PersonMcPerson

As near as I can tell, the Confederate opening mission(Potomac Fort) is representative, albeit a fairly fictionalized version, real-life's Aquia Creek.

That's probably it - I think the problem is my army is just too small. Two regular corps, 4 divisions each, as well as a 5 extra infantry brigades, four artillery regiments, and eight cavalry brigades. I'll load back a fair bit and put more into army organization and training. Difficulty is brigadier general, battles are 2nd Bull Run(found a workaround), Antietam(retreated from, ruined my reputation), and Fredericksburg(finally loading back in the campaign). Thank you for the help!

No - they seemed entirely focused on my army itself, not so much the VP. Kemper's Legion(it's a bit blurry - the one in the middle), thanks to their Whitworths, ended up getting over 5000 kills that battle, at the cost of 400 casualties.

Is there a way to stop the Union from charging at every opportunity? There's nothing I can do against it.

Nevermind, I found a solution

I've hit a bit of a roadblock in my campaign - no matter what I do in 2nd Bull Run, the Union keeps just charging before my reinforcements arrive, which breaks my lines. I have four divisions in my first corps, each one four infantry brigades(+2000 men) and one artillery regiment, which isn't enough to plug the holes in my line that the charges create. Advice?

Ok, I’ve hit a pretty big roadblock in my writing, not the smallest part of which is that I’m really pretty bad at it, so I’m going to put this on hold for a while. Maybe I’ll pick it up again someday, maybe I’ll do something else, who knows.

After long, careful consideration, I've come to an important realisation: Obama is a stupid name for this AAR. Robinette is at least somewhat more obscure. Also, are the battle scenes better written from a more personal point of view, as in Philippi, or from the grander scale, such as here?

Chapter 4: Distress Call By the time the first Confederates were sighted, the 1st Minnesota, escorting the 2nd Artillery, supply wagon, and the general, had arrived to the relief of the supply post. Immediately, orders were sent to the soldiers guarding the northern fort to withdraw to and reinforce the southern one. The two light regiments were posted to the woods nearest to the eastern edge of the fort, with Richards’ regiment in their rear, while Woods’ regiment was left in the fort. The 1st Minnesota and 2nd Artillery, along with Edwin’s cavalry, were posted in the woods to the northwest of the fort, and the 2nd Minnesota and 1st Artillery were assigned to the immediate left of the fort. The action of the day began at 9:20am when Law’s regiment began its advance on the fort, almost directly from the north. The supply wagon was quickly withdrawn, as it turns out seventy dollars buys you maybe two cannonballs and a rusty knife. Artillery fire was largely ineffective, with the bulk of the casualties being caused by musket fire from Woods. Around this time, the 2nd Minnesota also came under artillery fire, though it was even less effective than the Federal cannons. This stalemate continued for a while, with only some minor shifting of the lines and the addition of cavalry to the small arms bombardment of the fort, until Bartow’s regiment was spotted approaching from the north-northeast at 9:50. At this point, Richards was ordered to move his regiment to a more central reserve position, in case Woods broke. This came to pass a mere 10 minutes later, with fire from Bartow’s regiment giving the impression that the fort was somehow being flanked. The circular fort. Richards’ men moved in to fill the gap, while the two skirmisher regiments were sent on a wide flank attack around the Confederate left, in order to probe near the northern fort. Instead, they saw a dream: Unguarded artillery batteries. A quick charge routed the two regiments, though a counterattack by Confederate cavalry also ruined the skirmisher regiments. The next phase of the battle began when the 2nd Minnesota was moved to the woods to join the 1st, with orders from Robinette to undertake a large charge against the northern fort, in the hopes of routing the Confederates there. A short conflict between the two officers followed, both of them agreeing it was suicide, but the orders won out in the end, and they both got their regiments ready, along with the nearby cavalry. At 10:53, the horn was sounded, and three thousand men sprang out of the forest, headed straight for the fort. Incredibly, none of the Confederate regiments between the forts tried to stop them in any way, giving a feeling of invincibility. When the charge finally smashed through the gates of the fort, it was guarded by the under-strength regiment of Laws, which quickly broke. With their northern flank under threat and the southern fort still holding, the Confederates rapidly withdrew over the eastern bridge. The supply depot had, amazingly, been held.

