Chapter 38: Key Base

Fifteen days later Kyle is lying on a thick branch halfway up a large tree as he examines a fortification through his telescope while talking to Dana, Larry, KK, and Nadia - who are also on thick branches. The tree they’re in is just below a high ridge and they’re about two miles from the fort they’re studying. Sighing, Kyle says, “Well, we’ve studied them for three days and the only things they do the same each day are their meals and sending out the patrols. I don’t think it’ll matter if we ever do learn their routine, as this lot are big enough for it not to matter. We’ll just have to work out a way to take them down as they are.” The others all agree with his concerns and assessment while they all take turns using the telescopes to study the fort.

The fort is made from wood and is much like the wooden forts the US Army used to build in Indian Territory during the late 1800s. Logs set in the ground to make the outside wall with a fighting platform on the inside of that for troops to stand on. Two gates with a road joining them have a tower on each side of the gateway. There are numerous two story buildings inside with an open square in the middle. The fort covers half a square mile. The best estimates of the troops in the fort is around four thousand; they don’t all stand around long enough to be counted, so the estimate is based on the number and size of the troop barracks. From the shape and condition of the ground around the fort they all think it has a set of concealed trenches and pits in the last few hundred yards surrounding the fort. It’s also possible to see where the trees have been removed for about a mile around the fort, except for two small groups of trees near the fort, just south of each gateway.

The fort is built on a plateau overlooking an area of good grain fields. To the north is more of the mountain range that forms Shiloh’s northern border. The ridge Kyle’s force is hidden behind is between two valleys that run from the plateau to deeper into the mountains. The plateau is just under three miles deep with the southern end dropping another fifty feet to where a stream runs across this end of the plains below them. A road comes up along a sloping area from the plains to go up the length of this valley. At this point the valley is about a mile wide, but it opens up a lot more a few miles to the north. Just north of the fort is a ridge that runs from this road to the east for about four miles, to where another road comes up a slope from the plains to go to another valley in the mountains. The forest on the east-west ridge is like this one, but is only about one and a quarter miles from the fort. The road from the fort runs from this road to the other road in a straight line. The area to the south is mostly open plains with some farms on it.

This location gives the fort total control of access to the two valleys and the plains below while it extends control for quite some distance across the plains via patrol activity. It’s well located as a strong base of operations for this whole area. From this base you can control or defend the area for many miles very well. This fort is too big a base to leave in enemy hands for a minute longer than necessary.

Kyle and the other leaders climb down the tree and move back to their camp on the back side of this ridge. By camping in among the trees they make it very hard for a patrol to see them, unless it comes right up the valley. It was difficult getting the wagons hidden, but they were able to find enough spaces to back the wagons between trees far enough to hide them behind bushes and trees. The horses are further back under the cover and guards are out a fair distance. Three guards are still watching the fort activity from the trees.

Once back in the camp Kyle draws a map of the compound and the area around it in a patch of dirt near his bedroll. They all squat around the map to discuss possible ways to gain an advantage in an attack. After a while Kyle moves back to lean against a tree as he says, “We just have to face the fact this has to be an outright assault on the fort! There’s no other way to do it.” It takes a few minutes for the others to agree.

After a few more minutes of thought Kyle says, “Well, let’s agree on the limitations we have to deal with in this.” They all nod agreement as he looks at them, one after the other. “They cleared most of this land to build the fort to make a kill zone around it, so the two wooded areas close in have to be filled with traps of some sort. We have to remember to keep well away from them. The look of the ground close in shows they’ve got pits and traps set up all over the last few hundred yards, except the roads. So when we go in it has to be by the roads, but that also means they have to come out by the roads. That’s our only advantage. We’ve four sides we have to cover. The only way for them to get out to the north and south is by jumping down the walls. Those twenty-five foot walls mean they’ll break bones if they do, so they may try to get people out by rope ladders. I think a platoon or two spread out along the wall will be able to deal with anyone using a rope ladder. G Company can split up to handle that while the troops of H Company handle the scout duties to cover our backs. That leaves just the west and east walls to cover and take. Anyone got any ideas about that?”

