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. 

  

South Carolina Dragoons

Many Loyalist units were raised in the South and these figures represent generic Loyalist cavalry. I like to give my units specific regimental designations, so I'm calling this one the South Carolina Dragoons, even though it's designed to cover a variety of units.  Finding specific information on these sorts of units is difficult.  The Royal Provincial website lists 3 units of "South Carolina Light Dragoons" but provides no details.  The site also refers to a unit of "North Carolina Independent Dragoons".  These units seem to have be raised in 1781 and operated either as scouts or mounted infantry.  We do know that at least some of the South Carolina Loyalist cavalry was commanded by Major John Coffin, formerly of the Loyalist infantry regiment the New York Volunteers. 

I wanted something for use in two "British Grenadier!" scenarios: the "South Carolina Dragoons" at Eutaw Springs (8 figures) and the "New York Dragoons" at Hobkirk's Hill (6 figures).  It's possible that these two units are in fact the same, as there is speculation that whilst the "New York Dragoons" are recorded as having been at Hobkirk's Hill this unit may have been confused with the infantry New York Volunteers and that the cavalry present were from South Carolina.  I thought that if dressed in proper cavalry uniforms the troopers might have sought to emulate British regiments like the 16th and 17th Light Dragoons.  So tarleton helmets seemed appropriate, although chum Brendan Morrissey suggested to me that floppy hats would probably have been worn as well as, or instead of, metal helmets.  I decided to use more Eureka "ragged Continental" figures (which I've used for other Loyalist cavalry units, the East Florida Rangers and  Emmerich's Chasseurs).  Options for facings colours included blue, which would have been suitable for a New York unit, and yellow, which was more suggestive of South Carolina as it's known that some of the infantry Loyalists had yellow facings.  Given that I have the blue-faced 16th Light Dragoons in a similar uniform, I decided to go with yellow.

I'm almost there with British and Loyalist cavalry now - just the 17th Light Dragoons in their northern theatre dress and the British Legion left to do.

8 figures.  Painted April-May 2017.

 

 

King's Royal Regiment of New York (1)

The King's Royal Regiment of New York ("KRRNY") was raised in June 1776 by Sir John Johnson, a loyalist who had fled with his family and other loyalists to Canada in May after harassment by local patriots.  Johnson had started recruiting a battalion of loyalists in January and finished the process in Canada. (Johnson had his revenge on his local enemies - see my previous post on Frederick Visscher.)  Eventually two battalions were raised, nicknamed "Johnson's Greens" and "the Royal Yorkers".  The KRRNY was active in raiding down the Mohawk Valley and fought in the Saratoga campaign.  During the Saratoga campaign, the KRRNY formed part of the force under the command of Colonel Barry St Leger which was sent up the Saint Lawrence river to besiege Fort Stanwix.  When St Leger heard that a relief force of militia under Nicholas Herkimer was on its way, he and his Indian allies prepared an ambush, which became the battle of Oriskany.  Despite winning that battle, St Leger was forced to retreat back to Canada when he learnt that a further relief force under Benedict Arnold was looking for him.  He had intended to link-up with the main British force under Burgoyne, but St Leger only managed to reach Fort Ticonderoga by the time that Burgoyne surrendered.  The KRRNY remained stationed in Canada and continued raiding into New York and Vermont until the end of the war.  The regiment was disbanded in 1784 and its men were given land in Upper Canada (now Ontario).     

So for wargaming purposes, the KRRNY would be handy for F&IW-style skirmish games as well as being a key component for the battle of Oriskany.   The "British Grenadier!" orbat for Oriskany has two units of the KRRNY, of 16 and 12 figures.  The former is on the table from the beginning, whilst the latter is a reinforcement that arrives after a few turns.  These figures are Perry plastic British infantry with "Saratoga" caps and tricornes and represent the 16-figure ambush unit.  I wanted to re-create the look of the regiment in the Don Troiani painting of Oriskany that I used when I painted my Hanyery Tewahangarahken personality figure.  I've re-posted the painting as the KRRNY figure can be seen clearly in the centre-right - green coat with red facings and a cap with a red horsehair crest.  Before painting these figures I read all the materials on the excellent website of the re-created KRRNY about the unit's likely uniform.  The choice is basically green coats faced either blue or red.  The former was the established norm until Don Troiani's uniform researcher, James Kochan, concluded that red was the most likely facing colour.  I won't post the arguments either way - anyone interested should read the articles on the website I've linked to.  Kochan thinks that the regiment probably wore Saratoga-style cap-hats when on active duty; or at least it seems likely that the battalions' light companies would have done so.  I've gone with that for 12 of the figures and given them black belts to suggest that these are light company men.  I then decided to paint the remaining 4 figures as normal centre company figures in tricornes, on the basis that (a) more than 12 figures for the light companies would be excessive and (b) I'd be able to add the 4 tricorne figures to the next batch of 12 to form a unit of 16 which I could use for other Loyalist regiments.  I'll post those remaining 12 figures in a couple of weeks.  The coats shouldn't have lace; I decided not to cut it off or paint over it, and so painted it white.  So these figures are all a bit conjectural, to be honest, but they do capture the "look" I was after.           