Any of the officers who had seen the division before the battle would agree; In its current state, it was a sad sight. Of the 4,700 Federals who had marched into Philippi as part of the two divisions, almost two thousand stayed there, with both of Robinette’s division’s remaining infantry regiments taking over fifty percent casualties, while the damage to Zook’s regiment was so bad it was forced to be split up and sent to different commands entirely. In fact, an anecdote goes that Major Walton, on ordering that his regiment be stood at attention for review, asked why only a company attended. His aide informed him that that was his regiment - The rest were either dead or in the hospital tent. “Sir, our governor has ‘the pleasure to inform us that two brigade’s worth of men’ - That’s two thousand nine hundred, sir - ‘and almost forty-seven thousand dollars are being sent to reinforce our army.’ What do you want to do with it, sir?” “Let me see that.” The inside of the commander’s tent was fairly sparse, just two chairs and a table, but it was perfect for this sort of meeting. The sun shone through the wide tent opening, making it a beautiful day indeed. Robinette took the letter from the Major’s hands, which claimed… “Veterans? The Rebs fired on Fort Sumter two months ago, how are there already veterans available?” Looking over at the paper, Loomis answered, “I’m… not sure, sir. Advanced training? Oh, it says here that they’re from the… governor’s royal guard?” “Once this is all over, we really need to launch an investigation into the state’s finances.” “Quite.” “Anyway, I want one raw regiment and two ‘veteran’ to reinforce your brigade, then two raw and one veteran for Walton. The totals of both brigades will be brought up to fifteen hundred men, understand?” “Er, yessir. Not sure why fifteen hundred specifically, though…” “Trust me, it’s vitally important. Both your regiments have 1842 Springfields, right?” “Right.” Loomis jotted down some math, then told his commander, “That leaves… nine and a half thousand dollars, and four hundred eighty-five men. What should we do with them?” “Let’s see… I want two new batteries formed, and they’ll be attached to Woods’ and Scales’ regiments. I’m sure they can decide how to organize that. Oh, which reminds me, having the official regiment names be their commanders’ is damned silly. I want actual regiment names - 1st and 2nd Minnesota, 1st and 2nd Minnesota Artillery. That’ll continue as long as we get just Minnesota recruits.” “Yessir. That leaves… 10 six-pounders under Woods’ command, 8 rifles under Scales, and seventy dollars and 236 men left. I’ll go ahead and put the money toward the supply train?” “Go ahead and do that. Ah!” A shadow in the tent opening revealed the presence of a somewhat guest of dubious honor. The wide hat the man was wearing hid his cold eyes, though it did nothing for the gaunt frame of the rest of his body. “Adam, this is the drillmaster I requested from Washington. He’ll help whip the troops into shape, or at least make it easier to recruit experienced ones. Not sure how that works out… Anyways, dismissed.” With a salute, the man was gone. He returned back to the one black tent in the army, already plotting his next disciplinary action. “So, the next movement?” “Ah, yes. The rebels are moving against our supply depots at Manassas, and Washington wants our division to march to its relief. They say the rebels will have double our number, again, but we’ll have fortifications.” Loomis looked out through the tent, and thought for a moment. “The rewards?” Skipping a few lines in the dispatch, Robinette eventually landed on “Fifty-six thousand dollars, three thousand three hundred men, and… ‘Good feelings in Congress.’ That’s nice, at least.” For a moment, the two officers sat and enjoyed the nice day. It was truly perfect - Warm, but not too warm in the tent’s shade, a slight wind blew through the tent now and again, even some of the braver birds could be heard. Then, almost as one, the two got up and tended to their commands. The army stirred with movement as the order to move out was given.

Okay, I know this is taking way too long, which I am deeply sorry for. The reason is because I share my steam library with someone who likes to keep the games running constantly, which means I rarely get to actually play UGCW. And of course, if I can’t play it, I can’t write about it. Again, I’m very sorry about this. I'll probably pick it up during the Spring Sale, so expect more updates starting roughly around then.

I swear I’m not dead, and I have no intention to quit just yet, I'm just trying to find motivation and time to write the next chapter. Sorry about that!

