Battle of Antietam

I had the good fortune yesterday to do a re-fight of the battle of Antietam at Mick's on his rather large wargames table. I was given the role of fightin' Joe hooker with the Corps of Sumner in support, while Dave took on the role of Meade with the rest of the Corps. Facing us were Mike as Longstreet and Mick as Jackson.

The early stages of the battle were a bit slow form me with my Corps struggling to get over the creek. Dave on the other hand seemed to be motoring across and quickly began pushing back the forward elements of Jackson's corps. Eventually I managed to get Hooker advancing from the North moving and it was great relief that the Cavalry under Pleasenton discovered the Division of McLaws hidden in the woods. To say my cavalry would get a honourable mention in dispatched would be an understatement. They continually harassed the confederate infantry allowing valuable time to get my infantry brigades into position and launch their attack. My first attack went in against the confederate redoubts which had been slightly softened up by the artillery. This took about 2 hours of bitter fighting with the redoubts changing hands at least 4 times before the confederates were overwhelmed by superior numbers. With the redoubt captured Hooker launched a devastating attack against McLaws which saw the confederate line collapsed against overwhelming odds.


On the other flank Jackson was struggling to hold back the union advance, even the arrival of Stuart's cavalry and DH Hills' division could not stem the advance. Despite a number of successful counter atttacks the rebels were forced back. Eventually we all shook hands on what was a decisive union victory. Below are some photos that I did manage to take of the battle.