I have a few historical points to make:
Gatling Guns in Union Service:
The Union Army did not place an order for this weapon until 1865 and they were not delivered until 1866.
General Benjamin Butler purchased 12 for his use (likely from the silver he was purported to have looted, ie. Spoons Butler). He only deployed 2 guns and put 8 on gunboats, the last 2 are unaccounted for.
The rapid firing weapon the Union Army did deploy was the Ager Gun. It fired 100 rounds per min. and had an effective range of 1000 yards. I used special ammunition and the steel cartridges had to be saved and reloaded. The projectile was also of a special type. The Union Army bought 54 of these guns.
Known Units that had the Ager Gun
* 96th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
* 28th Pennsylvania Regiment Volunteers
* 49th Pennsylvania Regiment Volunteers
* 56th New York Volunteers
The Williams Gun was brought into Confederate service in the autumn of 1861 and 7 Batteries were fielded. It was the first Machine Gun ever used in battle. The gun had a rate of fire of 65 rounds per min. but it had a 1 lb projectile of 1.57 inch caliber. Roughly 3 times the size of the .58 Gatling Gun which would make it far more effective against fortifications, buildings, and so on.
These were 6 gun batteries . It was seemingly better than the early Gatling Guns, having only a problem with overheating at high rates of sustained fire, where as the early models of the Gatling had quite a few draw backs. Remember this is not the gun the US Army excepted into service in 1866.
It was light and usually drawn by only a single horse and was said to be an excellent Cavalry support weapon. The Williams Gun was a 40mm projectile with a 2000 yard range for area fire and an effective range of 800 yards for point type targets. It was rifled and fired shells, according to one report. There may have been some larger models and some special purpose ammunition. Some reports say they fired a fired canister round. Likely more like a shot gun shell for close range work.
I have seen by the event remark that it is the coffee mill gun they announced, which is different from the Gatling Gun and is likely the Ager Gun.
http://asms.k12.ar.us/classes/humanities/amstud/97-98/weapons/machin~1.htm
http://www.floridareenactorsonline.com/machinegun.htm
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
The Indian Territory provided more than just raiders.
Almost all the Tribes took a stand often raiding one another as well as white settlements in Kansas and Colorado Territory.
Of course this brought out the Colorado militia who promptly attacked the first Indians they found. Namely the Southern Cheyenne, resulting in the Sand Creek Massacre.
Also, consider that the 5 Civilized Tribes were primarily farmers. They raised cotton as a cash crop as well as various food crops. These were shipped by steamboat from Ft. Gibson, on the Arkansas River and Public Landing on the Red River.
There were also working mines in the far northeast, mining lead, tin, and zinc. In the Choctaw areas there was also an abundance of surface coal. This was not mined commercially until there were rail lines in the region but it was well known.
As much as people may wish to think of them as near savages, they lived in towns and settlements and even had newspapers. They had written languages but also taught English in their schools. And yes they had a school system.
As the game is something of a what-if, there is no reason that it cannot have some level of industrialization. This would be even more true if we add the ability to build railways.
There were also large Iron deposits in the south western areas, leased from the Choctaw by the US Government.
While it did lack a unified government it did have an economy and provided some war supplies.
Some industrialization should be possible as well as providing general supplies.
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Indian Troops of the CSA:
At the end of the war there were around 10,000 Confederate troops under arms from the Indian Territory. It is estimated that there were 6,000 Indian troops killed in the war.
In early July the Agent who had helped raise the first units ( the 1st Choctaw & Chickasaw Mounted Rifles, two battalions Choctaw & one battalion Chickassaw) estimated that those two tribes could put 10,000 men in the field.