So, after an embarrassingly long time, I've finally wrapped up the first two chapters of this AAR, and posted them here. A couple points, starting with: 1. I started this December 31st of 2022, so while I hope to get better and quicker at writing them, don't expect them incredibly frequently 😅 Also, just to be safe, don't look at a couple months of inactivity and think "ah damn guess he quit", if I ever do quit this, I promise to tell y'all. 2. I plan on releasing updates in roughly this pattern; the camp before a battle gets a chapter, and each day of a battle will get a chapter(This, of course, being an exception). 3. Going on from here, I'll try to put in actual pictures to break up the text, and I apologize for this one being so dull. 4. If you read the Lander's Road AAR, yes, that's the commander of the reinforcements. 5. I'm also hoping to write this in the same vein as some of the AARs written by TheButterflyComposer on the Paradox forums, which I drew a huge amount of inspiration from, particularly Imperial Cheese and Tomorrow Belongs to Me--go check them out if you play HoI4(or if you don't) and haven't already! 6. Fun glitch/bug/exploit I discovered, which is the reason no charges were mentioned, despite the difficulty level: If an enemy is charging one of your brigades, and said brigade detaches skirmishers, the enemy brigade will switch target to the skirmishers and stop charging. However, this doesn't always work, and it only works on any charging enemy units. Another one that does always work, though, is if you save the game and reload, all units' charge meters will be reset, meaning all enemy units can't charge for a while. This does also apply to your own units, though, and it messes with limbering/unlimbering artillery and cavalry mounting/dismounting, so use it carefully. 7. The Northwest Angle was, in this timeline, a small skirmish over the American exclave in Canada(the Governor General of the colony thought it looked ugly, while the governor of Minnesota rather liked the flavor it gave the map), which ended with the Americans retaining the territory, but it left a bad taste in Britain’s mouth. This may seem unimportant, but it'll come back later. I plan to someday write a prequel detailing the events, but it'll probably wait til we're a good deal through this. 8. Yes I chose a meme name and no I am not sorry I may have forgotten something, but I(clearly) can't remember what it was, so happy reading!