The discussion soon rules out any straight charge until the force in the fort is all but destroyed. The defenses of the fort and the size of the force here is just too big for them to take on in a normal frontal assault.

General Phillips sums it up quite well when he says, “Our troops are the best around and I’m sure they can take out any force larger than them in a straight fight. But asking them to take on four to one odds, or better, is just asking for very heavy casualties, if not a total loss. If we concentrate on this side they can escape out the other for more troops. If we split up they can come out either side and we face eight to one odds, which I doubt we can deal with.” They all agree with him.

Larry adds, “It’s a shame we can’t use hit and run tactics on them in the fort! We need to cut them down a lot before we take them on.”

While he thinks Kyle’s eyes are wandering around his forces spread out in the forest below him. They come to rest on a wagon of rocks almost straight in front of him. He half smiles when he strikes his palm against his forehead, and he says, “What fools we are! We’ve forgotten our secret weapon made just for this situation!”

They all look at him as if he’s crazy and KK asks, “Secret weapon! What secret weapon?”

He smiles while he points down the hillside, “The trebuchets, they’re siege weapons and this is a siege situation. We’ll just use them a little differently to general past usage, we’ll use them guerrilla style.”

Nadia shakes her head and she says, “OK, so we use them to punch holes in the fort wall, what does that do for us when they’ve so many troops to fill the holes with?”

Kyle smiles, “That’s the point, Nadia, we’ll do things back to front! We won’t punch holes in the wall to get in and kill the troops. We’ll leave the walls alone while we use the trebuchets to kill the troops inside the fort. We’ve got a lot of shot rounds and plenty of local stones to make more, so we hit them with our version of a shotgun. A few of the bigger rocks to take out the towers and knock the gates down, then we can pepper the hell out of their parade area and where the troops set up to attack us. If they withdraw into the barracks we send big rocks in after them. It then becomes their task to come out to deal with us. The road becomes a bottleneck for their troops, not ours. We’ll also have to go through a lot of arrows, both firing at them and blind fire, but we’ll inflict heavy casualties without any harm to us and force them to come out at us. The hard thing will be the need to cover both gates in a strong enough force to keep them in until we can wipe them out.”

Dana is thinking hard all through this and he now decides to have his say on the matter, “Lord Kyle, there’s no way we can get one of the trebuchets and a wagon over to the other side without them seeing it happen. But we can get troops over there. If we send one regiment over they can set up to block the enemy by using their longbows. If the enemy comes out in a large enough force to be too much for them to handle they can inflict high casualties and withdraw away from them back to us. However, once that’s done the enemy has to either return to the fort or allow us to work on them piecemeal or abandon the fort to us as they pull out. Whatever they do, they’ll lose a lot of troops and we get them out of the fort. If they come this way in too large a force we hold our ground until the other regiment can join us and hit their rear.”

They all think on this while studying the map in the dirt. After a few minutes of agonizing silence Kyle sighs and says, “Much as I hate the idea of splitting the force, I think you’ve got the core of a good plan to deal with this. I had been looking for a way to wipe them out, but if we can get them to leave, that’s just as good a result for us. I also like the idea of having the second force as a totally mobile force. Right, we’ll keep the trebuchets together as one attack unit. The wagons can be deployed a little in front of them to give our people some protection and make a hard charge straight at the trebuchets impossible. The First Regiment will travel through the forest to set up in the edge of the forest on the other side until we call them forth after we engage the enemy...” Kyle stops because Phillips has his hand up to speak.

