Great Jehovahite Uprising

The 70' Confederation

Batavi Battalion

Black Dogs

## Background

In the midst of growing political tensions between the Kingdom of Jehovah and its neighbors, the high council began to seek out ways to secure their material interests in the case of war. It wouldn't take long for their attention to turn towards the Mountain Republics, which not only had bountiful amounts of coal and other valuable trade resources, but also contained a sizeable minority of Jehovahites.

To this end, the High Council instructed Vice Overseer Milo Jacobson, the highest ranking Jehovahite official in the Mountain Republics, to start organizing a full scale rebellion. Through several months of fiery sermons and careful planning, the Vice Overseer was able to motivate the vast majority of the Jehovahite population to join the rebellion.

## Bloody Monday

During the early morning hours of Monday, October 24th, the Great Jehovahite Uprising began in earnest. Utilizing lists prepared well in advance, armed bands of Jehovahites took to the streets, rounding up and executing potential dissidents and threats to the cause. Within only a few short hours, militia members, settlement elders, and mine owners and operators were all mercilessly executed, completely debilitating the Mountain Republics' capability to respond. While the mass executions were still ongoing, 4 cohorts of the Kingdom's elite 'Warriors of God' crossed over the Ohio River and linked up with the rebels. By the end of the first day, an estimated 1,200 people had been killed by the insurrectionists, earning the event the grim moniker of 'Bloody Monday'.

## The Slaughter at Holly's Run

The first unit to react to the uprising was Colonel Duggard's Black Dogs, a professional mercenary unit based out of Piney Grove. Marching north towards Chester at a blistering pace, the Black Dogs were ambushed by two cohorts of the Warriors of God. Although the Black Dogs fought tenaciously, they were eventually overrun and forced to retreat south towards Bridgeton, which had already fallen into Jehovahite hands hours before. On the way to Bridgeton, the badly battered remnants of the unit were again ambushed by Jehovahite forces. The few mercenaries to survive the ambush were summarily tortured and executed. In the course of an afternoon, an entire battalion's worth of mercenaries had been slaughtered to the man. In honor of the Black Dogs, the road upon which they had been ambushed would later be renamed to 'Black Dog Way'.

## Widening Reaction

By the end of the first week of the rebellion, news had already reached the 70' Confederation and the Reclaimed. Realizing what was at stake, The 70 Confederation and the The Reclaimed delivered an ultimatum to Elder Atkinson; cease military hostilities in the Mountain Republics, or run the risk of full scale war. Rather than issuing a formal response to the ultimatum, the The Kingdom of Jehovah sent the severed heads of the coalition envoys to the The 70 Confederation, sparking mass outrage. Having been blatantly slighted, the The 70 Confederation and The Reclaimed declared war on the The Kingdom of Jehovah, formally initiating The Jehovahite War.

## The Siege of Morganstown

In the weeks since the outbreak of hostilities, the Jehovahite Rebels had pushed all the way to Morganstown, the capitol of the Mountain Republics. With desertion running rampant among the ranks of the Mountain Republic militias, the situation seemed dire for the defenders.

Utilizing both pre and post collapse artillery, the Jehovahite Rebels mercilessly pummeled the defenders of Morganstown, destroying large portions of the city and severely damaging morale. To make matters worse, the Jehovahite Rebels had been mounting a series of lightning fast raids against the city's defenses, testing for any exploitable weaknesses.

With the death toll rising and both food and ammunition stores running dangerously low, it was only a matter of time until the garrison of Morganstown would be forced to capitulate to the Rebels. It was then that the beleaguered defenders received their first piece of good news in the form of advanced riders from a relief army, informing the garrison that a massive coalition army was on their way to lift the siege.

For two more days and nights, the defenders of Morganstown would hold off against increasingly desperate odds, fighting off repeated Rebel assaults against the city. On the morning of the third day, just as the rebel army prepared to make another full fledged assault against the city, the relief army arrived. Having taken the long way around, the relief army had arrived at the flanks of the besiegers, catching them completely off guard.

In the ensuing clash, the rebel army would fall into chaos and confusion at the sudden pincer maneuver, causing many rebels to flee out of fear of encirclement. Although heavily outnumbered after the route of many of the besieging rebels, those that remained were able to hold off the relief army's attacks well into the night. Although they had been able to keep the relief army at bay, the writing was on the wall. As such, the rebel army quietly broke the siege during the dead of the night, abandoning most of their siege equipment. Although they didn't know it yet, the long retreat from Morganstown would be the beginning of the end for the rebellion.

## The Siege of Mount Faith

Following the disaster at Morganstown, the relief army would continue their aggressive offensive, aiming to contain the rebellion and push them back to their starting positions. Although the rebels would mount tenacious defenses, the combined might of both the The 70 Confederation and the The Reclaimed would prove to be too much for them to handle, resulting in settlement after settlement falling into the coalition's hands. Within just two months of the disaster at Morganstown, the rebel army had been reduced to only a few thousand men, with most having either died, surrendered, or deserted. To make matters all the worse for the rebels, the main conflict had proven to be far worse than what the high council had anticipated, resulting in them recalling all four cohorts of the Warriors of God.

Surrounded, heavily outnumbered, and with no hopes of a peaceful resolution, Vice Overseer Milo Jacobson prepared to make his last stand at Mount Faith, the birthplace of the rebellion.

Over the course of several days, the settlement would be turned into a veritable fortress. Ingenious booby traps would be laid, homes would be turned into citadels of defense, and roads would be conveniently barricaded, forcing the attackers into pre-prepared killing zones. The attackers were going to be in for a bloody battle, but they had come too far and lost too many to concede defeat now.

The siege began with intensive artillery bombardments of key locations, hoping to soften up defenses before the infantry moved in. Later that day, the first waves of infantry began their assault into the settlement, using their massive number advantage to out maneuver defensive strong points. Despite the rebels' best efforts, most of the city fell under coalition control by the end of fighting that night, and in subsequent days, the remaining hold outs would be brought under Coalition control.

By the beginning of the fifth day of the siege, the rebels had been pushed all the way back to their kingdom hall, the very one that Vice Overseer Jacobson announced the start of the rebellion from.

For two days and two nights, the coalition forces would attempt to dislodge the defenders, with each attempt being driven back by fanatical resistance. With only a fifth of their force capable of fighting any more, and ammunition stores all but depleted, Milo Jacobson knew that any further resistance would be futile. As such, on the morning of the eighth day of the siege, the vice overseer flew a white flag of surrender, wishing to parlay with the coalition forces about peace terms, but not before committing one more act of resistance. Shortly before the arranged meeting time, the overseer ordered the nearby Tenpenny mine to be set ablaze, rendering the immense amounts of coal within useless.

As a result, the coalition commanders promptly captured the vice overseer, forcing him to call the surrender of the rest of the defenders. Once the beleaguered garrison vacated the kingdom hall, the vice overseer was promptly hung from the rafters of the building, before it'd be set ablaze and the surviving rebels would be executed. The Great Jehovahite Uprising had finally been defeated, but at a terrible cost.