The Battle Of Glorieta Pass, "Gettysburg Of The West'. March 26,28 1862, New Mexico

Yesterday Mat and I gamed the battle Of Glorieta Pass. I commanded the Confederate Texans. Mat commanded the assorted New Mexicans and Coloradans. We had about 100 figures a side (a small game for us). In reality the actual battle comprised well over a 1000 a side and the Confederates had 80 supply wagons as opposed to the four  we used.

I don't do this that often but I tried to replicate the actual battle, not in every detail but in a general sort of way. I think I partially failed to do this in our previous battle of Valverde, partly because the Texan Mounted rifles were really cavalry. This time I had two units of the Texans begin dismounted (I used infantry, Preferably without bayonets, to represent them). One unit had lost their horses from previous fighting, Apache thefts and so on whilst the other left the horses in the corral. The other two units were represented by four cavalry regiments. The special rules meant they would count as one point in melee for dice rolls and shooting instead of two for actual cavalry. It would mean that they would do better at surviving when dismounted so long as they could stay out of the way of cavalry charges.

To represent the battle I scaled down the number of cannons to three Confederate six pounders with one left at the ranch with supply wagons and a handful of men. They had four units of mounted rifles. The Yanks had three cavalry regiment (12 figures each), an elite infantry regiment (like other infantry regiments 24 figures), two 12 pounders and two 6 pounders. Two infantry regiment, one Coloradan and one new Mexican militia took the march to outflank the Texans.. The wagons were crucial because without them the Texans would have to retreat. Historically, the Confederates beat the Yankees in the canyon but then lost the wagons and horses to Colonel Chivington flanking force who found a way through the cliffs after a 16 mile march and climbing down ropes. He was meant to attack the main Confederate force but instead contented himself with destroying the Texans supplies; this included bayoneting the horses and mules. In our game his men just had to be in contact with a wagon and roll a 4-6 to destroy it. 

The special rules for the game were that the Confederates (except for ten figures) had to advance up the canyon as if they didn't know anything about Chivington's march (as in history). For Mat's reserves to arrive at the ranch he had to start rolling a six sided die and come up with a six; he was to begin on move three; after that it was to be a six again on move four and after that 5 or six for a total of six moves upon which any 1 would mean they got lost or delayed and wouldn't arrive. Guess what he rolled move three? Yes, a 6! This part had proved easy for the Feds especially as I just recently read that they had to climb down ropes! Meanwhile from move four the Confederates had to roll a six to send a mounted messenger to see if all was well at the ranch, a little pointless as Commander Scurry would hear the shooting soon enough. (I don't know if historically they would have heard but in the game they were still close enough). after arriving the out-flankers needed a half move to organize before moving or shooting. The Texans at the ranch needed either a move or move and a half to respond. The latter was rolled for.

The other special rule was that the Texan mounted rifles could take their dismounted horses into the pine trees and rocks along the canyon edge and tie them to trees or bushes to avoid needing horse holders. I don't know how historical that was. They might have all left their horses behind. At valverde they did tie their horses to trees and bushes (another fact I didn't read until after we played the game). 

I included the special rule for the Texan weapons. For simplicity we used carbine range for all of them. Probably a few had muskets but most had pistols,carbines, shotguns and even squirrel rifles. I think the lance was no longer a favored weapon after the disaster at Valverde. Anyway the special rule was that at short range the Texan units would cause D6 extra casualties when firing o in initial round of melees. And after all that thinking about the rule I forgot to use the bonus!

Victory conditions were to wipe out or drive off the enemy but the wagons destruction would give victory to the Union and defeat to the Confederates.

Below: Mounted mounted rifles and a six pounder head up the canyon towards the Yankees. They didn't keep this close target worthy formation for long. Commander Scurry and his scout bring up the rear.

                                                  Looking after the horses left behind.

                                     Scurry looks a lot like General Lee, at least in  miniature!

        The mounted, mounted rifles dismount and leave their horses hidden in the rocks and trees.

                    The two regiments move up and along to get a clear shot at any approaching Federals. This takes a while to negotiate the climbing but eventually skirmishers have a clear line of sight from both sides of the canyon.

                          These figures  are Hong Kong copies of Crescent, some of my favorite figures.

                                  They look like infantry but here they have only carbine range as this is what the Texan mounted rifles often had. (There were other mounted rifles in the war who had full length muskets). This is one of my favorite units with a lot of conversions, mostly based on Accurate, Imex and Marx. Originally they were intended as infantry. I don't think the Texan mounted rifles had bayonets as eyewitness accounts describe them hand to hand fighting with knives, tomahawks and revolvers.

            The union cavalry charge but a lot of saddles are emptied before they get into contact. (Historically, a lot of them dismounted and moved into cover).

                The elite Union infantry (Timpo Action pack Confederates and AIP officer re-purposed and all left handers! I love these figures.) They suffered quite a lot from combined Confederate shooting and cannon fire.

  The Union battery did some damage to the dismounted Rebs in the open but then the cavalry charge masked their firing.

  Union commander, Slough (looking a lot like General Grant) peers through the gun smoke to try to access the process of the battle.

                    Dismounted Rebs at the far side, safely established in the heights at the base of the canyon, shoot at the enemy. At one stage they enfiladed the Union cavalry which partly compensated for the long range and firing from skirmish.

                       Meanwhile the few Confederates left with the waggons and well away from the action, enjoy a brew and some conversation

                                                     Leroy Poppins digs a latrine.

         Injures, Sam Porter, hobbles over towards the six pounder crew and says 'Don't worry fellas', them Yankees is miles away'.

            ' Hold on', says Jeffro Clemington, ''What's that sound over in yonder cliffs?  The artillery crew mill around uncertainly, and then decide to move to the cannon, 'just in case'.

                              One driver thinks it might be a good idea to move his waggon in closer.

To be continued........