Friday, October 7, 2016

21st and 23rd U.S. Infantry Regiments



Scott's brigade (9th, 11th, 22nd and 25th U.S. regiments) gets the lion share of credit in most books on the 1814 Niagara campaign.  And this is understandable. Scott is a legend in the history of the army and his training camp outside Buffalo New York set a standard of professionalism unmatched up to that time.

  But the other regular regiments of the army also fought well.  In Ripley's brigade both the 21st and 23rd U.S. Regiments had had long service records during the war.  Both regiments trained with Scott's command.

  At Lundy's Lane Miller's 21st regiment did yeoman service.  His laconic remark, "I'll try sir" when asked to charge the guns is a legend in the U.S. army and is the motto of today's 5th U.S. Infantry regiment.  Miller brought the 21st as close to the British hill top position as he could utilizing dead ground and the dwindling daylight.  A point blank volley and bayonet charge  broke the British center, capturing the Royal Artillery guns opporsite him. The 23rd then moved up to supported their comrades in the 21st and stood by them during the fight.   Miller held his hill top position throughout the night against all odds until order to fall back by General Ripley.

Both regiments are in the new 1813 regulation uniforms.  These are blue coats with no facings but white trim around the collars.  The shako is very similar to its British counterparts and in the night fighting created identifying problems.   This is a simple but sharp looking uniform.


The regimental colors are from the outstanding Flags of Wars range for the War of 1812.  Each flag has the name of the regiment on it within its scroll.  Great detail!  The tassels and finals are from Front Rank and add a nice touch.  The miniatures are from the fantastic Knuckleduster War of 1812 line.  Leading the two regiments is the figure of General Ripley himself.  I plan on adding the 1st U.S. Regiment and also mounted command figures for each regiment to complete the brigade.



7 comments:

  1. Mark, I think these figures and those of the earlier post are splendid. A great campaign to recreate and though I may be corrected as I am no expert neither side really won. Some great battles to refight though.

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    1. Colin always an honour to have visit here. Yes you are correct th e campaign ended in a draw with both sides back where they started. But that was kind of the entire war in a nut shell. As one historian wrote about the war; "Still, almost everyone involved walked off happy. The Americans are happy because they think they won. The Canadians were happier because they know they won--they remained part of the British Empire. And the British are happiest because they’ve forgotten all about it."

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  2. Good work on the figures and I appreciate your historical background on a conflict to which I am unfamiliar.

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    1. Thank you for the kind words. Always a delight to have you stop by!

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  3. Fantastic job on the unit and excellent "+" history. From my time in the service I can tell you that the identity of the US Army is linked to this conflict in a very fundamental way since the unit lineages begin here, basically. Even soldiers and officers who don't know that they're referring to the War of 1812 or the Battle of Lundy's Lane in particular know of traditions and incidents stemming from them, like "I'll try sir," and "Regulars, by gawd."

    Well done and "+" to know about the history of the campaign and also of the linkage to US Army culture that is linked to it.

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    1. Ed, this is part of what makes the story so fascinating to me.

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  4. Unusual (for me) and fantastic, a beautiful unit and a beautiful post!

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