The American Civil War Diaries (3 Viewers)

[Rob]

Bob,

You are a true gentleman my friend and now you've got me wondering????:smile2: I think we will stretch to more than one G&T mate, lots to talk about!^&cool

Thanks for the JG tips too.

Cheers and see you in the bar......as soon as we find one!{eek3}:wink2:

Rob

Thanks Rob & Wayne

Come to think of it you two guys ought to get together as both of you are darn good dio builders of WWII airfields-great scenes Wayne on your Luftwaffe diorama thread.

Rob
Yup they are JGs mats and I have been known to get my Flymo out on a couple of them ^&grin primarily to trim down areas to fit the particular scene ie An authentic looking artillery explosion would require an area of broken earth rather than grass plus it would need to be blackened. John's mats are very easy to paint over with Vallego Acrylics by the way. The cuttings taken I trim down to small pieces and mix with a vast variety of hairy grasses I pick up monthly from Modelzone which fortunately results in a nigh identical mass that covers the figures bases to give the appearance they are standing on their feet rather than a lump of metal.

Looking forward to seeing you Rob in a few weeks time and I have a book for you that I'll think you will go a little nuts over-Price to you........... one G&T will suffice.

Bob

 

[sammy719]

Hi Bob,

Another great installment from you as always, thanks again for the photos and the history behind it, with you covering the Civil War and Frank covering WWII who needs History books!!...Sammy

 

[Rob]

Bob, am up early this morning and sat here with the news on and I saw this again and just had to post. This is an amazing scene mate it truly is. Anyone who knows anything about military history will know this is such an iconic scene and you've captured it to perfection. The workmanship that has gone into changing those figures and creating the groundwork and the photography is just jaw dropping. It truly is refreshing to see such craftsmanship on the forum. Keep up the good work mate. Will see you in the bar in just a few weeks.{bravo}}

Rob

 

[PanzerAce1944]

Bob, You are the Civil War Diorama "Guru" hands down. :salute:: Amazing work ! Should be on display at the Gettysburg museum IMO {bravo}}

 

[ROUGH RIDER]

A good recreation of a historical but terrible time in our history. You're very talented.

 

[UKReb]

The Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam) Chapter I.

Lee's plan for his Maryland campaign was extremely audacious. Its ultimate goal was to battle with Major General George McClellan's Army of the Potomac. With less than 50,000 Confederates against almost 90,000 Union troops this was audaciousness and extreme confidence on a grand scale. In devising his plan, Lee was encouraged by the paralysed caution McClellan had demonstrated during his Peninsular campaign. But Lee was hampered by sheer bad luck when a Confederate officer lost a copy of Lee's entire campaign plan; and three days later this document (Order 191) was in McClellan's hands.

This information gave McClellan an opportunity afforded few generals in military history.

Yet even with this invaluable intelligence McClellan was struck with "his slows" and did not pursue Lee with sufficient vigour. On the 15th September while D.H.Hill fought a delaying action at Turner's Gap and Stonewall Jackson captured Harper's Ferry, Lee deployed the rump of his army west of Antietam creek, a tributary of the Potomac. Lee had only 18,000 men in position when McClellan's divisions hoved into view, but true to form the "Little Napoleon" halted to take stock and deploy his army.

By giving Lee the whole of the following day, the 16th, to reassemble his army McClellan threw away all the opportunities which the chance discovery of Lee's plan had created. McClellan's legendary caution also stopped him from becoming a national hero for if he had attacked on the 15th he could well have completely destroyed Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and very possibly ended the war that fall of 1862.

11.00am September 16th 1862:-Cemetery Hill, East of Sharpsburg.

To Lee's great relief, Jackson with the first of his brigades arrived from Harper's Ferry after a forced all night march. By the evening Jackson would have all of his forces in line except for A.P.Hill's division who was mopping up back at Harper's Ferry.

Lee with his keen engineering eye had already scanned the terrain the day before which he considered good ground for an aggressive defence. Lee addressed both Jackson and Longstreet.
"Those people will threaten both ends of our line, but I believe their intial thrust will be on our left flank to cut us off from the Potomac and Boteler's crossing. General Jackson you will move your divisions to the left and join General Hood's Texas Brigade who are already in position and you sir will take personal command of that critical sector".
Jackson merely nodded
"General Longstreet you will command our centre and our right flank. That bridge on our right may become problematical. We cannot allow any of those people to cross over it. Do you understand sir?"
Longstreet replied "Yes sir, General Toombs is already in position this side of the bridge".
"Good, we will keep an eye on General McClellan but he will remain cautious and I doubt he will attack today. We have a day to prepare gentlemen"

12 noon 16th September:- McClellan's HQ-The Pry House

The two storey Philip Pry house stood on the peak of Sharpsburg's highest hill. It was a perfect vantage spot for McClellan who was able to view the whole field up to the Confederate line. As the afternoon progressed, his Corps commanders gathered like courtesans to the imperial Napoleon awaiting his decision to deploy his army.

McClellan's chief of staff Randolph Marcy was in a difficult position, for his commander was also his son-in-law. But he felt he had to prompt McClellan into action.
"Mac this is a great opportunity. Lee can't possibly have twenty thousand men down there. Jackson may be on his way from Harper's Ferry, but if we attack now......
McClellan stopped Marcy with a firm "No Sir! It appears to be an opportunity, but what it is, is a trap. I believe Lee's strength to be more than you state and I will not make the same mistake that pompous prig Pope did at Second Manassas. No sir, I will await an intelligence report from Mr Pinkerton".

