Monday, May 29, 2017

The South Carolina Campaign Begins (three turns)

I was working on a new campaign map this morning, taking a copy of the Cook map (public domain) and jotting down the movement dots (from my hand-drawn map) on the historical map. I am hoping that it does not look too cluttered. I figured that anyone following the campaign could look at the easier-to-read hand drawn map and compare it to an actual map.

South Carolina campaign map overlayed on the historical Cook map. (click to enlarge the map)

Now let us see what has happened on the first three turns of the campaign, from January 1780 to March 1780.

Turn One -Americans' Moves
The overall commander of the American army is General Horatio Gates, the hero of Saratoga. He is parked in the supply depot at Hillsboro, NC with 15SPs to open the campaign.

Hillsboro, NC (Gates - 15SPs)
Charlotte, NC (3 SPs)
Gilbert Town, NC (2 SPs)
McDowell, SC (Sevier - 3SPs)
Haye's Station, SC (2SPs)

Movement on Turn One

1) Gates send DeKalb with 6SPs from Hillsboro to Salisbury, NC
2) The force at Gilbert Town moves to McDowell, SC
3) The force at Charlotte holds
3) McDowell (hold movement)
4) The force at Haye's Station move 2SPs to McDowell, SC

At the conclusion of the American movement their forces are as follows:

1) Hillsboro (Gates - 9SPs)
2) Salisbury (DeKalb - 6SPs)
3) Charlotte (3SPs)
3) McDowell (Sevier - 7SPs)

The American plan is to build up DeKalb's army and enter South Carolina from the north. In the interior part of the state, Sevier is building up an army that can either threaten the British garrison at Ninety Six or move towards Winnsboro to eventually link up with DeKalb.

Turn One - British Moves
Lord Cornwallis is the overall commander of the British forces in the Carolinas. He is located in Camden with 6SPs and is awaiting reinforcements from Charleston. Lord Rawdon remains in Charleston with 10SPs.

Charleston (Rawdon - 16 SPs) move 6SPs to Nelson's Ferry
Camden (Cornwallis - 6SPs) Hold
Ninety Six (Cruger - 3SPs) Hold
The Forts along the Santee River (Ft Watson, Ft Motte, and Ft Granby - 1 SP each) Hold
Georgetown (2SPs) Hold

Savannah army is commanded by Stewart and is distributed as follows:

Savannah (Stewart - 6SPs) move 3SPs to Jacksonburg commanded by Webster
Augusta (2SPs) move 1SP to Ninety Six
Ft. Charlotte (1SP) move 1SP to Ninety Six
Beaufort (1 SP) move 1SP to Jacksonburg

At the conclusion of Turn One the British forces are as follows:

Charleston (Rawdon - 10SPs)
Nelson's Ferry (Tarleton - 6SPs)
Camden (Cornwallis - 6SPs)
Ninety Six (Cruger - 5SPs)
The Forts (3SPs collectively)
Georgetown (2SPs)

Savannah (Stewart - 6SPs)
Jacksonburg (Webster - 4SPs)
Augusta (1SP)

The British plan is to consolidate a large army at Camden, commanded by Cornwallis; and build up a force at Ninety Six in the interior of South Carolina. Webster has consolidated the small forces outside of Savannah and will eventually join Cruger at Ninety Six


TURN TWO - to be continued on May 30th, 2017


TURN THREE - to be continued on June 2nd, 2017

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