Help With Selecting an AWI Battle with Indians and Hessians

[von Lucky]

This year I want to get my 40mm AWI project at least restarted. Currently I have 40 Indians (almost done) and 12 Hessians (unpainted) from Sash & Saber.

I am looking for a battle or campaign where they would've fought together. The best I can find is Battle of Bennington. Is there another battle that had large Indian and 'Hessian' elements? I need help in giving this project focus and want to know what colours to paint the German uniforms.

Rule set - I'll worry about that later.

[rumacara]

I´ve just read small paragraphs about it but do check Kings Mountain battle. I´m not sure of the participation of Hessian troops but lots of indians regulars and irregulars.

[juergen c. olk]

Oriskany-their were Hesse Hanau jaegers in the mix w/ St.Legers force

[Golgotha]

As I recall the book "With Musket and Tomahawk: The Saratoga Campaign and the Wilderness War of 1777" - by Michael O. Logusz has some examples. Certainly both Hessians and Indians are mentioned often... Indeed the cover also shows Hessian Grenadiers advancing. He has also done a Volume II but as yet I have not read that one - I will try dig out the book volume I that is and find some examples. Certainly a good read and a must for anyone interested in musket/tomahawk warfare. Looking forward to seeing the results of your endeavours I am busy with a similar project but on the cheap in 20mm/1/72.

[rumacara]

Juergen c. olk you are right.
Its not Kings Mountain but Oriskany.
Sorry Von Lucky.

[von Lucky]

Thanks guys - looks like I'm on the right track.

[Florida Tory]

For something off wall, you could look at Galvez' campaign for Pensacola. Plenty of Indians, and the Waldeck regiment served as a major part of the garrison. (Not quite Hessians, so it would stretch things a bit.) Looking ng to the future, it also gives you a reason to bring in French, British, and Spanish troops too. Oddly, what is missing are the Continentals.

Rick

[von Lucky]

I used the term Hessian in the broader sense.

While I had considered this campaign (I first considered doing the Waldeckers as they are so rare on the table), my Native Americans are painted very much as Woodland ones of the north.

[Baron von Nickedoften]

Some thoughts:-

1) Mostly, any Germans working with Indians will be jaeger or other light infantry, because of the nature of how Indians were employed.  Oriskany has been mentioned, although there is no record of the Hesse Hanau jaeger at the siege of Ft Stanwix becoming involved in that action - just Iroquois and Loyalists.  Bennington is an obvious example, but there were some Indian and Loyalist scouts at Hubbardton, too.  The Main theatre is pretty much dead ground, as the NYC and Philly campaigns did not involve the employment of Indians by the Crown forces.

2) Look up an author called Gavin K Watt, who has specialised in the lesser-known raids and campaigns in the Northern theatre, and he covers the whole of the war in the north bar the actual Saratoga campaign (which gets plenty from other authors).  His book "The Burning of the Valleys" is an excellent tome, with several scenario ideas involving Indians, Loyalist rangers, British light companies, and the Hesse Hanau jaeger battalion (at the same time, leave the two books by Mike Logusz well alone - they are littered with inaccuracies and weirdness, and that's before you get to his obsession with tomahawks).

3) Don't forget that a few Indians fought for the Rebels as well - chiefly Oneida and Stockbridge - so they don't have to be on the same side.  Ewald in his "Diary of the American War" actually includes a description of them (on which the Perrys based their Stockbridge figures), as they were part of a Partisan legion (MacLane's) against which Ewald's men fought.  Here's some details of a battle they fought in:-

http://www.americanrevolution.org/ind3.php

4) You are right that the Southern Indians would have dressed very differently from those in the North; that said, there were several actions around Pensacola that might fit your requirements.  An American author named Bruce Burgoyne, who specialises in the German forces that fought in America, produced a book on the Waldeckers - there are no maps, unfortunately, but he does quote participants regarding some skirmishes.

[von Lucky]

Thanks Baron von Nickedoften - helpful information.

I think Bennington it is (or at least a representation of some of the troops that fought together at that time), not least of which my wife lived there for a while.

[Baron von Nickedoften]

Bennington is certainly your best (possibly only?) bet for getting Indians and non-Jaeger types onto the same table.

[rumacara]

Von Lucky, if you buy wargames illustrated do read the January issue.
It brings the battle of Oriskany and it can give you options for choosing the suitable battle.