Chapter 2: Philippi The road to Philippi was rather dusty. Must not have rained for a while. Weird, with how rainy it’s been everywhere else, and you’d think the water would roll down, what with that ridge-- Wait. The ridge. Plus another hill across from it. Perfect place to set up an ambush. Schaefer signaled to the bugler to halt the line, then turned to the man next to him. “Lieutenant, take this message to the general immediately: ‘Enemy forces on either hill, assault up the slope of the hill advised.’” At once, the lieutenant turned and began to trot toward the main force. Even as he did so, another bugle call sounded, and the skirmishers began to move toward the bottom of the ridge. Soon enough, the crack of a Confederate rifle revealed their position, and the fight was on. It was a fairly light skirmish across the ridge, as a combination of poor marksmanship and lack of Confederate discipline induced the rebels to withdraw with fairly light casualties on both sides, though they were definitely present. With the first rifle shots of the war, the ridge had been claimed. Here, the division waited for a while, until the rest of it could be brought up. The cannons were set up to the immediate west of the town, along with Loomis’s regiment and Bristow’s cavalry, now dismounted, just behind them. To the southwest of the town was Walton’s regiment, supported by the two regiments of skirmishers. Heading to the immediate south of town was Zook’s regiment, to embark on a flanking assault. However, it was in the middle of this maneuver that an unfortunate and unexpected event happened; A Confederate skirmisher regiment advanced to within small arms range of Woods’ battery of six pounders, killing enough crew members to force the abandonment of a gun. Bristow quickly moved his cavalry up to cover, but the damage was done. Still, superior numbers showed, and the skirmishers soon pulled back, leaving room for the assault on the suburb. This fell with a tremendous fury, but landed on air. As the federals entered the suburb, the last of McHenry’s regiment was seen slipping across the bridge, leaving only a skirmisher regiment in its place, which was quickly pushed north. From here, all brigades were ordered to a halt, and Robinette revealed what would become his favored tactic throughout the war--saturation fire. Turning to a messenger, he gave the order: “You, tell Woods and Scales to begin bombarding the earthworks immediately past the bridge, and if they question it, tell them there’s a Confederate regiment in it.” A salute, and the messenger was off, leaving Robinette to his thoughts. However, this was cut short by the beginning of the bombardment, and soon enough the skirmishers moved up to join in. The Confederate cannons opened up, but not to anywhere near the same effect as their counterparts in blue. The Union bombardment was effective in its goal, with the infantry moving in after about an hour to secure the bridge. The rebels tried to hold, but an hour’s barrage plus the bullets from fifteen hundred rifles soon forced them out. The order came to cross the bridge, “Double quick, lads!” and they followed through with it. Of course, there were some Confederate shots, but the crossing itself was mostly bloodless for the Union. And just like that, they were in the town. From there, it was a fairly simple, if somewhat brutal, task to roll the Confederate line up, pushing them north and out of the town. In the way of this were several Confederate counter-charges, some of which came damn close to succeeding. Of high priority for the Union was the rebel artillery, which was captured or destroyed to a gun. All in all, the town was taken with roughly five hundred casualties for the Union. With the rebels completely pushed out, the Union eye looked east, toward the approaching eight thousand Confederates. By the end of the day, the Union had lost one gun and roughly a third of their infantry, and now had to hold a town against a foe twice the number of the one they had beaten. Orders were sent out, and earthworks began to be dug. A storm was coming. ---------- “Sir!” Robinette was snapped out of his thoughts by the arrival of just the man he needed to see right now. Up came Loomis, with Majors Zook and Walton behind him. “Us three agree, we need to decide on a course of action. The artillery is preparing positions, and the cavalry and skirmishers are scouting. We’ve left our regiments to build breastworks.” Robinette responded with a nod. “Very good. As for the course of action, what other is there than to hold here?” Loomis opened his mouth, but Walton cut in before he could say anything. “Across the river, general. We can turn the bridges into a killing ground.” At this, Robinette blinked in surprise. “Across…? That is a good idea, bu-” Before he could finish, however, Zook continued an argument that they had apparently been having beforehand. “And how do you know they will attack? We’ll have abandoned the town, and to gain it again, we’ll need to perform today’s attack against a stronger foe!” Robinette tried to open his mouth, but was interrupted again by Walton. “Why wouldn’t they attack? If they did, and they succeeded, they would eliminate the one threat to them in the area!” As the two majors fell into bickering, Loomis had inched his way over to Robinette, and now spoke to him. “I’m sorry, sir, they’ve been at this since the battle ended. Took four sergeants and a broken standard to break them apart.” “Hmm. I believe I’ve reached my decision regardless. Cover your ears.” Loomis’s initial reaction was a simple, “Sir?” before his eyes fell on the pistol Robinette had just unholstered. “Oh, yes sir.” Firing it into the ground, the sudden BAM of the pistol ended the argument between the two majors. “I’ve made my decision. Walton, I’m sorry, but Zook is right. The rebs will have no reason to attack us if we move west of the river, we’ll have to hold the town.” Walton almost