Size: Corps vs Corps
OOB: 2nd day GB
Map: Culp's Hill
Game: Hunt them down
Difficulty: Standard
Battle starts at: noon.
I chose to take the role of Longstreet in command of his corps of approx. 14,500 men. All orders were sent by courier, but I chose not to restrict my camera, in order to get better screenshot coverage. On this picture you can see the initial disposition of my foces:
Hood has the left wing with 7000 infantry and McLaws has the right wing with 6800. I also have three artillery brigades under Henry (inside GB), Cabell (on Cemetary Ridge) and Dearing (close to the center). My initial plan after reviewing my position was to send McLaws to Bishop's Farm (the main objective) with orders to stand by. Dearing would join Cabell on Cemetary Ridge and Hood would stand by, ready to respond to federal movements.
1202 (military time): A strong federal column is sighted to the east of GB, moving westwards along the main road with some haste. They appear to be of corps strength (likely the 11th corps) with two brigades of cannon to support them. I realize the opportunity here: if Hood can secure Culp's Farm and deny Gettysburg to the enemy, the federals will be bunched up along one main road (having to cross a bridge with all of their forces just prior to engaging us). They would be delayed and disorganized. I send the courier with the orders to Hood, but the problem is that Hood is slow to move. I realize I have to delay the federals somehow, or Hood's division will clash with the federals on the streets of GB itself, with a great, bloody, streetfighting disaster as a result. I send Major Mathias W. Henry with his artillery brigade to take up positions on the very outskirts of GB, placing his cannon on the very lawns of the outermost houses. At this point, I had no greater expectations of Henry and his men - he is an inexperienced West Point graduate from North Carolina who graduated in may 1861 in 44th place of his class. I merely hoped they would provide the speedbump I desperately needed to get Hood into position. Little did I know what awaited...
1212: The first shot of the battle is fired. Henry has speedily brought his brigade into position and fired a volley that sends the federal vanguard reeling for cover behind fences and ditches. Still, the press of bodies keeps the federal column moving forward at an alarming pace. It looks as if street fighting is afoot! I take up my command position slightly behind and to the right of Henrys position. I order Hood to double time his men. He is to take and hold Culp's farm and not fall back unless at the threat of his command. Any holes in the line are to be plugged with reserves, as he sees fit. In the south, McLaws has taken Bishop's Farm. This means I have no corps level reserves left - the only reserves are on a divisional level, and I leave it up to Hood and McLaws as to when they are to be utilized. A bit of a gamble, I admit. We shall se how it plays out.
Hood's division is moving up through GB.
The first volley of the battle.
1215: Hoods forces and the advanced units of the federal column reach Culp's Farm at the exact same time. 2nd Delaware moves into range of aimed musket fire from 4th Alabama. Fire is returned immediately. Hood moves up three of his brigades and keeps one in reserve.
The blue lines and the grey lines clash. The red building on the right is Culp's barn, around which much of the fighting will be centered.
1220: Fierce melee combat breaks out on and around Culp's Farm. Prisoners are taken and they confirm that both the 2nd and 11th corps are moving up along the road. I decide to let Hood delay the Union troops long enough for McLaws to properly fortify Bishop's Farm. However, this means that Hood and his 7000 men are facing anything between 10 - 15,000 men...
Bayonet fighting at Culp's barn.
1222: I send a courier to McLaws requesting him to detach General Barksdale and his brigade and urgently move them up to support Hood at Culp's Farm.
The view from my command position. The red two story brick house in the centre is Culp's house. God only knows what he has done with his family. I hope they are not cowering inside that house.
1225: A Union courier is surrounded and captured, carrying a dispatch from general Schultz to colonel Krzyzanowski. It appears the good gen. Schurz is reluctant to attack with all of his gathered might. Krzyzanowski is ordered to test the strength of the enemy positions but not to follow through with any assault. This could prove favourable...
1226: 7th Georgia under Anderson have pushed deep into the enemy centre. Anderson is wounded, but the 7th charge ahead! Huzzah!
The charge of 7th Georgia.
The 7th push on.
The 7th break from combat.
They fight like furies, and send several Union regiments reeling. Sadly, just like the Romans at Cannae, they push too far and are surrounded. The fate of the 7th Georgia is obscured from my view by smoke and dust, but later during the day I catch sight of some of the survivors. They all had vacant stares and slumping postures. I could not speak to them, for I wept.
