1st Rhode Island State Regiment

Rhode Island was the first of the thirteen colonies to formally renounce its allegiance to George III, in May 1776.   The colony then proceeded to raise various regiments of troops as an "army of observation".  The 1st Rhode Island Regiment began life in 1775 as "Varnum's Regiment", was then adopted into the Continental Army as the 12th Continental Regiment, was re-designated the 9th Continental Regiment in 1776 and then on 1 January 1777 became the 1st Rhode Island Regiment.  What became the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment followed a similar path: raised as "Hitchcock's Regiment" in May 1775 it joined Continental service as the 14th Continental Regiment, then becoming the 11th Continental Regiment in 1776.  A year later it was re-designated the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment.  In February 1778 the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island Regiments merged, and a new 1st Rhode Island Regiment was formed largely of freed slaves.  These units appear to have been consolidated into the "Rhode Island Regiment" in 1781.   A third unit, "Church's Regiment", was also raised in May 1775 but was disbanded at the end of the year and its men transferred into the other 2 regiments.  A further unit, "Richmond's Regiment", was raised in October 1775 and was taken onto the Continental establishment later that year.  The unit appears to have been discharged early in 1777.  There are also references to another short-lived regiment, "Babcock's" or "Lippitt's Regiment", which was raised in 1776 and disbanded in January 1777.  

The uniform colours I used for this battalion were taken from the leaflet that comes with the Perry boxed set of Continental infantry.  This has dark blue coats faced yellow for the "1st State Regiment" in 1777.  I confess I'm not entirely sure which of the five regiments above it is supposed to be.  Uniforms changed from year to year in the 1775-8 period and it may be that the blue faced yellow coats were issued to the 1st Rhode Island Regiment in January 1777, or were unique to one of the other units.  I've seen references to the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment starting off with brown faced red coats and then changing into white hunting shirts in June 1778.  So I'm a bit confused as to this unit's identity but, to be honest, I don't really mind since I like the blue faced yellow coats and this is something different to the more ubiquitous blue or brown faced red.   What is clear is that this painted unit is not the later-war "Rhode Island Regiment" in the famous all-white uniforms and fancy leather hats.  I painted these figures with 1776-78 very much in mind.

I painted these figures a good while ago and then forgot about them.  A photo of them appears in the fourth "British Grenadier!" scenario book to accompany the Newport scenario.  I wanted to use up all my remaining metal "marching" figures, so there are a number of different packs and manufacturers represented here.  At one end is a base of four of Eureka's "ragged Continental" figures - this is the company that hasn't received its new uniform issue yet (but are still marching proudly).   

The blog's been quiet recently for various reasons.  I have some more AWI cavalry to post about shortly and then...Napoleon in Egypt week!

20 figures.  Painted December 2014 to February 2015.  Flag by GMB.

 

 

 

3rd Virginia

The 3rd Virginia was raised in December 1775 as a Continental Army unit.  It lost its initial colonels, Hugh Mercer and George Weedon, to promotion within a couple of months and was then commanded for by Thomas Marshall.  William Heth then led the regiment from early 1778 until 1781.  The regiment was engaged at Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.  By 1780 it had been posted to South Carolina, and most of the regiment was captured when the British took Charleston in May of that year.  Captain John Chilton left a number of letters and a diary of his time in the regiment, which were published a few years ago.

I painted two bases for this regiment in 2004.  I then completely forgot about it until earlier this year, when I was deciding what to do with my remaining "firing line" figures; there's not much you can do with an 8-figure unit, so bringing it up to strength was an obvious use for my odds 'n sods.  These are largely Foundry figures, with a couple of Perries and one Eureka ragged Continental.  The uniform colours are from the Zlatich Osprey MAAs - light blue coats faced blue with green waistcoats.  That sounds pretty outlandish, and I think it was initial scepticism about the colour scheme that led to my initial downing tools on this unit.  So for most of the new figures I dropped the green waistcoats.  So I don't really know how accurate this portrayal is; but it's colourful at least and other regiments certainly wore light blue coats (such as the 2nd New Hampshire).  My painting style and the paints I use have changed since 2004 - the dark blues on the earlier figures, for example, were highlighted with a long-vanished Citadel colour, which is different to the Foundry "Deep Blue" triad that I use nowadays.     

