"Were company sized engagements common in the ACW" Topic

Hey everyone how common were company or two sized engagements during the war. Were they more common in the West or further south or did they happen as much in the North.

The fight for the Bliss farm at Gettysburg was really just a couple of companies

I may be off by a unit size or so but there would have been a few between scrounging parties and local troops here and there.

Very rare. The main maneuver/combat unit was the regiment. Companies were primarily an administrative unit and one used to allow for tactical flexibility of the regiment.

I suppose that you could call engagements between skirmish lines as company level actions, as usually one or two companies were deployed to cover the front of a regiment. However, even here, as the war progressed, especially in the west, it became more common to deploy an entire regiment as skirmishers to cover the front of a brigade. So there's that.

Throughout the war and in every theater there were constant patrols ("reconnaissances" or "expeditions") and minor actions. Attacks by a company of cavalry on an outpost, or a skirmish between a landing party and a local militia company, etc. number literally in the thousands. The pages of "The Official Records" are chock-full of such engagements. In 1861 and -62 the war was still new enough that every colonel submitted a report every time one of his outposts traded shots with the foe. Later on some of the "small change" of war got left out, but there's still unlimited material for scenarios in any volume of TOR.

I always skirmish with companies…may not be terribly historical but its FUN!

If you read individual accounts of the ACW you'll come across a number of actions where one or a few detached companies fought an action. They also will sometimes get mentions in battle or campaign histories. I suspect though they only get mention when it had an effect on the overall battle or campaign.

Technically TK may be right that under the manual the units involved were not "companies" but rather platoons or some other unit. However when the command is composed of troops drawn from a particular company under that company's officers, to me its a duck.

Aside from outpost actions and such, battles fought in dense woods might turn up cases of small sub units wandering off from their regiments. They might even bump into similar sized enemy forces and give you a game.

Or you could get the case where two two companies of Confederate troops attacked the Hornet's Nest by themselves. Not much of a game for the Confederate player.

Special case, I know, but many of Mosby's raids were at compamy strength.

My English teacher would be appalled at the last post. Maybe we need a distracted posting rule.

One action I was thinking of took place in the aftermath of Gettysburg. Company F, 21st Virginia had stayed behind to rebuild and was moving up to rejoin their regiment when they were thrown into action near Williamsport to stop U.S. forces trying to cut off Lee's retreat.