Hey Y'all!

I actually put this together probably over a year ago now and finally got around to posting it. I dont know how to create Historical Battles for the mod but the units are fairly balanced for a multiplayer game or even single player against the AI. Maybe someone can take it further and make a proper historical battle out of it.

Basically all I did is research the battle (which I had loads of info on since my family is from Olustee, Fl and several of my ancestors were in 6th Florida) and then try to convert the historical units to a close equivalent based on available units in the mod. I had to do a bit of tweaking here and there for balance but it seems to work out OK. Then again it was only balanced against my father and my own tactical abilities so who knows it could be totally out of whack for more experienced players.

None of the ingame maps really match the terrain of the actual battle but it was fought in a swampy pine forest with a large pond on the northern flank (Battle was fought USA from east CSA from west.) and a Railroad running East-West through it. I forget the name of the map I normally use but its one of the mod maps that is mostly forest on one side and mostly open field on the other. I usually have the rebels stay in the forest where they start and let the yanks come to them.

It worked out fairly decent in that it uses most of the different types of non named units from the mod (and the 54th named). As I said its probably been over a year since I put this together and I cant remember ALL of why I picked what I picked but I'll try to explain some of that at the end. I also usually burn up the remaining money in various experience upgrades to balance it out but I cant remember exactly where i put the upgrades. Pretty much just highlight all the units and keep hitting the Exp up until all the money is gone for each side. Or be more realistic about it and give more exp to the units you would think should have more exp which should be somewhat obvious. Or leave the units as-is for a more historic unbalanced battle.

So here goes: (this can be played as 1vs1 (Army vs Army) or 3vs3 (Brigades vs Brigades) or even 2vs2 (US Infantry / US Support vs CSA Colquitt / CSA Harrison & Smith) using generals is optional. The CSA has more units but the USA has higher quality units. At first I kept getting steamrolled as the CSA but once I started keeping them on the defensive they became almost unbeatable so this battle is best played somewhat historically as the CSA remaining on defensive initially but maneuvering offensively once the action starts. Historically though the USA got wtfpwned and it likely would have been much worse had the CSA actually remained entrenched in their prepared positions. This battle prevented the capture of Tallahasee the only Confederate state capitol never captured during the ACW. Although the Union did maintain their blockade and garrison in Jacksonville the Rail supply lines along the southern coast turned north near Olustee and remained open allowing a somewhat steady supply of Texas beef to reach Lee's main army until Vicksburg was lost and the supply chain was broken there.


USA (B.GEN Truman Seymour)



*Bartons Brigade (Col. Wm B. Barton)

-47th NY Inf “Washington Grays”
-48th NY Inf “Perry’s Saints”
-115th NY Inf “The Iron Hearted Regiment”
*(3 Regular Infantry)

*Hawleys Brigade (Col. Joseph R. Hawley)

-7th Conn Inf -\ (combined known as)
-7th NH Inf -/ (77th New England)
-8th USCT
*(2 Sharpshooter, 1 Regular Infantry, 1 USCT)

*Montgomery Brigade (Col. James Montgomery)

-35th USCT
-54th Mass Inf (USCT)
*(1 USCT, 1 54th Mass)

-Support

*Mounted Brigade (Col. Guy V. Henry)

-40th Mass Mounted Inf (Col. Guy V. Henry)
-Indepndant Mass Cavalry Bn (Maj Atherson H Stevens Jr.)
-Battery B First US Arty [Elders Horse battery 4pcs] (Cpt. Samues S. Elder)
*(2 US Cavalry, 1 Horse Arty)

*Artillery Support

-Batt E 3rd US Arty [6pcs] (Cpt. John Hamilton)
-Batt M 1st US Arty [6pcs] (Cpt. Loomis L. Langdon)
-Sect C&B 3rd RI Arty [?] (Lt. Henry Metcalf)
-Co A & E 1st NY Volunteers [Engineers] (Lt. Col. James F. Hall)
*(2 Napoleon, 1 Parrot, 2 Engineers)




CSA (B.GEN Joseph Finegan)



*Colquitt's Brigade (B.Gen Alfred H. Colquitt)

-6th Florida Infantry Battalion (Maj. Pickens Bird)
-6th Georgia Infantry (Lt. Col. John T. Lofton)
-19th Georgia Infantry (Col. James H. Neal)
-23rd Georgia Infantry (Lt. Col. James H. Huggins)
-27th Georgia Infantry (Col. Charles T. Zachry)
-28th Georgia Infantry Captain Crawford (Col. Tully Graybill)
-Chatham Artillery [Georgia 4pcs] (Cpt. John F. Wheaton)
-Gamble's (Leon Light) Artillery [Florida ?pcs], (Cpt. Robert H. Gamble)
*(2 Sharpshooter, 5 State Militia, 1 napoleon, 1 Horse Arty)