1230: General Barksdale arrives at my command position and reports for duty. I tell him to reinforce the left flank, which is faltering. The right flank stands firm.
The situation on the right flank.
A bird's eye view of the fighting around Culp's Farm.
1233: The federals keep up the pressure on our left flank and the men are starting to break from combat. The tough men of the 5th Texas regiment bravely charge bayonets in order to relieve the pressure, but are soon repelled by dogged federal resistance. Things are starting to look bleak on the left...
The 5th Texas charge
1235: Of Hood's brigade level commanders, Robertson, Law and Anderson are all either dead, wounded or captured. Hood decides this is the time to bring in the reserves, and sends word for general Benning who has been holding back inside GB proper. Suddenly, where I am sitting, I can hear brass band marching music behind me! Benning is marching into combat with colours flying high, trumpets sounding and drums rolling! I can scarcely believe the size of that man's stones! He takes Georgia into the fight in the most death-defying manner I have ever seen.
Benning's Brigade moves up, brass band playing.
1338: The situation is rapidly getting out of hand. The arrivals of Barksdale and Benning has relieved the pressure somewhat, but now the right flank is faltering as well. We are strong in the center, where we are pushing the federals back, but now Hood's entire division is dangerously close to sharing the same fate as 7th Georgia, or the Romans at Cannae for that matter.
1340: Benning, that giant of a man, sees the desperate situation and makes a fateful desicion: he orders a general bayonet charge along the entire line. The boys let roar the rebel yell, and storm straight into the hail of fire and steel. We have great success along the entire line, the timing of Benning's charge was excellent. 5 (!) Yankee regiments in the center surrender. We capture 3 Yankee Supply wagons.
The fighting is close and fierce.
Benning leads the 15th Georgia himself in a bayonet charge against the 75th Ohio, but is shot from his horse by musket fire in front of his troops.
Benning is killed (the officer under the white horse).
The Georgia boys take revenge on the 7th Ohio.
Meanwhile, things are quiet at Bishop's Farm.
View of the grand battery on Cemetary Ridge.
1242: In spite of Benning's valiant sacrifice, the left flank is desintegrating. The enemy has now advanced into canister range of Cpt. Latham's battery of Henry's brigade, and Latham's men are firing desperately. I do not expect them to hold for long. However...
1245: Elements from Benning's, Barksdale's and Robertson's brigades that retreated earlier have rallied and are now moving up to strengthen the collapsing left flank. I spied General Hood himself marshalling these men into action. I must remember to shake that man's hand.
Battered elements of Hood's division moving up along the railroad, past Latham's position.
The situation in the center 1245.
1250: The left flank is saved and in the center our repeated bayonet charges have checked the federal advance. However, the right flank is still in jeopardy. Dearing's brigade have already, on their own accord, moved down from cemetary ridge with their short range guns in order to support the right flank. I send a courier to Cabell, ordering him to do the same. After a few minutes afterthought I dispatch a message to McLaws, requesting him to detach Kershaw's brigade and support the guns.
1300: One hour into the battle, the federal advance on the right flank has been firmly halted by the advance of the artillery. They do not seem eager to engage the cannon in range of canister fire, and so seem content to take cover in the fields. Hood's battered troops have made a splendid recovery and are again pushing strong in the center.
1305: On the left flank, the federal troops are routed and scattered elements of Hood's division are chasing them back across the stream, into the woods. They are broken here, but my forces are all but spent. At a glance, Hood has lost over half of his command. We are well fit for ammunition, as is the artillery, but we are exhausted. The Yanks are still fighting stubbornly on and around the bridge house, and runners are reporting that at least one whole fresh federal division are moving up in support of the troops already fighting. Moreover, there are still federals creeping about in the fields on the right flank. I sense a real danger of being surrounded and destroyed, and so it is with a heavy heart that I give the order to Hood: tell your men to pull back. Reform on Henry's brigade.
1308: Catastrophe! The order to perform a fighting retreat was apparently misenterpreted by Hood, or else the men are so exhausted that they cannot tell one bugle call from the other. There is a general retreat all along the lines and all of Hood's command come pouring back towards Gettysburg. In some positions, we had pushed back the yanks the better part of a mile. It hurts to give up so much ground.
1312: I spot Kershaw's color far to the right, much further forward than he is supposed to be. He has initiated a flanking move on his own accord. Instead of directly supporting the guns, he seems intent on clearing the fields of any remaining federal troops. If he succeeds, he could perhaps turn the flank of the main federal body (now advancing up towards Culp's farm and beyond) and give Hood time to rally his men. Kershaw has 2100 men, which is more than Hood has left, even with Barksdale's support, so I see some opportunity here.
