South Carolina Campaign - Battle of Winnsboro

Things were starting to heat up on Turn Three as events started with a Partizan Uprising by Andrew Pickens, with 3SPs at Cheraw, SC. There was some lucky die rolling there, as the maximum number of partizans in an uprising is 3SPs.

American Moves on Turn 3

DeKalb impetuosly continued to move south towards Winnsboro, which was well within the marching range of Cornwallis' army stationed at Camden. He received additional support from Sevier, who sent 3SPs from McDowell to Winnsboro thereby increasing DeKalb's army to 12SPs. 

British Moves on Turn 3

On the British side, the small force of 3SPs at Nelson's Ferry marched into Camden to become the garrison (now at 4SPs), as Cornwallis moved 11SPs north from Camden to Winnsboro, where he expected to find DeKalb. 

The only other British move of force was Webster's command moving his 4SPs from Orangeburg to reinforce the garrison of Ninety Six (5SPs). This increased the army at Ninety Six to 9SPs. Webster took over the command of Ninety Six from Cruger, since he outranked the latter.

The Battle of Winnsboro - March 1780

The campaign manager rolled a pair of D10 to select a battlefield from the Sport of Kings selection with number 35 being the result. The ground looked favorable for a battle without two many terrain obstacles in the way.

I was going to have a dice off between the two commanders to determine who would get first selection of deployment area on the battlefield. However, I decided that it made more sense to place the Americans on the upper boundary (North side) and the British on the bottom boundary (South Side). This reflects the direction of march for the two armies.

Double click on the map to enlarge the view:

DeKalb rolled a D6 to determin whether any of the local militia would choose to join his army for the battle. He rolled very well, adding 4SPs of militia. While they are not very good troops, there was lots of cover on the battlefield that would suit the militia very well and possibly make them a force to be reckoned with by the British.

American Army Composition

Continental Line   4 battalions

SC State Regts      4 battalions

Cavalry                 2 regiments

Militia                   6 battalions

Total American Force: 16SPs

British Army Composition

British Regulars     6 battalions

Hessians                 1 battalion

Loyalists                3 battalions

Cavalry                  1 regiment

Total British Force: 11 SPS

It is interesting that the American army has a significant cavalry contingent of 2 regiments and outnumber their British counterparts, with only 1 regiment of cavalry. Of course the quality of the British army was much higher than that of the American army. British and Hessian regulars are rated one level higher than the American Continentals in my Fife & Drum rules. 

State regiments and Loyalist regiments are rated one level below Continentals in the rules. Finally, the militia is the poorest quality troop type in the rules having generally ineffective musket firing and a low level of morale. Furthermore, since Militia do not carry bayonets, they have a healthy fear of all types of the British army, which all carry bayonets.

To Be Continued: the Battle of Winnsboro will have its own posting on this blog.