Twenty minutes later riders approached the Pry house. It was Allan Pinkerton and a cavalry escort. Pinkerton was the head of a detective agency and had been hired by McClellan to head the army intelligence service. He reported that his estimate of the enemy numbers were in excess of one hundred thousand men.

(What is still debated by historians today is- was there an "agreement" between both men to artificially inflate enemy force estimates. As Pinkerton's numbers were always widely inaccurate they sometimes undermined the hard work of the cavalry scouts of the Army of the Potomac)

McClellan now made up his mind he would await the arrival of his V & VI Corps and attack the rebel line tomorrow.

One of McClellan's junior aides was a young flamboyant officer straight out of West Point. Over hearing Pinkerton's enemy estimate George Armstrong Custer addressed his commanding officer
"General McClellan, permission to speak sir"
McClellan nodded-he liked this cocky young officer
"Sir, I scouted the front of the Confederate line and in my opinion sir, they have no more than twenty thousand men in the field"
McClellan smiled "Thank you Captain Custer but you have a lot to learn whilst campaigning. I think tomorrow you will see the true numbers of old Bobby Lee's army"

6.00am 17th September-The Day of the Battle

Joe Hooker addressed two of his I Corps divisional commanders Generals Ricketts and Doubleday.
"It falls on us, gentlemen, to intiate this battle. Our orders are vague but I am sick to the teeth of the two days we have just looked at that rebel line. And I'm dammed if I'm waiting for Mansfield and his XII Corps. As you can see, there are three stands of woods that form a triangle around a cornfield. For our purposes we will call them the North woods, at the apex where we are now. The East woods on our left, where General Sumner's II corps is. And the West woods on our right, which is held by the enemy. The white church on the hill at the edge of the West woods is your goal gentlemen. Aim all your movements at this."

"General Ricketts you will advance through the cornfield. General Meade will be our reserve division. General Doubleday you will move down the Hagerstown Pike. What is your order of march?"
"Gibbon, Patrick & Phelps.
"Very good. I like what John has done with his brigade. At South Mountain his black hats fought like men of iron".
(Hooker's quote would be received by the Westerners with great satisfaction and immense pride. From this day on they became known as The Iron Brigade)
Hooker concluded "That is all sirs, move out immediately and the nation is counting on you"

Lee and his two Corps commanders had joined General Stuart atop Nicomedus Hill where Stuart had deployed his horse artillery under the command of John Pelham. This position overlooked Hagerstown Pike and controlled all approaches to the Dunker church. Lee uttered
"A very fine position for our cannon General Stuart"
Enemy movement below caught the officers eyes

As Lee and his commanders watched Hooker's divisions roll forward Lee quietly spoke
"Gentlemen to your positions. We have I believe a hard day's work ahead of us"

To Be Continued

Reb

 

[lancer]

What a fantastic New Years gift for everyone, Bob. Your usual outstanding work from scenery to figures to overall composition. Wonderful work with your story line, as well. Very well written and told. I can't get over how well the officer groupings are arranged. A pleasure to study them. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

Just brilliant Bob, glad to see you getting more usage out of that beautiful farmhouse David created for you.

Very much looking forward to seeing this epic battle unfold...........

 

[Barksdale]

I like how you tried to sneak the Britain's A.P. Hill figure into the photo of McClellan's HQ.

 

[Firebat]

Excellent as usual.

 

[GICOP]

Excellent Bob, looking forward to Chapter 2 :salute::

Cheers

Martyn

 

[sammy719]

Hi Bob,

love the new set-ups you posted, the rose bushes in the front of the house, got to love the small detail that goes into your dio settings, as great as the soldiers and stories are that you post, I always find myself finding some neat little details hidden in a far corner, or background, always a pleasure...Sammy

 

[mestell]

Just exceptionally well done Bob. Your mounted Gen. Longstreet figure conversion you did turned out very well . . . . . .
:smile2: Mike

 

[Ken & Ericka Osen/H&A Studio]

Great staging and sets as usual Bob. You have a great talent for blending the various makers work into a seamless vignette.

I think you will find the upcoming 2013 W. Britain ACW releases useful in your continuing story. We have been very busy filling in several missing items and there is more in the pipeline. Several of the new figures will be useful for your future staff settings too.

All the best for the New Year,
Ken

 

[aujj65]

The overall level of attention to detail (dio and story) that you put into this Bob makes this probably the best thread on the forum! ^&cool

{bravo}}{bravo}}{bravo}}

Jeff :salute::

 

[OldDragon]

UKReb

Sir ... I believe this time you have really really outdone yourself. Absolutely brilliant. {sm4}
Looking forward to the next instalment.

Bests
OD

 

[The Lt.]

It's always such a pleasure to see you returning to your Civil War Diaries my friend as you continue to provide us with your pictorial and verbal telling of events that occured during the American Civil War. Looking forward to this chapter continuing............Joe

 

[Terp152]

Masterful display Bob and as Mike stated, the Longstreet conversion fig is outstanding. THe mix of various manufacturers is seemless. Your storyline always adds so much to the visual display. Great combination. Chris

 

[mikemiller1955]

Bob...the storyline...groundwork...photography...all the props...great job as always...very entertaining...

 

[Rob]

Wonderful work as always Bob. Very proffesional, highly entertaing and brilliantly executed. Nice one mate!

Rob