In the first part of October of 1862, Braxton Bragg, the commander of one of three major confederate armies, is faced with a very difficult situation. The once envisioned three prong attack of the summer of 1862 had run its course, with Bragg himself remaining as the sole offensive force the confederates had. Lee, after some small success at Harper's Ferry, had nearly lost his army to McClellan at Sharpsburg/Antietam in September; his Maryland invasion was certainly halted and the Army of Northern Virginia was withdrawn. On September 19, 1862 Sterling Price had led his corps to Northern Mississippi threatening Nashville and the rest of central Tennessee only to be bloodied at Iuka, and for Davis to call for his withdrawal to hook up with a small force under Van Dorn. Even so, Van Dorn's new army was to attack Corinth, Mississippi, a key location representing the furthest penetration into the confederacy. On October 3-4, 1862, Van Dorn attacked Corinth furiously, but to no avail.
All this leaves only Bragg, who along with Kirby Smith, had indeed finished the most successful confederate invasion by a major CSA army. The only military setback had been the failure to capture a major Union City, i.e. Louisville Kentucky or Cincinnati Ohio. Simply the fear of his maneuvers had caused many residents to flee in panic as hastily constructed works were put up. The union command in the area was in shambles at best. Nelson had just lost a large portion of his command to Smith at Richmond Kentucky. Morgan's command was in full retreat to the Ohio river and was nearly starved to death over rough country. At Munfordville, Bragg had captured another large Union force. In trying to organize a defense for Louisville, Union General Jeff C. Davis reports to Nelson to offer his aid. A conflict ensues, and Nelson is killed by Davis. Buell's men finally begin to arrive in Kentucky, either by river or by marching from Corinth through Nashville around Bragg and into Louisville. The bigwigs in Washington want Buell's head and he knows it. They approach Thomas to take command, but Thomas wisely sidesteps it knowing the situation is very bad.
The major defeat to Bragg's invasion came when the people of Kentucky failed to rally to his support. He had installed a new government in Frankfort captured Lexington, and had hoped to bring Kentucky fully into the CSA, but they wanted no part of it. The goal of his invasion would be denied. He wanted to retreat as the Union call to arms resulted in large build ups of union armies while his army was not getting the number of Kentucky volunteers he had envisioned.
The other major problem in the invasion was the "sharing" of command between Kirby Smith and Bragg. Kirby wanted to keep independent command of his forces and thus he never linked the two armies together to create a strong enough force to threaten the union. In fact, Kirby's constant "crying wolf" at the first union movements meant that a large division of Bragg's force would miss the battle attached instead to Smith when Buell finally attacked Bragg.
The battle is engaged when the union troops move towards Perryville for water (there was a drought in Kentucky), and Bragg decides to defend the hills west of Perryville. Bragg moves to attack the left flank of the union and succeeds in demolishing a Union corps at Perryville only to be still outnumbered and forced to start his retreat. Despite Bragg's retreat, Buell is removed from command. Bragg is critized in the CSA as well even though his campaign had caused more union troops captured or casualties plus lots of supplies than he and Smith's army had men total.
Scenario starts at CSA only noon turn and ends at 1830 with 5" visibility on 1830 (dusk).
Union Victory - capture Perryville and maintain a 2:3 victory point ratio while maintaining a supply of water ( hold onto to 4" of a creek with no confederates around).
Confederate Victory - obtain a 2:1 victory point ratio while driving the union off the northern half of the map.
Union Order of Battle Perryville October 8, 1862
(150 men/6 guns per stand)
Army of the Ohio- Buell, Thomas
1st Corps- McCook
3rd Division Rousseau 3 guns
9th Harris 12/10/7
17th Lytle 17/14/10
38th Starkweather 15/11/8
10th Division Jackson 2 guns
33th Terrill 16/14/9
34th Webster 17/14/10
3rd Corps- Gilbert
1st Division Schoepf 3 guns frozen until 2 pm
1st Walker 12/9/6
2nd Fry 12/9/6 enter on road at 2pm
3rd Steedman 11/8/6 enter on road at 2pm
9th Division Mitchell 2 guns frozen until 2 pm
30st Gooding 10/8/6
31st Carlin 10/8/6
32nd Caldwell 9/7/5
11th Division Sheridan 2 guns frozen until 1:30 pm.
35th Laiboldt 9/7/5
36th McCook 11/9/6
37th Greusel 10/8/5
Cavalry Gay 7/6/4
Confederate Order of Battle for Perryville, October 8, 1862
Army of the Mississippi- Bragg, Polk
Right Wing (Corps) Cheatham
Donelson Division 3 guns
Savage 10/7/4
Stewart 10/7/4
Maney 10/7/4
Wharton Cavalry 4/3/2
Left Wing (Corps) Hardee
Anderson Division 3 guns
Brown 9/8/5
Adams 12/9/6
Powell 11/8/6
Jones 9/7/5
Buckner Division 3 guns
Liddell(E) 12/9/5
Cleburne(E) 6/4/2
Johnson 13/9/5
Wood 9/7/5