22nd Massachusetts Brigade Reporting

Brigadier General Nathaniel Hawkinsworth, commander, of the 22nd Massachusetts Brigade is prepared to devise a cunning plan that will push the Redcoats back into the ocean and, hopefully, send them packing to their mad King George. If only he could get his men to follow the plan it will be a smashing success.

As you may guess by that horrible attempt at fiction I made progress today to create a hybrid historical/fictional setting for my AWI army. This was first described in War of American Independence – Black Powder Style. Many thanks need to go to Tilman who recently prodded me to design support for my fictitious paint scheme. Thanks also need to be given to Henry Hyde for sharing the secrets to injecting personality into a campaign like he did with The Wars of the Faltenian Succession.

The 22nd Massachusetts Brigade

Why 22nd? Why not 91st or 43rd? I like the number 22. No other reason than that. I chose Massachusetts because I live there and my army is a militia army. What that means for army composition is a majority of the units will be militia with some Continental Army units tossed into the mix.

Composition

I decided to create a predominantly infantry brigade. There will be four infantry regiments, mainly militia but with some Continental Army, plus two artillery batteries of one gun apiece, and one cavalry regiment.

Breathing Life into Pewter

Each regiment and battery needs leadership. In Part VII and Part VIII of The Wars of the Faltenian Succession (see early issues of Battlegames Magazine for details) the topic of adding personality to an army is covered. The way this is handled in that campaign is by naming the commanders and creating ratings for each commander in certain attributes. Intelligence, Initiative, Courage, Charisma, Strength, and Health are produced by rolling a percentage die (d100) and writing down the result.

For my purposes the result is below (many thanks to my wife for helping to name the commanders):

Commander Int Init Cour Cha Str Hlth Role # of Men
Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Hawkinsworth 99 13 87 1 68 54 General Himself
Col. Thomas Bradford 84 5 12 53 95 55 Infantry 16
Cpt. Roger Ayer 61 99 62 68 98 63 Artillery 4 & gun
Cpt. Thaddeus Glockenspiel 55 83 26 96 74 42 Artillery 4 & gun
Col. Abraham Turner 55 64 74 12 89 20 Infantry 16
Col. Samuel Hitchins 27 58 87 9 28 97 Cavalry 12
Col. William Tinselbrock 21 45 8 79 8 99 Infantry 16
Col. Enoch Smith 15 3 84 46 86 43 Infantry 16

(Int=Intelligence, Init=Initiative, Cour=Courage, Cha=Charisma, Str=Strength, Hlth=Health)

The more I treated these names as real people the more they actually came alive.  Brigadier General Nathaniel Hawkinsworth is a military tactician and strategist of the highest order.  Massachusetts Bay is lucky to have him creating military strategy for the 22nd.  But, once the plan is planned he’s more likely to sit still perfecting his plan than actually enacting it.  Nathaniel isn’t afraid to lead from the front but his men hate him for it.  They think he’s nothing more than a pencil pusher who has no place in the front lines.  Everything he tries explodes in his face.  He’s can handle the rigors of warfare, the training, the marching, the tireless activity.  But, he doesn’t like to do any of that.

Each commander has his own story to tell.  Colonel Thomas Bradford is liked by his men for his willingness to debate ethics day after day after day after day.  Captain Roger Ayer has the strength of eight oxen and routinely pushes his 6pdr into place all on his own instead of waiting for help from the crew.  Captain Thaddeus Glockenspiel is beloved by all in the brigade but is secretly afraid of combat.  He joined the artillery corp in the hopes of killing all the redcoats before they get too close.  Colonel Abraham Turner is always sick.  He wheezes, coughs, sputters, sneezes, and exudes disease.  His men hate him for his stupidity and his illness.  Colonel William Tinselbrock is a weakling that turns tail at the slightest breeze.  Lastly, Colonel Enoch Smith.  He’s dumber than a brick, needing tons of time to understand the simplest order.  As soon as he knows what needs doing he’ll fight to the death with his brute strength and glass jaw.

The 22nd Massachusetts is nobody’s idea of the ideal fighting machine.  They’re inept, prone to idleness, arrogant, and timid.  Their faults are many.  Can they overcome these faults and give freedom to everyone in the 13 colonies?  Let’s hope so.

6 Comments on “22nd Massachusetts Brigade Reporting”

  1. Adrian

    It’s funny you chose 22nd Mass. Back in the days when I had free time for reenacting, I was with the 22nd Mass Volunteer Infantry…Civil War though. http://www.22ndmass.org/website/page.php?5

    Anyway, that has nothing to do with anything. To face off against you I have…nothing. One regiment of musketeers is all. A regiment of grenadiers and an artillery battery arrived today but they are still in their transports. So I suppose now is the time for you to strike. It’s likely your only chance for victory.

  2. Cort Naegelin

    Adrian,
    I can back you up with two battalions of British line. I am just finishing off the white belting on the second battalion. They will be ready to report for duty on Saturday to put down this illegal rebellion.

    Cort N

    1. Jonathan J. Reinhart Post author

      Sounds like I’ll be outnumbered 3:1. The troops are assembling but only one infantry regiment and one artillery battery have received their equipment. Congress is dragging their feet to allow the purchase of supplies for the remainder of the brigade.

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