# Historical basis and design limits

The map, ratings, seasonal timing, strength points, imports, political will and recognition are game abstractions. Formation names are inspired by documented organisations; this prototype does NOT claim a precise order of battle or historically exact deployment. A full roster/date audit remains required before release.

## Land campaigns

- [NPS Union First Manassas order of battle](https://www.nps.gov/mana/learn/historyculture/union-order-of-battle-first-manassas.htm) and [Confederate order](https://www.nps.gov/mana/learn/historyculture/confederate-order-of-battle-first-manassas.htm) establish early division/brigade organisations. Representing those as corps-equivalent pieces is an explicit scale compromise. Fall1861 start positions are not the July battle layout.
- [NPS First Manassas](https://www.nps.gov/mana/learn/historyculture/first-manassas.htm) describes Johnston’s rail reinforcement. This supports rail as a strategic theme, not our exact movement multiplier.
- [NPS Antietam overview](https://www.nps.gov/articles/a-short-overview-of-the-battle-of-antietam.htm), [Gettysburg Confederate organisation](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/anv-orderofbattle.htm), [Wilderness/Spotsylvania](https://www.nps.gov/frsp/learn/historyculture/wildspot.htm) and [Appomattox Court House](https://www.nps.gov/apco/learn/historyculture/the-battle-of-appomattox-court-house.htm) provide dated reference points for 1862–1865. They do not validate every opening roster in the code.
- [NPS Atlanta campaign](https://www.nps.gov/kemo/learn/historyculture/the-atlanta-campaign.htm) supports the 1864 Sherman/Johnston campaign framing. [Georgia Encyclopedia](https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/atlanta-campaign/) identifies the principal Union armies.
- [NPS Belmont](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/battle-of-belmont.htm) provides context for Grant’s early western command.

General rosters update at annual boundaries; Jackson and A. S. Johnston retire at the following seasonal boundary after their deaths. This is coarse and incomplete: Lee’s 1862 succession, Hooker/Meade, dismissals and other changes need a fuller date table. Attached generals are noncombat badges for now, not independent HQ pieces.

## Emancipation and Black soldiers

The [National Archives Emancipation Proclamation](https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/emancipation-proclamation) is dated1January1863 and applied to designated rebellious areas, with exclusions; it did not immediately abolish slavery everywhere. The [Archives account of USCT creation](https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2012/12/30/emancipation-proclamation-creation-of-the-united-states-colored-troops/) dates General Order143 to22May1863. Summer1863 recruitment support in this seasonal game is an abstraction. Black service existed before that administrative bureau.

[NPS Petersburg](https://www.nps.gov/pete/learn/historyculture/african-americans-at-the-siege.htm) describes Black troops and the XXV Corps, formed in late1864. An explicit XXV Corps counter appears only in the1865 start.

## Naval corrections

The [Naval History and Heritage Command account of Hampton Roads](https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/the-american-civil-war--1861-1865/css-virginia-destroys-uss-cumberland-and-uss-congress--8-march-1.html) dates Virginia’s combat debut to8March1862, not1861. [NHHC Monitor history](https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/m/monitor-i.html) and [the Mariners’ Museum](https://www.marinersmuseum.org/learn/explore-topics/uss-monitor-story/) describe the9March duel. Monitor’s heavy smoothbore armament makes “only rifled guns can fight ironclads” an unsuitable universal rule. The duel was not automatic mutual destruction.

[NPS USS Cairo](https://www.nps.gov/vick/u-s-s-cairo-gunboat.htm) dates commissioning toJanuary1862 and identifies the shallow-draft City-class role on the Mississippi and connected waterways. [NPS virtual tour](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/uss-cairo-tour.htm) explains the river design and preservation. The game introduces a generic City-class flotilla in1862, not an individually immortal Cairo.

