"A General's Escort" Topic

As generals wandered around, visiting various points on the battlefield, or traveling back to Washington/Richmond, what kind of escort travel with them? A company of infantry? Part of a cav squadron? Just staff lackeys?

I'm playing around with a Sharp Practice scenario and want it to be kinda historical.

TIA.

Depended on what level and rank they served. Army Commanders usually had a Cavalry Squadron or even a whole regiment as guards, though it generally was a Company or Squadron. Corp Commanders could have the same thing. Divisional I am not totally sure of. Brigade Commanders I don't really think had protection besides their Staff, which for all circumstances was a small protection detail at it's most basic function.

When travelling around without a command with them, I can see their permanent guard details going with them. I am sure sometimes Cavalry/Infantry were assigned temporary guard detail for travelling officers. In quite a few places, Generals travelling around back and forth from their capital, they didn't need a whole lot of protection, usually a small band of travelling companions (their Staff).

Like many things with the Civil War there were not always standard so any scenario that you wish to do could generally be seen as historical.

Thanks.

What I was thinking of is: at Brandy Station, Lee showed up just off the battlefield at the Barbour House to observe the proceedings, so I'd imagine he had some sort of escorting force.

It'd make a neat little SP scenario, what if some of Buford's or Gregg's troopers spun off Fleetwood Hill and took a break at that house while Lee was there……

If you are interested in doing Brandy Station, Lee had two companies (A and C) of the 39th VA cavalry as an escort there under the command of MAJ John Richardson. At Gettysburg they had 60 men present for duty, so that seems about right for Brandy Station.

Billy Yank

Great questio, as I am stating to collect the figures to do the same thing, only useing An Uncivil war. While I love the Lard, Sharp Practice just never really got me going.

Owen

John, I've found a bunch of references to escorts. Most
seem to have been between 2 and 5 companies of cavalry
(Union), with the '5' more towards late in the war
(Wilson's escort in 1865 was a battalion of the 4th
US Cavalry – 5 companys).

Note that escorts were provided for Corps and Army
commanders. Lower level commanders *might* have an
ad hoc escort, depending upon circumstances, and
upon how vulnerable (on a battlefield) the commander
might be.

At Chickamauga, the Union army lists escorts for the army and corps commanders. Some of the division commanders also list a company as an escort. Some of the escorts are cavalry cpmpanies, but some are infantry. I would guess the other division commanders had some sort of escort also, they just didn't list them.

The Twenty-First Corps records show pretty detailed lists for the corps, division, and brigade HQs. Some of the brigade headquarters only list small numbers. 6,8,10. This is probably a short list of just officers. Others, however, show anywhere from 24 to 57 members of the brigade HQ. This probably includes all officers and enlisted members of the staff. Probably all the teamsters, surgeon assistants, and musicians as well as the officers.

Almost all the Confederate units list HQ escorts all the way down to the division level.

Neat info folks, thanks for taking the time to respond.

Escort details are cavalry, but Headquarter Guards are drawn from the infantry. Here is a good example link

I believe that either Early or Ewell were also with Lee at Brandy Station. I have somewhere I jpeg of a painting of Lee at the review. I made a scenario for Brandy Station using JRIII and have Lee and staff placed NW of the main battle area. I believe there is a write up where they saw Union cavlary charge past their position.

VR
James Mattes

Two corps of CSA infantry were in and around Culpeper on 9 Jun 63. Parts of Ewell's corps watched the battle from a distance, but Lee's primary goal was to keep Pleasanton from finding his infantry so he was rather hesitant to commit any to help Stuart.