Skinners and Cowboys - Westchester in the AWI

[glenning]

Great stuff as always - I like the rag rag yet uniform look of that unit.

[Bowman]

What an excellent thread. The specific history of Westchester County is largely unknown to this Canadian. Please keep us appraised of your progress. Thanks again for sharing.

[Gangleri]

I always enjoy seeing this project updated.
Also happy to see the Birgade games figs seem to work well withe Perry Bros plastic/metals. I was worried that they might be too big so just ignored the range.

Yeah, I was worried about the same thing, but thankfully they fit together quite nicely.

What an excellent thread. The specific history of Westchester County is largely unknown to this Canadian. Please keep us appraised of your progress. Thanks again for sharing.

I'm delighted you have found it interesting! As a Canadian you may be aware that many Loyalists wound up in Canada after the war particularly in Nova Scotia and certain parts of Ontario - this would include many of the Tories in Westchester.  James De Lancey, the commander of the Refugees from a few posts ago, became a prominent politician in Nova Scotia, for example, as did his uncle Stephen De Lancey, formerly a lieutenant colonel in the New Jersey Volunteers.  The De Lancey family in particular is of interest, not only settling in Nova Scotia but sprouting an offshoot in the Bahamas as well as a large branch in Kent that produced several MPs and also William De Lancey, who was on Wellington's staff in the 100 Days and was mortally wounded at Waterloo.

Great stuff as always - I like the rag rag yet uniform look of that unit.

Thank you, that is just the effect I was going for.

I also have another bit of work to show you all, something a little out of my comfort zone.


This is my version of the Valentine-Varian House, built in 1758 in what is now the North Bronx.  The Bronx was for a long time not a New York City borough but part of Westchester County and was the scene of much activity in the war, some of which I will soon cover in this project.  Isaac Valentine, a well-off blacksmith from Yonkers, built the house near the Boston Post Road, and it was a common stopping-place for traffic moving between Manhattan and points further north.  Naturally its location meant that it would be on the front lines during the war, and it was frequently occupied by men of both armies.


The house formerly stood several blocks north of its current location, along Gun Hill Road (named for an American artillery park established there at one point), on the ground currently occupied by Montefiore Hospital, but in the 1960s it was moved adjacent to the Reservoir Oval on Bainbridge Avenue.  I used to walk past it almost every day for the several years I worked in that area.


I am not much of a scratch-builder, and this project was a bit torturous for me, with the result that I let it drag out for probably over a year.  I originally intended to carve the stonework onto foam like the fantasy buildings I've made, but I ended up masking the building in some stonework texture sheets from a railroad scenics company, which brought its own complications.  I may go back and add some Virginia creeper onto the walls for a bit of variety.


Some Tories march past the house.


I'm relatively pleased - it seems to match the original fairly well.

For more information (and visiting hours, etc.): https://historichousetrust.org/houses/valentine-varian-house/

Until next time!

[Cat]

The house came out great, and a superb example of Dutch-Colonial architecture!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great work! As a native New Yorker I would say it certainly looks the part. 👍

[Gangleri]

Hello again, folks.

Here is my latest addition, the Stockbridge Militia.  The Stockbridge tribes were an association of peoples from the eastern bank of the Hudson river, primarily Mohican, Wappinger, and Munsee (a branch of the Delaware/Lenape).  They dwelt primarily in western Massachussetts and what are now Columbia, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York, with their chief settlement at Stockbridge, MA.  They were mainly "praying Indians" (Protestant converts) and had been staunch allies of the British and Americans in the French and Indian War, having developed close relations with their white neighbors in the region.  Due to a land dispute with the Crown government that affected both whites and Indians in the area, they took up arms for Independence when the Revolution began and fought throughout the Hudson Valley and the tri-state area, often in conjuction with the Continental Light Infantry.



In 1778, while contesting the no-man's-land of Westchester, they ambushed a British foraging party.  In relatiation, Major Simcoe of the Queen's rangers organized an assault on the Stockbridge outpost in what is now van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.  The ensuing fight, called by several names, including the Battle of Kingsbridge and the Stockbridge massacre, saw the militia all but obliterated.  Trapped by infantry from several notable formations (including the QR and Emmerich's chasseurs), the Stockbridge withdrew into an open field but were ridden down by the British Legion and Queen's Rangers hussars, with only a small portion (around 10 of the unit's 50) escaping into some rocky ground.  The fighting was quite fierce, with the Stockbridge leaping onto the hussars' horses to pull off the riders, and the action nearly cost the life of a yet-to-be-famous Banastre Tarleton.


