[Consim-l] Lee's Greatest Gamble/AOR replay part 6

[Markus Stumptner]

We had stopped in the morning of the 3rd day as the action in the center 
was heating up...

11:00 Just as A.P.Hill's men go into the starting positions for their 
assault on the Angle and II Corps, movement becomes visible to their 
right; V Corps is evidently moving in for a counterattack. The first 
contact is made with Posey's brigade, which has just moved up to the 
Confederate gun line. Both Posey's men and the artillery wheel to fire at 
the approach Union troops, but not fast enough and the Union gets the 
better of it. Posey's brigade takes losses and then retreats, and the 
battery is overrun! However, the Union troops choose not to exploit their 
advantage, and Posey, leaving a weak screen, continues to advance with the 
rest of Hill's front towards the ridge. Longstreet's troops are budging 
yet, and Lee has decided that Hill absolutely needs some support from a 
different direction. He sends Rodes' Division orders to attack Cemetery 
Ridge from the east, but Rodes will take a long time to collect his men 
from the rough area around the hill (he rolled a 4, giving a R6 acceptance 
result).

Hill's men march into the enemy fire; fortunately most of II Corps' guns 
are facing Longstreet's guns in Gettysburg, and Rodes' on Culp's Hill, so 
the line defending the eastern approach is actually rather weak. On the 
Angle in the south, Davis' brigade, with Posey's disrupted men trailing 
behind attack Harrow's damaged brigade and kill it, gaining a foothold on 
the Angle. To their north, Thomas' already weakened brigade is destroyed 
in its attack, but the hardest fight takes place on the left flank. Perrin 
and Archer attack Carroll and Zook's brigade. Perrin's brigade is 
destroyed and Archer's men recoil, but only part of Zook's brigade is left 
on the hill; another attack will destroy them. The question is whether 
there is time for another attack.

Lee is not worrying about all this, because the Union cavalry raid has now 
reached his HQ which is defended by two of Hill's brigade remnants 
remaining from the previous day's fighting. These, placed on Seminary 
Ridge, are unfortunately outflanked by the cavalry and retreat, leaving 
the HQ to be overrun. Lee and staff manage to escape to the safety of 
Longstreet's position in Gettysburg.

While V Corps is marching up onto Hill's flank, Reynolds is trying to go 
after Ewell's for the third hour in a row, several miles further east. 
However, the open plains to the east of Culp's Hill are not well suited to 
that, and Cutler and Baxter's brigades are destroyed, although they manage 
to destroy Nicholls' already weakened brigade that has taken the brunt of 
the assault. That leaves the Iron Brigade as the last non-wrecked brigade 
under Reynold's command.

By now it is noon, and on the western side of the battlefield the 
situation gets worse and worse, as III Corps leaves its position in the 
Peach Orchard to support the left flank of V Corps' attack. This brings it 
squarely on course with the rear area of Hill's Corps, where Lee had sent 
the Confederate army train for protection. The V Corps attack, reformed, 
catches up with Posey's brigade and this time eliminates it. From 
Gettysburg, Lee sends a desperate call for help to Ewell, still marching 
towards the intersection with the Low Dutch Road far to the east.

Meanwhile, Hill has brought forward his last reserves in the desperate 
attempt to gain the heights before the Union attack deploys. Again the 
attack in the center fails as Lane's brigade is repulsed and essentially 
wrecked after doing some damage to Kelly's defenders. Mahone's fresh 
brigade joins Archer's on the left flank and indeed manage to destroy 
Zook's brigade. Again, the Confederates have a foothold on Cemetery Hill! 
This will make "Hill's Charge", as history will call it, famous, but it 
seems the high water mark has been reached. If only Longstreet's Corps 
joined in the assault - but they do not. It is fairly clear now that 
Pickett's Division should have been attached to Hill's Corps but it's too 
late to worry about that. In the south, Davis' brigade, now alone and with 
V Corps only a few hundred yards away, manages to advance into Ziegler's 
Grove.

Hancock, under attack from the west and continuous artillery barrage from 
Gettysburg, orders a massive counterattack against the Confederates on the 
hill - that even requires the gun batteries on the eastern side to be 
turned around (there is no threat yet from Rodes) and firing at Hill's men 
at close range. In the south, Davis' brigade manages to destroy Kelly's 
attackers, but in the north a massive concentric counterattack forces 
Mahone's and Archer's brigades to surrender. (They were eliminated at a 
moment when they could not trace a supply line, so the elimination is 
permanent.) This leaves only Scales' brigade further south that eliminates 
McIntosh's brigade of II Corps but is then caught by two Union brigades in 
the flank. Despite outflanking the confederates, Fisher's brigade is 
essentially destroyed by defensive fire, but Scales' brigade is also 
destroyed.

