Skinners and Cowboys - Westchester in the AWI

[Gangleri]

Thanks to all!

And I now present my next Continental unit, the Rhode Island Regiment.  The regiment shared the typical complicated pattern of reorganization and renumbering that was common in the Continental Army and was formed from the amalgamation of the 1st and 2nd Rhode Island which themselves had gone by several different names.  It was posted to Westchester late in the war, indeed not many months before the march to Yorktown, but had enough time to participate in an action at Pine's Bridge.


 
Even at the time it was often known as the Black Regiment and is now sometimes described as the first group of black American soldiers, but in fact the regiment was racially mixed, with many American Indians and white soldiers as well, especially later in its service.   It was of course officered by whites.  It was active during the early Northern phase of the war but spent the later part guarding Rhode Island until being shifted southwestward to Westchester and then Virginia.


At Pine's Bridge a detachment of the regiment, along with troops from other New England regiments assigned to guard against incursions into Connecticut, were ambushed and cut up by DeLancey's Refugees.  Their beloved commanders, Col. Greene and Maj. Flagg, were killed and their bodies mutilated.  It is often remarked that this was done in revenge for their leading black troops, but I think it is more likely due to the general brutality of the conflict in Westchester, since DeLancey's unit, like so many others, also contained black troops. 


Of course, for me a good part of the appeal of doing this regiment was the distinctive uniforms: white hunting shirts with pointed red cuffs, white trousers, and leather caps with an anchor blazon, crowned with with white and blue feathers.  I sculpted the fringes of the hunting shirts onto some Brigade Games British light infantry, as well as changing the cuffs and adding some plumes; for some, however, I put the Brigade Games heads onto Perry bodies (Lee's Legion infantry).  The Paul Hicks sculpts are very good, but the faces invariably are distinctively pointy, and I tried (clumsily) to resculpt some of them with more Afrocentric features.

Next up, some more Loyalists.

[MaleGriffin]

Fantastic work! I love the detailed brushwork!

[glenning]

Great work and a good representation of a very interesting unit!

[Gangleri]

Fantastic work! I love the detailed brushwork!

Thank you!

Great work and a good representation of a very interesting unit!

Thanks very much.  That's high praise coming from you!

[Gangleri]

Hi, folks.  Here is a rather belated Halloween update.  Had hoped to get this done in time for the 31st but just couldn't make it.


Here is a little graveyard to set a somber mood.

"Remember, friend, as you pass by,
As you are now so once was I;
As I am now soon you shall be:
Prepare to die and follow me."



The gravestones are just pieces of balsa wood or plastic sheet cut to shape.  Inscriptions are done with watered-down black paint.  I used some designs from the time period, which I have often seen in old graveyards here in the Northeast (and duplicated in my own Halloween decorations!).  I am interested in cemeteries and the way grave markers have changed over the generations.  In this period gravestones (if decorated at all) were still carved with somewhat caricaturish symbols of melancholy: death's heads, willows, faces of lamenting cherubs.  Though a bit cartoonish, they still seem at this time to have been meant as mementi mori, rather than the more sentimental decorations that would become popular some decades later.  Sometimes they were accompanied by morbid admonitions to anticipate a rapid joining with the deceased.  The high rate of infant and child mortality is reflected  by the profusion of small grave markers set level to the ground, not infrequently without so much as a name engraved.  These small stones sometimes also mark the graves of slaves, who in more rural areas were buried amongst or near whites, rather than in separate grounds as was usually the case in cities.


Dominie Ritzema in the Sleepy Hollow graveyard.

[CapnJim]

I like that cemetery.  It looks like a colonial cemetery! 

[Gangleri]

Hi, folks.  Another update on the slow but somewhat steady work for this project.

