[reviewed/revised 21 Oct 2021]
For this final, epic battle you will need to have your Army Organization level all the way up to 10 so that you can bring 5 corps.
DAY ONE
One strong corps, which should have good infantry and at least a few solid artillery units, will start at the NW of the northern map (“secondary attack”) and immediately (marching normally, not running) take nearby Fort DeRussy. It will then spread out to the S and E to sweep the remnant defenders and reinforcements down to the nearby creek.
Another strong corps, with a similar makeup, will start at the top of the northern map (“main attack”) and envelop the central Fort Stevens position, mainly curling around to the east and then pushing west—essentially driving the Federals south and west of Fort Stevens.
For this “main attack” you will also bring a third CSA corps which you don’t really need and can be your weakest, with just a few units—although I like to make this a dedicated cavalry corps. This third corps, with help from elements of your second corps if necessary, will also go down to the SE corner of the northern map to take Ft. Slocum.
Your fourth corps will appear at the west edge of the southern map (“flank left”) when the focus shifts to that arena of battle. This should be a reasonably strong corps, mostly infantry with a few artillery. However, it cannot cross the Potomac River (?) and climb the steep bank on the Washington side without huge casualties, so for the time being keep its units where they first appear, out of the Federals’ sight.
Your fifth corps should also be moderately strong. It will come in from the NE corner of the southern map (“flank right”) and should slowly, methodically envelop the nearby fort (“Fort Thomas”) from the E and N, and then should push west, eventually crossing the map to take the fort (“Fort Washington”) at the NW corner of this southern map, after which it can start rolling up the Federal defense line along the Potomac, allowing your fourth corps to cross. Lastly, take the Washington flag itself. You should be able to accomplish this with plenty of time to spare.
Note that in the late afternoon/evening of this day 1 battle the map will open up so that some of your northern-map units can come down and help on the southern map. Your cavalry corps, if you’ve made one, should be of great help at this point—but spare them as much as you can for the more difficult defensive battle on the following day.
DAY TWO
For the day 2 battle, CSA, having taken Washington, defends the city and the five forts against a large Union attacking force.
The disposition of corps is confusing—there appears to be only one corps for the southern map—but put your strongest two corps in the N and S slots and the other three in the middle, and you should do fine. You will have an opportunity at the start of the N and S phases to move units more or less where you want.
On the northern map, the main Federal counterattack usually comes from N of Fort DeRussy and involves a lot of artillery. A strategy that always works well for me is (1) to defend against this attack at Fort DeRussy with six or seven brigades plus a couple of artillery batteries, (2) defend against the other Federal attack that will come from S of Fort DeRussy with another division of infantry well south of the fort, (3) put most of the rest of my available forces on this map into fortifications against attacks from W and N, with spare units behind the defense line mostly near the E end of the map, and finally (4) execute a big flanking maneuver in which my forces, gathering brigades from the main line as they go, move north from the Ft. Slocum area and then swing west, across the northern part of the N map, slowly sweeping the Union artillery, infantry, and cavalry westward into one big encirclement/annihilation above Ft. DeRussy.
Note that late on this day 2 battle the Union will send in one last corps from the SW corner of the northern map. If you have completed the annihilation of the Union forces above Ft. DeRussy you should have no problem defending that fort—but in that case the Union units in that last-ditch corps (which may amount only to a division or two) may try to cross the map to attack Ft. Stevens or Ft. Slocum. Just be sure you can block them before they get to their target, or meet them with an adequate defense.
On the southern map on day 2, the defenses overlooking the Potomac on the west side of the map are very important—you can totally crush the Union’s attack from this side—but the entrenchments/breastworks are bugged so will require lots of attention and micro.
Also, you will need to devote some infantry and artillery to Ft. Thomas at the NE corner of the southern map, where another big attack will take place (from the same direction you attacked the day before). In general, make use of the fortifications on the map and support your entrenched units with other units where possible.
On the southern map, as the day 2 battle wears on, and the Union army you’re fighting loses troops and becomes less threatening, peel off CSA units to defend the flag in Washington. Union forces will come up from the bottom edge of the map near the end of the day, to try to take the city that way. You will need at least half a dozen brigades to stop them—anyway be ready to hustle units to that defense from your other sectors.
Overall, this Battle of Washington is not that difficult to conduct, provided that you have planned it out beforehand and have an adequate force. If you can bring an army of about 100K and have been doing a good job of inflicting casualties on the Union in the battles leading up to this one, it should be a breeze.
On the campaign victory page you can find stats on how many casualties your troops suffered and how many you caused the Union. If you have been following an annihilation strategy, you should have inflicted many more casualties than the roughly 600,000 Union killed/wounded/captured IRL.
J & P Rebalance Mod (1.27.4.3) BG
Really anything should work for this battle as long as you bring five well-equipped corps (30 brigades each), since a decent player using the mod at BG level should have a big advantage over the Union army by the time of the Battle of Washington. In my one playthrough CSA brought to Washington ~275K soldiers to the Union’s ~150K, with vast CSA superiority in cavalry (~70K vs ~30K). Melee cav in particular make flanking and rolling up the Union line quick and easy.
When you complete this campaign, in vanilla or with the mod, you are officially permitted to whistle, hum, or sing “Dixie.”
โ โ โ