Indian Units of the CSA:
Cherokee Units:
Indian Territory:
1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles
2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles
Scales'/Fry's Battalion of Cherokee Cavalry
Meyer's Battalion of Cherokee Cavalry ( only a paper organization, never manned)
Cherokee Battalion of Infantry
Second Cherokee Artillery
North Carolina:
Cherokee Battalion, Thomas’ North Carolina Legion
Cherokee Artillery
Chickasaw Units:
First Regiment of Chickasaw Infantry
First Regiment of Chickasaw Cavalry First Colonel: William L. Hunter
First Battalion of Chickasaw Cavalry
Shecoe's Chickasaw Battalion of Mounted Volunteers
Choctaw Units:
First Regiment Choctaw & Chickasaw Mounted Rifles
First Regiment of Choctaw Mounted Rifles
Deneale's Regiment of Choctaw Warriors
Second Regiment of Choctaw Cavalry
Third Regiment of Choctaw Cavalry
Folsom's Battalion of Choctaw Mounted Rifles
Capt. John Wilkin's Company of Choctaw Infantry
Northwest Frontier Command of Indian Territory
Mississippi:
First Mississippi Choctaw Battalion “Mounted“ (roughly 18 men captured from training camp by Union Forces in 1862 and carried off to New York)
Texas:
Welch’s Texas Cavalry Squadron (mostly Choctaw recruited in the Texas Border region)
Creek Units:
First Creek Mounted Rifles - Col. Daniel N. McIntosh, Commanding
Second Creek Mounted Rifles - Lt. Col. Chilly McIntosh, Commanding
Osage Units:
Osage Cavalry Battalion
Seminole Units:
First Regiment Seminole Mounted Volunteers
Northwest Frontier Command of Indian Territory
Major George Washington's Frontier Battalion
Major James W. Cooper's Battalion
There were unorganized raiding parties and some organizations of Braves but as you can see there were Organized Regiments also. They fought in the regular manner of any organized army.
These are only the CSA Units. The Union units are not included. But there were more than the game includes.
____________________________________________
____________________________________________
I am also wondering what happened to all the mounted infantry units in the last game.
Quite a few states fielded them as Mounted Rifles or Mounted Infantry. They came from both Union and Southern states. While the Union soon ran short of horses, those of the Southern States were mostly able to remain mounted, particularly in the west. We know that Forrest often employed his troops as mounted infantry, and to good effect.
I see a few of them included as Cavalry but they tended to ride to battle and fight on foot.
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
The Arkansas River:
The Arkansas River was regularly navigated by Steamboats well above Fort Gibson (Arkansas City, KS.) and by flatboat all the way to Bent's Fort, CO. (later Ft. Lyons).
Ft. Gibson actually is about a mile up the Neosho River.
In 1824 The 60 ton steamboat Florence brought up 100 recruits for that post.
Perhaps some of the confusion occurs because Ft. Smith was where many goods were loaded onto flatboats going up the tributaries or shipped overland but Ft. Gibson was an important port.
In 1828 The Facility, 117 tons, became the first steamboat to ascend the Verdigris. It brought Creek emigrants and departed with 500 barrels of pecans.
In 1829 The James O’Hara, 200 tons, the biggest recorded steamboat to have plied the Arkansas (dimensionally), brought recruits and 100 Cherokee to Ft. Gibson. That same year the Sam Houston arrived at Three Forks, near present day Muskogee, OK.
In 1832 the Congress granted $15,000 for snag boats to maintain the channels as far up as the mouth of the Grand (Neosho) River.
In 1833 there were 17 steamboats docking at Ft. Gibson regularly.
In 1837 The Chickasaws came up river to Ft. Coffee and trekked on to there homes in the western Choctaw lands.
There is only one year (1850) that boats could not reach Ft. Gibson, due to low water levels.
After the war steamboats were docking at Arkansas City, Kansas and you had flatboats above there all the way into CO.
There is a note that in 1868 River traffic in the Indian Territory and lower Arkansas began to decline but in 1870 there were still 20 steamboats, averaging 300 tons of cargo, docking at Ft. Gibson.
Did this get overlooked or is there some other reason why the river isn’t usable above Ft. Smith?
The Red River was also navigable farther up. Steamboats also supplied Ft. Towson with the landing being between Crest, IT and Paris, TX. On the current map.
http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/ST026.html
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
I surely hope that there is an ACW 2.
In fact, it being the 150th Anniversary of its beginning has generated heightened interest. It will be another 50 years before there is a better time.
While this is a great game, it could use some updating and the inclusion of a few other elements.
Minnesota got left out of this one. It should have at least a box and its units.
But in real life that is a rather unlikely occurrence *whew*
