Things From the Basement

 

  Most of my table top buildings are from the company "Things from the Basement." These are very nicely done MDF kits which are easy to put together and look great.  In addition if your looking for correct 17th or 18th century house for New England or the Northern colonies these should've on your table.  Joerg Bender who runs the business is one of the nicest people in the hobby.

I am also delighted as some of the buildings were located in one of the parks I worked at (Minute Man NHP).  The Captain William Smith House and the Hartwell Tavern.

Please note with the tavern that both the  gamble and shed sections were added much later. For its appearance in 1775 you only need buy the building itself.  I bought all three sections because my office was in the shed itself.

The two New England houses and the extra extensions for each are great value.  You get two typical houses which can be modified further with the additions.     In addition the meeting  house is much more typical of a  church in the countryside  here New England then the the building with a steeple.

I am thrilled to see Joerg has added more buildings.  The Jacob Whittimore house  was in the park near the Battle Road visitor center.  The Hancock - Clarke house was the personage in Lexington where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were staying.   Great to see both of these in the series and I will be picking them up at Historicon this year.

"Battle of Bunker Hill Cyclorama"

   A Popular entertainment in the late 19th century was the Cyclorama.  These consisted of a painting displayed  an circular structure that presented viewers with a 360-degree view. These paintings were hundreds of feet long and could cost $200,000, taking a team of artists a year and a half to complete. Historical events, especially famous battles quickly replaced rural and urban landscapes as popular topics. Cycloramas, like many other varieties of entertainment in the 1800s, often toured from city to city. Each locale displayed these paintings in massive cyclorama buildings, 

  For attendees, the experience began by entering the  building through a  narrow passageway. After climbing  a central staircase, visitors emerged onto a viewing platform, encircled by the cyclorama. For visitors it was as if they had been transported back into the battle itself. Narrators, lighting, and musical instruments frequently heightened the drama. Three-dimensional objects or figures were often blended into the painted backdrop as well.

Gettysburg Cyclorama 

Boston Cyclorama building

  In 1880 Boston's Cyclorama Building displayed "The Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama," painted by French artist Paul Dominique Philippoteaux. The building, located on Tremont Street in Boston's South End, still stands today, although it no longer displays monumental works of art.

A few years later in 1887, a second cyclorama building was built only two blocks away. This new structure (practically identical to the first cyclorama building) opened on February 5, 1888, displaying "The Battle of Bunker Hill Cyclorama."

B&W photo from original Cyclorama

key to Cyclorama

According to newspapers the Bunker Hill cyclorama's canvas measured 400 feet long and 50 feet tall, an alleged half an acre of painted surface. The cyclorama depicted the third and final British assault on the colonial fortifications on Breed's Hill from the perspective of the redoubt. The  audience was virtually surrounded in the battle. To make sense of this all, visitors received a 16-page brochure describing the events of the battle, as well as a circular key annotating individual figures or locations within the painting.

 "The Bunker Hill Cyclorama" was only displayed for two years. After 1890, other cycloramas depicting the life of Christ and the Battle of the Little Bighorn took its place. Ironically, as cycloramas reached their height of artistic accomplishment, they also quickly fell out of public favor. Much of the appeal derived from their novelty for first-time visitors, which did not bear up after repeated viewings. By the early 1900s, many cycloramas fell to neglect and disrepair. "The Battle of Bunker Hill Cyclorama" building itself was remodeled in 1895 and became the Castle Square Theater ( demolished in 1933).  Lacking a suitable place to be displayed, the exact fate of the cyclorama painting after 1890 remains unknown.The Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama" fortunately enjoyed a happier fate. It is currently located at Gettysburg National Military Park.

Later, nearly half a century since the "Battle of Bunker Hill Cyclorama" went missing, interest in it increased in 1943 when the Bostonian Society procured a set of black and white photograph of the original cyclorama. A reproduction of the lost cyclorama based on the negatives was considered. However, no such reproduction was ever undertaken.  In 1982 I had copies of these photographs made and displayed as part of the new exhibits at the Bunker Hill Monument.  Each plate was enlarged and place within the monument to show the view during the battle from that area.

In 1961, Clifford Smith donated three oil on canvas studies of "The Battle of Bunker Hill Cyclorama" to the Bostonian Society. These studies in 1883 were used as reference material when composing the full cyclorama. 

   Interest was reignited again in the 1960s and 1970s in re-creating the original cyclorama experience by exhibiting the three surviving studies. However, the studies were in no condition to be displayed. Without funding to restore them, the Bostonian Society stored them in the attic of the Old State House. The Society eventually loaned the studies to the National Park Service in the late 1980s with the intent of repairing them. The cost of refurbishing the paintings was substantial however, and the Park only restored one of the three paintings. Boston National Historical Park considered displaying this sole restored study at the Bunker Hill Museum when the museum opened in 2007.

