Chapter 194: Chapter 171: Siege of Washington

The Clash of Titans: The Anglo-American War and Beyond

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By Raymond Smith, published in Timstown, Jefferson

"... The Siege of Washington began on January 2nd of 1834 when British forces (along with their Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian "allies") arrived near the edges of the capital of Alabama and immediately maneuvered to isolate the city. However, Field Marshal Hugh Gough, a veteran of the Second Coalition War and the Third Anglo-Martha War, recognized that Washington was a very formidable fortress. The Alliance advance into Alabama was hampered due to Hihnje remaining in American hands until mid-December (which forced the main bulk of the British troops in North America to divert several regiments to secure their southern flank), an increasing number of partisan activities (only made worse by the 707th Special Battalion operating in Alabama), and local American partisans sabotaging the tracks up to Washington. Not only did this give the United States to reinforce the frontline city with additional troops (another full Army division on top of the 30,000 that were deployed in late November of 1833), but it gave the defenders plenty of time to build up defenses and prepare for a full-scale assault. Washington was geographically blessed with three individual river banks located towards the south of the city (with the city itself being positioned on the very northernmost river bank). The second bank was the location of Fort Washington, a hastily constructed fort that was set to defend the settlement from any incursions from the south. The fort was manned by soldiers of the members of the 4th Brigade of the Second Marine Division (which was at 2/3rd strength due to the maulings the Marines received during the early stages of the war). Taking position near the fort was the 7th Brigade of the Third Infantry Division. The second northernmost bank (directly below the settlement itself) was occupied by the 8th and 9th Brigades of the Third Infantry Division (with each brigade occupying the adjacent sides of the Coosa River). The remaining American forces were spread out in the surrounding areas, with the five thousand or so militiamen guarding Washington itself. All of them were in trenches or in fortifications, which meant that attacking and occupying the Alabama capital would be a bloodbath for the British-Portuguese forces. That was something they could ill-afford.

Marshal Gough's scouts reported the sightings of the American forces and defenses back to him and he came to a quick realization that a frontal strike from the south would be disastrous, if not suicidal. The defenses would take weeks to completely overcome and the marshal was uncertain if he would have an army left by the time he cleared the southern defenses. Thus, the only sensible move was to attack from the west and enter Washington overland from the north (as the Coosa River was shallow enough to cross without any boats from the northwest). While there were formidable defenses out in the west as well, there were fewer natural obstacles to overcome, and it was possible to cut off the forces at Fort Washington before marching towards Washington itself. As such, the Commander in Chief of the British Army in North America decided to swing his army group around from the west. The men under his command, numbering at 50,000 strong (40,000 British troops and 10,000 Portuguese troops) captured the village of Ashville after a minor battle against the Second Marine Recon Battalion. With its flank secured, the Alliance army struck the western defensive lines with an artillery bombardment on the same day that Ashville fell (using a mix of solid shots and explosive shells) and advanced towards American lines almost immediately after the artillery guns fell silent.

[It is important to note that the reason why there were numerous British troops committed to Washington was that the city was seen as an important strategic objective for the British high command, along with the fact that a large number of American soldiers were gathered in the area].

Led by Brigadier Sir Harry Smith, the son of a major in the British Army and an expert in skirmishing and "rifle warfare," the Alliance forces purposely placed their officers and NCOs behind the enlisted troops in order to prevent a breakdown in leadership (something that many officers found disgraceful, but begrudgingly accepted after a number of officers were killed in the first two months of the invasion due to sniper fire). British skirmishers and sharpshooters, armed modified Nottingham Rifles that had an extended range (in exchange for less penetrating power), aimed at exposed American defenders and focused heavily on enemy officers and NCOs as well. Marshal Gough was well aware that the Americans held an advantage in fire rate and firepower, which meant that a swift advance, while the enemy was in disarray, was critical to the success of the attack. Additionally, the western defenses were (initially) manned by the 5th and 6th Brigade of the Second Marine Division, which added up to a mere 6,000 Marines. While the 15th Infantry Brigade was held in reserve for rapid deployment in Washington and the 8th Infantry Brigade was near the two Marine brigades to reinforce within minutes, the attackers had a small narrow window to gain a foothold in the west, which they could use to slowly push their way towards the city. However, the British Marshal were unaware of a number of factors before executing his plan...

The American defenders were led by one Lieutenant General Samuel Kim, the former first president of the United States and one of the most decorated war hero in the history of the young republic. Pushing 87 years of age, the elderly American was surprisingly fit and sharp for his age. In fact, Samuel himself requested a field command in the war and his request was granted eagerly by the Chief of Staff and President Peters. Granted his old rank of Lieutenant General and placed in charge of overseeing the American defensive lines in the southern front, the Korean-American carried out his duties energetically (remarking that he felt like he was "back in 1775 again," a reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill). His main focus was on the city of Washington, as it served as an important railroad hub. With Atlantia secured and the fighting in Georgia slowing down, Alabama became the former president's main focus (the Jefferson front was specifically handled by Major General Holata of the Seminole Tribe). Additionally, Washington was strategically important as the capture of the city would open up a route for the Alliance to push northwards towards Hisgi and even threaten northern Georgia, something that Columbia was keen on preventing. Additionally, with America's resources already being stretched thin, General Kim was explicitly told to not expect any further reinforcements, especially as the British (supported by its newly arrived Indian troops) made rapid advances in Jefferson and entered Akansa and Kentucky (as more troops were needed out in the west, where the front was growing bigger, and a force of 50,000 was seen as "more than enough" to hold Washington). That meant that the general was effectively on his own with the resources he had at hand...