16 figures.  Painted 2004 and January 2017.  Flag by GMB.

 

 

 

 

2nd New Jersey

It's been much too long since my last post - usual reasons of too much work and a severe reduction of painting time over the past couple of months.  This is the 2nd New Jersey, a regiment raised at the end of 1775 under the command of Colonel William Maxwell.  It saw action fairly quickly by being assigned to the army investing Quebec.  The regiment returned to New Jersey at the end of the men's one-year enlistment and was immediately reformed.  By this time, Maxwell had been promoted to Brigadier-General and the regiment was assigned to his New Jersey brigade within the division commanded by William Stirling.  Command of the regiment passed to Israel Shreve, whose teenage son had also enlisted.  The 2nd New Jersey was at Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.  In 1779 the regiment was part of General John Sullivan's campaign against the Iroquois and was subsequently stationed back in New Jersey, where it saw further action at Springfield in June 1780.  After a further period of "garrison" duty, in August 1781 the regiment marched to Yorktown with the rest of the New Jersey Brigade to bring the war to its end.  In June 1783 the regiment was disbanded.

This unit is the first of two that I painted to use up my remaining "firing line" Continental figures.  The second is a bulking-up of an existing unit that I'll post about at the weekend.  I had intended to paint a Connecticut regiment in brown coats, but information on the likely uniforms of the unit I had in mind has moved on and I'll be using Perry plastic figures instead.  Looking through the "British Grenadier!" scenario books, I noticed that some scenarios require large units where a single Continental regiment is split into "wings"; and so for those units you need forty or more figures wearing the same uniform.  With that in mind, I saw that if I painted this larger 24-figure unit in dark blue faced red coats, with a handful of figures in hunting shirts, then I could combine it with some existing (much older) units such as the 2nd Maryland, the 8th Maryland  and even the very smart Delaware Regiment.  Adding those 3 units to the 2nd New Jersey gives me a largely uniform regiment of 78 figures.  Using up left over figures means that the 2nd New Jersey has representatives from the Foundry, Perry and Eureka ranges.  These are all broadly compatible, of course, although in the command stand the Eureka drummer looks rather well fed and tall next to the more slender Perry officer.  I decided to group the remaining Eureka "ragged" Continentals and the hunting shirt types on the same base, to suggest a company that is awaiting its new issue of uniforms.  There is a second Perry officer on that base simply because I ran out of rank-and-file figures.

The flag is the one usually referred to as "Maxwell's New Jersey" flag.  I've had it for years and was having difficulty finding a use for it, and it seemed appropriate for the 2nd New Jersey to carry.  It certainly makes a nice change from anything with stars and stripes.

On the workbench at the moment are more Continental and Loyalist cavalry, and a couple of other things.  More soon, I hope.  In the meantime, happy Easter to all readers!

24 figures.  Painted January to March 2017.  Flag by "Flag Dude".  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5th Pennsylvania

The 5th Pennsylvania Regiment had its origins in the 4th Pennsylvania Battalion, which was raised in early 1776 with Anthony Wayne as its Colonel.  A year later, the enlistments of the men who had joined this unit expired, but many of them joined the newly-raised 5th Pennsylvania Regiment.  The regiment was engaged throughout the campaigns in the northern theatre - Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth and Stony Point.  At some point, the regiment was transferred to the south, as it fought at Green Spring in July 1781 during the Yorktown campaign.   The regiment was disbanded on 1 January 1783.  It appears in the following "British Grenadier!" scenarios: Brandywine (18 figures), Germantown (18), Whitemarsh (16) and Monmouth (24 - this is described in the scenario as a composite of various Pennsylvania units).

