Battle of White Rock (1804)

Battle of White Rock
Part of the Zamastan War of Independence
Painting depicting the Skithan Regiment at the Battle of White Rock
Date October 17-18, 1804 Location White Rock, Jade, Zamastan Result Rebel victory The rebel forces expel the Skithan army from landing at White Rock
Belligerents
Rebel Forces	Skith Empire
Commanders and leaders
Thomas Pétion	Murk Acumby Girden Forbes Gyle Parker
Strength
15,000	40,000
Casualties and losses
Total: 600 300 killed 200 wounded 79 captured	Total: Over 1,600 1,264 killed 893 wounded

The Battle of White Rock was one of the final and most bloody battles of the Zamastan War of Independence. The victory over the Skith Empire gave the rebel forces under General Thomas Pétion control of strategically important city and port of White Rock. It was fought on October 17, 1804, and was the last major battle of the war to take place before the retreat of the Imperial forces. In troop deployment and combat, it was the largest battle of the entire war.

After being defeated by the Imperial forces in the Siege of Wingerton on September 1st, 1804, commander-in-chief of the Zamastanian rebels, General Tomias Hapson, brought the militias under his command to defend the port city of White Rock, located at the northern end of the Jade Peninsula. Thomas Pétion took charge of the army as Hapson went north to Tofino to join forces with Avi Taures, thinking an attack on that city was imminent as well. Thomas Pétion understood that the city harbor would provide an excellent base for the Skithan navy, so he established defenses there and waited for Skith to attack. On September 3rd, the Skith forces under the command of Major General Girden Forbes landed a few miles across the harbor from White Rock on the sparsely-populated Camp Island, where they were reinforced by ships in Lower White Rock Bay during the next month and a half, bringing their total force to 32,000 troops. Thomas Pétion knew the difficulty in holding the city with the Skith fleet in control of the entrance to the harbor at the inlets, and he moved the bulk of his forces to the interior of the city of White Rock, believing that it would be the first target. That same day, Hapson and his division of men killed Governor Chico Pisano in Tofino.

On October 15th, the Skithans landed on the shores of Sendgrave Bay in southwest Ween County, across the Inlets from Camp Island and more than a dozen miles south from the established White Rock River crossings to Manhattan. After two days of waiting, the Skithans attacked rebel defenses on the Euan Heights. Unknown to the Skithans, however, Pétion had brought his main army around their rear and attacked their flank soon after. The Skithans panicked, resulting in twenty percent losses through casualties and capture, although a stand by 400 loyalist troops prevented a more substantial portion of the army from being lost. The remainder of the army retreated to the main defenses on Igon Heights. The rebels dug in for a siege but, on the night of October 17-18, Forbes evacuated the entire army to Camp Island without the loss of supplies or a single life. Forbes and the Skithan army were driven out of White Rock entirely after another bloody battle occurred on the 24th and they were forced to retreat through Jade and into Zian.

On October 26th, General Robert Graves Eufalua met with Hapson to agree to an armistice, and on the 27th, the Skith had left Tofino. Skithan morale had collapsed with the news that Hapson and Taures had taken Tofino, and Eufalua decided to abandon all of Zamah St'an, writing that the expedition had become such a complete disaster that withdrawal was the only sensible thing to do, even through he did not have the authority to do so. The Free State of Zamah St'an was established on October 28th, 1804, as the Skithan forces retreated. Tomias Hapson took the self-title as the de-facto President, while Avi Taures and Henry Tiller shared joint control of the Armed Forces and started spreading news across the colony of the Skithan retreat.