16 figures.  Painted October-December 2016.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Volunteers of Ireland

The Volunteers of Ireland was a corps of Loyalists that was raised in Philadelphia in May 1778.  A letter from General Clinton to Lord Germain (the British Secretary of State for America at the time) suggests that the motive for establishing a regiment of loyal Irishmen was recognition that, while it had been assumed that Irish immigrants were likely to be among the most hostile to continued British rule, in fact such communities had not completely assimilated and retained some affection for "the Old Country".  Lord Rawdon, son of the 1st Lord of Moira in the Irish peerage, was given command and entrusted with raising the regiment.  Rawdon had fought at Bunker Hill as a lieutenant in the grenadier company of the 5th Foot, and his actions there resulted in promotion to a captaincy in the 63rd Foot.  Whether Rawdon succeeded in recruiting only Irishmen is unclear - Clinton's letter refers to the regiment containing 380 deserters from the Continental Army.  The regiment also incorporated men from the Roman Catholic Volunteers, a unit raised in October the previous year but which was having discipline problems.

Here's what the original recruiting notice of May 1778 said:

ALL Gentlemen, Natives of Ireland, who are zealous for the Honour and Prosperity of their Country, are hereby informed, that a Corps, to be stiled the VOLUNTEERS of IRELAND, is now raising by their Countryman, LORD RAWDON.

Those who wish to seize this favourable Opportunity, of manifesting their Attachment to their Native Land, are desired to apply to Captain BOURNE, at his Quarters, opposite to Coenties Market-place, or to Lieutenant MOFFAT, at the Lines, Kingsbridge; Lieutenant BINGHAM, Long-Island; Lieutenant DALTON, Powles-Hook, or at Mr. DEAN's, at the Sign of the Ship, near the Fly Market, where they shall be honourably entertained.
Any person who shall bring an approved good Recruit, shall receive Half a Guinea for each.
Good Men of any Country will be received.

GOD SAVE THE KING

The VoI was placed on the American establishment as the 2nd American Regiment in May 1779.  The regiment saw action at Camden, where one of its sergeants was decorated for bravery, Hobkirk's Hill and then in the relief of the siege of Fort Ninety-Six.  The regiment remained in South Carolina for the duration of the war, and after the surrender at Yorktown was shipped to New York.  In December 1782, the regiment was put on the British regular establishment as the 105th Foot.  The troops were taken to Nova Scotia where they settled.  Rawdon's career continued to flourish - he served as Governor-General of India for 10 years from 1812 and died in 1826, whilst Governor of Malta.

In the published "British Grenadier!" scenarios, the VoI appear twice - 30 figures for Camden and 20 for Hobkirk's Hill.  I decided to stick with 20 figures after I'd already based the first batch on a base of 6 (the Camden scenario in the first "British Grenadier!" scenario book is enormous, so I've largely used unit strengths from the other scenarios - if a Camden game ever looks imminent I can easily paint up another 10 figures); so I used a 20x50mm base for the last 2 figures (the frontage is a couple of mm too large, but who's going to notice).  These are Perry Miniatures figures, of course, and wear the "Brandenburg coat" uniform that the regiment is thought to have worn.  The uniform is quite fiddly to paint, and I found the harp motifs on the caps particularly difficult.  Sources differ on whether the caps hat white tape around the front edge - I decided to leave that out, but added silver tape to the command figures.  Much of the VoI uniform is conjecture, including these lovely GMB flags, I assume.  These are pretty figures, but ultimately the regiment is unlikely to see much action on the tabletop.

20 figures.  Painted June-August 2016.  Flags by GMB.

Butler's Rangers

John Butler (1728–1796) lived in the Mohawk Valley from his early teens and became highly proficient in the local Indian languages.  This led to his employment as an officer in the Indian Department during the French & Indian War.  After the war he became a substantial landowner and retained close links to the Indian Department.  He also became a lieutenant-colonel in the Tryon County Militia (of which Nicholas Herkimer was Brigadier-General) but when the AWI broke out he remained loyal to Britain and moved to Canada.  He helped mobilise up-state New York's Indians to support the Saratoga campaign and Butler participated in the battle of Oriskany.  He was then promoted  lieutenant-colonel for a second time and given authority to raise his own regiment.  This unit became known as Butler's Rangers and ultimately comprised ten companies of around 60 men each. 

