Historical 3-Day Chancellorsville/2d Fredericksburg

The Map.  This map was initially modified from the CWG2
map by AI/EternalChallenge/Precipice/MajorGeneral Israel
Richardson, then further modified by me. There are noticeable
differences to the CWG2 package map and MGIR's modification.
Such changes were in conformity with descriptions and
observations in after-action reports and post-war accounts.
A treeline on the west, for instance allows the Confederates
to come up on the Union troops so that they are unseen until
they are within 100 yards.  From Catharine Furnace, Jackson
could see Fairview, so that is represented, too.  The sunken
road behind the stone wall at Fredericksburg is included, as is
the little plateau the Union ranks encountered coming up the hill
from Fredericksburg. They stepped out on it just before they
caught sight of the stone wall.  In fact, Union troops couldn't
see the stone wall from town.  Roads have been added to conform
with the West Point Atlas of the American Civil War and officers'
accounts of troop movements during the battle.

Order of Battle.  R. E. Lee becomes the 1st Corps commander, as
Longstreet is en route from North Carolina to Richmond for a
meeting with CSA Secretary of War Seddon when the battle takes
place.  Longstreet had been in North Carolina where he had
assumed an independent command.  Jubal Early is represented
as a "mini-corps commander".  He was in command of a reinforced
division left back on the heights to the west of Fredericksburg
to act as a screen for Lee's movement west to meet Hooker.
The brigades in his "corps" are grouped into two divisions--one
from the units of 1st Corps and one from the units of 2d Corps
that have been left with Early.  The senior brigadier within
each group is made a "division" commander.

Troop Disposition.  The placement of units is in conformity
with reports in the Official Records of the Rebellion and the
West Point Atlas for the American Civil War.

Artillery.  In accordance with the reorganization by Lee after
1st Fredericksburg (Dec 1862).  That is, to facilitate
concentrated artillery fire, batteries of 4 guns were formed
into battalions of 4 batteries.  Each division was directly
supported by an artillery battalion, with 2 battalions in corps
reserve.  At least one battalion was in army reserve.  As the
Army of Northern Virginia moved west to meet Hooker, 1st Corps
took a total of 117 guns, and 2d Corps took 128 guns (remember,
Jackson had been an instructor of artillery!).  On Jackson's
"Great March" around to the west of Hooker on May 2d, he moved
80 guns over 12 miles to the extreme right flank of the Army
of the Potomac.

Sharpshooters.  Unfortunately, CWG2 grossly underplays the use
of sharpshooters by the Confederates and overplays their use by
the Union army.  As the war progressed, the Union deployed
sharpshooter units less and less, while the Confederates stepped
up their use of these units.  Actually, the Confederates never
formed regiment or brigade sized sharpshooter units, but each
regiment was expected to provide 40-50 sharpshooters.  Grouping
these marksmen was done informally for the duration of a
particular campaign; then they would return to duty with their
regiments.  Consequently, a brigade would provide from 120-240
sharpshooters, depending on the number of regiments it contained
and their troop strength.  Therefore, a Confederate division would
typically field 300-1000 sharpshooters.  In this scenario,
I accepted the troop strength offered by CWG2 for this scenario,
then I deducted men from each brigade within a division to form
the division's sharpshooter unit.  The Confederate sharpshooters
are equipped with the Whitworth sniper rifle.  It was the prefer-
red weapon of Confederate (and Patrick R. Cleburne) sharpshooters,
although just as many of them used the .577 Enfield. CWG2 severely
under-rates the capability of the Enfield rifle (as it does the
sawed-off double-barrelled shotgun used to devastating effect by
cavalry units).  I should comment that depicting an entire unit
equipped with the Leonard or the Morgan target rifles is silly.
The Morgan weighed 30 pounds and any unit fully equipped with them
would be immobile (fortress duty only!).  Only one or two shooters
per unit would ever have these weapons, and they were carried in
special boxes in the supply train and used only on occasion.  They
were also very expensive.

Shotguns.  I took away any shotguns that might have been assigned
to Confederate cavalry units.  Their impact on the opponent was
far greater than suggested by the firepower rating given them in
CWG2. Units carrying shotguns would also carry revolvers and
sabers (or in the case of Texas Cavalry, Bowie knives).  Only
twice during the war did cavalry units defeat infantry units;
both times the cavalry unit carried sawed-off shotguns, Colt
revolvers, and Bowie knives; both times the cavalry unit was
the 8th Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas "Rangers").

Union Arms.  I gave Howard's XI Corps 1861 Springfields to
help keep them in the game.  First Corps of the AOP was
well equipped, with the "Iron" Brigade fully outfitted with
1861 Springfields.  After the battle, the ordnance officer
of the 2d Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia was able to
completely equip 2d Corps with "high quality .58 caliber
rifles" captured from the Army of the Potomac at 
Chancellorsville.  Of course, not all .58 caliber rifles
were 1861 Springfields, but by 1863 it was becoming the
standard issue of the AOP.  About 14 Parrott guns were
also captured by the ANV at Chancellorsville.

Union Cavalry.  The package CWG2 Chancellorsville scenario
omits Union cavalry units.  Probably because the bulk of AOP
cavalry were engaged in a grand "raid" on Richmond.
The "raid" was easily brushed aside by the Richmond defenses
and was utterly ineffective.  Averell's cavalry division was
approaching Ely's Ford of the Rapidan River on May 2d; they
were suffering the effects of prolonged movement and were
unaware that a great battle was about to erupt (as was
Hooker).  I placed the AOP 1st Division Cavalry approximately
where they were on May 2d in accordance with the West Point
Atlas of the ACW.

Time Clock.  The starting time for the battle is set back to
15:00 hours to allow for 4 hours of engagement before the game
shuts you down for the night.  Historically, the battle raged
until almost 21:30 hours, and there was sporadic shooting until
almost midnight.  The presence of a bright moon allowed for
effective movement and consolidation of lines after dark.  Note:
Rodes' and others marked the time for the order to advance
battle lines at 17:15 hours.

Jackson.  After dark, returning from a visual inspection of the
front lines of the two armies, as Jackson's party approached
the 18th North Carolina Regiment of Lane's Brigade, a volley
was ordered by J. D. Barry.  Jackson was gravely wounded, carried
from the battlefield and subsequently developed pneumonia and
died on Sunday, the 10th of May, 1863.