"First Bull Run order of battle" Topic

Hello all. Trying to find a detailed list by brigade of the number and type of troops involved in the battle as well as cav and art batteries present. I haven't had much luck on the internet and have found mixed information. I don't have any detailed books on this battle. What I mean by type is the quality, I know most of the units on both sides where militia quality, so to speak, but was wanting to figure how much. Put another way was 75%, 85% of militia quality vs regular or vet?? I know this is subjective to a point:)
Anyone know of a link for that info or know rough off hand?? Happy gaming!!!

Thanks,
Travis

Don't know how your rules rate various factors, but apart from the small contingent of US Regulars it's probably fair to say:

(1) All troops present had absolutely no combat experience and no realistic expectation of what battle would be like – this applies as much to the cadres as to the troops (unlike, say, European conscript units of the Napoleonic wars which often contained a kernel of experienced leaders);
(2) All troops present had substantial devotion to their cause and a highly romanticized understanding of heroism and sacrifice;
(3) A high proportion of men had trained fairly extensively at company-level maneuvers (either as pre-war militia units or in the camps where the armies had been formed), but many if not most regiments consisted of amalgamations of companies that had not trained together before the war;
(4) ALL officers were new to their tasks – either they were total greenhorns to the business altogether or, if they were veterans, were almost certainly serving in a role several echelons of command higher than their previous experience.

So in terms of morale upon suffering casualties, they would be highly variable (some panicking, some enduring losses that would discourage regulars); in terms of deploying under fire and making any movements other than marching straight ahead, almost all would be clumsy; and in terms of quickly absorbing and reacting to new orders they would be slow particularly at the brigade level. I would also recommend that your rules include the possibility that units will do the unexpected – changes of facing to confront non-existent threats, advances out of position without orders to support other troops they can see advancing, bayonet charges undertaken in situations where veterans would take cover and open fire, etc. etc.

Good luck, I love to game First Bull Run.

For the Union army, most of the artillery were US regulars who would be expected to be pretty well trained; there were as I recall two battalions of Marines and a unit of regular cavalry – I would say that the rest of both armies were pretty well described by Eumelus

You can look at the counters in various boardgames for a guide:

link

Thanks for the input guys. It was helpful.

What you want is a book:

Armies at First Manassas, by Scott Bowden. It's a 40 odd page paperback that's about as authoritative as you can likely hope for, but you're going to play merry hobb trying to find one.

A quick internet search yielded 0.0. Good hunting.

The marines fielded a single battalion of untrained men from the marine barracks. The recruits had 1 to 3 weeks of training
under their belts; the company grade officers were marginally better. The marines at Bull Run were raw and untrained.

"What you want is a book:

"Armies at First Manassas, by Scott Bowden. It's a 40 odd page paperback that's about as authoritative as you can likely hope for, but you're going to play merry hobb trying to find one."

Looks like Amazon has a copy for $7.50 USD with a $4 USD delivery charge, offered by BookmanOrange; at least if the full title is: "Armies At First Manassas an Introduction To Combat Arms – Armies Of The American Civil War Research Series, Volume 1" and published by Empire Games Press.

The Marines were recruits, so pretty raw.

@Dennis

Please post a link. I can't find it. It's a bargain at 3x's that price.

The OB in Volley and Bayonet is pretty good.

Ask, and ye shall be answered:

link

What are we supposed to see?

@79th

An excellent ACW info book for $11.50 USD that's evidently been snapped up.

Ok. All I see is "out of stock." Presumably, some books were in stock when it was posted.

There was only just the one. Dennis found it, tho the listing wasn't super clear.

The US battalion of Regulars were well trained, but they were a composite battalion made of companies from different regiments, so they probably weren't quite as sharp as they might have been if they were from a single regiment.

TMP link

Have a look at the counters from this game: link

Regimental strengths, armament, morale. And I stand by the comments I made about the Marines in the previous thread. :-)