The McPherson Farm Part 3: The Barn

The final piece for the McPherson farm is the famous bank barn.

The research for this was much simpler than that for the farm house. Since it still stands today there are plenty of images available on the internet and I have found plans of it.

That said, there are differences between the modern day barn and that of 1863. The first is that the lean-to sections on the uphill face were 22 feet deep in 1863, whereas they are 12 feet today - I have modelled it about midway between the two points to provide a better optical impression. There is also evidence of an additional lean-to, or pent roof, extending out from the forebay that I have decided not to make, in part because there is not enough information on it's appearance, but more importantly I spent too damned long making those stable doors to cover them up! It is an interesting model with that mix of field stone and whitewashed wood, but like the Trostle barn I have had to scale it down. It should stand somewhere between 170mm and 190mm tall, but the visual balance would have been wrong so I scaled it back by around 20%.

However, I must admit that I struggled with this model. It is one of the biggest I have made in a long time and in its raw shell looked too big even when scaled back even though when I stood a 28mm figure beside it the scaling was correct. The thought of those two large stone areas was daunting - stone wall construction is quite an intense task and needs to be completed within two hour before the stuff sets and if you do it in stages, it shows. But far more daunting was that HUGE roof area. So I worked this model bit by bit, uncertain how it was going to look at the end. Not until it was grassed did the model look right.

A bank barn is, of course dug into a bank, in this case it was dug into the eastern slope of McPherson's ridge, just past the crest. For a standalone piece like this the bank has to be artificial.

So here it is.

The western face as Archer's, then later Brockenborough's, Confederates would gave seen it as they advanced up the Chambersburg Pike.

The northern face.

The eastern face

The southern face

Finally here is the whole McPherson farm buildings set that will appear on the Buildings for Sale page (LINK) in a day of so.

 

The McPherson Farm Part 1: The Farmhouse

Completing the Trostle farm recently got me interested in making another farm set of an equally (possibly more) famous Gettysburg farm - the McPherson farm from the first day's battle. Arguably one building on this farm, the bank barn, is one of the most recognised structures on the battlefield.

The McPherson farm stood just short of a mile northeast of the Gettysburg town limits on a ridge (that didn't earn the name McPherson's Ridge until after the battle) and is famous because it was the first point of serious Union resistance in the battle, where Buford's cavalry was relieved by the infantry of Reynolds' First Corps. The Chambersburg Turnpike bisected the farm on its long axis and the unfinished railroad cut through the property a hundred yards or more north of the Pike.

In 1863 the farm was owned by Edward McPherson, but he was an absentee landlord, having been elected to Congress in 1858. At the time of the battle the farm was occupied by a tenant farmer John Slentz with his wife Eliza and their three children. With a total area of 95 acres most of the farm was planted in crops - wheat, corn, oats, and grass - while the remainder, about thirty acres, was in woodland, a young orchard for home use and pasture for the animals (Slentz maintained a small stock of dairy cows, pigs, chickens and four farm horses).

Finding sufficient information to be able to make a model that represented the farm as it was in 1863 presented an interesting exercise in research. What makes it difficult to form a picture of how the farm looked in 1863 is that the farmhouse and the wagon house/corn crib burned down in 1895 and there is only one contemporary photograph (below), taken by Matthew Brady within days of the battle. All that remains of the farm today is the barn. 

The photograph presents a view that the Confederates of Archer's Brigade would have had of the farm as they crossed Willoughby Run on the farm's southwestern border. The  barn and wagon house/corn crib are clearly seen on the left and centre (and there are several other later images to give an even clearer view of those buildings), but this is the only contemporary shot of the farm house and details are indistinct and shielded from view by trees. Other views of the farmhouse were taken 20-30 years after the battle when the building had been significantly altered.

Thankfully there is a fabulous study of the farm; "Edward McPherson Farm: Historical Study" by Kathleen H. George, a research historian at the Gettysburg National Military Park, published in 1977. This  rather dry 207 page typed manuscript digs deep into a wealth of obscure information and paints a word picture of the place that is good enough for me to make this model with confidence.