Kyle nods to him and Phillips says, “Lord Kyle, if the First sets up at the forest line I doubt the enemy will see them until they look for them. If they then wait until the enemy starts to open the gate they can charge to longbow range and engage the enemy with several flights of arrows before they get close. Depending upon the size of the enemy force they send out the First can then engage with lances or continue with short bows. I doubt the enemy’s first attack will be a large force, thus the First should be able to kill them all in the gateway of the first section of road to clutter it up a lot, making further attacks much harder. After that it should be possible for the First to just set up outside of enemy bow range and use their longbows on anyone they can see. Especially if the gates can’t be closed for some reason.” All the others nod their heads in agreement with this strategy.

“OK, Phillips,” Kyle says, “we’ll go with that. You take command of the First Regiment with Larry as your adviser. Be ready to pull out at full speed to come to our aid if we call for it.” Both men nod to show they understand their orders. “We’ll set up during the night and attack at dawn. The trebuchets will be set up just under half a mile from the fort with the wagons in a loose circle around them. The Second will set up just outside short bow range and within longbow range. Dana will lead the Second with Nadia as his adviser. If the enemy sally forth in a large force fire into them until they’re about halfway to you then fall back to the wagons. Tomorrow our main job is to protect the trebuchets so they can destroy the enemy.” They all nod agreement.

Kathleen speaks up, “OK, now you’ve the battle sorted out let’s get the troops fed and get packed to be ready to move out. We all need to be near the end of this valley before nightfall. There we can have a small camp for a good dinner before everyone moves to their final positions.” The leaders all nod agreement while they stand up. Seconds later they’re off to talk to their company and platoon commanders about the plans for today and tomorrow.

Kyle is standing on the seat of a wagon as he watches the fort in the twilight of the breaking dawn. All his forces are deployed as per the plan and both the trebuchets are sitting side by side on the road so they can fire directly into the gateway after it’s down. As the rising sunlight silhouettes the fort structure the senior ’gunner’ of each trebuchet is at work adjusting the aim to hit the towers beside the gate.

When the trebuchets were made their plans included a way to move the front of them up to a foot to each side to fine tune their aiming. The initial range is set and the first loads are in place. They’re ready to fire. Even the far wall of the fort is just within range of the forty pound rocks from the loads Kyle brought, if they accept it taking a bounce first. The fifty pound rocks may even make it that far after a few bounces.

The drums calling the troops to breakfast can be heard, yet all Kyle and his troops can see is the black on black of the fort wall with a hint of light showing over the far ridge to outline the top of the fort wall. The troops on the east side can see a lot more, but here the shadow of the fort still shrouds the road, so Kyle and his people are still in darkness. It’s been a few minutes since the drums stopped so Kyle figures the parade ground should have quite a few troops in it. Keeping his voice low Kyle asks, “Gunners, are you on your targets?”

Both men respond, “On target, Sir. Ready to commence firing.”

Kyle takes one more look around him, despite his good night vision it’s still too dark to see much. He takes a breath and says, “Fire!” Both crews are eager and ready, he hasn’t finished giving the order when he hears both trebuchets start their actions. The machines don’t make much noise and Kyle can only just hear the arm movement, thus those at the fort can’t hear them at all. Everyone except the few people busy getting the next shots ready watch the two dark shapes rise up into the dawn sky to fall on the dark shape of the fort.

Both shots are on target and they hit the towers. The northern rock flies above the middle of the rail to slam into the back of the man near the top of the ladder before smashing him through the back rail and into the top of the ladder. The only sound the others in the tower hear is the sound of the rail breaking as the dying man is shoved through it, soon followed by the thud of the man and ladder hitting the ground. The rock is slowed a bit by hitting the soldier, but it still has a lot of energy as it continues on its way after knocking the man off the tower. Seconds later the rock falls into the parade ground, smashing a few heads and chests in as it descends and hits the ground. It bounces up to about knee height and continues for another fifty yards before coming to a stop. In doing so it kills several men and another dozen are injured as it breaks their legs. The injured scream in pain. The sudden sound of men screaming in pain in the middle of the parade ground causes a lot of concern and consternation while others try to find out what’s going on. The other rock has a similar flight and effect, except it was a little higher and took off the head of a soldier in the tower before hitting the top of the ladder on one side to knock the ladder down. This rock’s fall to the ground has a similar effect on the troops.

