Henry Hill - turns 4–6

The Union battle-line continued to close in on the Rebels occupying Henry Hill but as each unit crossed the line of Young’s Branch they had to test to see if they became disordered and this had the effect of slowing down the advance. In the real battle Young’s Branch is not mentioned as being much of an obstacle and I was beginning to wish that I had made it so in this scenario!

The 69th N.Y. become disordered as they cross Young's Branch.

The 1st Minnesota come up behind the 79th N.Y. (who were also disordered crossing the stream).

As the Union troops struggled on towards the foot of Henry Hill, Early was bringing his brigade forward on the Confederate left so that the Rebel line now stretched unbroken to Chinn Ridge. Latham’s battery was deployed on Bald Hill where it started to bombard the troops on my right who had previously enjoyed the luxury of advancing unhindered by artillery fire.

Early's men move into the gap between Henry House and Chinn Ridge.

 The 5th Massachusetts decided to cross the stream in field column formation to avoid the possible disorder penalty and increase their movement rate.

Finally the two battle-lines were close enough for the Confederates to start blazing away with their rifled muskets and casualties started to mount in the Union ranks. A stationary unit with sufficient CP’s can fire up to 3 times per turn and Dave’s Confederates were soon using this ability to full advantage.

The Confederate line on the high ground opens fire on the advancing Union troops.

Having spent much of the battle trying to advance obliquely across Young’s Branch, the 13th N.Y. had suffered more than most from disorder and now as they finally emerged onto firm ground they found themselves under the muzzles of the guns of Imboden’s battery. The result was as you might expect – the 13th N.Y. became the first unit to skedaddle!

Sherman rides over to try and rally the 13th N.Y.

However, by one of those flukes that can happen in simultaneous movement games, their opposite number on top of Henry Hill – the 4th Virginia – chose the same moment to take the quickest road back to Richmond (to be fair though they had suffered a continuous drain of casualties from the fire of the 3rd U.S. artillery on Buck Hill).

 The 4th Virginia take to their heels and make off towards Richmond!

So, at the halfway point of turn 6, the battle is now in full swing and fairly evenly matched – my Union troops have 2 VP’s and Dave’s Confederates have 3 VP’s.

The situation halfway through turn 6 (click the image to zoom in).