Monitor/Virginia appear only in the1862 spring start. Virginia is withdrawn at summer1862 and Monitor at1863. Coastal zones and river craft limits avoid treating these vessels as ocean-going fleets. Later torpedo/ram hazards, detailed penetration, flotilla losses and replacements are not complete.

## Art and geography

Original v0.2 geographic data/relief reused; geographic base described in the original as Natural Earth. New title illustration, hex styling and counters are original SVG/CSS. No proprietary board-game counters, artwork or screenshots were copied. Terrain/rail snapping and river navigability require visual/geographic review.

## Second-pass corrections

[NPS Gettysburg's timeline](https://www.nps.gov/gett/learn/historyculture/civil-war-timeline.htm) records Johnston's wounding and Lee's succession at Seven Pines, May31–June1,1862. The game changes that HQ to Lee in Summer1862. [NPS Meade and Lee](https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/meade-and-lee-at-gettysburg.htm) dates Meade's appointment to28June1863; the game applies it at Summer1863. These seasonal boundaries approximate real dates.

[NPS Shiloh](https://www.nps.gov/shil/learn/historyculture/shiloh-history.htm) records Albert Sidney Johnston's death during the battle and Beauregard's assumption of command. The game retires Johnston at the next boundary, but does not yet model every interim appointment. Initial HQ attachment now follows the commander's theatre instead of array order; their precise positions remain abstractions.

[NOAA's Monitor history](https://monitor.noaa.gov/150th/after.html) describes the Union landing at Norfolk on10May1862. Norfolk is Union-held in the1863–1865 annual starts. The [Encyclopedia of Arkansas Little Rock campaign](https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/little-rock-campaign-517/) supports Union control following the1863 campaign; the1864–1865 starts now reflect it. Confederate formations are placed outside those occupied city hexes.

[NPS Cairo's loss](https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/explosion-sinks-the-uss-cairo.htm) dates the mine sinking to12December1862. Purchaseable river minefields begin in1863 in this seasonal model. [NHHC's Hunley history](https://www.history.navy.mil/research/underwater-archaeology/sites-and-projects/hl-hunley.html) documents spar-torpedo warfare. A limited coastal hazard begins in1864; it is an aggregate risk, not a replayed Hunley attack. No exact sinking dates or losses are forced onto generic flotillas. Ramming uses a risky die roll, not automatic sinking.

## Roster audit result

ROSTER-AUDIT.md and roster-audit.json enumerate all92 configured annual infantry/command entries, with source links or an explicit composite designation. They distinguish formation identity from exact deployment and manpower. The check is at the seasonal strategic scale; it does not claim a day-specific complete OOB.

Corrections include documented fall1861 McDowell/Franklin/McCall/Heintzelman divisions from McClellan's official report; removal of the anachronistic Tyler/Hunter labels; removal of the Kentucky “Sherman's brigade” label; explicit non-overlapping composite groupings in the early Confederate army and Vicksburg; missing III/XI/XII Corps in1863 and IV Corps in1864; XIII/XVI Corps in the1865 Mobile theatre; the four Sherman corps in the1865 Carolina theatre; and a Louisiana anchor for Taylor in1864.

The generic cavalry groups, army artillery reserve and newly purchased formations are design composites, not individually exact regiments, brigades or divisions. Normalised ratings must not be read as actual head counts. Historical labels do not force historical surrender outcomes in a counterfactual campaign.

## Current corrections

Earlier checkpoint statements about absent independent HQs and missing seasonal successions are superseded by RULES.md and ACCEPTANCE.md. Current engine includes independent HQ movement, Lee/Meade/Burnside/Thomas succession and preserved continuing HQ positions. Annual placement remains approximate.

James River and Drewry's Bluff: https://www.nps.gov/places/drewry-s-bluff.htm — the navigable approach to Richmond and defensive obstruction inform the schematic corridor/battery, not its exact geometry. Thomas succession: https://www.nps.gov/people/george-thomas.htm . Burnside: https://www.nps.gov/people/ambrose-e-burnside.htm .