Butler's Rangers earned notoriety for their participation, along with their Indian allies, in the "Wyoming Valley Massacre" of July 1778, so named because of the alleged killing and torturing of Patriot prisoners and the subsequent destruction of much property, and then the "Cherry Valley Massacre" of December 1778 which saw the killing of civilians as well as militia.  The violent actions in the Mohawk Valley of loyalist units like Butler's Rangers and the Iroquois who had sided with the Crown prompted the Sullivan Expedition of 1779.  George Washington's orders to General John Sullivan demonstrate the ferocity of the fighting in the region:

"The Expedition you are appointed to command is to be directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting more.

 

I would recommend, that some post in the center of the Indian Country, should be occupied with all expedition, with a sufficient quantity of provisions whence parties should be detached to lay waste all the settlements around, with instructions to do it in the most effectual manner, that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed.

But you will not by any means listen to any overture of peace before the total ruinment of their settlements is effected. Our future security will be in their inability to injure us and in the terror with which the severity of the chastisement they receive will inspire them."

The Sullivan Expedition made good progress in the achievement of those objectives, but failed to land a "killer blow".  As a consequence, Iroquois raids continued, but the Indians were a much depleted, and dispersed, force.  The largest battle of the Expedition was at Newtown on 29 August 1779.  The Indians and Loyalists, a force which included Butler's Rangers, positioned themselves in earthworks, but Sullivan's clever flanking attacks, vigorous fighting by the 2nd and 3rd New Hampshire Regiments and the Americans' artillery won the day.  The regiment disbanded in June 1784 and its soldiers appear to have settled in Ontario.  A few years later Butler formed his veterans into a local militia which, under the name of the Lincoln Militia, fought in the War of 1812.  John Butler did not live to see that further conflict between the US and Great Britain.  He died in 1796, a prominent political leader of Upper Canada.  There's a much more detailed history of the regiment by Calvin Arnt here.

I've designated these figures as "Butler's Rangers", but to be honest it's designed for use as generic Loyalist rangers in scenarios which call for such, like Oriskany, the Saratoga battles and Savannah, to give just 3 examples.  The figures are King's Mountain Miniatures' Continentals with a variety of heads.  I wanted the unit to have a high degree of uniformity but still have the look of some modifications for the field.  Both the McGregor/Mollo and Smith/Kiley uniform books show Butler's Rangers in dark green hunting shirts, so I made up a couple of figures in that dress.  Otherwise, I've modelled these figures according to this online article by Calvin Arnt.  Most portrayals show the Rangers in dark green coats with red facings, and leather caps with a brass front.  Arnt argues that the facings were most likely to have been white, not red.  I'll not explain his reasoning here - the article in the link does so at length.  As for headgear, Arnt doesn't like "jockey caps" and argues that the Rangers probably wore slouch/round hats and perhaps tricornes for the NCOs and officers.  I decided, however, that I wanted to have a couple of figures in caps and so I used a variety of KMM heads.  The caps here are KMM 10 but with the peak cut/shaved off.  I didn't use brass-fronted caps because I've always been a bit suspicious of whether people who spent a lot of time sneaking around would wear something that would catch the sunlight.  No doubt others object to Arnt's conclusions by I would emphasise that these are intended more for use as generic Loyalists (the "British Grenadier!" scenario for Oriskany, for example, requires 6 "rangers" in Butler's brigade - that unit can't be "Butler's Rangers" as the regiment didn't exist until later; but I'll use these figures).  The two figures in hunting shirts could also be used as Patriots.  

9 figures.  Painted September 2016.

 

Loyalist camp

I regret that posts have been thin on the ground over the past couple of months.  However, that can be remedied as a result of a good session in the garden with my camera yesterday.  Highlanders, loyalist rangers and some personalities are to come, but to start with here's the Perry Miniatures AWI camp set.  The website states that the set can be used for either side.  You have two soldiers in shirtsleeves and waistcoats, and two wearing uniform coats; so the latter figures require a decision on what "side" they are going to be.  To my eyes this set lends itself more to the British side than the Continental, and I decided to paint the uniformed figures as later-war loyalists.  I was thinking in particular of the New York Volunteers that I painted at the end of last year.  That's because the only scenarios I can think of which feature Crown troops fighting inside or near their camp are Stono Ferry, Savannah and Eutaw Springs; and all those feature loyalist units clothed in red faced dark blue coats.  The colour of whatever's in the pot gave me pause - I've assumed that it's some sort of soup using vegetables, potatoes, chicken and stuff, and that the overall colour of the watery result would be a pale brown.

