Chesapeake Campaign - The raid of Havre de Grace

The Chesapeake Campaign

The plan is to eventually game the Battles of Bladensburg and North Point. However, those targets require the painting of many American militia figures, which will take many months. So, in the interim we will game some of the raids during 1813 and 1814 by the aggressive Rear-Admiral Cockburn. The first of these raids is the raid at Havre de Grace.

We will continue to use General de Brigade rules with a regularly revised and growing War of 1812 addendum, now at Version Four. New to the addendum is the use of damage points for structure, redoubts and boats. A small table for boats using shoal infested waters has also been added. This will be used for an upcoming Battle of Craney Island. Lastly, a procedure to set fire to buildings has been included.

The Raid at Havre de Grace - May 3rd, 1813

The actual battle of Havre de Grace was a walk over for the British marines and sailors. Unfortunately for the Marylander's, the 40th and 42nd Maryland Volunteers Regiments were recently in the area but ordered to march immediately to Annapolis to oppose Cockburn's expected attack on the capitol.This left a handful of militia from the 49th (Harford & Cecil Counties) to man the two gun batteries, which protected the town and access to the Susquehanna River. 

It would not be much fun to war game this lop sided raid using the historical American Orbats. So, in this scenario there is a complete local militia battalion (49th) plus gunners for the two batteries, Potato (2 x 6pdrs) and Concord (2 x 9pdrs). In addition 40th and 42nd Maryland Volunteer will remain in the area and will be placed east and west of the Susquehanna River. To make it a little more interesting a small volunteer rifle battalion is added (they will be in a hidden position, which will be revealed when an enemy unit comes within six inched of it). The British Orbat is pretty much the historical one.

Orders of battle and Victory Conditions

The following Tables outline the details of the American and British Orbats, missions, constraints and victory conditions:

Battle Havre de Grace, May 3rd, 1813 (modified) US Order of Battle and Strength Officer Commanding – LCol William Smith
Regiment		M	F	Strength	Formation	COs & Uniform Details
Infantry
Militia	Harford & Cecil Cty Militia	C	C	20	C, L	Must be placed within the hedge line of the town. May be moved at the first turn.
40th	Maryland Volunteer Regiment	2L	2L	20	C, L, OO	Placed anywhere on the town side of the Susquehanna river.
42nd	Maryland Volunteer Regiment	2L	2L	20	C, L, OO	Placed anywhere on the Foundry side of the Susquehanna river.
Rifles	Maryland Volunteer Rifles	L	L	12	C, L, OO, Sk	May be placed anywhere. Also, they may be hidden behind a hedge etc not visible until within 6” from enemy unit…advise  moderator. May be in skirmish, open or close order.
Artillery	Concord Battery  2 x 9 pdrs	2L	L	6 -8dpts		8VPs May be placed anywhere.
	Potato Battery  2 x 6 pdrs	2L	L	6 -6dpts		8VPs May be placed anywhere.
Vital Points	Principio Cannon Foundry			6 dpts		12VPs
	Mill			8 dpts		8VPs
	Ferry large			3 dpts		6VPs   (2 Company capacity)
	Ferry small			2 dpts		4 VPs (1 Company capacity

Background: Havre de Grace on the lower Susquehanna River is an important link along the Post Road from Philadelphia to Baltimore. As a consequence ferries are needed to continue the route across the river. Havre de Grace has a Cannon Foundry that is one of the main suppliers of heavy cannon to the American Fleet. The entrance to the Susquehanna River is somewhat protected by many shoals so that large enemy warships are not able to safely engage the coast. As a consequence the British will be forced to use flat bottomed barges and gunboats. Also, there is still a risk of grounding in some shoals, including shallow draft boats, particularly at low tide.

Mission: Defend the following in order of priority: 1. Principio Cannon Foundry; 2. Havre de Grace Mill (and flour barrels); 3. Havre de Grace Ferries, and 4; the two gun emplacements.

Constraints:

1.      You may risk using the town as a defensive point. However, the destruction of private property by the enemy will have grave consequences.

