13-16 June 1862
Saphroneth
Banned
13 June
A force of 4,000 Indian troops, accompanied by a British battalion, approaches Sacramento. They come under fire from two field guns mounted on top of the levee, and their advance is checked by this and the knowledge that there are troops defending the town.
However, the Imperial force has an important force multiplier - the Grappler, an Albacore-class gunboat with a draft of under seven feet, has been accompanying them on their trip inland. While she has barely inches under her keel this high up the Sacramento river, she is able to work her guns - a heavy 68-lber, a 40-lber (taken from Camelion) and a 24-lber howitzer all able to bear at once - and provide covering fire, which forces the American field guns to switch to firing on Grappler.
With their western-flank guns effectively rendered unable to contribute, the American defenders - the 1st California Infantry, 5th California Infantry and two regiments of California Volunteer Cavalry - are a little more nervous about the coming action. Nevertheless, they decide to make a fight of it, and have the advantage that the Volunteer Cavalry and 1st Regiment at least are well drilled.
With the terrain around the town quite flat, Carleton determines that it will not be easy to win an open field battle against superior numbers. As such, he has his infantry hole up in Sacramento, and makes it a street fight where every house is a potential fortress. This results in a bloody battle, with the skills of the Gurkha regiment proving useful to the British, and the battle occupies most of the day - with one notable moment being when the Grappler dismounts her 40-lber gun and begins using it as fire support from the levee position defended by small-arms men.
Ultimately, Sacramento is captured, and the bloodied California infantry retreat upriver. The cavalry covers their escape, and the British do not pursue for now.
(As it happens, if the British had attacked earlier they would have been able to literally sail their gunboats into Sacramento town square - the whole town was several feet underwater during the floods of the early year - but Maitland was unwilling to make the attempt before his troops arrived and so missed the chance.)
14 June
The Charleston -formerly the Ville de Nantes - arrives off Halifax, and puts in to recoal. She needs quite a lot, having been undergoing a 'shakedown' on the way across the Atlantic and averaging nine knots for her passage - as such she is very low on coal.
It will take her two days to coal up, but it is at least cheap (Halifax has a working coal mine and as such the coal is not very costly). While she is there, several blockade ships enter or leave Halifax - including the enormous Warrior, here to recoal and escorting three prizes.
Lee's army begins manoeuvring to capture Harpers Ferry. On the first day of the action, Confederate forces push the Union defenders off Loundon Heights and cut the Baltimore & Ohio railroad - thus allowing artillery to begin bombarding Harpers Ferry once it is emplaced.
15 June
Approximately 3,000 of the garrison of Harpers Ferry manage to evacuate ahead of the advancing Confederate troops. The rest are cut off, and start coming under bombardment.
McClellan's nearest forces are about thirty miles away, and after consideration he decides it would be foolish to send one corps south to attempt to rescue the Harpers Ferry garrison - it would simply throw more men away. Instead - after sending another letter requesting better equipment - he largely ceases training operations and begins concentrating his army at Chambersburg.
The one thing McClellan does not want to do is to easily surrender the advantage of the defensive. He considers himself to be heavily outnumbered, and that he will have to fight carefully to avoid being destroyed.
16 June
Harpers Ferry surrenders, under artillery bombardment and with Confederate riflemen working steadily forwards to the west of the town.
Lee and Cleburne examine the results carefully, with an eye to discerning which of their new practices are successful and which are not. Particularly notable on the successful side of things is the use of skirmishing sharpshooters to defeat isolated pickets - almost without losses - while the accuracy of the artillery is still something which needs work. (Lee notes that his infantry are now longer ranged than his artillery, which is not entirely accurate and which offends his artillery commander, Pendleton.)
Both sides are now struggling to sort out their logistics to move the rest of their armies forwards. The railroads and rivers in this area run counter to the 'grain' of the land, so both Lee and McClellan need to rely on wagon trains and supply depots more than railroads.
Also on this date, Eads finishes casing the Pennsylvania. She is ready to fight, though the decision is made to keep her back until the New York and Massachusets at least are able to support her - single ironclads are clearly not a winning proposition against the powerfully-armed British ironclads, and in any case there is a debate on whether to use the 'United States' (Pennsylvania) class to open the Chesapeake, to attack Gosport or to clear the Potomac.
