Breckinridge's Division

 

This post shows all of Confederate Major General J. C. Breckinridge's Division of Hardee's Corps.  It was painted by my friend Larry on commission.  He did a great job.

As I've written before, my Confederate forces are loosely organized for Hardee's Corps, Army of Tennessee, during the mid-summer Tullahoma Campaign.

Except for the Battle Honors mounted officers, all the figures and guns are from Old Glory 15s.

Please click on the images for a larger picture.

Division command stand and divisional artillery

Breckinridge and his division flag bearer are on the left and the representation of the division artillery is on the right.

John Cabell Breckinridge was a son of Kentucky and Vice president of the United States under James Buchanan (1857-1861).  He unsuccessfully ran for president as a "Southern Democrat" in the 1860 election that saw Republican Abraham Lincoln elected president.  As one of Kentucky's senators he urged compromise to preserve the union but ultimately failed and fled to the southern controlled portion of Kentucky.  There he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army and then promoted to major general.  During the 1863 Tullahoma campaign his division served under General Joe Johnston in Mississippi against Major General U.S. Grant's offensive.  Recalled to Tennessee, Breckinridge's division participated in the battles at Chickamauga and Chattanooga.  For my purposes, this division did not go to Mississippi but stayed in Tennessee.

Breckinridge's division artillery consisted of three batteries.  Cobb's Battery, or the 1st Kentucky Artillery, started its service with four M1841 6-pound smoothbore guns and two M1841 12-pound mountain howitzers.  By July 1863 it had four M-1857 12-pound Napoleon guns.  Mebane's Tennessee Battery had four 12-pound howitzers.  Slocomb's Louisiana Battery had four 12-pound Napoleon guns and two James rifled guns.  For the purposes of the "On to Richmond!" rules all of these batteries are represented by one smoothbore gun.

Helm's Brigade

Helm's "1st Kentucky" or "Orphan" Brigade

The 1st Kentucky Brigade was originally commanded by Breckinridge.  Brigadier Benjamin Hardin Helm took over command in January 1863 and led the brigade until his death at Chickamauga.  The brigade was called the "Orphan" brigade after its recruiting ground in Kentucky was lost to the Union.  It served with the Army of Tennessee until the end of the war.  For the Tullahoma campaign it consisted of the 41^st Alabama and the 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th, and 9^th Kentucky Regiments.  With a strength of about 1500 men, it is represented by five stands of figures.

Adams' Brigade

Adams' Brigade

Commanded by Brigadier General John Adams, this brigade consisted of the 32^nd Alabama, and the  13^th/20^th Louisiana, 16^th/25^th Louisiana, and 19^th Louisiana Infantry Regiments, and the  14^th Louisiana Sharpshooter Battalion.  With a strength of about 1200 men, it is represented by four stands of figures.

Stovall's Brigade

Stovall's Brigade

Commanded by Brigadier General Marcellus Stovall, this brigade is the smallest of the three in Breckinridge's Division.  For this campaign it consisted of the 1^st/3^rd Florida, 4^th Florida, 47^th Georgia, and 60^th North Carolina Infantry Regiments.  With a strength of about 900 men, it is represented by 3 stands of figures.

This division completes my Confederate troops for the time being.  Now off they go to battle!

Bowen's Command Group and Division Artillery

 

Major General John S. Bowen commanded a two-brigade division in the Department of Mississippi.  While his division was part of Pemberton's "Army of Mississippi," in my "imagi-nation" Civil War it and Forney's Division were transferred to central Tennessee prior to Grant beginning his campaign to take Vicksburg.  His First Brigade was featured in a previous post.  The second brigade (Green's) is being painted.

Bowen's command stand on left and division artillery on right

John S. Bowen began his Civil War career as a commander of Confederate Missouri infantry.  He was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1862 and led his brigade at Shiloh and Corinth before it was assigned to the Vicksburg garrison.  His efforts at Grand Gulf and Raymond led to him being promoted to major general and put in command of a division which he led at Champion Hill and then into Vicksburg.  He died of dysentery after the surrender.  Of course in "my world" his division was transferred to Tennessee and joined Hardee's Corps in the Army of Tennessee after Stone's River.

Bowen's command stand - a Battle Honors mounted general and an Old Glory 15s flag bearer

Bowen's division artillery consisted of three batteries - the Appeal (Arkansas) Battery (two 3" rifles and two 12-lb howitzers) and Guibor's (four 6-lb guns) and Landis' (two 12-lb Napoleons and two 24-lb howitzers) Missouri Batteries.  It is represented as having all smoothbore guns.  In the "On to Richmond!" rules, Confederate gun stands consist of 12 guns.

Old Glory 15s gunners and gun

The rest of the division, Green's Brigade is being painted and will be posted later.  The entire division, as well as all my Union and Confederate troops, will receive their "baptism of fire" in a game next Saturday.

Cockrell's 1st Missouri Brigade

 

Cockrell's 1st Missouri Brigade of Bowen's Division has now joined my Confederate forces.  Although it is assigned to Hardee's Corps, this brigade was actually part of Pemberton's "Army of Mississippi" during the spring and summer of 1863, fighting at Champion Hill and the siege of Vicksburg.  Even though formed from Missouri State Guard, it was one of the hardest fighting brigades in the Western Theater.  I decided to modify my order of battle for Hardee's Corps to include this brigade, presuming that it and its companion brigade, Green's, both of Bowen's Division, had been moved from Mississippi to Tennessee to oppose the Union forces there before Grant started his active campaigning to get around the southern flank of the Vicksburg defenses.

The brigade in its "reinforced line" formation.

Commanded by Colonel Francis Cockrell, it consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th Missouri Infantry Regiments.  It was about 1,500 rifles strong in the spring of 1863, translating to five stands for the "On to Richmond!" rules I'm using.  These Old Glory 15s figures are painted in the "drab" uniform with which this brigade was outfitted.  They are mounted on 2" x 1" Litko 8mm bases.

The brigade in march column, showing one of the regimental flags used by Missouri forces.

I tried a different basing technique with this brigade, mixing my Americana Hauser medium green paint with Delta Ceramcoat Texture Builder to try and add some dimension to the bases.  Although it was thick when I applied it, the mixture flattened as it dried.  And it got glossy so I'll need to either put some matte glaze or some more green paint over it.  Oh well,  live and learn.

I also completed enough 'morale markers' for all of the brigades.  "On to Richmond!" uses a system of disrupting morale markers to record the effects of weapons fire and close combat.  I represent these with 1" hex bases and a casualty figure.

Confederate and Union morale markers.

Brigades can accumulate up to three morale markers, represented by the number of dots on each of the three faces of the hex marker.  The more markers received, the less effective a brigade can be.  Brigades with a morale marker must check on the morale table at the beginning of their division's activation even if they will not perform any action.  The brigade must follow the results immediately even if it means the brigade falls back or launches a charge against the nearest opponent.  Makes things interesting as one can never be sure what a 'shaky' brigade might do.

Next up in the painting queue is Bowen's Division command stand and the divisional artillery 'battalion" followed by Green's Brigade.