Scouting Powell River

 Here's what the terrain looks like for the Battle of Powell River.  Both the Knoxville and Kingsport armies have orders to march down Alanthus Hill road and engage the enemy.  Luckily for them, the Army of the Pines has a spoiling force of three companies arriving the day before.  Even better, they should arrive with plenty of time to get over the bridge that spans the deep valley of the river, over 100 feet in some places, and into terrain more suited for battle.

If I was running this fight, I'd put the table right about where the black rectangle shows it.  Most of the table's edges would consist of uncrossable terrain. To the south, Wallen Ridge rises up to over a thousand feet. The Powell River blocks movement across the northern table edge, but also the northern have of the western edge and all but a small gap in the southwest corner of the table.  That leaves a substantial part of the table relatively flat, through broken by woods and the odd stream or two.  The good news is that both sides can leave s small force in their deployment zone to prevent pursuit in the event of a loss.  The bad news is that any unit retreating off the table via any direction save the road is in serious trouble.  They have no where to go.

If I were to run this battle, I might give either force the option of sending a unit cross-country, behind Wallen Ridge, with the potential to enter the table on the opponent's side in a late turn.  I would also have Knoxville set up first, and Kingsport set up second then take the first turn.

But that's just me.

The Army of the Pines (Knoxville)

• General Stiner: Int 86, Init 63, Cou 68, Cha 11, Str 11, Hea 2, CCR: 2
• Pineville Line
• Middlesboro Line
• The Orphans (three companies of men from Sneedville and Bean Station)
• Barbourville Dragoons (Light horse)
• Evarts 2nd Lancers (Med horse)
• Cumberland Battery
• Harrogate Battery 

Jones' Army (Kingsport)

• Surgoinsville Rifles (Light Infantry)
• 1st Virginia Line Infantry
• 2nd Virginia Line Infantry
• 1st Duffield Lancers
• 2nd Duffield Lancers 
• Pennington Dragoons (Veterans)
• 1st Big Stone Gap Battery
• 2nd 1st Big Stone Gap Battery
• Commander Matthew Patton: Int 91, Init 27, Cge 79, Cha 74, Str 54, Hea 27
• CCR: 4  (Note: smart and capable, but aging and slow to move)
• This army treats any body of water as one class lower.  In other words, they can ignore small streams, and are merely delayed by deep streams.  This rule does not apply to the Powell River, which is characterized not just by the water hazard, but by tall and very steep slopes in this region.

Supply Line Considerations

 Somebody asked about the vulnerability of supply lines.  As things stand on October 2, both forces have armies positioned deep within enemy territory.  Take a look:

The road networks in eastern Tennessee are pretty good.  Lots of options are available for the supply masters.  That said, Rogers' Army could be in big trouble if the Army of the East cuts north and re-takes Chuckville.  Luckily for them, General Brock has orders to pursue them north and force a confrontation before Commander Hurst invests his forces in a siege of Tazewell.

On the other side of the ledger, the Harlan Blitz can trace an unbroken line of supply up through Big Stone Gap, down through the Cumberland Gap, and hence to Knoxville.  That will change if Tazewell falls - an event which would put both the Blitz and Army of the Pines out of supply.  The Blitz is small enough we may allow them to live off the land, but such rapacious practices won't last long.  If they are forced into that, they run the risk of rebellion in Duffield and Big Stone Gap.  That would force them to either head back east or fully commit to attacking the high walls of Kingsport.

October Week One: Move Results

The results are in.  It's Operation Hey Diddle Diddle sending Knoxville's forces north as Operation Second Wind sees the Kingsport forces making another push into K-ville territory.

October 3rd will prove to be a pivotal day as dawns and two fresh armies meet somewhere along the Powell River and Morristown comes under siege.

With the adoption of Operation Hey Diddle Diddle, General Stiner sends his Army of the Pines out from their safe-haven, intent on rendezvousing with the little orphan companies holding out in Tazewell.  Those three companies arrive after a day's march and have some time to wait.  It turns out ths little crossroads along the Powell River is equidistant (20-miles) from both Horrogate and Chuckville.  The Knoxvillians have a slight edge on travel time, and they may opt to storm across the river before General Patton arrives with Jones' Army from the east.

