Major Friedrich von Dechow

Major Friedrich von Dechow was the commander of the von Knyphausen Regiment at the battle of Trenton.  He had been wounded, twice, at the battle of Fort Washington in November 1776, but took command of the regiment because his superior, Colonel Borck, had an even worse wound and was convalescing in New York.  Von Dechow was wounded again in the battle of Trenton, dying of his wounds a couple of days later. When he was unable to carry on during the battle von Dechow handed over command of his regiment to Captain Bernard von Biesenrodt and told him to surrender in other to prevent any further casualties.  However, von Biesenrodt had other ideas and he and a handful of others attempted to flee from Trenton across Assunpink Creek.  Some 50 soldiers from von Knyphausen's Regiment managed to escape.  Before the battle, von Dechow had expressed concern about the Trenton garrison's exposed position.  He suggested to Colonel Rall that defence works be built outside the town, but Rall (as noted earlier) insisted any attack would be met by the bayonet and didn't want his ability to deploy compromised by earthworks.  Von Dechow also wrote (with the von Lossberg Regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Scheffer) to von Heister on 17th December 1776 to warn of the state of the garrison, which was reduced by sickness, was tired and also suffering from the cold.  None of this prevented the subsequent court martial enquiry from placing blame for the disaster on von Dechow (and, of course, Rall). It seems von Dechow was perceived as having been too slow to get his regiment into action and, despite being in a position to secure the bridge over the Assunpink Creek, which the garrison could have used for a retreat, failed to do so.  One senses a brave, competent officer who, like Rall, found himself judged (posthumously) by his performance in his final, difficult battle.      

The figure here is shown in the uniform of an officer of von Knyphausen's Regiment.  It is a lovely sculpt - it looks as if the figure was modelled on the painting of Knyphausen himself in the Osprey MAA on German troops.  This figure shows just how well Paul Hicks sculpts faces.  Unfortunately the horse seems to be a bit of a mis-cast, as its right ear and part of it's back right leg are missing, and the right side of the head was lacking in definition.  The next time I have some greenstuff out I'll try to add the missing ear. One nice touch of detail is that the figure is wearing the "Pour la vertu militaire" award just benath the gorget - hence the light blue ribbon near his neck.

1 figure.  Painted September 2024.

Queen's Rangers (3)

I'm half-way through my Hessian commanders series, so this is brief interlude on something else.  I first blogged about the Queen's Rangers back in 2007.  The regiment was raised in New York in 1776 by Colonel Robert Rogers, of F&IW fame.  Rogers soon handed over command to a British officer, Colonel French, who in turn was succeeded by Major Wemyss, and in late 1777 the regiment came under the command of Major John Simcoe (who was only 25 at the time).  The regiment was initially organised into 11 companies of around 30 men each, one of which was a highland company.  This was recruited largely from Scottish loyalists in Virginia.  Apparently the highland company was renowned for its discipline and combat skills, so it was often used for guerrilla skirmishing and scouting. A muster roll from February 1780 shows the company commander at that time as one Captain John Mackay (and confirms that the company had a piper, as you'd expect).

These figures are from the Eureka Miniatures French and Indian Wars range.  I bought them ages ago and painted up the 3 skirmishers back in 2005.  I intended the other 4 figures to go on a standard infantry base to add to the rest of the regiment, but for whatever reason never got around to it.  So here is the highland company, in both skirmish and close order.  These are very much "on campaign" figures, with Indian leggings and tomahawks, and Indian braided canteen covers..  I put the Eureka Miniatures highlander officer on my General Burgoyne command base (which, like most command stands, I never blogged about).  I think these figures make a good addition to a Queen's Rangers unit. They do, perhaps, look a bit "F&IW"; but I think the figures work for the loyalists in campaign dress.  The alternative would be to use some of the Perry AWI highlander figures.  Since I bought the Eureka figures the North Star "Muskets & Tomahawks" range has also come out (in early 2020, I think, because I bought the "pre-order" deal and it then got stuck in my work office mail room for the duration of Lockdown).  These are a bit bigger than the Eureka figures.  You have a fair bit of choice now if you want to model the highland company.  Given the company's paper strength was around 30-40 men, you don't need many figures.  I wanted the option of both skirmish and close order.

In terms of scenarios, Brandywine and Monmouth require units of 20 and 22 figures respectively.  The outlier battle is Spencer's Ordinary of June 1781, which appears in volume 2 of the Caliver scenario; I participated in a game of this battle back in 2008 (see report and photos here).  This requires a total of 64 Queen's Ranger infantry figures, including 6 for the highland company (and also 22 cavalry figures, including the dragoon troop).  The highland company is classed as "light infantry" with an "elite" rating. So what I probably should have done was painted 6 highlanders, in two skirmish stands of 3 figures each.  Oh well...that's what happens when you paint and base the figures and only then look at the scenario books!

7 figures.  Painted 2005 and August 2024. 

Talking of the Queen's Rangers, I thought I'd dig out my other skirmishing figures and put them on parade, given that they missed out on their own post earlier.  These figures represent the light and grenadier companies, with some skirmishing riflemen.  These were some of the first AWI figures I painted, right back in 2003; obviously during my "black eyeliner" period! And I'm not the only wargamer painting the Queen's Rangers recently - do check out Lawrence's excellent blog here. 