The main body of troops is shocked by a couple of dozen troops in the middle of the parade ground screaming in pain for no good reason. Due to the location of the injured no one thinks they’re under attack.

In minutes the second round of rocks are ready to go and the aim is adjusted to hit the supports at the floor level. Kyle commands, “Fire when ready then fire for effect, you know your targets.” The second order releases the crews to fire as they get the shots ready. When he hears the trebuchets fire Kyle blows a low blast on his whistle for the troopers of the Second to fire a flight of arrows in a high trajectory at the fort as blind fire into the enemy troops on the parade ground.

Both rocks are on target. They slam into the front support of the tower just below the level of the floor. The southern rock has almost no deflection as it hits dead center. The rock smashes the front support on the gate side to cause the tower floor to sag forward before it hits the back support and the whole tower top starts to fall while it leans to that side. The men in the tower shout out in fright when the floor tilts and then scream in horror when it drops out from under them. The falling tower top dislodges the cross supports as it falls and the whole tower is soon falling down onto the road behind the gate. The rock continues on its way to inflict more deaths and injuries among the troops trying to get fed. The other rock doesn’t hit quite so dead on, so it takes a slight deflection from the front support. Thus it hits on the inside of the back support to knock it outwards. The overall effect is the same as the tower crashes down on the road while dropping all those in it to their deaths. The rock flies on to cause more deaths and injuries.

The screams of those hurt by the rocks are just starting when the flight of three hundred arrows arrives among the men in the parade ground, killing and wounding over two hundred of them.

On seeing the towers fall the gunners switch aim to the supports for the gates so they can drop them. The archers continue to send blind fire over the fort wall, killing and wounding many troops.

The guards on the wall look all around, but there still isn’t enough light for them to see the Shiloh force out on the plateau. The falling of the arrows tells them they’re under attack, but no one has thought to work out what angle the arrows are coming in at, so they’ve no idea where the attack is coming from - yet!

The archers fire faster than the trebuchets, so they get several flights off before the next round of rocks slam into the fort wall at the sides of the gates. They hit hard enough to shake the whole wall on that side as they damage the logs the gates pivot on. The impact alerts all in the fort to the attack coming from their western side. Officers and men now race for the western wall to see who is attacking them and with what.

Knowing the enemy knows they’re here Kyle whistles the ’Engage.’

Inside the fort General Dunne is sitting down to his breakfast when the first screams start. Wondering what’s happening he goes outside to see what’s going on. His adviser from the Black Army Headquarters, Martin James, follows him out. In the dawn twilight they can’t make out who’s screaming or why, but they can tell men are badly hurt from the sounds they’re making. The sound of the breaking logs of the tower supports has them looking toward the towers when more screams break out in the parade ground. Both men are turning their heads from one event to the other and back again since both are at a loss as to what’s going on, as are the dozen other senior officers who followed them out.

The sounds of the rocks hitting the gate supports followed by shouts of being attacked puts them all in action issuing orders for men to get ready to attack their attackers as they head to the wall to see what they can of their enemy. As they cross the parade ground they see a lot of dead and injured with arrows in them. General Dunne is surprised by this and asks, “How could they get close enough to fire arrows and not set off any of the alarms or fall into the pits and scream!” Before anyone can answer him, even though he’s not expecting an answer, the alert about enemy troops at the eastern wall comes in. He continues to the western wall while sending his second in command to the other wall.

General Dunne and several officers climb the ladders to the fort wall in time to hold on tight while the wall shakes to the hit of another set of rocks. He no sooner gets to the fighting platform than he hears a tearing of wood and he turns to see the gates fall from the wall and onto the road. Yet he can’t see anyone at the fort gate knocking it down. He turns to those with him and asks, “Are we being attacked by invisible people?”