Here is a detachment of Tory militia raised from New York City and its immediate environs.  They appear from time to time in accounts of the goings-on in Westchester - primarily in the descriptions of the late-night abductions and arrests of men from "the other party," often seized in their homes during raids.  It was nice to paint all the civilian clothes after so many regular uniforms.  The officers are in common coat colors of Tory units, green faced white from earlier in the war, red faced green from later on; eventually there was an attempt to standardize Loyalist uniforms as red faced blue.







The flag is simply the standard of British North America. Apparently this was sometimes flown in an unaltered form by Rebel forces early in the war as well.

[Count Belisarius]

Nice and colourful unit.

[glenning]

Great stuff as usual! The graveyard is simple yet very effective!

[Bloggard]

great stuff.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

The flag is simply the standard of British North America. Apparently this was sometimes flown in an unaltered form by Rebel forces early in the war as well.

Ironically, given the role of tea in fomenting rebellion, the "Grand Union" flag hoisted over the Rebel lines during the siege of Boston was identical to the flag of the East India Company - red-and-white stripes on a field with the union flag in the top canton.

[Gangleri]

Ironically, given the role of tea in fomenting rebellion, the "Grand Union" flag hoisted over the Rebel lines during the siege of Boston was identical to the flag of the East India Company - red-and-white stripes on a field with the union flag in the top canton.

 

I did not know that.  Very interesting!

Great stuff as usual! The graveyard is simple yet very effective!

Thank you.  I am pleased with it as well.

great stuff.

Thanks!

Nice and colourful unit.

Thank you.  It's fun to paint these militia units to make them a bit colorful in their civilian clothes.

[Cat]

The flag is simply the standard of British North America. Apparently this was sometimes flown in an unaltered form by Rebel forces early in the war as well.

Quite reasonable considering that from the start of the shooting on April 19, 1775 until the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, we were all British!  King George declared us to be in rebellion on 23 August, 1775; but we were kind of slow in figuring that out and there was still a faint hope of reconciliation.
 
In the early morning hours of April 19th, no one went around shouting: "The British are coming!"  That just would have confused all of us British.  The alarum was: "The regulars are out!"  Flying the British flag was a good way to signal to the British army regulars that they were firing on British subjects.

[CapnJim]

Nice looking figs.  Well done, lad!

[Gangleri]

Hi, all,

Haven't been painting much these past weeks, somehow wasn't much in the mood.  But I am back at it again and can offer a small  unit to keep rounding out my Crown forces.



Here is the rifle section of Emmerick's Chasseurs.  This outfit was raised by the redoubtable Andreas Emmerich (often given as "Emmerick"), an interesting and capable man who authored a treatise on partisan war using his experience in the AWI.  Having eventually returned to his native Kassel in Germany, he met his end in front of a French firing squad in 1809 after starting a partisan insurrection against Napoleon's occupation.

The force was originally a large company of riflemen and as such performed admirably in the Hudson Highlands in '77.  Following these successes, Emmerich was authorized to expand the force into more of a Legion, with additional light, line, and mounted companies.  These however became known for poor discipline and near-mutinous behavior, evidently caused in part by an irresponsible officer cadre, and the legion was disbanded in 1779.  The reliable elements were attached to other loyalist outfits, including the Queen's Rangers and New York Volunteers/3rd American regiment; some of them were blown across the Atlantic by the big storm of 1780 while en route to Charleston and played no further part in the conflict.  The rifle section saw action in the Hudson Valley and Westchester at various stages and fit nicely into my project.


Uniforms were green faced blue, an unusual combination that proved difficult to make "pop."  Sources show both green and white waistcoats, so I've included both.  I used the Perry plastic Continentals for the laceless, long-tailed coats, as advised in various notable AWI blogs like Steve's Painting Shed and Giles Allison's blogs. Bayonet scabbards were removed and some alterations made to turn the muskets into rifles.  It was fun to get to use the casual marching arms, which are lovely and characterful and seemed appropriate for the looser discipline of the unit.

Next up I will have to start working on American cavalry.  More to follow (eventually).