"If I'm not hallucinating, you should be able to explain how to win this war."
"If the Union's National Morale falls below 25\% they will give up on reunification."
"So a mere three-fourths of the current war supporters need to change their minds? That seems highly improbable."
"Ah well, I will need a lot of rifles," our Patron continued blithely. "Take for example that Mississippi Rifle next to me that your unit was issued. -'The first standard U.S. military rifle to use percussion lock. Changed to .58 caliber to fire Minie ball. Very accurate.'- Among all the relevant infantry weapons, this is pretty much the second-best. Among those actually available? Number one."
"They don't make them any more, it's a legacy rifle."
"Not formally no, but there's ways around that. For example, your unit is equipped with them, yes?"
I didn't quite follow. "Yes."
"Ok, so over there in the corner you have a unit flag." She indicated the militia's colors in their carrying case.
"I heard there's already debates over who will command the militia when they are put together to form infantry brigades."
"Don't worry about that. Your unit was automatically promoted to a brigade in its own right when war started."
"A brigade is up to 3000 soldiers, how is calling a group of 375 a 'brigade' going to change matters?"
"Well, you will have to recruit people into the ranks."
"But we can't equip them."
"Oh, they'll manufacture their own Mississippi Rifles. You'll get the orders about how to do that."
"Let's pretend that makes sense," which it didn't to me. "There's no one in the state who would sign up who isn't already in a militia unit."
"Yes. But there will be people soon enough."
"You mean the states that just joined the Confederacy?"
"No, recruitment to a unit is only from its own state. The newcomer states are going to have to hold off the Union for... a while. Four months, I'd say. That should be enough to get around, let's say fifty thousand new production rifles onto the field."
"Lincoln thinks the Federal provisional army can do it all within a three-month contract."
You could have sliced a horse in two with her smile. "They can't."
l
The opening battle of the war would be fought once the Federals sent their first force into our lands. Contrary to the northern public's expectations, they were received by a massive phalanx of Confederate troops armed with all the spare rifles, military muskets, and other random firearms that could be brought up.
Until the actual battle started on 13 May, it was assumed that a major battle might consist of as many as 10,000 men on each side, with as many as 2,000 total casualties. Spurred on by the hope of a quick victory, the Federals had stretched themselves to bring 15,100 soldiers. They were enveloped by a Confederate force numbering 20,900.
Fighting continued for over a week, ending on 21 May. All this resulted in about 2,500 total casualties and a Union retreat. As the Grand Herald described it:
"Finally a major field battle has been fought between the inexperienced armies of the Union and the Confederacy. In this battle the Confederate troops have prevailed and they now hold the field having sent the Yankees running for their lives.
The news is welcomed with enthusiasm in the Confederacy. President Davis calls it a great achievement on the road to the inevitable victory and offers his thanks to all the men who fought in the battle. Confederate support is reportedly strong and the citizens believe the northern armies can be beaten and independence gained.
In the North, the population is in shock after the Union troops lost heart, turned and ran. Lincoln is quoted as saying: "It's bad, it's damn bad". Already many are questioning his leadership and in are coming out in favor of a political compromise."
"Are these numbers accurate?" Word was that despite an impressive numerical advantage, the Confederate force had actually taken slightly more casualties than the Federal one. While the Federals had to retreat to their own territory, other units moving in meant that our own force retreated deeper into the Shenandoah Valley.
"The generals can at best get an even trade, if that's what you were asking," our Patron explained. "I need them to lock the Union armies down so they run though all their supplies and have to pull back."
"In what way is a pitched battle locking down the Federals? By the way, there's still no one signing up to the unit."
"Patience. They'll be back. And they'll be coming."
They did come back. The Battle of Alexandria was joined only a week later on 30 May, and 14,300 Federals fought a Confederate force of 19,500 for four days, with the Federals being forced to retreat again.
And then the Battle of Harper's Ferry, for three days from 6 June to 9 June. This time the Federals mustered 20,000 men, but were resisted by 27,200 of our own.
At some point the Union passed additional Militia Acts for new contracts of first a year and then two years of service.
As the numbers continued to rise, the 15 June Battle of Winchester saw 20,000 Federals retreat from a Confederate force of 30,500.
Their next move was to open a second front in Tennessee, but at the ensuing Battle of Warren on their 9,500-strong force was met by one numbering 13,300 on 7 June. This battle lasted an amazing 12 days before the Federals ran low on supplies and had to retreat.
They also launched into the Battle of Front Royal Bridge at this time. This effort saw 16,000 Federals against a Confederate force that would swell to 40,000 over the astonishing 31 days of combat (ending 20 July) which would be the longest battle in the entire war to come, though not the smallest by far.
It seemed that all they could do was settle for a long-term win by attrition. In short, losing (so far all of) the battles, but winning the war. Reports suggested that the Union commanders figured their opposition would run out of men first, which made sense given population disparities and their nominal edge in terms of casualties in each battle. As part of this cold-blooded attritional strategy, by 19 July they had passed yet another Militia Act (IV now) for three-year contracts which would also end immediately if the war did. But...
(The Grand Herald, 21 July)
The Confederacy Introduces Conscription!
