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Much blame for Lee's loss at Gettysburg belonged squarely on Jeb Stuart's head because Lee was forced to fight most of this crucial battle without any eyes. Jeb never repeated that mistake later in the war. Matter of fact his reporting and scouting vastly improved as a result of the harsh lesson learned.
|  | Civil War Generals II, Advanced Strategy Guide |
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The best part about playing this game is the creation of the true fog of war. Finding out where your enemy is and denying him that information is another crucial skill. My embarrasing loss described in the last section could easily have been prevented by some skillful scouting. Whenever you are playing a 'good' player, expect him to set ambushes, to hide on reverse slopes and generally screen the location of his army from you. If you find a unit, it may be placed there because they want you to find it!
Scouts are of course the ultimate unit to use in this role, but every unit in the army may be used in a scouting function at one time or another. In many battles, the best use of your CCs (Corps Commanders) is as scouts. This is especially true in a battle like Historical Gettysburg when your Rebel forces are woefully low on cavalry or any other scouts. It is absolutely imperative that you know where your enemy is and always try to deny him this information. If you know where he is, you can locate where he is weak and concentrate your forces in that area. The longer you can keep the enemy in the dark regarding your concentration of forces, the less likely that he will be able to reinforce the weak area before you smash it with the majority of your forcs.
Scouting ambushes and counter action to prevent them are a crucial part of any skillful game. Hiding 6 fast moving units like cav and CCs behind a ridge the enemy will have to scout, gives you a chance to surround the unit and gouge out one of his eyes. Hiding the six units in the 'woods', one hex from a road going through them gives you the same type of opportunity. When you are doing the scouting, be on the lookout for possible ambush positions and prepare for them. You can do this by scouting with multiple units that are supporting each other, or making sure that your slow moving infantry is close enough to remove at least one possible surrounding unit and allowing the previously trapped unit to escape. Below is an example of a simple trap that the Yanks can prepare for early in Shiloh. (Turn 4) The value of trapping a general here is not high, but the trap and principal remain the same regardless of what unit wanders into your web.
| End of day three, blue move at Shiloh. |
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| End of day 4, trap executed. |
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