protested, but a quick glance at the pistol silenced him. “Yes, general. Orders for our regiments?” Robinette turned toward the outskirts of the town, and pointed at three spots. “Holding where you’ve designated is pointless. Hold the outer edge of the town, still in the cover of the buildings, and force the rebs into the open ground. Oh, and send orders to the batteries to set up behind you, and to the skirmishers and cavalry to form a reserve by the river.” Three salutes, although confused, and the majors were off. Once again, Robinette was left to his thoughts, the nervous tapping of his foot sounding like a drumbeat. ---------- Meet Private Joseph Cambell, a rifleman in Walton’s regiment, 3rd Company. After the events of the first day, he was one of the five hundred that made it through relatively intact, and ready to face the horde of Confederates now bearing down on them. Yet, for the first half hour, it seemed as if nothing would happen. No Confederate regiment could be heard, no flag could be seen, even the armored train they had heard reports of hadn’t materialized. The men were just beginning to talk with one another, some even breaking formation when the colonel yelled, and the bugle sounded. The sharpest eyes in the frontline could now see, clear as day: A dust cloud, directly east of them. The Confederates had arrived. The men snapped back into formation, another bugle call lowering the rifles. A force of rebs split off from the main party, but still plenty of targets to be had. They were in front of the church now, still running into range, in front of the earthworks Joseph’s regiment had abandoned not an hour before, then the bugle sounded its ultimate command, one which sergeants across the line echoed, the cry for “Fire!” A great gout of flame and smoke went up from the line. They were quickly ordered to reload, but even as they did, they were looking into the mass of grey, seeing if they had, hoping they had hit a target. Joseph himself was elated, as he could’ve sworn he hit one, though also nearly deafened. As the rammer was being returned to the underbarrel, the cannons behind them opened up, raining their own destruction upon the Confederate line. The rebs responded, of course, but largely ineffectually--at least to Joseph’s eyes. Even the rebel cannon barely scratched them! Again and again, they fired, killing dozens of Confederates for every one Union soldier fallen. They were invincible! Then, another volley came in. For a brief moment, the bullet hung there in the air, almost directly in front of his head. Then, everything was black. ---------- “Sir, a message from Major Walton. His regiment is being hit hard, and he needs reinforcements. ” Pinching his nose, Robinette replied to the messenger, “We don’t have any to give! The cavalry’s far too weak to--Oh, nevermind. When will Lander’s division arrive?” The messenger didn’t know, of course, but he was relieved by one from said reinforcements. “Sir! Major Colquitt--er, the commander of the leading regiment--says he’s just west of the west bank town, and he’ll be across the bridge in roughly twenty minutes.” “That’s… not great, not terrible. Tell him to maintain his current pace, don’t tire the men out, and you,” turning to Walton’s messenger, “order the regiments to pull into a tighter position. Same orders for you two,” pointing to two other orderlies. “Understood?” A flurry of salutes and yessirs, and the messages were sent. Soon after, another messenger, this one from Zook’s regiment, reported the appearance of another Confederate regiment directly to the north, looking to be eight hundred strong. He was sent back with an order for Scales’ battery of 3-inch rifles to fire on the regiment, and another order for Zook to fire at whichever enemy presented a greater threat. Then, from his vantage point at the top of the street Loomis’s regiment was now occupying, Robinette could see the armored train they had so feared. Another messenger to Woods’ battery, to change their target to the train, which quickly yielded results, roughly a dozen crew members killed each volley. Thus was the pattern for the next twenty or so minutes--Confederate volleys whittling down the Union defenders, while the cannons did their best to fight them back. The situation when the first regiments of Lander’s division was as follows: Walton’s and Loomis’s regiments, on the right flank and center respectively, were both just under four hundred men, and only getting hit harder. Zook’s regiment, on the left, had just fallen under five hundred, and was in a secure enough position, though still threatened by the regiment close to their own left flank. As for the Confederates, the skirmishers attacking Walton were beginning to break, which would only allow the solid infantry behind them to press their own attack. A bit of good news, however--the armored train’s fire was beginning to slacken, and it would soon be forced back by the effort of Woods’ artillery. Robinette received two pieces of news at the same time, one bad and one very, very good. A messenger from Zook’s regiment, that the Major had died in a volley, and the next-ranking officer was a first lieutenant. He was trying his best, of course, but both the CO and second-in-command had died, and he was in no way equipped for the task. As for the good news, Lander’s division had finally arrived, and his regiments were already moving to replace Robinette’s. At this point a formality, the Major General sent messages to his three infantry regiments to withdraw when Lander’s arrived. From there, he ordered Zook’s regiment to merge with Loomis’s, to fall under command of Lieutenant Colonel Wagner, and to march south to support Bruce’s regiment of the reinforcements. With the reinforcing artillery in place as well, the back of the rebel assault was broken, and no major assault was made again. After an hour of this slugfest, the Confederates finally withdrew. Philippi had been taken.