The original farm was established by William Breadon in 1797-98 who built a log barn 50 feet by 17 feet and a log house measuring 20 feet x 17 feet on the site - apparently 17 feet is the maximum width for a single-span log structure before complex internal framing or central supports are required. Breadon couldn't make a go of it and sold up in the early 1800s. Under the new owner the barn was rebuilt as a stone structure that can be seen as the centre of the structure today, to which several wooden lean-tos were added over the years. Around the same time the log house was reconfigured to a kitchen and dining room downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs while a fieldstone extension measuring  24 feet by 16 feet and "two steps higher" than the log structure, that featured  a living room and three more bedrooms, was added to the northern end aof the house. A large exterior fireplace and chimney was at the rear of the log section and a smaller internal one in the stone section. The county records describe the stone section as having "three windows, five lights",  that typically meant it had three windows across upper floor, with two more and a door below, aligned vertically to the upper windows. Because property taxes were based on the  number of windows, other than the 'five lights' there was unlikely to be more and allows me to conclude that all the windows of the stone section would have been on the one face although I have assumed that there was a door on the opposite side because it created the shortest distance to the privy. 

My sketch of the western face of the farmhouse from Kathleen George's description 

The whole structure, log and stone, was whitewashed. This made it a very difficult model to paint and make it look interesting. 

 

Above and below the bland basic build...

...and below interest is provided by the inclusion of the garden, a couple of small trees and privy.

 

The research for this model turned up two interesting points about the terrain near the farm, both of which I remember had been mentioned in a YouTube video that I watched a year or so ago by one of the Gettysburg Military Park guides. The first was about the woods, specifically the Herbst's Wood (often erroneously called McPherson's Wood and now commonly called Reynolds' Wood), and the McPherson woodlot - a narrow strip that stood north of the railroad cut. Both these woods were purposefully maintained as a wood supply for the respective farms - for firewood and for fencing. The lower branches were trimmed for firewood and any trees that fell naturally were used for fencing. In addition, it was a common farming practice that the farm animals would be grazed in the woods, stripping out the undergrowth. As such these woods, and likely a number of other small farm woods nearby, were not like they are today, with heavy undergrowth, but were more open and grove-like, able to be seen right through. 

A view through the Herbst's Wood from where General Reynolds was killed to the McPherson barn. The worm fence that was the boundary between the Herbst's and McPherson's farms can also be seen.

An almost opposite view to above, looking across the McPherson cornfield, with the Herbst's Wood running left to centre on its boundary. This Matthew Brady image was taken twelve days after the battle.

This 1896 image shows how open the woods were around the time that the land was
acquired by the National Military Park

The second point is that a county ordinance required farmers to fence their boundaries, so fences are important at Gettysburg. I imagine that this was common in many other counties and states. On the McPherson farm there were four types of fence used: post and 5-rail fences ran along the southern edge of the Chambersburg Pike and around the cornfield; Virginia Worm (zigzag) fences ran along the northern side of the Pike, around the fields north of the Pike and on the southern border along Herbst's Wood; post and board fences (5, 6-inch horizontal planks) lined the farm lane, the barn yard and the lane to the quarry; lastly a picket fence surrounded the farm garden.

Work has commenced on the barn and wagon shed/corn crib (with its attached pig pen), but progress will be slow while I work on some more figures. 

The Battle of Williamsburg

For our first big game of the year, I wanted to do something a bit different. I chose a scenario based on the American Civil War Battle of Williamsburg, fought on May 5, 1862.

For those unfamiliar with this battle, it was the first significant action of the Peninsula Campaign. George McClellan had built the Army of the Potomac after taking command in July 1861, but he dithered. Having built his magnificent army, he was reluctant to move it from the safety of the Washington defenses for fear it might get "damaged." (It reminds me of the old aviation saying that a maintenance engineer never wants to release an aircraft to service because the pilot might break it). Eventually, political pressure forced his hand. Rather than attempting to maintain a 100-mile supply line along inferior Virginia railroads and poor roads—both highly vulnerable to attack—he decided to shift the army to the Virginia Peninsula. There, because the Confederates had no real naval presence, the army could be moved and supplied safely by water.

However, once he reached the Peninsula, he found that the Confederates had dug in at the narrowest point just south of Yorktown. As time passed, that line was reinforced by the arrival of another 35,000 men under Joe Johnston. Always convinced he was outnumbered, McClellan ordered up his siege guns and prepared to bombard the rebel works. But just as he got everything into position, Johnston abandoned the line on the night of May 3–4 and fell back toward Richmond.