The Confederate disaster is made complete when the army train, trying to 
rejoin the army from west of Seminary Ridge but (with the near destruction 
of Hill's Corps denuded of escorts) runs up against the attack of III 
Corps on one hand and the Union cavalry riding down from the north and is 
sacked. Not only is the chance of a victory gone but a successful Union 
pursuit seems highly likely. This happens just when, in a last hurrah for 
Confederate artillery, Longstreet's guns finally find the range and cause 
dramatic losses by enfilading Hancock's troops on Cemetery Hill that are 
completing the destruction of Mahone's brigade. Smyth and Barr's brigades 
are routed off the hill.

Meanwhile, Hill has had enough. At 14:00, with barely two formed brigades 
remaining, his troops fall back from Cemetery Ridge and stream towards 
Gettysburg, his guns also falling back from the attack of V and III Corps. 
At the same time, Ewell receives Lee's order to return to the battle for 
Cemetery Ridge. Nonplussed at the sudden change in plans, but aware of the 
extreme urgency of the order, he makes plans to turn his corps around. 
Luckily, it is already spread along the road, preparing against Reynold's 
next (and probably last) round of attacks. And that attack now comes. 
Reynolds attacks a last time and while causing losses, the Iron Brigade, 
storming against a solid, artillery-supported front, is eliminated from 
the battle. Until Reynolds reforms his units after nightfall, his corps is 
completely out of action. Ewell's troops cheer when they become aware that 
they have repulsed all attacks.

Hours ago, Meade became worried about the plans of the Confederate cavalry 
sitting a mile southeast of the battlefield on the Baltimore Pike and 
ordered Sedgewick to make sure that the Rock Creek line is defended 
against a possible Confederate cavalry raid. However, Sedgewick, 
fascinated by the presence of Rodes' Division less than half a mile in 
front of him, was very cautious in moving off, and only now are his troops 
marching south. It is too late. Stuart, without clear orders from Lee what 
to do after arriving at that point, has sent scouts out and after several 
hours of waiting received reports that the Rock creek crossing south of 
the Baltimore Pike is undefended. He orders his men to march 
southwestwards along White Run, cross Rock Creek at that crossing, and 
continue towards the Round tops at full speed, wheeling to the right at 
the last moment to attack towards what he assumes will be the Union army's 
"soft underbelly". His men, all three brigades, clear the crossing minutes 
before Sedgewick's troops get into artillery range.

As a result, at 15:00 the Union position in the east and south undergoes a 
dramatic shift. Ewell, the man of the day, already starts his troops on 
the march in the reverse direction, and Stuart's cavalry, now galloping 
north on the Taneytown Road, run into the Union army train, that Meade 
believed safe south of the battlefield, and destroy it in turn! What a 
reversal of fortune!

Ironically, while things are developing in his favour in the east, Lee's 
position in the west continues to unravel as V Corps and III Corps chase 
Hill's remains all the way past Gettysburg, and then stop (their orders 
were to reach the Sunken Road but not to proceed further).

By 16:00, the Union train is destroyed, and Stuart's attention has been 
caught by Meade's HQ north of the area - just like Lee's earlier, so now 
Meade's is overrun! However, Sedgwick, furious at having been bypassed, 
swings his troops around, managing to catch the cavalry in numerous 
crossfires. Most of two brigades is forced to surrender and Stuart, 
realising by 17:00 that he cannot break through to join the army ot the 
north, pulls back and gallops out of sight southeastwards by 18:00.

With Longstreet still not attacking (he was under R6 status and did not 
manage to roll the required 6 all day long), and the Union stopping its 
counterattack at the Sunken Road, a brief lull sinks over the main 
battlefield, but ends when Ewell's men crest Benner's Hill on their way 
to...Cemetery Hill. Ewell sets up a brief bombardment and takes Rodes' men 
back under his command. By 17:00, his men are assaulting Cemetery Hill 
from the northeast, and in two massive attacks, several II Corps brigades 
are routed. The Confederates have reached Cemetery Hill yet again! 
However, by this point it is a futile exercise. Without the army train, a 
breakthrough to the east is out of the question; Lee has decided that he 
will try to retreat via the Mummasburg Road to the northwest and make his 
escape, and he has sent orders to Ewell to cease the attack.

And indeed, by 18:00, when the orders reach Ewell, the Confederate impetus 
has been spent, the firefights on Cemetery Hill have become erratic and 
see Daniel's brigade routed as well as the other troops of Ewell's Corps 
falling back and retreating off the hill in the face of counterattacks by 
Hancock's last reserves. By 19:00, Ewell has realised that Lee was right 
and calls the attack off.

Both players agreed that neither army would launch a major attack on the 
fourth day, so in the night, Lee's army would start its withdrawal off the 
battlefield. The battle of Gettysburg was over.

Final losses (i.e., permanent losses determined after the last night's 
reorganisation) turned out to be pretty close with a slight edge for the 
Union, giving a narrow Union victory. I'll post a few more comments on the 
game as soon as I get around to it.

Markus

Last 3 games played: AOR/7 Days Battles, Blood&Iron, AOR/Lee's Greatest Gamble
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"Bakayaro! Bakayaro!"  ("Stupid Bastards!  Stupid Bastards!") -- Admiral 
Aritomo Goto's last words to his staff, October 11, 1942