Raid On Shelby's Cabin - 1756

My son Todd, and granddaughter Ekaterina, visited us the first Sunday in January. I set-up a game based on “Buckskins and Rangers.” The rules were modified for ease of playing. This is a brief description of the game along with some photos.

Game Setup

Raid on Shelby’s Cabin - 1756

Intro

A message was received that a small group of Hurons and Coureurs de Bois (Ekaterina commanding) were moving toward Shelby’s cabin. The local militia (Led by Todd) had been gathering supplies at that location for transportation to Fort Oswego. The British command in Albany sent Lt. Neville (aka. Grandpa) to the cabin to oversee the protection and defense of the cabin. He arrived with a small group of Briartun militia.

The Game

Owen Fitzhugh took his group of militia and moved forward and left of Millstone Creek. His plan was to slow down any threat coming from that direction.

Issac Gantt took a defensive position at the cabin, lining his men behind the fence-line. This would be reinforced by Owen’s group as he fell back. Lt. Neville was confident that they would be able to hold any advanced by the Hurons.

The Hurons advanced quickly and with a concentrated heavy fire took out two of Owen’s command. Owen was unable to hold his forward position and retreated back toward the cabin. He lost another man at the wood edge and retreated toward the fence line. The musket fire from his unit was not as accurate as the Hurons, who suffered no casualties.

A second band of Hurons surprised Owen’s group and he lost another man. Once again he was unable to inflict any casualties on the Hurons.  

All the Militia were now defending behind the fence. Both sides exchanged fire. Two more men from Owen’s group went down while only one causality was taken on the Hurons.

The Hurons charged in and engaged into some heavy hand-to-hand fighting. 

Lt. Neville did like how things were going and decided to move what loaded wagons he had back to Briartun. He was able to safely retreat leaving behind half the supplies. Unfortunately the militia were all eliminated.