The Union troops began a pursuit, but pouring rain slowed them, and by noon on the 4th, it looked as though the Confederates would get clean away. Around 1:00 PM, the situation changed. J.E.B. Stuart’s Confederate cavalry was driven in just south of Williamsburg—a bottleneck on the line of retreat where the entire Confederate army had to funnel through a few roads turned to mud by troops, guns, and wagons. There was a real risk that the pursuing Union troops would catch the rear of the column, so Johnston turned back two brigades from Magruder’s Division. These troops quickly occupied some old earthworks Magruder had constructed the previous year. A sharp encounter developed; the Union cavalry was driven off and the rear was secured. Knowing more Union troops were coming, Johnston withdrew Magruder that night and ordered Longstreet’s Division, with D.H. Hill’s Division in support, to take over the rearguard.

This became the premise for our game: a classic rearguard action. I modified the history slightly by leaving Magruder in possession of the works and having Longstreet march to the field along a single road. The Union approach was restricted to two roads, meaning their four divisions would be slow to arrive and deploy—though they were permitted to use an "off-table" road leading to the northern edge of the table beyond the Confederate left.

This was not a battle the Union needed to win, but rather one the Confederates could not afford to lose. The Confederates started with 70 points. If all 70 points were lost, the Union would be considered to have severely damaged, if not destroyed, the retreating army. Points were lost as follows:

• 10 points for every battery lost (guns were particularly valuable to the Confederates at this point)
• 5 points for every cavalry unit lost
• 1 point for every infantry unit lost
• 1 point for every regiment or battery called forward from D.H. Hill's reserve division
• 40 points if the Union had 10 good order units within 600mm of the rear of Fort Magruder at the end of the game

The Union army could only lose if they lost three of their four cavalry units (this was the entire cavalry force in the army so its loss would severely hamper future operations.

My quick sketch map of the terrain is as follows:

In the center, on the ridge, is Fort Magruder with a number of smaller redoubts on either side are marked with a shallow ‘V’. While historically Fort Magruder was a significant structure with a bastion and a moat, I decided to treat all fortifications simply as cover. The fort could hold four regiments and two batteries, while each redoubt could hold only a single regiment or battery. The lines marked ‘XXXXX’ represent abatis, which would delay and disorder any troops passing through the area.

At the commencement of the game, the Union cavalry occupied the eastern edge, covering the roads where the Union divisions would arrive. The Confederate cavalry was posted in the southwest corner, and Magruder’s two brigades occupied the fort and the two redoubts immediately to its north. Longstreet’s brigades were marching up the road from Williamsburg, while D.H. Hill’s troops were off-table, available to be called forward once Longstreet had cleared the road.

The Union chose to move one division to their extreme right, utilizing the road behind their lines, while the other three divisions advanced in a line south of the centerline.

Players were given the choice between standard or large-sized units, but there was a catch if they chose large units. Because both armies were relatively untested, all units—except for the two regiments of US Regular cavalry—had to roll to see if they were classified as "Raw." This test was not made until after the brigade had deployed. For standard-sized units, a 1d6 roll of 5+ meant the regiment or battery was Raw; however, for a large regiment, they would be Raw on a roll of 3+... as a result, no one took any large regiments!

While one Union division moved north via the concealed route, three of Longstreet’s brigades headed in the same direction, while his remaining three brigades deployed south of the fort.

The Union flanking division arrives

Magruder's reginents man the Fort

More Union regiments deploy

Above and below, flanking force begins to form for the attack

Longstreet's brigade braces for the attack

Above and below..."here they come!"

The attack on the southern end of the field starts to build

Longstreet's brigades in the south are forming

Three Union divisions going forward

JEB Stuart's cavalry move out as the first of D.H. Hill's brigades is called forward

The advance against the Fort begins

The fight in the north heats up

"Steady boys!"

"Pour in into 'em lads!"

The Union troops overlap the Confederate right, in the south of the line

In front of the Fort...

Longstreet's boys counterattack in the south

Magruder's men are holding their own

At the end of the fight, the Union hold the western edge of the ravine.

At the conclusion of the action, the Confederates had called on one of Hill's brigades (-6 points), lost a cavalry regiment (-5 points), two batteries (-20 points), and five infantry regiments (-5 points). This resulted in a total loss of 36 points; however, since the Union had not managed to get behind the fort, the 70-point threshold was not reached. The rearguard had held.