This regiment uses the figures from Perry packs AW172-173, "American infantry in peaked caps".  The box of plastic Continental infantry contains peaked caps, although those have a feather behind the front.  The majority of figures in the plastic set are in breeches, so if you want to have a regiment of infantry in caps and overalls, you'll need to use these metal packs.  Research suggested various possibilities for regiments wearing caps, such as Henley's Additional (which I already have, albeit in tricornes).  I decided on the 5th Pennsylvania largely because I don't have many Pennsylvania regiments and I liked the blue faced white colour scheme of this regiment.  I'll admit to finding the figures rather fiddly to paint.  In particular, I couldn't work out the straps on the reverse of the figures.  If you look at the photo opposite, you can see that the bread bags have large straps - I'm pretty sure I've painted two straps as one, but I'm just not sure what the underneath strap is for (the bayonet?). 

Also, I was initially wary of the bands around the muskets - the vast majority of American figures in the Perry AWI don't have bands and I wondered whether this was an anachronistic mistake.  However, the answer is probably that these are supposed to be French-supplied Charleville muskets, which did have bands on them during this period (as indeed can be seen on the Perry French figures).  Apparently the "Brown Bess" was fairly unique in not having bands, and Dutch and German muskets had them as well as French ones (hat-tip to Brendan Morrissey for this information).  The Charleville musket was first introduced in 1717 and the design was revised several times before the musket was replaced by percussion lock types in the 1840s.  The muskets supplied to the Continental Army were mainly older models from the 1760s.  The newer Model 1777 was used by French troops during the AWI and this was the standard model used in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

The French Charleville musket

   

A replica second 1769 Short Land Pattern "Brown Bess" musket

The flag is by GMB and is a loose one that I found in my flag box without any identification.  I couldn't place it, but my pal Bill Nevins tracked it down as the "Easton Flag".  Legend has it that the flag was first displayed in July 1776 for the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Easton, Northampton County in Pennsylvania.  However, it seems more likely that this flag was used by local militia during the War of 1812.  With a circle of gold stars it's very similar to the flag of the European Union, but I think it looks ok for this regiment, as the colours match and so much the better if it has some connection with Pennsylvania.  It's from GMB pack WIA43.  I'm not all that keen on the pose of the standard bearer, although I understand that this is the way flags were usually carried on the march.  With this finished unit, I've now painted at least one of all the American infantry packs released by Perry Miniatures - there are 29, in case you're wondering!

24 figures.  Painted July-September 2016.  Flag by GMB.

 

 

 

 

 

2nd South Carolina

The past month's been manic, so sorry for the late arrival of this post.  This unit is the last in my trilogy of Perry plastic American regiments (see also the 3rd New Hampshire and the 10th Massachusetts).  I painted these South Carolina chaps a good few months ago, but I failed to sort out the flag and then forgot about them.  I've wanted to paint up some South Carolina regulars since I visited Charleston some years ago and saw the uniform in the local museum (see here).  However, I couldn't find any figures with the suitable caps until the Perry plastics came along.  I chose the 2nd regiment because it features as a 20-figure unit in the Savannah scenario, the figures for which I've been building up over the past couple of years or so.  Also, the handy uniform guide in the Perry box said that the 2nd regiment may have had some men in white hunting shirts, and I thought a mix of white shirts and blue regimental coats would look quite smart.

The 2nd South Carolina Regiment was raised in June 1775, one of five regiments authorised by the state's government (so these units did not form part of the Continental line).  The 2nd's war service was largely limited to actions in its own state, although detachments seem to have served in Florida.  The regiment was part of the force that successfully defended Fort Moultrie at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in June 1776.  Sullivan's Island was in the entrance to Charleston's harbour and its successful defence denied the British fleet its intended capture of Charleston.  The regiment saw action at the American/French attack on Savannah in 1779 and the following year again took part in the defence of Charleston against British attack.  This time the British were successful and the regiment passed into captivity in May 1780.

I have a bit of a backlog of completed unit again so there will be more loyalist stuff after Christmas.  In the meantime, a very happy Christmas to all readers.

