Thinking About the Battle of Princeton

 

After watching the Little War TV video about the Battle of Princeton from the American Revolutionary War (or AWI for those of you who are heathens), I decided that it was time to work up my own scenario for the battle.

Fife and Drum Miniatures: British artillery 6-pounders with limbers.

Here is a link to the Little Wars video about their game. It includes some really good historical background about the battle and it is well worth the look.

LWTV Princeton

Continental infantry opening up a withering fire on the British 

The following map from Mount Vernon depicts the opening moves of the battle. Princeton is basically a "meeting engagement" where the two sides are marching in the opposite direction and then spot each other. A short intense battle follows. The British commander, Lt. Colonel Mawhood (pronounced "maud")

Map copyright of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. 

Princeton Order of Battle

cc

ACW Picture of the Day - McPherson's Ridge

 

In June 2021, my daughter and I went on a tour of Civil War battlefields in the Eastern Theater of the war (Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania ). Our first tour stop was at Gettysburg and we arrived at the city from the western approach via the Chambersburg Pike. It was around 5PM in the evening when we reached the battlefield and I took this picture on McPherson's Ridge, looking east towards the town of Gettysburg.

You can see the iconic McPherson's Barn and some of the church spires of Gettysburg in the background. I was taken by the dramatic and foreboding black clouds in the sky and the contrast with the sunlight shining on McPherson's Barn. This is probably one of the best battlefield pictures that I have ever taken. As such, it deserves to be posted on this blog as one of my Pictures of the Day.

1/32 scale model of a Pennsylvania barn the could be McPherson's Barn.

Visting Guilford Courthouse National Park

 

This past weekend I was in Raleigh, North Carolina to attend my nephew's wedding. I padded the trip with two extra days so that I could visit several battlefields in the area: Guilford Courthouse and Bentonville. Mapquest indicated that both trips would be approximately 90 minutes of travel, to and fro, but that must have been in Dog Time Years as both trips seemed much much longer. I want to thank Mrs. Fritz for putting up with me on the battlefield tours.

We arrived at the Guildford CH visitors center around 4PM and discovered that the park closed down at 5PM, so we didn't have a whole lot of time to see everything in a patient and measured manner.

My initial impression of the battlefield is that it had way more undulating up and down terrain than I would have imagined. There were some significantly deep ravines between the three lines depth of the American deployment. I had not been aware of this. The second impression was that the ground had more woods than I would have guessed, however, in this case, it is probably due to lots of forest undergrowth and new trees that didn't exist there in 1781.

Here are some links to useful web sites that provide the background and history of the battle of Guilford Courthouse:

Guilford CH National Military Park

American Battlefield Trust web site

British Battles Web Site - Guilford CH

The visitors' center offers a 30-minute film to get you oriented, a small collection of real and reproduction artifacts, and a book/gift store. I bought a T-shirt and a couple of books about the battle.

Here are some pictures that I took of the museum inside the visitor's center.

Reproduction American 3-pound cannon in the Visitor's Center.

I am standing next to the 3-pounder to convey an idea of the size of the cannon relative to a person.

Museum's collection of fire arms.

Reproduction uniforms

First American line of defense (North Carolina militia):

An example of some of the battlefield markers and displays.
This one highlighted the first American line of defense.

The second American defensive line (Virginia militia):

This picture and the one above give you a sense of how thick the forest is in 
the area of the second American defensive line. The thinner trees are obviously
new growth that weren't there in March 1781. There would not have been
any leaves on the trees at the time of the battle.

Third (and final) American defensive line (Maryland and Delaware Continental troops):

Trail marker for walking along the Third Line.

Artist's interpretation of how the Guildford Court House might have looked.

Close, wooded terrain along the third American line.

A pair of American 6-pound cannon at their position on the third line.

Looking down the barrel of the cannon after it has been sited and ready for firing.

Proof that Der Alte Fritz was there.

Cannon barrel markings.

American 6-pound cannon. Big carriages with wheels that are as high as my shoulders.