"The Confederate Government has introduced conscription so that drafting can fill the ranks of their armies. All male citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 are liable to three years of military service. At the same time all existing volunteer contracts are lengthened to three years.
Initially anyone able to provide a substitute will be exempted from the draft, which has already been heavily criticized. Other exempted classes include politicians, ministers and miners, among others. There is also an ongoing hot debate about whether or not to exempt citizens who own 12 or more slaves.
Conscription is also meant to encourage volunteering by allowing the volunteers to elect their own officers. One can only wonder about the effect it will have on the morale and discipline of the army.
Some think that drafting should not be used to raise new units, but to bolster existing ones. In instances where whole units are drafted from a single state the political support will suffer."
"Was this your grand strategy?" I asked our Patron incredulously when she next came in to 'check in' on my unit. It was obvious now that something had been going on, as instead of following the Union strategy of increasing calls for volunteers, the Confederacy had gone straight to conscription and 'also' simply made all existing contracts extend to three years.
"Oh don't worry about that talk of draft units. Go out and recruit now. You've already gotten the plans for making the rifles."
"I don't think conscripted soldiers will perform as well as the volunteers already fighting on the front."
"What? It isn't about the individuals; what matters is the unit's status. Your unit is a volunteer unit, so even if you add thousands of conscripts, the power of your flag will mean they perform as volunteers."
"That... doesn't... make any sense," I forced out after a while.
"Uh. Ok, let me put it another way. There's a class of people who didn't want to volunteer pre-war. But now they might be liable to the draft. You following me?"
"That's why it's a draft."
"Now you go and find the ones who look soldier-y and tell them now's an excellent time to volunteer to join your unit before they are drafted. If they don't get it, you might as well just tell them you got a list of draftees and are rushing to get them a better situation. And in any case, they'll be occupied for a couple months manufacturing their own rifles."
"I... suppose we can try that."
The slow burn of war continued, more like a smoulder really.
21 to 23 July, the Battle of Alexandria Port. 16,000 Federals against 30,200 Confederates.
26 July. As my unit was finally preparing to be sent to the front, the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution was passed. As the Grand Herald put it: "The 37th United States Congress has passed, almost unanimously, the War Aims Resolution on July 25. This so called Crittenden-Johnson Resolution defines limited conservative goals for the Union effort during the Civil War."
"Word is there is a great push coming," I remarked to the Patron as I was about to leave my hometown.
"They have 145,800 men fielded, the Confederacy has 85,000," she replied. "But the window of opportunity has closed; they're out of time as units like yours will soon demonstrate."
"I suppose this is all as you foresaw?"
"You'll see at the front. I will be with the army this time."
l
18 August, "Union armies on the move!" according to the Grand Herald. With our scouts on the ball, we knew about their force long before they crossed the border proper.
19 August. We could see for ourselves a part of the multiple Federal invasions as their 'Army of the Potomac' marched towards our own Army of the Potomac. We had the name first, by the way.
My unit was positioned in what would later become known as the place of pride, which is to say on the flanks as we assembled for the Battle of New Market. The strategy was simple, a number of units would hold the enemy up after they crossed a bridge. We would then assault them, using the bridge not as a chokepoint to slow their advance, but rather one to hinder their likely retreat.
As to the forces, we were not exceptional, strange as it was to call their largest force in a single battle yet (24,000) or our largest force in a single battle yet (47,800). The result though, was.
5100 Federals became casualties on the battlefield. They were joined by 242 Confederate soldiers. All this in only two days, 21 hours to be specific given an intervening night.
l
Finally done with the boring autoresolved battles. This isn't really going to be about the battles, any decent player can beat up the AI on the battlefield, let alone when it also constantly messes up on the campaign map setting itself up for failure...
A couple points on the odd game mechanics at work here. Units are equipped with weapons in that you need enough weapons or artillery guns for the unit's current size (so our protagonist's unit would require 375 rifles). However, if you reinforce an existing unit and it gains soldiers, they 'come with' the rifles or artillery needed. The unit is essentially sent "back home" for a month (extra time on top for travelling, and even more if they aren't in their home state) and do the recruiting into the unit.
You do have to pay for the cost of the weapons in dollars, but unlike the standard very slow production process (you need to first save enough to do the Legacy Rifles 'project' and then that only unlocks very slow production rates, like months for a few thousand) this means the new soldiers effectively make their own weapons from dollar bills. The CSA starts the war with 4870 Mississippi Rifles, enough for one and a half full brigades. Alternatively, if you equipped twelve pre-war militia units and eventually grew them to 3000, that balloons the number of rifles you have.
If you turn all the pre-war volunteers available into minimal state militia units, it numbers sixty or so. There's no need to fully man all that many units, it's overkill. You can work out for yourself any number of ways to keep some of your 'new' rifles back to keep things rolling in the rear production units.
Takes a long time though. But in the early game time is cheap as things like readiness, military experience etc are all super low so it is hard for anyone to push into enemy territory. Also weapons can be teleported (unequip unit A, then equip unit B) so in reality I had a number of units in the rear that were only half-strength but were disbanded (a bit of a mistake, actually) and had the rifles used to equip the front troops. There's no way an actual unit would recruit from 375 to 3000 and then march to the front all in a month, it's more like three to four months to grow and then half a month to move.