Lieutenant General Kim focused most of his efforts to improve the defensibility of the area. Military balloons were attached to a specific area and connected with telegraph cables to improve communications (something that General Bonapart in Florida would quickly pick up on and use it to spot his artillery). This meant that an approaching enemy was spotted from kilometers away, allowing the defenders to scramble a force to rapidly respond. Trenches were dug on the river banks to make a flanking attack impossible, ensuring that the enemy was forced to commit to a frontal assault in order to achieve a breakthrough. Barbed wires were laid out in massed numbers in the front of the trenches, further hampering any potential direct assaults on the American defenses. Earthworks were also raised in order to nullify artillery shots (though, they were less effective against explosive shells) and the first "pillboxes" were built to provide a small, fortified fort to withstand bombardment and provide a safer location for American sharpshooters to fire from. These pillboxes were built into the trenches, making them difficult to outright destroy and capture. Additionally, they were camouflaged to match the nearby terrain so they were harder to discern from a distance. In short, the areas around Washington were turned into individual fortresses that would be capable of holding an enemy multiple times its size (which was why the general allowed his troops to spread out in a fairly "loose" manner instead of tightening up all the defenses around Washington and its southern fort). And while artillery would, indeed, scatter some of the defenders and defenses, it would take time to dislodge the American military personnel from their positions completely. That was where the second part of General Kim's brilliance came in to ensure that any area could be reinforced rapidly: pontoon bridges.

Pontoon bridges were not uncommon throughout history. The first examples of pontoon bridges were in Ancient China in 9th Century B.C. They were also used by Ancient Greeks, Romans, and even in Western Europeans during the Medieval Ages. While bridges were already present on the Coosa River towards every direction (as entry points into Washington), they were far too small and narrow for a massed number of soldiers to cross rapidly (the main bridge in the south contained rail tracks coming up from the north and was subsequently blown in early December). Additionally, constructing new bridges with the sole purpose of connecting all the individual "islands" (aka riverbanks) was seen as a waste of resources and manpower. Therefore, General Kim settled on an alternate path that initially led to some confusion among his general staff. Even after the expansion of the railroads into the south, a significant chunk of transportation in Alabama was carried out by the Coosa River (which flowed into towards Bienville and into the Gulf of Mexico). As such, there were plenty of river barges and boats in the area, especially around the capital city of Washington, which was also a growing industrial town in Alabama. Seeing the potential of the barges (many which were similar sizes and shapes), the general tied them together and created a giant pontoon "platform" (in reality, multiple bridges that interconnected with one another) where soldiers from the West Bank, the East Bank, and the Washington Bank could all move to any of the other banks with ease. After the set of pontoon bridges were completed, a local mentioned that it was like "looking at a damn floating island in the middle of the [Coose River]." It took only three weeks to finish the "Coosa Bridge" (as it took some time to find the right type of barges to tie together and additional time to refit them to serve as a giant bridge), but when it was completed, it provided a significant tactical advantage for the defending forces (the bridge was rigged to explode if the American lines collapsed). The biggest weakness was susceptibility to artillery, but the Alliance guns were not in range to destroy Coosa Bridge. This allowed the Coosa Bridge to play a critical role in the month-long siege...

Instead of forcing the western defensive lines to collapse and gaining a foothold, Marshal Gough and his forces were bogged down against the sudden appearance of four additional Army Infantry brigades (the 8th, 13th, 14th, and 15th) that reinforced the two Marine brigades. The Marines, led by Caribbean American Brigadier General Dubois Warrens, were battered by the explosive shells (taking approximately two hundred casualties), but they remained firm even after the bombardment and raised hell for the attacking forces, holding tens of thousands of troops on their own for nearly fifteen minutes. Not only that, but the American artillery guns fired upon the British and Portuguese forces, delivering accurate and devastating shells of their own. While the British did manage to inflict significant amounts of casualties on the reinforcing American soldiers with their siege guns, the battle devolved into a one-sided fight with the United States Army and Marines badly damaging the combined Alliance assault. After realizing his mistake, Marshal Gough pulled back his forces and began to set up for a siege to keep the American soldiers tied down in Washington while the other fronts advanced. General Kim unleashed his Marines, along with a few Army units, to force the Alliance troops to retreat away from Washington. However, the American counterattack was met with an equally stubborn British/Portuguese defense (the two nations were no strangers to the new ways of warfare and reacted faster than General Kim had expected). Marshal Gough knew that there was a chance that the Alliance assault would fail and planned accordingly, building a defensive line with the assistance of 10,000 troops (that were held in reserve) that was well out of the range of American artillery. The American counter-assault resulted in a stalemate (mainly due to a cavalry flanking maneuver failing to pan out) and General Kim was forced to withdraw his troops back to their defensive positions (as he knew he was not receiving any further reinforcements).

Ashville became a logistical hub for the Alliance, as the British marshal utilized his engineers to connect rail tracks to the village in order to rapidly transit additional supplies and troops (the reinforcing soldiers were colonial troops from India and Brazil, as British regulars were sent to advancing fronts). Meanwhile, General Kim constantly harassed the British forces, firing on them during the night and leading surprise "attacks" on the British positions before withdrawing back to the defensive lines. For the next month or so, it was a game of cat and mouse between the two sides, with neither side willing to force a costly battle. Especially since the British were adept at building defenses and the Nottingham Rifle matched the range of the American Samuel Rifle and Lee Rifle (while the Sharpes Rifle outranged all three rifles, it was only fielded by American sharpshooters).

The end result of the first engagements of the siege was six thousand British casualties and a thousand Portuguese casualties, for a combined total of two thousand dead. Meanwhile, the defenders suffered merely two thousand casualties, and only five hundred dead. After the battle, the British Commander in Chief refused to commit to another assault and settled on a sharpshooting and artillery duel. This was only broken after General Kim received orders to break the British siege on Washington and begin a counteroffensive into Alabama...

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