More Patriot Rifles

 

When we did our Brandywine playtest in June, I realized that I needed some more Patriot Riflemen. 

There was another code pf Rifles from Brigade Games that I didn't use for my first units, so that was a natural choice. 

Besides, it's hard to go wrong with more hunting shorts for the AWI!

"Skirmishing" poses for these fellows!

As with my first set, I did them as 2 subunits of six figures each. 

This kind of "unbleached" linen color was probably the most common for the garment.

We Americans tend to over emphasize the number and importance of Riflemen deployed during the Revolution, but they were still one important advantage, with the British just having a couple of German Jager battalions to counter them.

I've somewhat arbitrarily designated these as the famous Morgan's Rifles. Once again, lovely sculpts by Brigade Games!

South Carolina Loyalist Militia

South Carolina was one of the most contested colonies during the Revolution, especially the later part when British strategy shifted to seeing if they might be able to split the Southern colonies off from the rest, and perhaps salvage something of their Colonies, recognizing the loss of New England and the Mid-Atlantic colonies was pretty a foregone conclusion once they found themselves also fighting France, Spain, and the Netherlands. 

The conflict was particularly brutal there as well. More skirmishes and battles occurred there than in any other colony. 

These fellows are Loyalists, and support the cause of the King. Figures by Brigade Games.

The fighting in South Carolina also involved the Cherokee tribes, who were ultimately pushed farther West. 

Actions included several at Fort Ninety Six, many battles in and around Charleston during the first (1775) and second (1780) sieges of Charleston, numerous skirmishes and small actions, and the Battles of Camden, King's Mountain, Cowpens,  and Eutaw Springs.

After failing to take Charleston in 1775, the British captured it in 1780, along with a large number of Patriots. This was largely a consequence of the South Carolina  government's failure to cooperate effectively with the Continental forces.

The British only evacuated Charleston in December of 1782, effectively ending the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. 

British Grenadiers #2 - American Revolutionary War

 

Back to some of the units I have already painted but hadn't been able to post yet!

Tjhese are Brigade Games Figures, and are drawn form the second group of my British regulars.  

Three figures each from the 64th (Black facings), 52nd (Buff),  9th (Yellow), and Guards (Dark Blue). 

The flag with the Grenade emblem is from the Guards, by Adolfo Ramos. 

When e’er we are commanded
To storm the palisades
Our leaders march with fuses,
And we with hand grenades;
We throw them from the glacis
About the enemies’ ears
Sing tow, row row row , row row row
For the British Grenadiers!

Hessian Grenadier Regiment Von Rall, American Revolutionary War

 Unlike the other Grenadiers in the Hessian army of this time, the Von Rall regiment was composed solely of Grenadiers.

Its origins date back to 1703. The jacket had ponceau (bright red) cuffs and collar, but no lapels.

The buttons and metal on the miters were brass. 

The cloith backing of the miter was dark blue with white stripes; the rea band on the miter was red piped white, rather than metal colored as in most other Grenadier miters.

These are Brigade Games figures with a flag from Flags of War; as a regiment, it had its own flags and design

The Regiment fought at the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington, and Trenton. Subsequent actions were Brandywine, Monmouth, Savannah, Stone Ferry, and the Siege of Savannah. 

1st Virginia Regiment in Hunting Shirts - American Revolutionaey War

The flag certainly marks this outfit as the 1st Virginia regiment.

The 1st Regiment was authorized on August 21, 1775 in the Virginia State Troops as the First Virginia Regiment. It was organized on October 21, 1775 at Williamsburg as a provincial defense unit composed of six musket and two rifle companies under the command of Patrick Henry. Each company was to consist of 68 enlisted men, with officers to include a captain, lieutenant and ensign (second lieutenant). Six of the companies were armed with muskets, and two with rifles.

For my own reasons, I have chosen to depict them in hunting shirts; there isn't any evidence for this although not impossible in the early war years. 

There was definitely a Maryland regiment recorded as wearing hunting shirts died black, though. These are Brigade Games figures; the flag was made from images on the internet. 

The regiment was adopted on November 1, 1775 into the Continental Army. Eventually, its regulation uniform would be dark blue coats faced red, as  Virginia Continental regiment. 