2.      You must defend the vital defensive points to the last man standing.

3.      At the start, you must place various units as per the notes/details column.

Battle Of “Havre de Grace”, May, 1813 (modified for game purposes) British Order of Battle and Strength Officer Commanding RN Amphibious Forces - Rear-Admiral Cockburn
Brigade	Regiment	M	F	Strength	Formation	Uniform Details
RM	Royal Marines	V	V	20	C, L, OO LC Sk	Capt Byng  (composite battalion from ship’s companies) Grenadier Company may be detached but must be within 18” of CO
RN	Sailor Landing Party	L	L	20	C, L, OO	Lt (RN) Westphal (composite battalion from ship’s companies)
RN	6pdr naval field gun team	L	L	4		Movement = 5”
RMA	Rocket Boat	V	V	4 pts		RMA may disembark (2 figs by order of OC) to provide incendiary function to burn buildings. However, this will negate any rocket functionality. Plant powder from rockets in one turn and the building is immediately on fire in the shooting phase. In the following turn the building is destroyed (in the shooting phase).
RN	Gun Boat 6pdr	V	V	4 dpts
Barge L	X 1			3 dpts		capacity = 2 Coy or gun team and gun
Barge S	X 5			2 dpts		capacity = 1 Coy

Background: Havre de Grace on the lower Susquehanna River is an important link along the Post Road from Philadelphia to Baltimore. As a consequence ferries are needed to continue the route across the river. Havre de Grace has a Cannon Foundry that is one of the main suppliers of heavy cannon to the American Fleet. This facility must be destroyed at all costs. The entrance to the Susquehanna River is somewhat protected by many shoals so that our large vessels are not able to safely engage the coast. As a consequence amphibious forces will be forced to use flat bottomed barges and gunboats. Also, there is still a risk of grounding in shoals, particularly at this time of low tide. Our spies have advised that there are no American regular units in the immediate area. So, once ashore you can anticipate an easy victory over the poorly trained militia.

Mission: Destroy the following in order of priority: 1, Cannon Foundry (12 VPs); 2. Stone Mill (8VPs); 2B. secure flour (4VPs) and return flour to the fleet  (+ 4VPs = total of 8VPs); 3. Ferries (L. = 6 VPs - S. = 4VPs);  4. gun emplacements (6 VPs each) and 5, militia (rout); then withdraw while sustaining nominal casualties (< 25% {8VPs}).

Constraints:

1.      You must avoid the destruction of private property. However, if the enemy chooses to use private property as defensive points, it should be destroyed.

2.      You must avoid heavy casualties.

3.      You only have enough barges to land one battalion and the gun team in the first wave.

4.      It takes two turns each way from the board edge (total 4 turns) for the barges to go to and from the fleet for the second wave.

The First and Second Sessions

Regrettably I mislaid/lost the start set of photos, so the following photos represent the end state after two sessions.

 The Royal Marines have entered the town after a rocket attack forced the Potato battery gunners to retreat and eventually disperse.

 The Maryland Volunteer Rifles are defending while the the 40th MD evacuate the town. At the top it looks like the 49th Militia  headed to the ferry crossing.

 Bottom center (blurry) the RM light company are protecting the naval gun team from MD rifle fire.

 To the right are the first wave of the Naval landing party, which are screened by the gunboat and rocket boat. Note that they take care to avoid the shoals.

 A rear view of the riflemen looking down to the beachhead and firing on the RM Light Company and the naval gun team.

 A rear view of the 49th militia and 40th MD Vol.

 The 42nd MD Vol with its Light Company detached are defending the eastern side of the Susquehanna River. In the distance (upper right) is the Concord Battery of two nine pounders.

The RM Rocket Boat knocked out the Potato Battery--middle  right (a double six certainly helped) paving the way for the RM Battalion to occupy Havre de Grace. Above the Potato battery on the opposite side of the river is the Concord Battery at the ready.

It looks like Rear-Admiral Cockburn's amphibious forces have exploited the demise of Potato Battery and are moving quickly to gain objectives on the east side of the Susquehanna River. Can the American Volunteers regain the initiative? Stay tuned for the next session.

P.S. I will try to take some better photos.