Time Astra

Schematic plan · American Civil War

Battle of Dinwiddie Court House

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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 wingReserveHorseHorse0500 m1 kmN

USA (US Army of the Potomac(+), 45,247 men under Sheridan) attacked Confederacy (Cs Army of Northern Virginia (Elms), 20,030 men under Pickett) in Virginia. The CAA Database of Battles records 48 hours of fighting on a front of 2.4 km, a frontal attack, single envelopment, right flank against hasty defense and prepared defense, and that neither side won. Losses: USA 2,781 (6%), Confederacy 1,800 (9%).

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 wingInfantry8,024
USA centreInfantry10,698
USA right wingInfantry8,024
USA reserveInfantry6,686
USA cavalry of the leftCavalry5,908
USA cavalry of the rightCavalry5,908
SheridanCommander—
In this plan45,248

Confederacy

Pickett

UnitArmMen
Confederacy left wingInfantry3,439
Confederacy centreInfantry4,586
Confederacy right wingInfantry3,439
Confederacy reserveInfantry2,866
Confederacy cavalry of the leftCavalry2,850
Confederacy cavalry of the rightCavalry2,850
PickettCommander—
In this plan20,030

What the sources report

USAConfederacy
Strength, this plan45,24720,030
Losses, this plan2,7811,800

In the CAA Database of Battles

CDB90 no. 216, “Dinwiddie Courthouse & White Oak Road”, compiled for the US Army to study what decides battles. These are the figures a what-if engine can be calibrated against.

Fighting
48 hours
Winner
the draw
Terrain
Rolling, Mixed
Weather
Wet, Heavy precipitation, Temperate, Spring, Temperate
Defender’s posture
Hasty defense, Prepared defense
Front width
2.4 km (attacker), 2.4 km (defender)
ForceStrengthLossesHorseGunsPlan and outcome
USAattacker45,2472,78111,815—Frontal attack; Single envelopment; Right flank; Repulse; Stalemate
Confederacydefender20,0301,8005,700—Defensive/offensive plan; Single envelopment; Left flank; Stalemate; Withdrew

Attacker’s advantages morale +1 · initiative +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.