The 1861 Influenza Epedemic

Following on from the Union victory at the Battle of Woodwards Farm on 14th September 1861 both forces marched and counter-marched but neither side managed a clear advantage.

Despite the excellently executed flanking manouver and great heroism leading his troops Colonel Thaddeus P. Scrivener remained without recognition. However, following his mismanagement of the Confederate forces Barksdale was inexplicably elevated to the rank of General following the debacle. That scoundrel obviously has friends in high places.

XI Brigade entered winter quarters outside the town of Barbourville in Knox County. However, disaster struck, an outbreak of Influenza decimated the troops in the camp leaving hundreds dead and incapacitated. No retrospect of rank was shown, and Scrivener was laid low for several days, his beloved Victoria was summoned to the camp as the worst was feared.

Come early spring 1862, Scrivener had recovered and some influence had been at play as he was rightly elevated to General rank. The howitzer from 12th Battery Ohio Light Artillery was replaced. Further support was also forth-coming, the newly raised 5th West Virginia joined the brigade and Battery H, 5th U.S. Artillery comprising two 3" rifles and an howitzer were added.

The campaigning season for 1862 was about to start.



In terms of Longstreet.

James has the 'Friend in the Statehouse' card so even though he lost was throwing quite a few dice for his promotion prospects so was soon elevated to General, meanwhile on my six Epic Points I was unable to throw two 4+ so was skipped over for promotion.

After the battle we worked out the loses and my force was looking very credible:

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
14th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	9
8th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	9
3rd West Virginia Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	9
1st West Virginia Cavalry	Cavalry	Eager	Recruits	7
12 Battery Ohio Light Artillery	Artillery			2	2 6pdr

James force looked rather worse, one of his infantry was reduced to 8 bases and he only had his howitzer remaining plus one of his infantry and his cavalry had be reduced to Seasoned.

However we then rolled for the reduction phase and you really have never seen so many ones rolled. Following this travesty of a phase my force stood at:

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
14th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	6
8th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	5
3rd West Virginia Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	7
1st West Virginia Cavalry	Cavalry	Eager	Recruits	5
12 Battery Ohio Light Artillery	Artillery			2	2 6pdr

Whoops, to add insult to injury James only lost a couple of bases!

Now it was time to play the Campaign cards. I first drew Promotion, elevating Thaddeus to General. James drew Rebel Cavaliers adding a Regiment of eight Eager Veteran cavalry. Next I drew Broken Code, next game I add +2 to my scouting roll, James drew Confederate Replacements, his force was getting huge. I pulled New Artillery and a pair of Light Rifles form a new battery in my force. James was visited by the President on a Hail to the Chief card so one of the units that had dropped to Seasoned returned to Eager. Finally I drew another New Artillery card, this time, two Howizers, allocating one each to my existing batteries. James drew another Confederate Replacements card but as it was a 'red top' he could only add to one of the units as all the others had already been replaced.

This was pretty gutting, James forces were almost back to full strength while mine had withered.

Checking the Raw Recruits stage James was well over his 38 base limit (34 + 4 for 'Friend in the Statehouse' ) however I only had 29 bases after my epedemic so a regiment of four bases of Eager Recruits joined me.

For the next game my force stands at:

Unit	Type	Elan	Experience	Strength	Notes
14th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	6
8th Ohio Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	5
3rd West Virginia Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	7
5th West Virginia Infantry	Infantry	Eager	Recruits	6
1st West Virginia Cavalry	Cavalry	Eager	Recruits	5
12 Battery Ohio Light Artillery	Artillery			3	2 6pdr, Howitzer
Battery H, 5th U.S. Artillery	Artillery			3	2 Lt. Rifle, Howitzer