Part 1: Phiippi to Shiloh Chapter 1: Assignment “How many men did you say will be under my command?” “3,000, sir. Ten guns in two equal batteries, three infantry regiments, two skirmisher regiments, and a cavalry regiment. Oh, and another 1,500 men and 10 guns will arrive in a day or two’s time, under the command of Frederick Lander. All regiments are from Minnesota, sir.” “Don’t call me sir, Adam. How many rebels did the scouts say were holding the town?” “Er… 3,300 and 6 guns, with another 8,000 men and 18 guns coming as reinforcement. Including an armored train.” Meet Major General Donald Robinette, age 40, and Major Adam Loomis, age 39. The two had stayed good friends after their harrowing journey to the Northwest Angle. There, Robinette had earned the governor’s favor by saving the commander of the expedition--the governor’s son--from a mutiny, and he had been given his division and rank, as opposed to his friend’s. This rank difference served against them, however, as Loomis was technically supposed to be in Washington to oversee the training of new recruits, and had only barely been permitted to escort his friend to West Virginia. “High command is sending four and a half thousand men, with 20 artillery pieces, to take a fortified position, across a river, held by 11,000 men, 24 cannons, and an armored train?” “In all fairness si-Donald, you are effectively high command yourself. Remember, your division is the only one close enough to the town. Shame I won’t be able to join it, though. Ope, here’s our stop!” As the train rolled into the stop, the small welcoming party of officers came into view. Commanding the first regiment--By this point, the units were still named after their commanders--was Major Samuel Zook, a native and veteran of the Northwest Angle. The third regiment was commanded by Major Kelly Walton, who had actually never seen combat before--A family appointment, as his father was a state senator. The batteries were under command of two close friends, Majors Bobby Woods and Wade Scales, veterans of Mexico. There were a few vacancies, however. “Adam, did the report not say that there would be eight officers?” At this, Zook cut in with a quick salute. “Sir, our cavalry, mounted and dismounted, is currently scouting the town. They should return with their commanding officers, Majors Bristow, Schaefer, and Stockon, shortly. As for Wagner’s, er…” Woods saved Zook here from explaining the awkward situation. “Brigadier General Sigfried was killed when he fell off his horse, and Lieutenant Colonel Wagner had to fill in divisional command. With you here, though--” “Good, keep him there. I can’t command the division directly once the reinforcements arrive, and I want the most senior officer we have to keep track of you.” Turning to Loomis, he finished his thought. “Adam, wire Washington with the news. You’ve been promoted to commander of the second regiment.” ------------- As all generals know, the first thing to do with a new force is to train, train, train. An army without discipline is a mob, after all, and this particular army was even closer to being one than normal. In fact, Robinette was pretty sure he recognized some faces from the ‘57 riots. Regardless, they were his army to lead now, and he had to find a way to stuff some discipline into them, one way or another. He was already thinking on how exactly he should do so, when a soldier of 3rd Regiment gave him an opportunity. The clearly drunk corporal stumbled straight up to him, bottle still in hand, and slurred out, “You know mYBE WE SHOULD JUST LET THE REBS BREk away. Not loke wd’re goong to be ae to fight them with jow much they outnuuumber us.” Well, drunk or Dutch, anyway. Punctuating his point, the sergeant kindly showed Robinette the contents of his breakfast that morning, using the general’s boots as a canvas. A look of disgust on his face, yet silent gratitude in his mind, Robinette turned to Loomis. “Adam, have this man arrested, and schedule a flogging for tomorrow morning.” “Sir? Oh, yes sir. You, come with me.” Leading the sergeant away, Loomis made a mental note to find out where the horses and their whips were kept. I’ll have to ask that Bristow about that, I suppose. Rumor spread quickly throughout the camp, with an exaggeration each retelling, and before night had fallen, even the cavalry near the hills south of town knew about the sergeant’s planned execution. It even got so bad that the sergeant himself thought he would be executed, despite hearing the sentence of flogging multiple times, and tried to escape multiple times--Well, if drunk stumbling no more than 20 feet can be counted as an escape attempt. These rumors had a benefit, however--Once the execution came, and was revealed to be only a flogging, Robinette was seen as both strict and merciful. This didn’t magically fix the discipline problem in camp, but it sure went a hell of a long way towards that goal. The rest of that problem would have to wait, however--Bristow’s cavalry returned, with the news that Confederate reinforcements were still a day’s march away, and the Confederates in the town had near-fully entrenched the bridgeheads. Robinette, Loomis, and Walton received this news with their dinner, and discussed it over the meal. Walton quickly voiced his opinion. “We have to attack now! Before the rebels bring up their reinforcements!” Robinette replied with the caution he had learned in the Angle. “Keep in mind we’re still outnumbered, attacking across a river. We’ll not be able to take the position until our own reinforcements arrive.” “But they’ll get here at the same time! Our only option is-” “An option that would result in hundreds dead. Look, I’m sorry, but there’s simply no way we can take the town.” “War is about death--argh, look, how about we ask Loomis what he thinks. Major?” Loomis had been happily eating the small steak he had for his dinner, watching the two fight, so he choked a bit as his name was mentioned. “What? Oh, er… I mean, if we wait for both armies’ reinforcements to get here, we’ll only turn a difficult situation into an impossible one. So, I say we attack now.” Walton took his chance, and added on to the point. “Exactly. Ask all the other officers, they’d agree.” “But we can’t… oh, very well. Which regiments are ready to march now?” Loomis answered this one. “Sir, Major Zook’s regiment, along with the two regiments of dismounted skirmishers.” “And the others?” “Ready within the hour, sir.” “Good. Order those three to advance, and the others to join us as soon as they’re all organized. I’ll ride with the van, you two to your regiments.” A duo of salutes accompanied two “Yessir,” and the two junior officers left the tent for their regiments. Robinette was left in solitude for a moment, perhaps lost in thought, perhaps saying a prayer. Still, battle had to be fought. Robinette followed the two majors out.