Kershaw's flank march. The brown brick building to the right of the picture is the bridge house.
1318: Kershaw makes contact with the federals on the right, and starts to push them back with not much effort. Sadly, it appears to be too little, to late. The federals have secured Culp's farm and are swiftly closing in within musket range of Henry's battery and the battered, broken defenders of Gettysburg that Hood has managed to beat, beg and bully back into line. We are clinging to front porches, balconys, white picket fences and overturned horse carts. Cpt. Latham fires canister upon the agressors, but retreats when no infantry support is to be found nearby. The federals are climbing over the piles of corpses of their friends and foes alike, in order to close with our line.
The federals come within musket range of Cpt. Latham's battery.
1325: The federal army is now within 350 yards of my command position. The putlook is bleak. I start to evaluate my options. Suddenly, I spot McLaws' fluttering colors, cresting Cemetary Ridge! He has taken the rest of his division (2 brigades) and is advancing on the federal flank, in order to keep them out of Gettysburg for good and all. I do not agree with his judgement in this matter, since he has left Bishop's Farm unguarded, but I will have to take up that discussion with him after the battle.
McLaws, moving down Cemetary Ridge.
1327: Major Henry's position is being attacked from several directions at once. The federals are bunched in between the houses and Henry orders double canister to be fired from all guns. Great swaths are cut in the federal lines. By any reckoning, Henry should have retreated after the first volley of canister, but the man simply refuses to leave. He orders volley after volley of double canister, and I'll be damned if I did not see the major himself loading a cannon at one point. The federals push and push, but Henry does not yield. He even rearms his batteries with canister at more than one point (the Ordnance Wagon was just behind him). He fires upon federal troops at ranges as close as 25 yards. In the end, the union troops cannot breach his position, even though they inflict heavy casualties on the artillery crewmen. Henry's guns, in turn, inflict over 1200 casualties on the federals in the span of 5 minutes. An entire division of federal troops have assaulted his position, only to break and run. I am at a loss for words.
Much blood is shed by the double canister of Henry's guns. The officer to the right is General Hood. My position is just behind the brown house on the right.
1330: McLaws makes contact and delivers the coup de grace to the stunned union forces. I could not have planned it better myself, and I suddenly feel myself inclined to oversee with the fact that McLaws disobeyed a direct order and left the main objective unguarded. I hastily scribble down a message and send a courier to McLaws, stating that he may attack as he sees fit, and, if practicable, to drive the enemy back across the stream.
McLaws sweeps into the flank of the retreating enemy.
1335: McLaws storms the yankee artillery. It is an INCREDIBLY bloody affair and it lasts for almost 10 minutes. I cannot know for certain, but I believe that McLaws suffers 1500-2000 casualties during this assault, but when it is over, the battlefield is ours! I hastily write down a few notes and send orders to all commanding generals to drive the enemy forward at all costs. We must not give them a chance to recover and keep the bridgehead.
Kershaw storms the yankee guns.
The boys eat double canister, but prevail!
1345: The battle is over, and we have carried the field! Victory is complete, but at what cost? At what cost...
Bird's eye view of the carnage at Culp's Farm.
: : : RESULTS : : :
Own casualties: 6248 of 14505
Enemy casualties: 8637 of 14760
In the Union 11th corps, ALL commanding officers, from brigade to corps level, are either killed or captured. I do not think I have ever seen a more gallant display of misplaced bravery.
Hood's division took the brunt of the assault, and suffered approx. 4000 casualties of his 7000 men. McLaws suffered 2000 casualties in total, of which at least 1500 were suffered within the span of 10 minutes, while assaulting and capturing the union artillery.
Major Mathias W. Henry went above and beyond the call of duty and at the end of the battle still held the position he was initially ordered to hold as a delaying force. He fired the first, welcoming shot of the battle, as well as the last, parting shot, almost two hours later. His name will forever be engraved in the soil of Gettysburg, for all the blood he spilled here. A monument will surely be erected in his honor.
The majority of the fighting during the battle of Culp's Farm took place along a front approximately 800 yards wide and 600 yards deep. The bodies are fallen so thick, one can literally walk across from one end of the battlefield to the other, without ever touching the ground.
The men who fought here today will never forget this day. I know I never will.