Here's a shot of the Powell River from that bridge in the center.  Even with their one-week stream crossing advantage, that's a touch obstacle for General Patton to cross.

Further south, things get complicated around Cherokee Lake.  Rogers' Army left dummy fires burning overnight, and slipped across to the north shore, under orders to occupy Tazewell.  (Perhaps with an eye toward marching south on Knoxville?)  The next morning General Brock realizes that he has been had, and that the Greene Army to the West isn't going anywhere, immediately sets out in pursuit with the Army of the East.  Unfortunately for him, this paves the way for Greene's Army to move into the void and lay siege to Morristown starting on October 2nd.

Hampered by the need to re-stablish control over Bean Station, General Brock loses another day, leaving him now a full two days behind Rogers' Army, which will arrive on the outskirts of Tazewell on October 3rd and open the Siege of Tazewell on October 4th.

Knoxville's High Command, eager to preserve control of Morristown, urges the Army of the West to make haste, but due to the poor roads west of Jefferson City, won't arrive until late in the day on October 5th.  To dampen their spirits even further, October 5th brings with it a light rain, and thunder in the distance warns of approaching storms in the coming days.

And away up in the north, the Harlan Blitz continues its march toward Kingsport, stopping up short at noon on October 4th to lay siege to that small town.  As an E-Class town, the Duffield militia will put up only a token resistance.  As a result, the Blitz will spend the 5th pacifying the place, restocking their stores, and then head out on the 6th...except that torrential rains move in on that day with no end in sight.  Does Commander Haynes shelter here until the rains ebb, or continue his mission?  We're going to the hive mind on this one.

The Army strengths shown on their respective pages are accurate as of October 2nd, the date of the Battle of Powell River.

OUR Campaign

This is why the Chuckville (formerly Sneedville) War is more properly thought of as "our campaign" than my campaign.  You guys make it what it is.

Tomorrow we'll look at which of the three strategies was chosen by the two belligerents.

Start the Presses!

 I made some propaganda posters.

Someday somebody will come along and find this blog while searching for information on Kingsport and/or Knoxville and be very, very confused.

Naming Them: Knoxville's Generals

 Once again we look to history for inspiration.  We need to put some names to the commanders of the scattered forces of Knoxville.  We'll return to this webpage (link) documenting the final resting places of our fallen American brethren who fought in that terrible conflict sometimes called Lincoln's War.  Since we used the Confederate soldiers for Kingsport, we'll scan the list of Union soldiers for suitable names for the Knoxville High Mucky-Mucks.  We do this in remembrance of their sacrifices and as a way to acknowledge the debt we owe them.

David Rogers Beeler in our own world was the fifer for the 8th TN Infantry. In our little tabletop world we're going to bump him up to command the largest field force there is: the Army of the West.

Andrew Jackson Brock, who served with 7th TN mounted infantry, steps up to command the Army of the East.  He looks the type.

William Henry Stiner, of the 2nd TN Infantry, takes command of the Army of the Pines. 

Isaac C. Haynes, who served with the 8th TN Cavalry, must be the man behind the Harlan Blitz.  We need a cavalry man, and a ruthless looking one, for the role.

Naming Them: Kingsport Generals

We need to get some names up in here.  Instead of our usual habit of trusting the internet to provide meme-worthy names of dubious provenance and little reverence, I thought perhaps something a little more respectful was called for.  A friend and mysterious benefactor pointed me to this webpage (link) documenting the final resting places of the the Civil War veterans who await the resurrection within the soil of Union County.  In this manner, we can call upon the ghosts of our ancestors and pay them a small tribute in the form of remembering who they were, why they fought, and how much we owe each and every one of them.

To that end we'll use the list of Confederate soldiers to populate the names of the Kingsport generals.  Scanning the list for highest ranking men, or those with photos posted should give us the three or four names we require.

Major - now General Allen Hurst becomes the commander of Rogers' Army.  With a headstone like that, we have to stick him right into the mix, don't we?

Second Sergeant Matthew Patton earns a promotion to commander of Jones' Army.

And finally, Private Greenberry Leander Donehew has a name made for taking command of Greene's Army.  Simply amazing how often that sort of synchronicity happens in endeavors of this nature.  He was a cavalryman in our fight, and that dashing elan you can still see in the set of his jaw should serve his imagi-nations counterpart just as well.

God bless them all.