the game opened, both sides surged forward as the Union attempted to seize the line back and the Confederates tried to reinforce the thinly held ground just over the creek.

Luck was not with the Confederates as the Union troops repeatedly unleashed crushing volleys while the Southerners seemed suffered many rounds of poor shooting. Combined with local superiority of numbers, the Federal fire quickly whittled down the Confederate brigades. The brigades of Ransom and Corse moved into the middle and then failed to do much thereafter. Corse's brigade suffered badly in the firefights with Plaisted's Union men and spent much of the game with most of the brigade's units FALTERING. This took away any hope of Corse's men driving a wedge between Hawley's and Plaisted's Union brigades. 

The battle quickly degenerated into a lopsided firefight as Lewis's CSA brigade was torn asunder by Howell's blue coated regiments. By the end of the battle, Lewis was dead and his brigade wiped from the table. Corse's brigade was in bad shape and teetering on breaking. With the grey clad line battered and wavering, a general withdrawal was called for by the Confederate commander.

This was a Union victory with light casualties on the Federal regiments (less than 10%) while the Confederates suffered badly (@ 25 to 30%).