Harmon Field Notes

Brothers,

I am awaiting Adjutant Gardo’s After Action Report on Harmon Field, which I shall publish here before sending it up to the Valley Division. I would like to mention a few observations of my own:

1) We were pretty roughly handled by the Federals. It is not often that we are driven from the field &/or overrun. I’m not really happy with the outcome, but I don’t see any way to have avoided it.

Things that went well:

A. Thanks to Chaplain Written for a good worship service.

B. The defense of the bridge was good. I know you wanted to hold your ground. However, given the shallowness of the stream, which would have allowed both Cavalry & infantry to cross & cut you off, you could do nothing but delay & buy time. This you did & successfully withdrew in the face of heavy Federal fire.

C. We accurately predicted & handled the Federal Cavalry. It looked like they would try to flank us (They did). Harve & Richie headed them off, fired a volley, the kid who always falls off his horse fell off of his horse, & the Cavalry was done as a threat.

D. We did a good job containing the initial Federal attack. In fact, that should have about ended it for the Federals. We swung around, maintained contact with our supporting units and formed what the modern Army refers to as an “L” shaped ambush. The 17th NY was alone, & exposed on its front and left flank to overwhelming fire.

E. We maintained a stiff resistance until all of us were killed or captured.

Things that went badly-

A. The main Confederate unit disappeared. My understanding of the scenario was that both sides were to maneuver for about 30-40 minutes before the Federals drove us off. I was dumbstruck to look around & see the entire main Confederate force decimated 15 minutes into the game. (Apparently the Yankees used silenced machineguns or Nerve Gas…) This left our small platoon as the ONLY Confederates on the field, & the objective of the entire Yankee force.

B. I had failed to properly anticipate & recon the ground we were going to have to retreat to. Harve & Richie got separated from us. Harve was able to withdraw to a nice defensive position in the creek bed. Had we preplanned our withdrawal, we could have bee lined there, & the Yanks would have played Heck getting us out.

C. Our artillery support was silenced almost immediately. Apparently, they were slain in the Federal Nerve Gas attack. I remember hearing two shots…

C. The Yanks were indestructible. We outnumbered the 17th NY. They had been placed in a “Kill Box” (Sorry Harve!) and had taken heavy fire throughout the engagement. Even after we had retreated, we maintained a good volume of “aimed” fire from cover. In spite of this, (at least in my observation) no Federal unit took any causalities.

Whatever the outcome on the field, I had a grand time. Thanks y'all for coming out on short notice!

May the Road Rise to Meet You,
Duke