Background
The British army for the invasion of Louisiana in 1814 were landed on the shore of Lake Borgne, after the fleet had destroyed the American flotilla on that sheet of water, and pushed on in barges towards the Mississippi through the Bienvenu Bayou and Villereas Canal. They encamped on Villereas plantation, about 9 miles from New Orleans and in sight of the Mississippi. As they approached that spot Lieutenant-Colonel Thornton, of the British army, pushed forward with a detachment, surrounded the mansion of General Villere, the commander of the 1st Division of Louisiana militia, and made him a prisoner. He soon escaped to New Orleans. Early on Dec. 15 Jackson had been informed of the capture of the American flotilla on Lake Borgne. He at once proceeded to fortify and strengthen every approach to the city. He sent messengers to Generals Coffee, Carroll, and Thomas, urging them to hasten to New Orleans with the Tennesseeans, and directed General Winchester, at Mobile, to be on the alert. On the 18th he had a grand review of all the troops at his command, and there was much enthusiasm among the soldiers and the citizens.
The call upon the Tennessee generals was quickly responded to. Coffee came first, and encamped 5 miles above New Orleans. Carroll arrived on Dec. 22; at the same time Major Hinds appeared with a troop of horse. Meanwhile the invaders were making ready to march on New Orleans, believing their presence at Villereas was unknown in the city. It was a mistake. Jackson was fully informed of their movements, and in the afternoon of the 23d issued orders for a march to meet the invaders; and Commodore Patterson was directed to proceed down the Mississippi with such vessels as might be in readiness to flank the British at Villereas. At 7 P. M. the armed schooner Carolina, Captain Henley, the only vessel ready, dropped down the river in the darkness and anchored within musket-shot of the centre of the British camp. She immediately opened fire from her batteries, and in the course of ten minutes killed or wounded 100 men. The British extinguished their camp-fires, and poured upon the Carolina a shower of rockets and bullets, but with little effect. In less than half an hour the schooner drove the invaders from their camp in great confusion.
Meantime Jackson was pressing forward to the attack, piloted by Colonel De la Ronde and General Villere. The right of Jackson’s troops was composed of regulars, Plaucheas and D’Aquin’s brigades, McRea’s artillery, and some marines and moved along the river bank. The left, commanded by Coffee, was composed of his brigade of mounted riflemen, Hinds’s dragoons, and Beale’s riflemen. They skirted a cypress swamp in the rear to cut off the communication of the invaders from Lake Borgne. The alarm and confusion in the British camp caused by the attack of the Carolina had scarcely been checked when the crack of musketry in the direction of their outposts startled them. General Keane, the commander of the British, now began to believe the tales of prisoners concerning the great number of the defenders of New Orleans— “12,000 strong” —and told the dashing Thornton to do as he pleased. He started with a detachment to support the pickets, and directed another detachment, 500 strong, to keep open the communication with Lake Borgne. Thornton was soon met by a column led by Jackson in person, 1,500 in number, with two field-pieces, and perfectly covered by the darkness. At the same time the artillerists and marines advanced along the levee roads, when a desperate attempt was made to seize their cannon.
Very soon the engagement became general. Meanwhile Coffee had approached, dismounted his men, and moved in silence; while Beale, with his riflemen, stole around to the extreme left of the invaders on Villereas plantation, and by a sudden movement penetrated almost to the heart of the British camp, killing several and making others prisoners. At the same time a number of Beale’s men were captured, and Thornton fell heavily on Coffee’s brigade. For a while the battle raged fearfully, not in regular order, but in detachments, and often in duels. In the darkness friends fought each other by mistake. The Tennesseeans used long knives and tomahawks with effect. A length the British line fell back and took shelter behind the levee, more willing to endure danger from the shots of the Carolina than bullets from the rifles of the Tennesseeans. Jackson could not follow up his victory with safety in the darkness, intensified by a thick fog, so he led his troops back a short distance.
The conflict ceased at about 9.30 P. M., and all was becoming quiet, when, at 11 o’clock, firing was heard below Villereas. Some Louisiana militia, under Gen. David Morgan, encamped at the English Turn of the Mississippi, had advanced and encountered British pickets at Jumonville’s plantation. The loss of the Americans in this engagement was twenty-four killed, 115 wounded, and seventy-four made prisoners. The British lost about 400 men. The number of Americans engaged in the battle was about 1,800; that of the British, including reinforcements that came up during the engagement, was 2,500. the Carolina gave the Americans a great advantage.
The Game
I wanted to try another scenario for the War of 1812, that was reasonably sized, but nothing that would require too crazy of terrain. I chose this fight, as it met the criteria. I reached out may buddy to bring his troops and fences. The battlefield was narrow and deep. I decided to break out my beach mat, to get the right width between the Mississippi and mangroves on both sides of the battlefield.
I could not find any good information on the battlefield, except some line drawings. So, I knew the broad strokes. Unfortunately, the battlefield is covered in houses and an oil refinery today, so google maps was no help. So, I laid out the main elements from the map I had.
I did not have “ditch” terrain, so just used streams to represent those, with some bushes. I placed some moulding under the mat to represent the forward levee and used some log emplacements for the more extensive levels around the plantation. The fields and fences were added for aesthetic reasons (there should have been some kind of crops around the plantation) and to slow down the reserves. The mangroves along both sides were represented with some cloth and trees with clusters.
I started the British in their positions, after they were bombarded by the Carolina, with the Americans coming on the board. All the British reserves were off the opposite table edge, about six inches. The reserves were out of command.
The battle was fought at night, so I restricted visibility to eight inches the first three turns and then extended to twelve for the rest of the game (6-10 turns). In addition, every time a unit moved, once they ended movement, they would have to roll for direction. On a one, they would be moved three inches to the left a pivot forty five degrees. On a six, they would move three inches to the right and pivot forty five degrees. If they bumped into a friend or foe, they would stop.
In addition to the sight and movement issues, the shooting was impacted. All shooting was reduced by one to a hit of five plus. If they rolled any ones or twos, those would be hits on the closest friendly units in their front arc. Artillery could fire out to full distance, but could only target units that had fired (unless within visibility range). The same hit randomization would apply. All that was sure to cause all kinds of craziness and it did!
We got going with the Americans making their initial advance, having some units deviate along the way. The British were lucky, in that they made a number of their messenger rolls and started some of their reserves moving on the table (slowed down by the terrain). The British decided they would not fight the Americans and started to fall back to the rear, hoping to form up, once the reserves joined in.
The British plan worked for them, helped by them never failing a movement order! The running battle kept going, with both sides exchanging skirmish fire and getting deviated from their planned moves. By the time the Brits arrived at the second ditch, they have taken more casualties from their own units, than the Americans.
The Americans were unable to catch the British, until they consolidated back. The US Volunteer cavalry dismounted early, so never could intervene to stop it. Once the forces came to full contact, the Americans had caused enough casualties on the falling back British to have one last push to try to break the Brigade and took it. Unfortunately for them, the dice gods a fickle and they could not win a decisive melee before the British reserves fully intervened.
It was clear at this point that the attack had reached its zenith and the Americans started to pull back, as the fog started to come in. The Brits tried to take advantage and launched a counter attack to steal the initiative. However, the Americans held and then fell back into the fog, back to New Orleans.
The British performed a little better than their historical counterparts, but not enough to change the overall outcome. The game ended as a draw, with neither side getting any points for a failed fortitude test.
- Manteuffel