A force of 4,000 Indian troops, accompanied by a British battalion, approaches Sacramento. They come under fire from two field guns mounted on top of the levee, and their advance is checked by this and the knowledge that there are troops defending the town.
However, the Imperial force has an important force multiplier - the Grappler, an Albacore-class gunboat with a draft of under seven feet, has been accompanying them on their trip inland. While she has barely inches under her keel this high up the Sacramento river, she is able to work her guns - a heavy 68-lber, a 40-lber (taken from Camelion) and a 24-lber howitzer all able to bear at once - and provide covering fire, which forces the American field guns to switch to firing on Grappler.
With their western-flank guns effectively rendered unable to contribute, the American defenders - the 1st California Infantry, 5th California Infantry and two regiments of California Volunteer Cavalry - are a little more nervous about the coming action. Nevertheless, they decide to make a fight of it, and have the advantage that the Volunteer Cavalry and 1st Regiment at least are well drilled.
With the terrain around the town quite flat, Carleton determines that it will not be easy to win an open field battle against superior numbers. As such, he has his infantry hole up in Sacramento, and makes it a street fight where every house is a potential fortress. This results in a bloody battle, with the skills of the Gurkha regiment proving useful to the British, and the battle occupies most of the day - with one notable moment being when the Grappler dismounts her 40-lber gun and begins using it as fire support from the levee position defended by small-arms men.
Ultimately, Sacramento is captured, and the bloodied California infantry retreat upriver. The cavalry covers their escape, and the British do not pursue for now.
(As it happens, if the British had attacked earlier they would have been able to literally sail their gunboats into Sacramento town square - the whole town was several feet underwater during the floods of the early year - but Maitland was unwilling to make the attempt before his troops arrived and so missed the chance.)
14 June
The Charleston -formerly the Ville de Nantes - arrives off Halifax, and puts in to recoal. She needs quite a lot, having been undergoing a 'shakedown' on the way across the Atlantic and averaging nine knots for her passage - as such she is very low on coal.
It will take her two days to coal up, but it is at least cheap (Halifax has a working coal mine and as such the coal is not very costly). While she is there, several blockade ships enter or leave Halifax - including the enormous Warrior, here to recoal and escorting three prizes.
Lee's army begins manoeuvring to capture Harpers Ferry. On the first day of the action, Confederate forces push the Union defenders off Loundon Heights and cut the Baltimore & Ohio railroad - thus allowing artillery to begin bombarding Harpers Ferry once it is emplaced.
15 June
Approximately 3,000 of the garrison of Harpers Ferry manage to evacuate ahead of the advancing Confederate troops. The rest are cut off, and start coming under bombardment.
McClellan's nearest forces are about thirty miles away, and after consideration he decides it would be foolish to send one corps south to attempt to rescue the Harpers Ferry garrison - it would simply throw more men away. Instead - after sending another letter requesting better equipment - he largely ceases training operations and begins concentrating his army at Chambersburg.
The one thing McClellan does not want to do is to easily surrender the advantage of the defensive. He considers himself to be heavily outnumbered, and that he will have to fight carefully to avoid being destroyed.
16 June
Harpers Ferry surrenders, under artillery bombardment and with Confederate riflemen working steadily forwards to the west of the town.
Lee and Cleburne examine the results carefully, with an eye to discerning which of their new practices are successful and which are not. Particularly notable on the successful side of things is the use of skirmishing sharpshooters to defeat isolated pickets - almost without losses - while the accuracy of the artillery is still something which needs work. (Lee notes that his infantry are now longer ranged than his artillery, which is not entirely accurate and which offends his artillery commander, Pendleton.)
Both sides are now struggling to sort out their logistics to move the rest of their armies forwards. The railroads and rivers in this area run counter to the 'grain' of the land, so both Lee and McClellan need to rely on wagon trains and supply depots more than railroads.
Also on this date, Eads finishes casing the Pennsylvania. She is ready to fight, though the decision is made to keep her back until the New York and Massachusets at least are able to support her - single ironclads are clearly not a winning proposition against the powerfully-armed British ironclads, and in any case there is a debate on whether to use the 'United States' (Pennsylvania) class to open the Chesapeake, to attack Gosport or to clear the Potomac.
