Woodscrew Armies Campaign - Battle of Weshall Pass

Chinese South Column offering battle...

Just before dark, on 19 July 1889, mounted scouts reported to Tenth Army HQ that a Chinese column was close by, and seemed to be preparing to offer battle. Arriving at a pair of hills between which passed the main road - more a sandy trail - they seemed to be deploying, ready to face the Union army come the morning.  

Union Tenth army approaching.

With his usual dawn promptitude, Jackson had his army moving at first light of the 20th. Whilst the cavalry, 38th Brigade and the heavy artillery marched up the main road, 39th took a parallel trail to the left. Coming in sight of the enemy, drawn up along the twin hills, the cavalry, followed by the heavy guns, drew off to the left of the main road, filling much of the gap between the two brigades.

Opening salvo by Chinese artillery

The deployment and distribution of both armies were programmed.  The action some readers might recognise from C.S. Grant's Programmed Wargames Scenarios,  '1. Hill Line Defence'. In this I ignored the deployment of 'light troops' - everybody is 'light' in these armies, apart from the Union heavy artillery - and went for the overall deployment instead. The roll for the defenders (Blue Force was the Chinese column) led to 40% being placed in the centre and 30% on either flank.  To achieve this without doing violence to unit integrity, led to the distribution as follows, who landed on which flank also decided by die roll:

Right flank -
6th Regular Infantry - 28 figures 
Artillery battery - 2 figures and 1 smoothbore cannon
 - 30 figures and 1 gun

Centre - 
22nd and 23rd Conscript Units @ 19 figures
 - 38 figures

Left Flank -
21st Conscript Unit - 19 figures
2nd Cavalry Unit - 12 figures
 - 31 figures.

Total: 99 figures, 1 artillery (16,500 troops total)

Union left and centre.  In the distance, 23rd Concsript
Infantry behind a crumbling stone wall

Seeing the enemy laid out in this fashion, General Jackson determined upon an attack on both flanks at once.  This was as the die roll determined: 40% of his troops on either flank, and 20% in the centre, as follows:

Right Flank -
38th Infantry Brigade - 24 figures with 1 Gardner MG (2 figs)  and 1 field artillery (2 figs) - 28 figs

Centre - 
10th Cavalry - 12 troopers with 1 flying artillery (2 figs) - 14 figs
110th Heavy Artillery - 2 batteries @ 2 figs - 4 figs
 - 18 figs

Left Flank -
39th Infantry Brigade - 28 figures (1 MG and 1 Artillery).

Total: 74 figures, 5 artillery, 2 MG (12,333 troops total).

Heavy losses to 21st Conscript infantry from 
Union rifle, MG and gun fire.

The Union infantry seemed eager to come quickly to grips with the enemy, for they advanced rapidly up the trails.  On the left, 39th Brigade early on came in for an effective fire from the sole artillery the Chinese column possessed, and began to lose a steady trickle of casualties as they advanced. At that they tended to leave their supports behind. Although they came in for an uncomfortable half hour pushing forward into the shot and shell, they maintained their steadiness until they came into the range of their rifles. In the meantime, the brigade artillery began a counter-battery against the Chinese cannon, forcing the latter to limber up and draw off.

Less harassed on the other flank the 38th Brigade infantry pushed right through the abandoned village that masked a spur of the hill behind it, the Brigade artillery and MGs passing to right and left of the place.  To the latter's left the cavalry deployed for dismounted action.  This proved rather unfortunate, for, just as Union rifle fire drove in 21st Conscripts with heavy loss, the Chinese cavalry, outside all expectation, essayed a charge.  

The reckless charge of the Chinese Horse 

Taken completely by surprise, the Union cavalrymen's panicky carbine fire failed to stop the onrushing horse - two thousand horsemen against one thousand carbines. Though many a pony or rider was brought down, it was their very reckless impetuosity that carried the Chinese horsemen into the Union line.  The mounted Union command joined the fray, with the horse holders following. A cloud of dust descended over the scene, from which, very soon, the Union horse, such as remained, came skedaddling out. Despite heavy losses, in the confusion, many of the dismounted cavalrymen had found mounts and escaped.

(A note, here:  This is one of those low-probability results that make any war game - and any battle, I dare say - such a chancy business. Actually, the charge oughtn't to have been made at all, according to the program.  But those horsemen seemed so eager to go, I just had to let them. For all that, for all the advantages I gave the Union - high firepower, and men-for-man equality in the melee, slinging in the mounted command the dice simply ran for the Chinese.  That's the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes.)

Union heavy artillery in action

As the battles developed on the flanks, the whole time the Army heavy artillery brought down a heavy fire upon the area of an old abandoned farm, where, behind a crumbling stone wall, waited the 23rd Conscript Infantry. Quite unable to respond, those unfortunates had to endure a considerable punishment, including the loss of their commander.

Duel between 6th Regulars and 39th Brigade.

At last, the Chinese artillery having been driven in, 39th Brigade came up against the 6th Regular infantry.  Magazine rifles against muzzle loaders could have but one result, however reduced the former numbers.  Within the half hour, just barely keeping their order, the Chinese regulars fell back. Right on cue, on the other flank, 38th Brigade mounted the spur beyond the village, decimating and driving back the 21st Conscripts.  With losses mounting at an alarming rate, Hung T'u Sun, the South Column commander sounded the retreat as his corps streamed off into the lowering sun.

38th Brigade sweeps all before it...

Apart from the cavalry debacle, General Jackson was satisfied with the outcome. There was no pursuit, much though he would have desired one. The cavalry were done for the day. He estimated that the corps just encountered was now 4000 men the poorer. His own casualties were a little greater than he might have desired, some 1167 men. These included Colonel Tarrant C. Hazebrook in command of 39th Brigade, whose shoulder wound had required his left arm to be strapped up, though he remained in command. As the Army reorganised overnight, he was already thinking about the morrow's march north.  

How had Brigadier Bidwell fared? Would the Army wake up in the morning to greet the broken shreds of his brigade, streaming southward, with hordes of Chinese in pursuit? Of a mind that such questions tended eventually to answer themselves, the Major-General turned down the lantern and composed himself to sleep.

To be continued: Bidwell's Holding Action.