At the end of the line, back to the barracks:

I think that this is part of the Third Line Trail. Stay on the path and avoid the snakes.

Information signs at the park entrance.

Well there you have it - a quick tour of the Guilford Courthouse battlefield park. I wish that I had more than an hour to visit, particularly after a two hour drive from suburban Raleigh, North Carolina. The park is definitely worth the time to visit. There are lots of hiking trails and one would have a better idea of how the battle unfolded by walking the trails rather than making the car drive through the park.

Dad & Daughter Road Trip to ACW Battlefield Site

The Carter House, which was the epicenter of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.

"Opdyke's Tigers" by Don Troiani depicts the desperate fighting in the back yard of the Carter House

This past weekend we took our daughter, Lelia, back to school iand because we had the whole weekend to kill and nothing to do, I suggested that we visit another Civil War ( or "ACW") battlefield site. Last year Lelia and I went on a road trip to visit Fort Donelson in Tennessee. So we decided that it would be fun to visit another ACW battlefield before school began.

We elected to go on the journey from Carbondale, IL to the Nashville, TN area to visit the Battle of Franklin. It is about a 3-hour journey one-way, which is about the same time and distance as Fort Donelson was, so this seemed like a trip that was doable for the full day.

Click on the link below, to the American Battlefield Trust's account of the Battle of Franklin. The organization was formerly known as the Civil War Battlefield Trust. The organization has expanded its commitment to battlefield restoration for all wars on American soil, including the American Revolution and the War of 1812, plus the Civil War.

American Battlefield Trust - Franklin

The backyard of the Carter House, now much more serene than on that horrific day on November 30, 1864.

Lelia has developed a keen interest in the Civil War and wants to visit all the sites of battles with me on father-daughter road trips. I am really excited that she has developed a liking for history and battlefield visits. I hark back to my youth when my father took me on tours of Gettysburg, Antietem, Fort Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg. So the torch passes on to the next generation.

The drive was approximately 3.5 hours, nearly all of it on Interstate Highways (I57 and I24 from Carbondale to Nashville), so the driving was relatively easy until we passed through downtown Nashville, TN where the Saturday afternoon traffic was heavier than expected. We arrive at Franklin at around 3PM and we stayed there until the park closed at 5PM. The battlefield is owned by the State of Tennessee through a trust. However, the visitors' center and tours were every bit as good as those in the National Park Service.

Lelia was particularly fascinated by the bullet-riddled walls of some of the Carter House outbuildings and she said that this is the memory that she will take away from our visit. We also went on the tour of the Carter House and learned a lot about the history of the Carter family and how the battle impacted them. The family was largely huddled down in the stone cellar of the house as the battle raged all around them.

Lelia standing in front of the bullet riddled walls of one of the outbuildings of the Carter House.

Lelia's favorite memory is of the bullet holes in the wall.

Lelia poses in front of a 3-inch Rodman rifled cannon. A 12-pound Napoleon is in the background.

Dad poses for his obligatory picture in front of a Civil War cannon.

Another one of the outbuildings that still bears some battle damage in its walls.

The back porch of the Carter House.

For the return trip to Carbondale, we decided to avoid Nashville and take some back roads north to Clarksville, TN where we would pick up the I24 interstate highway. We didn't want to deal with Nashville traffic, but in retrospect, we probably added an hour to the return trip. Various roads led us north along the western side of the Cumberland River and we discovered how hilly the terrain was. I can imagine how difficult it would have been for armies to march back and forth through these seemingly endless hills.

We returned to our cabin in Carbondale around 9PM, after dark, and told Mrs. Fritz all about our trip and its various tales.  We can hardly wait for our next road trip.


A Brief Aside - Saving ACW Battlefield Land

A few years ago, the Franklin battlefield was deemed to be "lost" to development, as there are a number of residental buildings on the ground where the battle was fought. The Civil War Trust though, has been active in pursuing the purchase of available land in and around the battlefield so as to preserve it from developers. I think that it was about two years ago that CWT purchased a strip mall and a Domino's Pizza store that were located just west of the Carter House. The purchase was funded through a combination of private donations and matching Federal funding that is available for battlefield preservation.