20 figures.  Painted April-May 2015.  Flag by GMB. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3rd New Hampshire

This is my second unit of American troops using the Perry plastic Continentals set.  I have a finished third, a South Carolina regiment, but I need to sort the flag out.  With each unit I've tried out a different set of hats.  The first, the 10th Massachusetts, used round hats and the Carolinians wear peaked caps.  These New Hampshire chaps have tricornes.  I painted the 2nd New Hampshire almost 8 years ago and decided to paint the 3rd simply because I liked the look of the uniforms.  The uniform leaflet in the Perry box shows this green coat and breeches outfit for the New Hampshire regiments and I thought it looked rather neat - it certainly makes a change from brown or dark blue coats.  Online references include brown faced red coats (which were issued at the end of 1778)  and even blue faced green, but I'll happily go with the Perry/Brendan Morrissey information, which I think works for the pre-November 1778 period.  I particularly like the yellow coat of the drummer. 

New Hampshire raised three infantry regiments in 1775 from the state's existing militia, which were quickly taken into the Continental line.   Then, in November 1776, the regiments that had become the 5th, 8th and 2nd Continental Regiments reverted back into being the 1st to 3rd New Hampshire Regiments.   The 3rd Regt saw heavy action during the Saratoga campaign and was present at Monmouth in 1778.   The regiment was disbanded in January 1781.

The standard bearer is a Foundry metal figure, but all the others are Perry plastics.  The green coats were painted with the Foundry palette "70 French Dragoon Green ".  The reason why some of the figures are "march attack" and others are "marching casually" is simply because I wasn't paying attention when putting all the figures together!  For the flag, I used one of my left over 2nd New Hampshire flags - in the relevant GMB pack you get a blue flag and a buff one, and I'd already used the former.  Quindia Studios have a very nice 3rd New Hampshire flag which I should have used (had I spotted it earlier)!

I've just emerged from 4 of the most difficult weeks I've ever had at work, and posting has suffered as a result.  I have a massive backlog of stuff now so I'm making a firm attempt to post at least twice a week.  So coming up are lots and lots of AWI French and Napoleonic French generals.  I've just finished the 2nd Continental Dragoons and currently on the workbench are the loyalist Emmerich's Chasseurs. 

18 figures.  Painted March-May 2015.  Flag by GMB.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10th Massachusetts

The 10th Massachusetts was raised in 1776 at Boston and assigned the following year to the Northern Department.  In October 1777 it was assigned to the main Continental Army.  It appears that a Colonel Thomas Marshall was commanding officer from 6 November 1776 until 1 January 1781. Colonel Benjamin Tupper was commanding officer from 1 January 1781 until 1 January 1783.  I haven't managed to find out anything else about this regiment.  Wikipedia states that it was present at Saratoga and Monmouth, which seems plausible enough.

I was inspired by the Don Troiani painting of this regiment, which showed the brown coats with sea-green facings.  I knew nothing of the regiment but was drawn to the brown faced blue-green facings.  The round hats suggested that this would be a good unit with which to start on my Perry plastic Continental Infantry sets.  The facings were painted with Foundry's "Teal Blue 24" palette and the coats with "Bay Brown 42".  I wanted to have some variation in the colour of the breeches and stockings.  The flag design is taken from an image I found on the internet, attributed to the regiment.  I have never seen a flag with this design, but it's different and somehow the pink/peach colour of the flag goes quite well with the green/brown look of the regimental coats.  Another point to note is that this is the first unit I've painted and then not varnished.  This is largely an experiment - I had noticed that the varnishes I was using dulled the colours and in particular took the edge off the faces.  No doubt some readers will think the latter is a good thing, as the unvarnished faces here do look a little shiny, as a result of the brown ink washes I use.  I'm not sure I'd leave metals unvarnished, but I think these plastic figures may have benefitted from it. 

As noted above, I don't have much information on this regiment's battle history and it doesn't appear in any of the published "British Grenadier!"/Caliver scenario books.  Plenty of Massachusetts regiments do, however, and so I would ensivage uses these figures when something more specific is lacking - for example, the Princeton scenario has two 12-figure units of "combined Massachusetts regiments".  I'm surprised to see that it has been 4 years since my last unit of regular American infantry.  But these figures were fun to paint and in uniform colour and pose are quite different to anything else I have in my collection.  I finished painting the figures in August but then got stuck on the flag for a while until I found the online example.

24 figures. Painted July/August 2014.