Kapitan Johann Ewald

A professional soldier from the age of 16, he saw action in Europe in the Seven Years War and subsequently wrote a manual on tactics. He arrived in North America in 1776, serving with distinction in the Philadelphia and Monmouth campaigns, the petite guerre around New York City, and the capture of Charleston. His combat record not only explains why he was chosen to serve with the Queen’s Rangers, but also why he was held in such high regard by the army as a whole, including Clinton and Cornwallis. Although nominally under the command of Major Armstrong, whom he saw as “a good man, but no more”, he lost no opportunity to seize the initiative whenever aggressive action was required.

(2) The “Americans”

Opposing the “British” forces were light units that typified the new-found professionalism of the Continental Army: a “legionary” cavalry corps built around the remnants of the 1st Light Dragoons and Armand’s Legion; a battalion of the Pennsylvania Line; some converged light infantry companies from New England; and two rifle-armed Virginia militia companies that contained more than a sprinkling of former Continentals.

Cavalry – Major William McPherson, 1st Continental Light Dragoons

[Approximate strength – 110]

• 1st Continental Light Dragoons (60)

• Armand’s Legion (50)

Infantry – Colonel Richard Butler, 1st Pennsylvania Battalion

[Approximate strength - 350]

• Light Infantry Battalion (250) – including 50 men attached to Armand’s Legion

• Virginia Militia, rifle company – Major Richard Call (100)

• Virginia Militia, rifle company – Major John Willis (100)

Colonel Richard Butler

Butler was born in Ireland in 1743. His military service began in 1764, as an ensign in a Provincial regiment during Pontiac’s War, and later continued as a company commander in the militia in land disputes with Virginia – ironically, the state he is now defending. He was commissioned into the Pennsylvania Line in 1776 and acquired an impressive combat record, first as Morgan’s second-in-command at Saratoga, then at Monmouth, and later in command of one of Wayne’s light infantry battalions at Stony Point. Such was his reputation that he was one of the few officers that the mutineers of the Pennsylvania Line would negotiate with, back in January. Although desperate to defeat the hated Tory scum of the Queen’s Rangers, he was aware that he could easily expose himself to Cornwallis’s entire army.

Major William McPherson

After lengthy service, he was given command of the main body of the 1st Continental Light Dragoons. As part of Butler’s advance guard, he was always likely to make the first contact with the enemy – especially the treasonous Tories under Simcoe – and was determined to make his mark. To that end, he obtained intelligence as to the whereabouts of the enemy and gathered a group of 50 horsemen from the remains of Major Armand’s Legion, and 50 light infantrymen (possibly also from Armand’s, or else from Butler’s light infantry battalion) and instructed them to ride double behind the horsemen. With this force, he intended to surprise Simcoe and win glory.

Major Richard Call

A former officer in the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons, he took command of a company of 100 riflemen (described in some sources as “Wild Irishmen”). Though nominally militia, the unit had seen much hard fighting in the previous year and had many former Continentals in its ranks. In addition, they were Virginians defending their own land.

Major John Willis

A former officer in the Virginia Line of the Continental Army, he had taken over a company of 100 rifle-armed militia, similar to Call’s.

The Terrain

The battlefield was typical of central Virginia – thick and often swampy woods, dotted with clearings housing small farms and roadside taverns. Spencer’s Ordinary was a plantation that included a house and barn (and possibly one or two smaller outbuildings); an apple orchard due east of the house; and a large cornfield and a ploughed field to the south-east and south-west, respectively.

Directly south was the Williamsburg Road, where the Queen’s Rangers infantry were encamped having their breakfast. The fields and orchard were surrounded by rail fences, and a second fence line divided the plantation from the woods to the north.

Both sides of the Jamestown Road and the road north were also lined with rail fences, some of which had been “thrown down” by Simcoe’s cavalry, to facilitate access to the meadows around Lee’s Farm and the nearby stream. This also gave the cavalry freedom of movement across the Williamsburg Road in order to support Armstrong’s infantry, and the cattle and provision wagons under Branson. East of the main road, the ground rose gradually from the plantation to the dense woods to the north. West of the road were rolling hills, tall enough to screen the movement of horsemen and give impetus to a charge.