The American Battlefield Trust purchased a strip mall and a Dominoes Pizza store, that were in front of the building in the background, and then razed the buildings to restore that portion of the battlefield.

The Confederate attack came up the Columbia Pike, from west to east, towards
where we are standing in the backyard of the Carter House.

Civil War Trust map of the battle of Franklin.
The areas shaded in brown and blue have been preserved from developers FOREVER.

Click on the link below to visit the Civil War Trust web site and learn about how the organization protects battlefield land (51,000 acres have been saved from development). I am a regular contributor to the CWT and I recall making a donation for the purchase of land in Franklin.

Civil War Trust

Future Road Trips

I would imagine that the Battle of Shiloh, TN will be the next destination in our father-daughter tours of ACW sites. Shiloh is a 4-hour drive from Carbondale and would probably have to be an overnight trip as there is a lot more to see at Shiloh - one could easily spend the whole day touring Shiloh. Maybe a side trip to Memphis and Graceland could be a part of the tour.

Zorndorf 1758 - Terrain Decisions

King Frederick and his staff discuss lunch plans before the battle of Zorndorf.
Click all pictures to enlarge.

Another staff meeting of sorts. Some things never change over time.

With the 260th anniversary of the battle of Zorndorf approaching in 2018, I have started considering how to recreate the battle on the tabletop at conventions next year. And with some progress being made on the Minden Russian musketeers and grenadiers, I will hopefully have a lot of new figures to paint and display (show off) in the game.

Map of the battlefield at Zorndorf - historical marker.

Another view of the historical marker at Zorndorf. Signs for battlefields are so few in Europe
that they really stand out and catch your eye when you do see one.

So I set up my first stab at creating the terrain for Zorndorf so that I could get a better sense of how much table space I have relative to the number of troops that will be in the game. The layout tips me off about potential spacing problems with the troops or terrain features. The first picture below illustrates the main terrain features at Zornforf.

Annotated view of the Zorndorf battlefield.

Last evening I found some 3/4-inch pink insualtion sheets in my storage area and I cut up some of the pieces so that I could slide them underneath the game mat that I use for all of my games. This creates a nice gentle elevation change that you can hopefully see in the pictures below. Eventually, I will place insulation sheet under the whole table and make cut outs for the various "grunds" and depressions on the battlefield.

The view of the Zabern Grund from the Russian right flank point of view looking back
towards the Prussian advance guard commanded by Manteuffel.

I used the Clash of Arms boardgame map for Zorndorf to create my own map on paper and then scale it down to a 12 foot long game table. I can easily extend the table another four feet and add the cavalry action on the Prussian right wing near the Langern Grund terrain feature.

I used the Osprey Campaign book on Zorndorf for my order of battle. To scale things down, I basically substituted a brigade of actual soldiers for one wargame regiment. More about this in a future blog thread.

Compare the picture of the tabletop Zabern Grund with the picture of the actual terrain feature on the battlefield today. This picture, below, was taken in October 2016 while I was on Christopher Duffy's tour of Frederician battlefields in Germany and Poland.

A view of the Zabern Grund today. You can see how deep the low ground is on the left, relative to the plowed field. With all of the battlefield smoke during the fight, it is easy to see how von Seydlitz could have hidden his Prussian cavalry and approached the Russian right wing virtually undetected.

Prussian 12-pound artillery battery with its left flank resting on the Zabern Grund.
You can see the Stein Busch in the background.

This picture provides a little sense of the slight elevation difference
 from the bottom of the Zabern Grund to the top of its embankment.

The Galgen Grund separates the Russian right wing into two sections.

What is left of the Stein Busch in the Prussian center.
In 1758 the wooded area would have covered considerably more ground.

The Prussian right wing (refused wing) commanded by Dohna.

I will post more threads about the development of my Zorndorf game in the coming days and weeks and months. I just wanted to get the ball rolling while things were still fresh in my mind.