Martin James almost laughs, but he manages to control himself and replies, “No, look hard, and you can see them out there! About halfway to the road into the valley. They’re a large blob in this light.” All of the officers look out and see the dark shape of the Shiloh force, but there isn’t enough light for them to make out what they are yet. They stand and wait for the sun to climb higher into the sky so they can see their enemy.

On the eastern side of the fort Phillips and Larry hear Kyle’s blast and give orders for their men to move out. During breakfast a change was suggested and agreed to; instead of waiting for the enemy to come out to move forward the First Regiment is moving into the combat spot now so they can open up on the enemy when the gates first open. In a few minutes the troops are kneeling on the ground with their longbows in hand, quivers against their knees, and their horses just behind them. They form a slightly curved line centered on the road a bit beyond the range of the short bows of the enemy. The platoon commanders have been given designated areas of the fort wall to watch when not in controlled fire, so they watch them and designate archers to take aimed shots at the enemy troops walking along the fort wall. Several of the enemy guards are soon falling down with arrows in their chests as the rest take cover and reports of the enemy sighting are shouted out as well as sending a runner to inform their commander.

On the north and southern walls the men of G Company are set up and waiting while just out of short bow range. They’re spread along the wall and a couple of them take a moment to take aimed shots to kill a few of the enemy troops walking the wall. The troops take no action to avoid the arrows at first, as they’re sure the arrows won’t reach them. After a few men are killed they change their minds about the range of the enemy arrows and take cover while keeping an eye on the enemy.

The gates are falling so Kyle orders, “Gunners, hold fire and switch to shot loads. Archers cease fire and be ready for volley fire.” The men reload the trebuchets with fifty pound loads of rocks about the size of golf balls. These are just big enough and heavy enough to kill men when hit on the head or neck, they’ll also break ribs and other bones. The archers relax and get ready to fire in volley fire. Some of the camp workers move along the line distributing more arrows to them.

All of the Shiloh force settle down and relax while they wait for things to develop. The next action is in the hands of their enemy, but they’re all set to handle whatever the enemy does - they hope.

Soon the sun is up enough for those in the fort to see the Shiloh force. General Dunne is angry and worried as he asks, “What the hell are those things on the low wagons? And what do those few hundred expect to accomplish against us, we’ve thousands of men in here?”

Martin James is thinking real hard, he knows he’s seen those things somewhere else, but can’t think where he did or what they do. He turns to look at the gateway. He frowns when he sees the rocks lying there. Turning more he sees more rocks in the parade ground. Thinking out loud he says, “I know I’ve seen rock throwers like that before!”

Dunne spins around, snarling, “What the hell are rock throwers?”

“General, I know you’ve seen farmers and kids using slings to throw rocks at crows and the like!” He gets a nod yes in reply. “Well, these are just a bigger version that throws bigger rocks. Look at the gates and where the men were hurt, you can see the rocks lying there.”

He does as suggested and he spots the rocks where there shouldn’t be any. “Damn, it seems they can do some damage as they’ve destroyed the towers and the gates as well as killed men.”

“Yes! They can do damage. But because the rocks are so large they take a lot of time to reload to send another. Also, once a rock is in the air it’s committed to that flight and we can move out of its way.”

Just then an officer reports back from the other gate to inform them of the enemy force set out on the plains there. Dunne shakes his head and he asks them all, “They must know we outnumber them! What do they hope to accomplish with this?”

Colonel Barr replies, “Well, if we sit here and let them throw rocks at us all day they’ll eventually kill us all and knock the fort down over our bodies. We’ve got to either sit here and let them do that or go out and attack them. It’s possible they’ve got more men in the forest who’ll charge out when we attack, if we send out a small force.”

Dunne thinks for a few minutes and turns to his two hardest cavalry commanders, “Colonel Bell, Colonel Davis, take your battalions out and eliminate these fools. Try to get a few alive so we can find out who they are.” He smiles as he watches the two men almost run down the ladder, these are his two most aggressive leaders. He says to Barr, “Even if they do have more men in the forests I doubt they’ve got another few thousand waiting. They both hand-picked the fifteen hundred cavalry troopers each commands. They’ve never failed to beat the enemy yet.”

