Bayonet Charges

[Joshua l.Chamberlain]

Will bayonet charges be more realistic than in TC2M. Will the regiments do the whole bayonet movements like from Gettysburg when Chamberlain charged the Confederates on little round top.

[Zeke]

That would be cool addition!! - but you know I been reading about this battle - Chamberlain never made the charge like it was depicted in the film due to the fact that he was injured and could hardly stand let alone run down little round top in actual fact the men charged pretty much on their own accord - to his supreme credit Chamberlain never claimed he led the charge either and lays the credit for what happened at Little round top firmly on the shouders of his men....goes to prove what a hell of a guy JLC was.

[Armchair General]

Zeke wrote:

That would be cool addition!! - but you know I been reading about this battle - Chamberlain never made the charge like it was depicted in the film due to the fact that he was injured and could hardly stand let alone run down little round top in actual fact the men charged pretty much on their own accord - to his supreme credit Chamberlain never claimed he led the charge either and lays the credit for what happened at Little round top firmly on the shouders of his men....goes to prove what a hell of a guy JLC was.

Huh? In Chamberlain's AAR he pretty much sums the whole thing on his own actions. When he was approached by an officer requesting to advance and help wounded soldiers, Chamberlain replied to the effect of, "I'm going to order a charge in a minute anyways.".....

[JC Edwards]

Joshua l.Chamberlain wrote:

Will bayonet charges be more realistic than in TC2M. Will the regiments do the whole bayonet movements like from Gettysburg when Chamberlain charged the Confederates on little round top.

"Well General then we must give them the Bayonet"!

I've always thought that the Bayonet Charge in TC2M was a good representation of actual melee combat (ala the ACW). In most cases, the rifle became more of a club and almost protective shield.

If you look very closely, you can see the basic 'Bayonet Delivery' during the melee in TC2M.

In reality, yes the bayonet was used in the innitial 'attack movement'; but if that failed (and quite often it did) 'too each his own accord'......use the butt-end to get your point across!

[Little Powell]

Good question JLC. To me, the bayonet charges/melee are very cool and realistic with this game, but they can be very brief sometimes (no more than a few seconds). I'm not sure if that's a bug or not, but it could be a way of making it more realistic. They also seem to be very effective (given the attacking unit is stronger than their opponent). I have seen a regiment mow down half a regiment with a melee charge, bodies dropping left and right..

[Joshua l.Chamberlain]

I did a little research in one of my books and found how the charge on Little Round Top
went.

Little Round Top, Gettysburg, Pa., July 2,1863 Late Afternoon
...Lt. Holman S. Melcher of company F which was the 20th Maine's color company, appealed to Chamberlain asking if he could lead his men forward to get some wounded soldiers.
Chamberlain replied that he was going to order a charge in a moment. Moments later Chamberlain shouted "Bayonet!" The men responded with a shout those who did not here Chamberlain's order over the noise of the battle saw there comrades fixing the deadly steel to the end of there muskets. Possibly believing that the shout was order to begin there forward movement Lt. Melcher ran ten paces in front of his men shouting "Come on! Come On! Come on boys!" Color Sergeant Andrew Tozier ran forward with the colors the rest of the company soon followed which was followed by the rest of the regiment...
Source: Don Troiani's Civil War, Pg.106 Lions of Little Round Top

[Kerflumoxed]

Chamberlain's full account is in his book "Passing of the Armies." I believe it was reprinted by Morningside Books and can occasionally be found on Ebay.

Jack Hanger
Fremont, NE