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Currently, the closest complete representation of the original cyclorama on display is a 360-degree mural displayed at the Bunker Hill Museum. Local artist John Coles painted this mural, and although not to the scale of the original cyclorama, it is nonetheless 80 feet long and four and a half feet tall. Like the original cyclorama, the mural positions the viewer in the center of the action at the redoubt. Coles worked on the mural in eleven separate sections in his studio before it was installed at the museum. From start to finish, the work took a year to complete.

Dioramas of the Battle of Bunker's Hill

 

               Being the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill I thought I would post a      series of articles on the battle this week. When I was with the National Park Service (1975 to 2005) I was site supervisor for the Charlestown district of Boston National Historical Par which included the monument.  So the actual battle and its area is still special to me.

 

  Back in the 1980's and 1990's there were three dioramas at the Bunker Hill monument in Charlestown Massachusetts.  These were very important to the Park Rangers who used them for interpretation of the battle.  While there are still some landmarks of the grounds the entire battlefield has disappeared under concrete and tenement houses.  These dioramas have recently been moved across the street to a new and improved museum.

  Two of the dioramas were built by the Pittman studios in Cambridge Massachusetts during the 1930's.  The first was a diorama of the Charlestown peninsula as it looked at the time of the battle.  It includes Boston and the surrounding countryside.  Most importantly it showed the harbour and various small rivers and creeks.  What it does not show are the mud flats and marshy ground which effected where the British could or could not land troops.

  Next was a large shadow box of the redoubt atop Breed's Hill.  The view is along the breast work looking towards the redoubt atop Breeds Hill. As with all Pittman dioramas there are plenty if fascinating details.   The figures are made from wax and clay.  

  Lastly, a massive diorama of the battle.  This was constructed by a members of the  Massachusetts Military Miniatures painters for the Museum of Fine Art in  Boston as part of a bicentennial project in 1975.  The figures were made by Jack Scruby (and are still available today as his 9mm American Revolution line). The topography is excellent but the troop movement show a variety of times during the battle rather then one attack.  Still it gives the viewer an excellent idea of the scope and size of the battle.

Bunker Hill Map by Ensign DeBerniere

 

  In honour of the 250th anniversary of the battle....

 

  Ensign Henry DeBerniere was an officer in the 10th Regiment of Foot in 1775.  An enterprising indivual, with a talent for map making DeBerniere had undertaken "spy missions" in 1774 mapping routes out of Boston.  He took part on the 19 April mission to Concord to destroy the supplies gathered there. He also made a series of maps of Boston and the surrounding areas.  These included distances marked between tiwns, good tactical positions and possible places for encampments.  One of his best maps is of the Charlestown Peninsula and British troop movements during the Battle of Bunker Hill.  This adds greatly to our understanding of the battle.

  There are a couple editions of this map on the internet.  Most are of later printed editions of his map.  These were professional engraved editions. Unfortunately these often changed the ground scale and often many details.  Here is an 1818 edition done in Philadelphia.

In the Geography and Map Division Library of Congress ( G3764.B6S3 1775 .B3 Vault) and is an excellent copy of his actual drawing.  The details of the map are outstanding and super useful to students of the battle or miniature wargamers wishing to refight the battle historically.  The topography is detailed, to include marshy ground and elevations.  

  This enlarged section showed the area where the Howe landed his main force at Moulton's point; sent his light Infantry companies along the beach to turn the American flank and the Grenadier attack against the rail fence.  The numerous fences slowed the British advance, and exposed them to small arms and cannon fire while trying to cross them.  The Royal Artillery could not cross the fields due to these fences so went a round them and got stuck in the wet marshy ground at the base of Breeds hill. The routes of the 5th and 52nd regiments during the third attack are clearly marked.

A close up of the Light Infantry companies on the beach trying toout flank the American position along the rail fence.  This area today is near the present Charlestown High school  and still has a sharp drop which obscure it from the ground.  The order of march for the light Infantry are (from left to right) 23rd, 4th, 19th, 52nd, 43rd, 65th, 59th, 47th, 35th, 38th and 5th.

The final assault on the redoubt and breast work on Breeds hill. This is one of the very few maps which show how close Charlestown was to the hill and how snipers there effected earlier attacks.   It also points out the barn which had to be taken before the final attack on the redoubt.  Again fascinating details here like the extra flank companies position with the Marines and 47th regiments.