Special Rules

The author must confess to having a bit of a “thing” about using low figure-man ratios when re-fighting battles from this conflict – for those who haven’t already guessed, this is NOT the time to use Age of Reason or any other grand tactical rules that give you five men per side!

Get some friends together and do this at 1:1 – with 500 figures a side, it will look brilliant. I would suggest Brother Against Brother (including the F&I extra rules), or a similar “squad level” set (anyone who invents a “horse-and-musket” version of Squad Leader will earn my undying gratitude). Use 10-15 man units, as this would equate to about half a company (one platoon) of infantry, and one third of a troop of cavalry, for both sides; this will give each force about 30 squads.

Command

Both sides had plenty of officers and NCOs, so it is possible to start the battle using officers as squad leaders, and allow sergeants to replace them immediately if they are hit (obviously still use company commanders as per the rules). Named commanders in the orbats are able to give orders to anyone under their command, but Simcoe, Ewald and Butler can take over other units as they think fit, whilst Shank and McPherson can command any mounted unit.

Movement

From the course of the actual battle, the following amendments to normal movement would appear to be appropriate:

• All troops are capable of movement in open and close order, as required – it is likely that all units were capable of skirmishing (where this is distinct from open order);

• the woods around the edges of the battlefield were dense and also swampy in places; as both sides faced an enemy capable of springing ambushes, and would also have been moving very warily, speed should be reduced by a third (it is assumed that troops will be in open order in woods anyway);

• Roads were dry and should give a slight bonus to units in column – say a quarter;

• Although there were some swampy areas in the fields to the west of the main road, these do not appear to have hampered movement for either side – possibly there is an opening for some unpleasant surprises if the action moves too far outside the historical area;

• Units crossing fences in close order (order of march) lose half a move, those in open order one quarter – in each case the fence is considered “thrown down” to the extent of one actual section of model fencing (however wide that might be), which leaves a permanent gap (however, in pursuance of a specific order, two figures can replace one section of fence in a full move in which they do nothing else).

Melee

Use normal melee rules for any infantry hand-to-hand fighting; remember that “American” riflemen have no bayonets and so will break rather than stand and fight, unless they are backed up by musket-armed troops. Where riflemen are caught by opponents with bayonets – or by sabre-armed mounted troops – they suffer an automatic “minus one” (or whatever else is appropriate to the rules being used).

Again, use normal melee rules for cavalry also. Even though the Queen’s Rangers hussars apparently were very adept at using their pistols and then falling on opponents with their swords (in true hussar style), this might be a bit fiddly, so either ignore this, or replicate it on a “group” level, if you prefer. If using “individual” melee rules, allow only one firing of a pistol per man, for the entire game (and see below).

Morale

Recent research in the US has suggested that Simcoe’s account of the Queen’s Rangers might be described as partisan. Though their combat record was good, their general behaviour was not (particularly among the officers), desertion rates were quite high (unsurprisingly, given the numbers of drafted prisoners of war and enemy deserters), and they occupied a privileged position when it came to recruiting, receiving drafts from other units and cherry-picking new arrivals.

Nevertheless, their performance at Spencer’s Ordinary was impressive, so the cavalry, light infantry, grenadiers and riflemen should have the highest morale level possible under the rules being used. I would classify the centre companies and the highland company (who played little or no part in proceedings) as “good” or “average” according to choice. Of the other units in Simcoe’s force, the jagers would be elite and the New York Volunteers good. The North Carolina Loyalists are an unknown quantity, and best classed as militia.

On the Rebel side, the light infantry should qualify as elite troops, with all others “average” based on their performances on the day. Although evidence of other actions suggest that they were good troops, the companies of Call and Willis, should be “average” – at least in melee, as without bayonets, they know what awaits them (possibly they could be rated as above average, but load the dice to have them “skedaddle” if melee threatens).

Command

What should be emphasised – certainly on the British side – is that the deciding factor in this action was leadership, particularly in the cases of Shank and Ewald. In truth, the officers on both sides were uniformly aggressive – almost to the point of impetuosity (possibly even past it in the case of one Rebel commander) – and it was the ability of such men to make troops follow them, regardless of danger, that shaped the course, and outcome, of the action.

For that reason, the rules used should reflect this ability and allow certain officers (those profiled in the orbats) to enjoy complete control over their men.