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The locomotive whistle sounded out amidst the onset of Fall windchill, as the steam engine began to lumber its way out of Coltago proper. Troops from within the train’s long carriages waved and cheered out at the citizenry along both sides of the large city’s stationhouse, as Moondancer and her cadre sequestered themselves within the officer’s carriage.
The engine lurched to life along with its train, as a second whistle joined the first, signaling the engine’s departure from its station. The army of the Coltago was on the move finally, with orders passed down from Luna’s Command to the Telegraph office early into last evening.
Moondancer’s commands were simple; march down through Western Virginia. Find any and all Rebel forces. Fight and kill them. Luna had no compunctions about being direct with her commands - something Moondancer quite appreciated in a commanding officer. The Princess turned Major General was fast to the point, and from all reports, busy keeping the Rebels on the tips of their hooves. It would take a good portion of the month for Moondancer’s Corps to make their way far enough south to happen upon any Confederate forces; she’d have to march through Wheeling, and then down towards the Shenandoah Valley - and she was still deciding whether it’d be more feasible to march down the West or East of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
That could wait for now, though. Wheeling first. Then, the front.
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Lightning Charm swore heavily and rapidly as she ducked herself down into the ditch on the North side of the Canal - itself a piss-poor excuse for a river, but wide enough to make fording it not a casual endeavor. Rocking herself momentarily from side to side and stress-tapping the Remneighton Model 51 holstered on her side, the aging General’s ears flicked back and forth with frustration as the Rebel Artillery dueled with her own. The rebel infantry was still moving forwards towards the canal, as their skirmishers and her own traded rifle fire, and for the second time the General cursed her stupidity in sending Wind’s Corps north to protect the flank while they rebuilt their numbers.
With three month enlistments ending a few weeks ago, most of the Army of Equestria had been gutted, outside of her own Corps, Moondancer’s new Corps that was supposedly marching down Western Virginia, and the re-enlistees that made up the rest of the AoE. And of course, the Confederates had waited until the entire Army of Equestria was busy re-filling their ranks to make a dedicated attack along the current lines of the war.
In front of her, as her scouts had informed her with some accuracy, was at least two Rebel Corps - Hampton’s Division, freshly reformed from their mauling earlier in the year and marching under what was guessed to be in excess of eight thousand ponies - and whatever leftovers were still fighting-capable from the Army of the Fillisee.
So only somewhere between twelve and sixteen thousand rebel troops, no pressure.
“General you should probably pull back a bit!” Barked Colonel Shimmer, as the younger officer stalked her way over to her older superior, standing tall and firm with her black-hats of the so-called Iron Brigade. The entire three-thousand pony brigade, mustered out of her home state of Coltnetticut, was armed with a mixture of majority Whinnyworth rifles, as well as a few Sharps and Maresissippi rifles they’d picked up as casualties filtered in and out of the brigade over the course of their previous battles.
“Hell with that, I just got here!” Charm shouted back in reply, as Shimmer snorted, settling in next to her officer without a care in the world, as if they weren’t currently being shot at by a rapidly growing Confederate line. “I figure we’ve got near fourteen thousand Rebs in front of us, think you can hold the riverline!?” Charm shouted in continuation, as another volley rattled out from the Iron Brigade, and cannon shot splashed into the canal.
“So long as we’ve got shot and powder, we’ll hold all the damned live-long day, General!” Sunset replied, after a moment’s consideration. “They’re coming harder against our right flank, where Skipper and Night are at, they’re more at risk than my position is, ma’am!”
“Noted! I want you to listen for my bugle calls! If you hear a short, three note burst - like a Tah-Tah-Tah!- you are to refuse the line, understand!? You are to shorten the line shifting to your right, as Light collapses in on your left, and we pull back from the river to force them to cross after us!”
“I understand ma’am! Three notes, we refuse the line!”
“Good mare! Now kill me some rebels!”
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As the day wore on, rifle shot after rifle shot was expended with haste, as the rebels attempted several times to cross Charm’s line at the river. All times attempted, the confederates were driven off under withering fire, but with ammunition beginning to run low and nighttime beginning to fall, Charm’s troops, as skilled and professional as they were, were beginning to flag.
Skipper on the right snapped first, as his troops ran low - then completely out - of ammunition, though he still carried an orderly and slow withdrawal covered by Wood’s two artillery batteries, sending off a runner to Charm before doing anything. As a result, the bugle call was sounded, and the line was refused, as Charm’s entire corps shifted to meet the rebels attempting to push their flank. Night Light’s Brigade was rushed from the left, instead of collapsing into Sunset’s flank, and sent to the far right at the triple-time, and hurriedly patched up the hole left by Skipper’s retreating brigade just in time to repulse a concerted rebel push across the river.
By nightfall however, the rebels had crossed the Canal on the flank, despite Charms’ refusal of the line, and so she had to plan accordingly. Ammunition was brought up overnight, and troops were shifted under cover of darkness - as the rebels who had yet to quit the field no doubt did the same - to better protect the now endangered artillery batteries.
When morning came the rebels, who as Charm had expected stacked a majority of their remaining troops along the Union’s right, were surprised. They’d been expecting something to be done of course to cover Skipper’s retreat, and Charm wasn’t stupid enough to believe they hadn’t expected that, but they also likely hadn’t expected Juniper Wood to roll both his batteries of thirty pounders up to the main infantry line. Wood had ordered his two battery commanders to pack doubled up canister loads, and as the rebels crested the canal-line, coming face to face with a line of not only fresh infantry in the form of Sunset’s redeployed and re-supplied Iron Brigade, but also heavy artillery at close range.
The resultant canister barrages tore through the rebels attempting to push out from the canal-line, and Sunset’s own Brigade stood their ground with their high quality rifles, keeping the rebels from simply charging out to kill or capture the cannons; it was a slaughter, despite the vastly larger rebel numbers, and before midday, the rebels were falling back in disrepair, leaving hundreds of prisoners and wounded, mangled bodies scattered around the canal. It’d been one of Charm’s costlier wins, as her casualty reports were nearing closer to a thousand - a full seventh of her corps - but in the face of such overwhelming enemy odds, she’d take what she could get. Hopefully Wind or Heart would move in her direction soon, or there’d be trouble if the confederates came again.
But for today, the Regulars held their ground, and by Faust was anyone else going to move them from it.