*Harrison's Brigade (Col. George P. Harrison)

-First Florida Infantry Battalion, Lt. Col. C. F. Hopkins
-32nd Georgia Infantry, Maj. W. T. Holland (Col. G.P. Harrison)
-64th Georgia Infantry, Capt. C.S. Jenkins (Col. J.W. Evans)
-1st Georgia Regular Infantry, (Cpt. H. A. Cannon)
-28th Georgia Artillery Battalion, [Bonaud's Battalion] plus a detachment of Florida conscripts (as Infantry)
-Abell's Artillery (Florida) [Milton Light Artillery], serving as infantry
-Guerard's Battery (Georgia), Capt. John M. Guerard (4 pieces)
*(2 Engineer, 2 Volunteer, 1 Regular Infantry, 1 Napoleon)

*Smith's Cavalry Brigade (Col. Caraway Smith)

-4th Georgia Cavalry, (Col. Duncan L Clinch)
-2nd Florida Cavalry, (Lt. Col. A. H. McCormick) / (Col. Caraway Smith)
-5th Florida Cavalry Battalion, (Maj. G.W. Scott)
*(2 CSA Cavalry, 2 Vidette Cavalry)


Some Reasoning:

USA:
Bartons Brigade - standard Regular 3 Inf regiments
Hawleys Brigade - the 7th Conn and 7th NH were unofficially called the 77th New England both initially had been issued Spencer carbines and were fairly elite units. However just prior to this battle the 7th Conn had taken on a large number of poor quality new recruits and over 300 of the veterans were on furlough so in its depleted state only fought as skirmishers in the battle. Several companies of the 7th NH just prior to the battle had to exchange their spencers for springfields with the 40th Mass. These springfields were of poor quality many lacking bayonets and some not even in firing condition. They also were saddled with many new draftees of poor training and quality. To represent these issues as best as I could I gave them 2 sharpshooters (veteran skirmishers with spencers) and a regular infantry regiment (the rest) then of course a regiment of US colored troops to represent the 8th USCT.
Montgomery's Brigade - The famous 54th was depleted after the events of the movie Glory (Ft Wagner) and only served as a rear guard in the battle. Although this proved critical as they prevented the wholesale slaughter of the Union Army with this action. And the 35th, Montgomerys regiment of 'contrabands' also seen in Glory, looting and torching the town. So only One 54th and 1 USCT for Monty but the 54th being the only elite unit in the battle could turn the tide if played non historically.
Support - I gave the USA 2 full cav regiments even though the Independant Mass Cav was only a Battalion considering the 40th had spencers (taken from the 7th NH). Could reduce the engineers to one if balance is off since it was only 2 companies. Or increase the number of cannon to better match the actual numbers but dont forget the infantry units are a bit short of their actual numbers so dont over do it with Arty.

CSA:
Colquitt's Brigade: The Georgia units are State Militia since the 1st Georgia Regulars (in Harrisons Brigade) are the only ones listed as actual Regular infantry. The 6th FL Bn I made sharpshooters mostly just to represent that it was only a battalion rather than a full regiment and secondly because my GGG-Gfather was a sharpshooter in the 6th FL so it was a personal choice but also for some balance. You can change this if you wish. The Arty I just tried my best to do what I could given the lack of available numbers of pieces on the field.
Harrison's Brigade: The 1st Ga Regulars are obviously CSA regulars, the 32nd and 64th I made Volunteers rather than militia to balance the fact there are only 3 infantry regiments in this brigade compared to 5 in Colquitt's brigade to balance them somewhat. Abels FL Arty fought as infantry so I combined them with the First FL Bn and made them 2 engineer units this balances out the engineers of the USA and gives some fortification options to the CSA. And a Napoleon unit to represent Guerrards 4pc Ga Arty.
Smiths Cavalry Brigade: The 4th GA and 2nd FL cavalry are represented as a CSA Cavalry each. The 5th FL cav being only a battalion I made them 2 videttes.


That about wraps it up. I just hope someone enjoys playing it as much as I enjoyed researching it. It would truly be awesome if someone made a better map to fit this or even converted it to a proper historical battle. Enjoy!

Much of the information comes from: http://battleofolustee.org/