CWOL At-Start Control of Cities, Rivers, and Railroads
The starting position in CWOL represents the position in,
approximately, late August 1861. At that time the battles of First
Bull Run and Wilson's Creek had been fought but Kentucky
neutrality had not been violated. The Union had taken control of
all of Maryland, western Virginia, the Missouri River valley, and
of Arlington VA. At-start city control is determined as follows:
- All cities in USA states start under USA control
- All cities in CSA states start under CSA control, except for
Arlington VA and the four pro-USA cities of Virginia
(Charleston, Parkersburg, Wheeling, Clarksburg) which start
under USA control
- All cities in Maryland start under USA control
- In Kentucky all cities start under control of the side to
which their population is loyal
- In Missouri, all cities start under USA control, except
Springfield, Cape Girardeau, and New Madrid which start under
CSA control
At-start river control is determined by row and column:
- In column I9 and west (basically, west of the Appalachians)
rivers in row T8 and north are USA, rivers in row T9 and south
are CSA.
- In column J0 and east, rivers in row T0 are USA, rivers in row
T1 are CSA.
- There are two exceptions: The Ohio River between E0-T9 and
E3-T9 is USA control, while E5-T8, the last square of the
Cumberland before the junction with the Ohio, is CSA control.
This gives the USA control over the Ohio and its juncture with
the Mississippi; starting immediately south of Cairo the CSA has
control.
At-start railroad control is determined by state, noting that
some squares are in two states when the state border is a river or
mountain range:
- In all CSA states except Virginia and on the borders of two
CSA states, control is CSA.
- In all USA states, on the borders of two USA states, and on
the borders of USA and border states or USA and CSA states
(OH/VA the only example of the latter), control is USA.
- In Maryland, control is USA.
- In Virginia, in row S4 and north control is USA, in row S5 and
south control is CSA
- In Kentucky, in row T2 and north control is USA, in row T3 and
south control is CSA
- In Missouri, in row T3 and north control is USA, in row T4 and
south control is CSA
- There are two exceptions: In Alexandria VA control is USA, in
Paducah KY control is CSA, in both cases matching control of the
city.
Note that in Paducah KY, the rail starts CSA control but the
river starts USA control. This is so that the USA can move
regiments by water along the Ohio, while the CSA can send troops
into Paducah by rail, but not by water.
Maintained by Stephen Schmidt: last update 3-1-18