"Size of Union Camps at Shiloh?" Topic

I'm planning a Shiloh scenario, adapting This Bloody Field by Brad Butkovich for Fire & Fury (brigade level) at the 1:150 scale, so one inch equals 45 yards. I'm wondering how large to make the Union brigade camps. I really have no idea how much ground a typical camp occupied at Shiloh.

Would a four inch square area for a camp be too small? That works out to a bit over 6 and a half acres. If you've gamed Shiloh how big did you make your camps?

Hi

If you check the map with the marker listed. Each of the camps locations are listed, So you could get a close approximation of the size.

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I'd say 2x2 inches. At 90 x 90 yards that's almost a football square field.

The army regulations have a diagram showing a camp for a regiment of infantry which is 400 paces wide by 481 paces deep. But this includes room for baggage wagons and 250 paces to keep the sinks (latrines) well away from the main camp. It also seems to be assuming large tents like Sibleys for the men. If we assume a real army on the march with limited camping space, and using dog tents for the men, I think you could pare the distances down to about 200 paces by 200 paces for an average size regiment. With a pace being 28 inches, that would make the camp 466 feet square. Which is 217,156 square feet which is about 5 acres for a single regiment. So a 4-regiment brigade might take up 20 acres. It is certainly possible to cram a regiment into a smaller space than that, but if the space were available, they'd use it.

That may seem like a lot, but there's no way you could cram a 400 man regiment, let alone a full brigade into a football field.

Thanks for the responses. ScottWashburn, that information is very helpful, thank you very much!

Mr B also makes a Shiloh wargame map book with maps in 50 yds an inch, which is close enough for the 150 scale of F&F.

Might give you an idea of the size for the game table.

Having said that I would probably do it 4 x 4 or there about.

Well, I did say football square field. :)

466 feet is 155 yards. So at 45yds/inch that's about 3x3 roughly. I was a little small.

At Shiloh, the camps were per regiment, and fairly spread out. So we are talking single encampments.

And yes, my Shiloh Wargame Maps book has maps for 25yds/inch and 50 yds/inch.

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Thanks Brad, I have your Shiloh maps book as well as This Bloody Field. Very helpful publications!

I think I will go with 3" x 3.5" rectangles for my regimental camps. A bit small perhaps, but there will be nearly twenty camps on the table for my scenario and I need to somehow fit them in with all the other terrain features!

The thing is, they actually were obstacles. The attack through Appler's 53rd Ohio camp, for example, seriously disrupted Confederate formations attempting to move through it. Add in Waterhouse's battery firing into their flank, and you have a legitimate obstacle on the board that has to be dealt with.

Then, if there are no Federal units around, the Confederates tended to stop to plunder. At least there are rules for this in my scenarios.

One of those uniquely Shiloh things.

Yes, for Fire & Fury the way I will handle it is any unit that moves into/through a camp becomes disordered (if not already disordered). Since my scenario is based on day 2 of the battle there will be no looting of the camps.