I used the Perry Stockbidge set, but to add variety I also added some Indian Chiefs and converted American riflemen. The appearance of the Stockbridge was famously described by Johann von Ewald, with the distinctive woven hats and throwing axes.




I added some patterend work to the equipment, based off some more or less contemporary examples.


At Kingsbridge, the militia was commanded by Daniel Nimham, sachem of the Wappinger tribe, and his son Abraham.  When cornered in the the open field, Daniel, who in 1766 had traveled to London and met with King George, urged Abraham to flee to high ground, but he himself refused to yield, proclaiming "I am old and can die here." He was mortally wounded by Simcoe's subaltern, and his son Abraham also perished. For Daniel, I used the Chief in a uniform jacket to mark him out as a leader and signify his relationship with Mordecai Gist and several other noteworthy Continental officers.

I hope in the coming weeks to visit the battlefield and provide some more information on the action.


Also, I painted some Indian civilians from Brigade Games.  These are meant to be people from the local Weckquaesgeek tribe who lived near the Hudson River in Westchester.

More to follow soon - I have a Halloween update in the works!

[commissarmoody]

Very cool! I had not heard of them and sad to read if their demise. But still a very interesting read.

[Grumpy Gnome]

A fascinating piece of history brought to life. Cheers for that. 👍

[Cat]

Beautiful work!

[CapnJim]

Well done on those.  I particularly like the chap in the blue regimental gesturing with his tomahawk...

[kingsmt]

Outstanding work!!!

Great job on the history of the AWI in Westchester.
I've been up that way many, many times living on Long Island.

Right now, I am working on Oriskany which is farther North.
But I really need to circle back to Westchester, once I finish off the Mohawk Valley.

Again, wonderful stuff!!!

[glenning]

Looking great, it's especially nice to see some Stockbridge warriors - and that little piece of history is very interesting as well!

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Excellent project, covering some unusual - but fascinating - aspects of the war.

[Gangleri]

Thanks all for your kind and encouraging words. 

Outstanding work!!!

Great job on the history of the AWI in Westchester.
I've been up that way many, many times living on Long Island.

Right now, I am working on Oriskany which is farther North.
But I really need to circle back to Westchester, once I finish off the Mohawk Valley.

Again, wonderful stuff!!!

Thank you! Where on the island are you?

Well done on those.  I particularly like the chap in the blue regimental gesturing with his tomahawk...

Thank you! I'm pleased with him as well, he looks suitably commanding and authoritative for a sachem.

I have a small Halloween update for all of you. 



Everyone knows the story of the Headless Horseman, written by Washington Irving and retold many times by others.  There are some interesting texts on the origins of Irving's story that trace the merging of European and local influences on "Sleepy Hollow."  Irving was a friend of the real van Tassel family, whose members were much involved in the affairs of the war.  One of the family's stories about the war was the discovery of a headless Hessian which the family buried, often taken as the original inspiration for "Sleepy Hollow."  Exactly how and when this discovery and burial is supposed to have occurred is unclear, but one interpretation involves the beheading of a Hessian artillerist by roundshot at Merritt Hill (in Harrison NY) in the aftermath of the Battle of White Plains.  The story is that Elizabeth van Tassel buried the corpse after her baby was rescued from a burning building by a Hessian during a raid in 1777, a full year after White Plains, so it is unlikely the two events are really connected. (I will feature more on the raid in a future post).  Nevertheless, the discovery and disposal of corpses by civilians must have been relatively common in Westchester, so I have made a little vignette that depicts a possible "origin story" for the Headless Horseman.



The female is converted from a Perry civilian lady who was a bit too fancy and summer-like.  The male is one of the American "drag-rope men" with his coil of rope trimmed off and the vest resculpted.  And the Hessian is painted as an artilleryman in reference to reports of the action at Merritt Hill in '76.

Happy Halloween!

[Cat]

Yesss, that is a required foreshadowing piece of work!