  

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Scheffer

Francis Scheffer was the acting commander of the Von Lossberg Regiment during the early years of the AWI, having taken over from the initial colonel who had died of dysentery in September 1776. So he led the regiment at the Battles of White Plains, Fort Washington and Trenton. The regiment distinguished itself at White Plains and Fort Washington. Scheffer was awarded the order "Pour la vertu militaire" for his conduct in these battles (although the award was suspended in the wake of Trenton, pending the outcome of the inquiry). The Hessian garrison at Trenton included a brigade of three regiments under the overall command of Colonel Johann Rall - the Rall Regiment, Knyphausen's Regiment and Von Lossberg's (being the regiment that became the "Alt" Von Lossberg in 1780).

The Von Lossberg Regiment suffered high casualties at Trenton - 4 killed, 55 wounded and 260 captured.  As a consequence, the regiment pretty much ceased to exist as a fighting unit.  At the court martial enquiry after the battle, Scheffer testified that "it rained cannon balls and grapeshot, and snow, rain and sleet came constantly into our faces.  In short, none of our muskets would fire any longer."  Scheffer had taken command once Colonel Rall was mortally wounded; however, although it was questioned why he hadn't been able to effect a withdrawal out of the town towards the Delaware River, he was not censured by the enquiry (which instead placed the blame on Rall and Major Dechow of Knyphausen's regiment, both of whom were dead).  Scheffer eventually received his "Pour la vertu militaire" in 1783 and retired as a major-general the following year.  I assume he was captured at Trenton, but haven't been able to confirm.  

This figure is from a Foundry pack of Seven Years War Prussian "mounted Frei Korps officers".  The figure has lapels but no coat turnbacks, so it's not quite right for the AWI.  However, I had this figure in my leadpile and had always intended to use it for a German officer.  I decided on Sheffer because the figure looks like he's in the middle of a battle.  The eye-patch is neither here nor there - I have no idea whether Scheffer had one.  But, as described above, he sounded like a bit of a tough fighter, so I thought this figure was appropriate.  For the battle of Trenton, the base should of course be snowy; but I've just done the base as per my collection more generally.  

1 figure. Painted August 2024.

Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall

Johann Gottlieb Rall (c.1726-1776) was born into a military family and appears to have been commissioned into the Hesse-Kassel army at the age of 14. He steadily rose through the ranks: lieutenant in 1745, captain in 1753, major in 1760 and then lieutenant colonel of the Stein garrison regiment in 1763. He became chief of the Mansbach Regiment in 1771 or 1772, at which point it was presumably renamed the Rall Regiment. By the time he arrived in America, Rall had extensive campaigning experience - in the War of the Austrian Succession, in the Fourth Russo-Turkish War fighting for Catherine the Great, and even in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion in the UK. Despite not speaking a word of English, General Howe appointed Rall as commander of the entire brigade that was garrisoned at Trenton (either because Howe was impressed with Rall's conduct in the field or, probably more likely since Rall was junior to other colonels in seniority, due to a lack of alternatives as a result of illness).

I won't go into the details of the battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776. Suffice to say that it is now generally accepted that Rall was neither drunk nor particularly ill-prepared at the time. It is certainly the case that Rall failed to build any defensive fortifications around his position, despite being ordered to do so by Colonel von Donop, his superior officer; but that seems to have been because Rall wanted to go out and meet the Continentals in the event of an attack and didn't want his manoeuvrability compromised by fortifications. However, it's also clear that Rall was sufficiently concerned about sporadic American attacks on his sentries and outposts that he ordered his men to sleep in their uniforms and wrote to both von Donop and General James Grant, the British commander in New Jersey, that he was concerned about being exposed. There is an interesting analysis of Rall's conduct during the battle, and the subsequent court martial enquiry here. Rall died leading his troops from the front in a desperate counter-attack. He was visited by Washington as he lay dying and asked that his captured men be properly looked after, which Washington confirmed would be the case.

By all accounts, Rall was a brave, much-respected soldier who inspired loyalty from the men under his command. Colonel William Faucitt, the officer who had negotiated the supply of soldiers with the Hessian authorities, decsribed Rall as "one of the best officers of his rank in the Landgrave's army". Apparently Rall's aggressive performances at the battles of White Plains and Fort Washington earned him the nickname "der Lowe", i.e. "the lion". His adjutant, Lieutenant Jakob Piel, wrote in his diary that Rall was "generous, magnanimous, hospitable and polite to everyone". Piel also said that Rall sometimes struggled to settle on a firm decision and was "born to be a soldier, but not a general". In his book "The Hessians", Rodney Atwood notes that it was really only on the day of his death that it became clear that Rall wasn't suited to holding an independent brigade-level command.

In the "British Grenadier!"/Caliver scenario books, Rall appears as a brigade commander at White Plains and the C-in-C at Trenton. This figure is from the Foundry Seven Years War range. It works well for Rall as the coat does not have lapels, so being similar to the uniform of the Rall Grenadier Regiment. In fact, the uniform is not much removed from the Don Troiani painting of the death of Rall at Trenton (see here). I also like the pose - he looks as if he's leading from the front, which is what Rall was doing when he got shot. This was the first of these new Hessian command figures that I painted, and it was only after I'd finished that I read somewhere that the saddlecloths were the colour of the regimental facings of the relevant officer. But as all my existing Hessian commanders have dark blue horse furniture, I just decided to stick with that rather than follow the facings (which would have given bright yellow and orange on two of the others).

1 figure.  Painted August 2024.