It was assigned on February 27, 1776 to the Southern Department, but then reassigned to the Main Continental Army on July 29, 1776. It formed part of  Lord Stirling's Brigade from October 1776 until May 1777, when it became part of the first Virginia Brigade. 

In May 1779i t was consolidated with the 9th Virginia regiment to form a new 1st Virginia Regiment of 9 companies. In December, 1779, the regiment was transferred to the Southern Department. 

The regiment was captured by the British in the 2nd siege of Charleston on May 12, 1780. 

Easton, Pennsylvania Patriot infantry in Hunting shirts

When testing my Brandywine game, it became apparent that I needed a few more Patriot units. 

I settled on a couple more units in hunting shirts, a couple in more standard "Continental" uniforms, and some more Rifles, all rom Brigade Games..

This gave me a good excuse to use this interesting "Easton" (PA) flag, which is based upon images downloaded from the internet. 

From the Wikipedia article on the subject:  The flag is designed differently from more common flags of the United States in that it has 13 (8-pointed) stars in a blue field, with 13 stripes in the canton.[1] The flag's design is consistent with the 1777 Flag Act, which does not specify the location of the stars and stripes: "That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

According to local legend, the flag was hoisted when the Declaration of Independence was publicly read in Easton, Pennsylvania by Robert Levers on July 8, 1776, two days before a copy of the Declaration reached New York City. 

The flag was used as a company flag under Captain Abraham Horn in the War of 1812, and some suspect that the design may only date from this era. 

The existence of the flag before the War of 1812 is considered unlikely by some, but flags of that period would have had 15 stars and stripes rather than the 13 of 1776 as present on the Flag of Easton. In 1821, the flag was given to the Easton Area Public Library, which has it on display. Easton, PA is also home to Lafayette College. Paul, one of my original wargames group for High School, graduated from there with a degree in Engineering. I had occasion to visit him there -a  beautiful campus! I will be driving through Easton again in a few weeks, as it lies on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River, along my preferred route to drive to Lancaster, PA, where Historicon is held.

The less said about current politics in the US, the better. Suffice it say that I detest the current occupant of the White House and virtually everything that he stands for (that being chiefly himself). It being the 250th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, I can do little better that quote its words:

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

South Carolina Militia, American Revolutionary War

 South Carolina saw a disproportionate amount of combat during the Revolutionary War. 

The first siege of Charleston, the largest city South of Virginia, by Sir Henry Clinton in 1776, was defeated by Continental Major General Charles Lee, and SC Militia Colonel William Moultrie in June of 1776.

The British did not return to Charleston until 1780, as part of their "Southern Strategy". Clinton was particularly keen to expunge the stain of his 1776 failure. This time, the city was approached from the land, and the defense was poorly coordinated between the Continental forces under Major General Benjamin Lincoln and South Carolina State forces (a persistent problem when dealing with the fractious South Carolina sate government). The garrison delayed evacuating the city until it was surrounded, resulting in the capture of the city and with it 2500 Continentals. Honor satisfied, Clinton sailed back to New York, leaving Cornwallis in command.

Before he left, Clinton made Cornwallis' job much more difficult by issuing a proclamation declaring that all men who had been given parole were released from that state and required to swear allegiance to the crown, and expected to serve when ordered by His Majesty's government.

This regiment has blue jackets with yellow facings. a uniform actually recorded for a North Carolina unit. They are Brigade Games Southern Militia figures. 

The flag is actually a South Carolina naval flag, but seemed to suit this unit especially well. 

Hessian Fusilier Regiment Von Lossberg, American Revolutionary War

The origins of this Regiment date back to 1683. 

The uniform had orange lapels, cuffs, and turnbacks. The cloth backing on the Fusilier miters was black; somewhat curiously, the backing of the Grenadier miters of this regiment were orange. 

The buttons and metal on the miters were brass. 

These are Brigade Games figures with a flag by Flags of War. 

The Regiment fought at Long Island, White Plains, and Fort Washington; the bulk of the Regiment was captured at Trenton, but contingents fought at Brandywine Creek and Monmouth Courthouse. 

The regiment was renamed Alt Lossberg and became a Musketeer regiment in 1782.