This blog is my personal interpretation of the historial action as a wargamer. Any errors are my own. The positions of the formations and the numbers involved are also my best guess due to the limited information I had access to.
At this time skirmishes and partizan activity were taking place all over Missouri in order to secure the state for either the Union or the Confederacy. In the South-Eastern part of the State, the 1st Division of the Missouri State Guard were raiding Union Facilities. General Merriwether "Jeff" Thompson led this formation aided by Colonel Aden Lowe.
The Union Army sent Colonel Joseph B. Plummer aided by Colonel P. Carlin to bring Thompsons actions to an end. When the Union force advanced to Fredericktown, Thompson,s force was pushed 12 miles south. Thompson did not want to give up the town so, after securing his supply waggons, he decided to lead another attack against the Union position.
In order to lure the Union troops forward Thompson positioned one Regiment forward of his main line with an old 12lb field gun hoping to spring a trap-----,
Here are the armies positioned for the battle;
Confederate Forces; 1st Division; Missouri State Guard.
1st Division 1,500 = 1.5 x 20 = 30 points.
Brigadier Merriwether "Jeff" Thompson @ 1 point.
Colonel Aden Lowe @ 1 point.
1st Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.
2nd Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.
3rd Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.
4th Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.
1st Cavalry Regiment; 3 x 2nd class line Cavalry stands @ 2 points = 6 points.
2nd Cavalry Battalion [ Stoddard County Rangers ] 1 x 3rd class Cavalry @ 1 point.
13th Missouri Light Artillery [ Harris,s Battery] 1 x Heavy Artillery stand @ 2 points
" " " " [Harris,s Battery] 1 x Light Artillery stand @ 1 point.
2 x Supply Waggons @ 1 point = 2 points.
Union Army; South Western Missouri.
1,800 = 1.8 x 20 = 36 points.
Colonel Joseph B. Plummer [ Commanding] @ 1 point.
Colonel William P. Carlin @ 1 point.
8th Winsconsin Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 points.
11th Missouri Volunteer Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 pts.
17th Illinois Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 points.
1st Indiana Cavalry Regt; 2 x stands of 2nd class Line Cavalry@ 2 pts = 4 points.
Captain Stewarts Illinois Cavalry; 1 x stand @ 1 point.
1st Mississippi Light Artillery Battery; 3 x stands of Light Artillery @ 1 pt = 3 points.
2 x Supply Waggons @ 1 point = 2 points.
This is the map;
This is a Regimental level game. A slightly alternative method is that the stands of each Infantry Regiment when moved, must stay in adjacent squares to each other even diagonally. All infantry are classed as Line so these stands can only move through the face of a square, not diagonally.
If one stand of a Regiment suffers a "MOVE BACK" as a result of FIRE or COMBAT, Then on the movement phase of the next Game-Turn the stands of that Regiment must be moved to be adjacent to each other.
According to the maps I have seen, the Cavalry Regiments were operating in independant Squadrons/ Companies ? therefore the Cavaly stands do not have to be adjacent to each other.
Dismounted Cavalrymen are classed as skirmishes so can move in any direction.Some mounted cavalry are only 1 point. If they dismount the dismounted cavalry only get a basic die roll for the stand.
In regard to the Artillery, The Confederate Artillery positioned their guns individually. The Union Artillery were kept together.
I,m surmising that because this action took place early in the War and in the Western theatre, where both sides suffered supply problems, All the weapons would be smoothbore.
Also, I don't know if the Light Artillery had horses or not so I went with the two square move distance.
Victory conditions;
The winner will be the side that has lost the lower number of stands at the end of 8 Game-Turns.
The battle was fought on a 3 foot x 2 foot (90cm x 60cm) board
The figures used in the scenario are a mix of Peter Pig and Miniature Figurines with some Essex Miniatures, all 15mm.
The flags are from the Peter Pig range as are the Supply Waggons.
The Hills are mostly by Brian at Essex Miniatures. One hill was made from a garden kneeling pad from Wilkinson’s Stores!
Most of the wood outline bases were made by S and A Scenics with some made from cardboard.
The buildings I think all came from Peter Pig. The roads are made from thin cardboard.
The snake fencing was made by MBM Scenery in 10mm.
The trees were made by various manufacturers.
The square bases were cut from picture framing cardboard 40mm square ( one and nine sixteenths of an inch Imperial) and the round MDF stands are from Minibits.
Most of the information on this battle was obtained from internet searches of American Battlefield Trust sites.
