California Dreaming (1)

In Chapter 7, part 2, TFSmith has the British attack San Francisco. As might be expected, the British are humiliatingly defeated, at the cost of three ships (Bacchante, Devastation, Hecate) and 'more than half' of the 67th Regiment. Many of the problems with this battle are common to the rest of the timeline- for instance, the beloved 'mastless chainclads' make an appearance. Instead, this series of articles focuses on the problems specific to this battle.

Strongarming Armstrong

Even in matters as specific as the establishment of British regular artillery, TFSmith makes many mistakes.

The Siege of Quebec Part II

Last time, we discussed the logistic absurdities of Grant's army advancing 70 miles in the dead of winter (or 160 miles in Van Renesslaer's case) to the British lines at Quebec. This miraculous feat of logistics takes place with precisely zero trouble for the Union, and every effort of the British inexplicably fails.

The Union arrives in front of Pt. Levis across the river from Quebec on January 18th however (and if you think that date is coincidental I have some swampland in Ontario for you to buy). They immediately begin siege operations:

After the unsuccessful attack January 22nd by Brown’s British division as Wright’s division crossed the Chaudière, the work of the regular siege began. Sherman’s troops occupied the right, starting from the river at Savage’s Cove, Ord the center, and Thomas Sherman’s the left on the Chaudiere, holding the road south to Saint Apollinaire. The XV Corps headquarters were at Ville-Guay, with divisions under Sheridan, Reynolds, and Crocker; those of the VIII Corps (VanRensselaer, Morris, and Totten) at St. Henry; and the X Corps (Wright, Brannan, Sturgis) at Charny. Wood’s cavalry corps, with divisions under Buford and Ruff, operated up the railroad toward Riviere du Loup and then into the backcountry; McCook’s XII Corps (Negley, Ammen, Turchin) held the south side of the river.

The Siege of Quebec Part I

In Chapter 15 Part 2, we come to what is evidently supposed to be the penultimate moment of triumph of the Union against Britain in the war in Canada. That is of course, the capture of the citadel of Quebec in Quebec City by Grant's Army of the Saint Lawrence.

There is of course some preamble to discuss in the campaign leading up to it.

The first section comes from Chapter 12 Part 2:

Blockade (II): Refit and Repair

At various points both in the text and marginalia of Burnished Rows of Steel, TFSmith asserts that the Royal Navy does not have enough ships to sustain a long-term blockade of the Union. In one case he makes it explicit, saying that:

The RN's strength is such that they can assemble the blockading force Milne wanted, but that takes a majority of the RN's steam frigates, corvettes, and sloops - and they cannot relieve those ships 1 for 1, for example, after however many months of sea duty on blockade (much less maintain those on the "peacetime" stations). There aren't enough ships in the RN to do so, period, end of story, even recomissioning ships in reserve.

This is quite a major claim, not least because TFSmith's blockade requirement figures are very inflated. (Milne requested about sixty-five ships, not the 106 TFSmith claims are required, and one reading of his 65 ship request is that it allows for ships to be off-station.) But the more interesting analysis is the question of relieving ships on station.

Blockade (I): Stationary Stations

One of the inevitable results of an Anglo-American war between 1776 and about 1930 is the establishment of some form of blockade of the USA. This does happen in Burnished Rows of Steel, but - as expected - the author is terribly unclear about what is going on, and when he is not simply ignoring the Royal Navy he is misrepresenting them.

Steampunk

The period from 1850 to 1870 featured a riot of invention and development in military matters, in every country with a modern military. The Union was no exception, but it is a common feature of American Exceptionalism that the Union is portrayed as the font of all technological development - even when this would involve cheating.


TFSmith's habit of rarely mentioning the type or calibre of guns makes it hard to spot where cheating is taking place – hard, but not impossible. The below is a textbook example.