Shenandoah Valley Campaign 1862 : Battle of Kernstown

I have had my eye on playing the main battles from Thomas Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Campaign for a while. Several of you out there in the blogosphere I know have played many of the battles so there is plenty of information to develop suitable scenarios for my 28mm collection. The plan is to play the six main battles, Kernstown, McDowall, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys and Port Republic using as close to historical setups as I can manage with my collection. The main challenge will be Winchester which was as far as I remember a much larger engagement but I will deal with that later. Each battle will have its own victory conditions and we will keep a ‘football league’ type scorecard for the overall campaign. With the weather hot and sunny this weekend we kicked off the campaign with the Battle of Kernstown, March 23rd 1862.

As very brief introduction to the battle Jackson is probing north with a view to capturing the strategically important town of Winchester. As his divisional cavalry probes north he believes they have surprised the Union forces in camp and he orders an all out advance believing the Union troops to be retreating. However they aren’t retreating and instead Shield’s Division moves to a strong defensive position on a prominent hill overlooking Pritchards Farm. Rather than assault directly the confederates attempt to outflank the position but are blocked by more Union troops coming from the rear. In the end stalemate develops with both sides giving their best but not scoring a decisive win.

A nice map poorly copied from the internet showing the six battles with dates.

Lucky lots of info on all the battles and useful maps here is the one I have used mainly for our Kernstown battle

And the setup, we join the battle as Fulkerson’s Brigade  advances toward Pritchard Hill they have realised that the Skirmishing on the valley turnpike was just that and the Union forces have stolen a march with Kimball taking up a strong position on Pritchard hill already, Garnetts brigade who are close behind them have been diverted left to try and outflank the hill. Asby and his 7th Virginia Cavalry are still skirmishing over the river along the turnpike. For the Union Sullivan is marching down the turnpike. Burk for the confederates and Tyler for the Union will arrive on a randomised roll somewhere close to sandy ridge. The objectives for the confederates is to break through and get as many units off the table and/or take Prichard’s hill. The Union must stop them.

Garnetts Brigade marching past the Opequon Church, Kimballs brigade can be seen up on Pritchards Hill

The 7th Virginia cavalry skirmishing up the turnpike

Union forces on Pritchards hill

Battle starts on the right

Although historically they were a bit further back we had the Confederate Chew artillery on the table just behind Kernstown itself

Garnetts brigade hurries off to the left. Slightly fearful the Union reserves might not arrive we adapted the rules such that any confederate troops reaching the line of the stone wall would trigger the arrival of Tyler’s brigade

Cannon open up from Pritchards hill

Fulkersons Virginians can be seen just over the bridge opening fire on Kimballs brigade

By some trick Burk’s confederate brigade roll a six and arrive second turn making the Union General very nervous 😀 nothing between them and the baseline !

With the arrival of Burk further left Garnett starts to order some of his regiments  to turn off the road and advance towards the base of the hill.

You can now see firing starting all along the line

Sullivan is determined to drive away the cavalry

“Double time double time lads”

The rest of Garnetts brigade turns up the Middle Road, this will force the Union to spilt any reserves and make them very strung out

Some of the cavalry pull back over the bridge

With the confederates pushing forward Tyler’s brigade finally arrives

Just as the confederates reached the road

As the rebels push left Kimball and Sullivan push towards the river realising they only have limited confederates in front of them.

Cavalry pulled back to hold the bridge

Nervous of a major drive by the Union to take Kernstown itself and outflank them the confederate general places these 33rd Virginian infantry in the church yard where they will stay the whole battle holding the flank 

Some of the confederates pushing through the trees on sandy ridge take a battering and are forced to temporarily pull back

Forming out into line to fire !

Union troops are now at the bridge which we can’t afford to lose

Tough fighting on Pritchards hill forces several on the Union regiments to pull back but they are able to regroup 

Caught in the flank by fire from Pritchards hill these confederates are done for pulling back at double speed

A huge gap has opened up in the Union reserve line the confederates just need to push forward !

A shot looking down the battlefield, the confederates have numerical superiority at this end but can they make it count ?

With some disorder on the hill and the day getting late a unit of Rebels charge up the hill, but the Union manage to turn the guns and catch them with grape shot they rebels are decimated 🙁

Close now to the end of battle, the Union have pushed hard at the bridge and Kernstown but they are held back

The church providing a bastion for the defenders, the centre of the battlefield is strangely quiet 

At the stone wall the confederates haven’t quite made it, they are breaking over the wall and have significant advantage.

Another fine battle, ultimately we gave the win to the Union as neither of the Confederate objectives had been reached. However with a greater kill rate and a clear advantage  the battle wasn’t a complete flop for Jackson. The Union get three points for the win and one for the casualties they caused, the Confederates get two for the greater casualties. So the campaign stands as follows.

Next up McDowell although this won’t necessarily be played straight away. This battle has made me realise I do need to paint up a few more ACW troops when I get a chance. Having played three excellent big games in a row I am feeling a lot of love for my wargaming collections at the movement ☺️

Thanks as always for checking in. No games for the next week as I am busy with other stuff, but hopefully some painting and some interesting trips planned, and I need to sort out a battle for George ?

Matt😀