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Schematic plan · American Civil War

Battle of Opequon

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A schematic plan, generated from the statistics of the CAA Database of Battles: the armies' size and width, the hours of fighting, the plan of attack and the outcome are as recorded; the ground and the positions are not.
Rolling, Mixed groundCentreLeft wingRight wingReserveHorseHorseCentreLeft wingRight wingHorseHorseReserveGuns01 km2 kmN

USA (US Army of the Shenandoah, 37,711 men under Sheridan) attacked Confederacy (Cs II Corps, 17,103 men under Early) in Virginia. The CAA Database of Battles records 12 hours of fighting on a front of 3.6 km, a frontal attack, double envelopment against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that USA won. Losses: USA 5,018 (13%), Confederacy 3,921 (23%).

This plan is generated from those figures. It shows the shape of the battle the database describes: the size and width of the armies, the plan of attack and the outcome. It does not show where the units actually stood.

The armies

USA

Sheridan

UnitArmMen
USA left wingInfantry6,291
USA centreInfantry8,388
USA right wingInfantry6,291
USA reserveInfantry5,242
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry5,000
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry5,000
USA artillery (100 guns)Artillery1,500
SheridanCommander—
In this plan37,712

Confederacy

Early

UnitArmMen
Confederacy left wingInfantry2,872
Confederacy centreInfantry3,830
Confederacy right wingInfantry2,872
Confederacy reserveInfantry2,394
Confederacy cavalry of the leftCavalry2,568
Confederacy cavalry of the rightCavalry2,568
EarlyCommander—
In this plan17,104

What the sources report

USAConfederacy
Strength, this plan37,71117,103
Losses, this plan5,0183,921

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 211, “Opequon Creek (Third Winchester)”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
12 hours
Winner
the attacker
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Dry, Sunny, Temperate, Summer, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
3.6 km (attacker), 4.8 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker37,7115,01810,000100Frontal attack; Double envelopment; Penetration
Confederacydefender17,1033,9215,135—Defensive plan; Withdrew with heavy losses

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · initiative +1 · surprise +1

CDB90 (US Army Concepts Analysis Agency, 1990), tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold; data under ODC-BY 1.0.

Notes

On this reconstruction

Generated automatically from the statistics in CDB90. Frontages, depths, distances, the order of events and the terrain are schematic: they follow the recorded strengths, front widths, hours of fighting, tactical plan and outcome, not maps or accounts of the battle. The sources give no hours; the timing is conjectural.

Sources

Facts gathered from Wikidata (CC0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (licence per file); the plan and its text are timeastra’s own.