We had some fun with this day of double frays. September 29th will go down in infamy as the day the Sneedville War began in earnest. The full, ugly details can be found in this video, or skip down to read all about it.
For those of you who prefer the written word, it was a day of mixed results for both Team Red and Team Blue.
Up north, the Harlan Blitz met with stiff resistance, with three waves of assaults on Big Stone Gap thrown back by the plucky local militia. I told you these Tennessee mountain boys were not to be trifled with. After a day of licking their wounds, the Harlan Blitz would launch a surprise night attack and catch the locals off-guard. The fact that the militia caused Knoxville a two-day delay ain't nothing, but the real damage was the 113 casualties they inflicted on the attacking force. With a small complement of 600, they now head into the next stage of the fight - stirring up trouble in the Kingsport backfield - with the capacity to lose only another 112 men before they are ruined as a fighting force. They cannot sustain such casualties for long, and what a black eye for Knoxville's reputation if their professional soldiers get wiped out by the local militias.
Meanwhile, down around Morristown the day went the way of the Knoxvillians. The Army of the East effectively stole a march on Roger's Army, managing to get into Morristown first. Roger's Army was surprised to find a larger than expected force already digging in, and after losing a fair fight in the east, lost their nerve. The lines collapsed and the whole army routed back toward Lake Cherokee. Had this been a one-off, it would have been a debacle as the whole army crowded the lone bridge across the narrowest width of the lake. Thanks to sound strategic thinking, the presence of the nearby Greene's Army - just a day west of the action in Bulls Gap - prevented the victorious Knoxvillians from pressing home their advantage. Maintaining their discipline, they held thier positions. That lets Roger's Army off the hook, but saves the Army of the East from getting double-teamed from the north and east....for now.
So here is our current status. Take a look at the situation and forumalte a strategy for each side, always remembering that neither side knows what the other has planned. Tomorrow I'll post three plans for each force - one attack strategy, one defensive, and one that mixes elements from both. Give me your best strategies, and we'll ask the War Councils which plan they want to adopt.
One last note: The Kingsportians have lucked out this week - in one way or another they can negate the effects of stream-crossing. Maybe they have better scouts. Maybe they have pontoons. Maybe they are just better swimmers. For whatever reason, they find watercourses less troubling this week than their Red Army counterparts.
