Background
The Battle of North Point was fought on September 12, 1814, between General John Stricker’s Maryland Militia and a British force led by Major-general Robert Ross. Although the Americans were driven from the field, they were able to do so in good order having inflicted significant casualties on the British, killing Ross and demoralizing the troops under his command. Some of Ross’s units became lost among woods and swampy creeks during the battle, with others in similar states of confusion.
This combination of setbacks prompted Colonel Arthur Brooke to delay the British advance against Baltimore, giving to the Americans valuable time so to properly prepare for the defense of the city as Stricker was retreating back to the main defenses to bolster the existing force. The engagement was a part of the larger Battle of Baltimore, an American victory in the War of 1812.
Major General Robert Ross had been dispatched to the Chesapeake Bay with a brigade of veterans from the Duke of Wellington’s army early in 1814, reinforced with a battalion of Royal Marines. He had defeated a hastily assembled force of Maryland and District of Columbia militia at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, and burned Washington. Having disrupted the American government, he withdrew to the waiting ships of the Royal Navy at the mouth of the Patuxent River before heading further up the Chesapeake Bay to the strategically more important port city of Baltimore, although the Americans managed to defeat a British landing at Caulk’s Field before doing so.
Ross’s army of 3,700 troops and 1,000 marines landed at North Point at the end of the peninsula between the Patapsco River and the Back River on the morning of September 12, 1814, and began moving toward the city of Baltimore.
Brooke reorganized the British troops and prepared to assault the American positions at 3:00 pm. He decided to use his three cannon to cover an attempt by his 4th Regiment to get around the American flank, while two more regiments and the naval brigade would assault the American center. The British frontal assault took heavy casualties as the American riflemen fired into the British ranks, and lacking canister the Americans loaded their cannon with broken locks, nails and horseshoes, firing scrap metal at the British advance. Nevertheless, the British 4th Regiment managed to outflank the American positions and sent many of the American regiments fleeing. Stricker was able to conduct an organized retreat, with his men firing volleys as they continued to fall back. This proved effective, killing one of the British commanders and leaving some units lost among woods and swampy creeks, with others in confusion.
Not all the militia regiments performed with equal distinction. The 51st Regiment and some men of the 39th broke and ran under fire. However, the 5th and 27th held their ground and retreated in good order, having inflicted significant casualties on the enemy. Only one American gun was lost.
Corporal John McHenry of the 5th Regiment wrote of the battle:
Our Regiment, the 5th, carried off the praise from the other regiments engaged, so did the company to which I have the honor to belong cover itself with glory. When compared to the [other] Regiments we were the last that left the ground… had our Regiment not retreated at the time it did we should have been cut off in two minutes.
Brooke did not follow the retreating Americans. He had advanced to within a mile of the main American position, but he had suffered heavier casualties than the Americans. As it was getting dark, he chose to wait until Fort McHenry was expected to be neutralized, while Stricker withdrew to Baltimore’s main defences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_North_Point
The Game
The latest version of Valour and Fortitude rules was released online recently and I finally had a chance to run a game using them. So, we went back to the War of 1812, as we have a few more fights to finish before we move on to the next war!
We do not have any actual troops in Maryland uniforms in our collections, so we had to do a bit of proxying… Just don not look to closely at the head gear and it will be fine…..
I put together the scenario, based on a combination of the Fire and Fury scenario and the excellent Bad Roads and Poor Rations book. My buddy provided his troops (mine are still in the process of re-basing) and fences.
The battle field was set up with a heavy wood on the north side and most of the table being covered with light woods. There was a farm with fields on the British side of the table. The battlefield is bracketed on both sides with streams and has a few roads traversing the area on the way to Baltimore. The buildings were small structures, so could not be occupied or used to black site. They just provided light cover. The fences were mostly open and slowed movement, but did not provide cover. The exception was the central fence, which provided light cover.
I had a few extra players, so I had to play around with the commands to fit everyone in. Once that was done, we got started. The British planned to orient their attack by switching their screening forces to the right, while moving their assault units and artillery to the left and then go in once their third command arrived.
The British moved forward with their plan, which required a lot of fence removals to move laterally. This slowed them down quit a bit. They finally got their forces into position, but it took them six turns. They also ended up stacking up in front of heavy fire causing most of the forward units to close in no longer being fresh. The clog continued and their first assault was overwhelmed by US fire and was easily thrown back.
The British artillery was finally in place and started to play havoc with the American right flank. Over time, they were able to force both light units to flea off the field (a string of too many ones on valour tests.). In the center, the Americans kept the advantage, but the forward unit took a pummeling from fire and combat. However, no matter how many valour tests were required, the unit responded and stayed in the field, as the rest of the American units thickened the defense.
The British third brigade arrived at the front as turn ten passed, being bedeviled by numerous activation failures, as it advance. It finally made it to the front and tried two assaults. However, the Americans held and managed to push them back, raking their columns on the way in.
The British through in the town on turn ten, determining that they had taken too many losses and could not break through. With that, the Americans managed to turn a delaying action into an unhistoric victory! Baltimore would be saved even sooner!
- Manteuffel