James has been thinking very hard and interjects, “I bet these people are sent from Shiloh to clear us away. We know Shiloh troops cleared out our people at Collective and Sable. A force this size and armed like this explains why they were able to take out our people at Collective.”

“Hmm, yes. The use of something new like these rock throwers does explain why they were able to take out a battalion. We must have lost a few hundred men already and our defenses are a lot more than what they set up at Collective. They thought I was mad to build such a big fort wall! Well, now it’s justified. They had to waste some rocks on the gates before they could be sure of hitting our troops again. They must have killed half the troops at Collective before they knew what was happening. Well, now we can watch them die and play with their new toys afterwards.” General Dunne is very confident, but James isn’t.

Kyle watches as the enemy clears the mess on the road the fallen gates and towers make. Designated archers make the job harder by killing another twenty or so while they work on the mess.

Seeing his men are in range of the enemy archers Dunne turns and orders, “Shoot a few of those bastards.” Most glance at him, look at the Shiloh force, shrug, and take aim. Their arrows fall many yards short of the Shiloh line. Dunne swears, “Damn! How do they get such a long range when we can’t get close from a higher position?”

Barr replies, “Somehow they’ve made their bows a lot stronger than ours are and they’ve got more range. That’ll help if we sit down and shoot at each other, but the cavalry will cover that ground quickly and deal with them.” The others nod their agreement.

Kyle is watching the large force of mounted men forming up to leave the fort. He shouts out orders, “On the ’Engage’ gunners to fire one round toward the middle of the fort and reload. Archers are to fire three flights at those they can see inside the gateway. When they leave the fort the archers are to shoot in volley at the troops once they get ten yards past the gate while the gunners will shoot at those in the gateway and just beyond it. Get ready to engage.” The officers repeat the orders to their troops. In an aside to Kathleen he adds, “It looks like they’re sending two or three thousand cavalry at us.”

KK is worried about an enemy attacking force that size, but trusts Kyle knows what he’s doing and they can deal with this force.

The men are all mounted and forming into groups when Kyle puts his whistle to his lips to blow as hard as he can to give the ’Engage’ to all of his troops. He knows the sound will carry to the First Regiment and hopes they’ll interpret it as notice the enemy is about to send troops out.

The Black Army officers are still standing on the fort wall when the whistle blows. They turn to see what it’s about. They all frown as they watch the arms of the trebuchets swing down and around, the slings come up and the stones are thrown out at a slight upward angle. None of them knows what the small clouds of dark blobs represent, but when they’re about halfway to the fort James realizes it’s some form of shot. While he drops below the fort wall he yells out, “Shit, get down!”

The shot is aimed at the interior of the fort, but the stones spread out a bit in flight, so some are a bit low as they fly over the fort wall. Fifty pounds of small rocks that weigh about four ounces each means there’s two hundred rocks in each swarm that flies over the wall. Only a dozen are low enough to hit the men at the wall, but they hit with enough force to kill those they hit. Seven of the officers are killed and the other rocks move on to land among the troops getting ready to attack.

Not all of the rocks hit the men, some miss completely, some hit the horses, and some men are hit by two or three, despite them spreading out in flight. Twenty odd horses are jumping around due to being hit hard by the rocks, most dislodge their riders while other riders fight to control their mounts. Three hundred and thirty-six men are killed.

Due to all the attention being on the rocks none of the officers see the arrows being fired, so their arrival is a surprise. The nine hundred arrows of the three flights of three hundred fall among the troops while they’re disrupted by the rocks. By the time the commanders get their troops under control and are ready to go out they’ve got eight hundred and forty-seven dead with another two hundred and twelve wounded that won’t be joining in on the charge. The two colonels decide to combine what’s left of their forces to attack Kyle’s position.