This is a nice little set, one of the small number of packs I bought at Salute this year.  On the workbench at the moment are a large Pennsylvania regiment, the Volunteers of Ireland and some Conquest Miniatures "frontiersmen" which I intend to use for generic Patriot scouts/rangers.  I have a couple of packs of Conquest Indians, which I'll turn to next alongside more loyalist infantry.

6 figures.  Painted September 2016.

 

 

 

  

British/Loyalist casualties

I'm a bit behind at the moment.  So, in the absence of anything else, here are some casualty figures from the Perry plastic British infantry box, which come on the command sprue.  I've posted about such figures before - see here for Continental casualties and here for highlanders.  I put the same effort into these as "live" figures, so I might as well post them on TQ.  As I said in one of those earlier posts, I base casualty figures on small rectangular bases, so I can add hats, weapons and a bit of scenic stuff to make the figures more of an event.   These figures are painted as being from recent British and Loyalist units that I have been painting; so from left to right: 46th Foot, 44th Foot, New York Volunteers, King's Carolina Rangers. I'm currently finishing off the 46th Foot, so hopefully the full battalion will be up here in a week or so.    

 

By the way, in case anyone didn't realise it: my post of earlier in the month, "Washington's Ape", was an April Fool. That means the story wasn't real.  Its premise was taken from the strange tale of the "Hartlepool Monkey".  The story goes that some time during the Napoleonic Wars a French warship was wrecked in the seas off Hartlepool (a town on the north-east coast of England) and the only survivor washed ashore was an ape, dressed in uniform for the amusement of the ship's crew (one assumes).  The locals were concerned that the ape was a French spy, and so hanged it on the beach.  Who knows if this really happened?  To this day, the local rugby team is still nicknamed "the Monkeyhangers" and the story has passed into folklore.  As I mentioned in the post, the figure was a gift and I thought I'd transpose the story to the end of the AWI.  The point of an April Fool is to make it believable, and it occurred to me that people would be much more likely to think the story was true if the perpetrators were British or Loyalist soldiers.

It became clear from what I read elsewhere that some people didn't like my post.  I can't really help that and, while I love animals and personally would never hurt one intentionally, I don't really have a problem with models of dead animals or even of an episode of human cruelty like this.  Wargaming is a hobby that makes entertainment out of extreme violence and I'm afraid that I don't perceive any moral difference between modelling a gallows that shows a dead highwayman or pirate, for example (and there were several such vignettes on the tables at Salute this year), and one that shows a dead animal.  But that's just me - I understand others have different views and I respect that.  We all have a line that we won't cross in this hobby, and we shouldn't expect everyone else's line to be in the same place as our own.   I wasn't much impressed, however, with one suggestion that my post somehow glorifies the lynching of African-Americans - I don't have time for that sort of nonsense, to be honest. 

 

4 figures.  Painted January 2016.

 

 

 

New York Volunteers

Despite the title of this post, when we have here is my generic loyalist unit that has multiple identities: New York Volunteers, New Yersey Volunteers and North Carolina Volunteers.  Research suggested that all those regiments wore red coats faced dark blue in the post 1779 period (if not earlier) and so I decided that one unit of Perry plastic British infantry with slough hats would do for all of them, given that they appear in different scenarios.  Rather than try to provide a history of each of these regiments, I set out below the "British Grenadier!" scenarios in which they appear:

- New York Volunteers: Hudson Forts (16); Hobkirk's Hill (18); Eutaw Springs (12);
- New Jersey Volunteers, 4th Battalion: Springfield (12);
- North Carolina Volunteers: Stono Ferry (8); Savannah (6).

The "Hudson Forts" scenario is the attack on Fort Washington in November 1776, so it's quite possible that the New York Volunteers were not in their red uniforms at that time.  And the uniforms probably didn't have lace - but as I explained in my general post on loyalists, I'm not really that fussed about lace to be honest, and I've decided to use the Perry British plastic figures for some of my loyalist units.  I wanted these chaps to look more uniform in appearance than the other loyalist units I've painted recently, so the colours of the overalls are the same.  Also, I know the Hobkirk's Hill scenario requires 18 figures, but I had to make a call on whether to base these figures in fours or sixes and I decided fours; which meant I wasn't going to paint 20 just so I'd have the 18 for that scenario.  I'm sure in due course I'll be able to add a couple of singly-based figures.

I expect the red-faced-blue uniform works for other loyalist regiments in the later war period, so if you only want one generic unit to represent loyalists in the south you could do a lot worse than something like this.  On the painting desk at the moment: Dabney's Virginia Legion, the 76th Foot (again) and mounted highland colonels.

16 figures.  Painted December 2015.