Chippewa July 5, 1814

  

   July 5  is the 211th anniversary of the Battle of Chippewa.  Although minor in terms of numbers the Battle is important in the rebuilding of the American army during the War of 1812.  General Winfield Scott 's highly trained brigade is able to stand toe to toe with British regulars.  The brigades gray jackets becomes the stuff of legend in the history of the American regular army.  

  

  The battle today is remembered by a number of units of the US Army.   The old  25th Infantry was later combined with the 27th, 29th and 37th Infantry Regiments to form the present day 6th Infantry Regiment. The 6th Infantry's motto is "Regulars, by God" from General Riall's remark about the American regulars during the battle.  A number of present day units of the United States Army trace their lineage to this battle and Scott's brigade.  The 25th US Infantry was later combined with the 27th, 29th and 37th Infantry Regiments to form the 6th Infantry Regiment. The 6th Infantry's motto is "Regulars, by God" from General Riall's remark about the American regulars during the battle.  Ten active regular infantry battalions of the United States Army (1-2 Inf, 2-2 Inf, 1-3 Inf, 2-3 Inf, 4-3 Inf, 1-5 Inf, 2-5 Inf, 1-6 Inf, 2-6 Inf and 4-6 Inf) perpetuate the lineages of American infantry regiments (the old 9th, 11th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd Infantry Regiments) that fought at the Battle of Chippawa.

  The Corps of Cadets of the United States Military Academy at West Point wear gray parade uniforms, but the assertion that they were adopted in commemoration of Scott's troops at Chippawa appears to be a legend, possibly started by General Scott himself.  There were a number of reasons given in 1815 for its selection. Gray wool jackets simply wore well and were considerably cheaper than the regulation blue coat.  Also, the Secretary of War disliked Scott and sent gray jackets (usually associated with militia) for his Brigade as an insult.

  The actual battlefield is preserved as the Chippawa Battlefield Park, a unit of the Niagara Parks Commission.  For a tour of the battlefield check this post from my blog: "A Visit to the Chippewa Battlefield";   https://bravefusiliers.blogspot.com/2018/07/visit-to-chippawa-battlefield-chippawa.htm

Lastly, if you are interested in reading about the battle I highly recommend "Red Coats and Grey Jackets" by Donald E. Graves.  Outstanding!

 If you are thinking of building a War of 1812 army this is a perfect place to start.  You can, for a very reasonable amount of money build both sides.  Because of the colorful and varied collection of troops its a great way to start your new army.  In addition to British regulars you get American regulars in gray jackets, Federal used militia in civilian clothing and buts and pieces of uniforms, Canadian militia in cast off uniforms and lots of Native warriors.   It is how I started my collection.  There are a number of companies that make figures for this period but most of mine are from the old Knuckleduster miniatures line.  They are now sold by Wee Wolf  at https://weewolfminiatures.com/

Here is an Order of Battle for the game:

American Order of Battle:

Brig.General W. Scott

9/21st Regiment (24 figures)

11th  regiment. (24 figures)

25th regiment  (24 figures) (elite)

Towson's battery (1 gun)

Brig.General Porter

Pennsylvania Volunteers (24 figures)

Red Jackets  Six Nation Warriors ( 2 x 10 figures each)

British/Canadian forces:

General P. Riall

1st Regiment of Foot. (24 figures)

8th Regiment of Foot. (24 figures)

100th Regiment of Foot. (24 figures)

Royal Artillery. (1 gun)

Lt.Col. Thomas Pearson

Light companies  (12 figures)

Lincoln Militia. (12 figures)

Norton's warriors. (8 figures)

Western Lakes warriors (10 figures)

Two Perry vignettes from the American Revolution

 

  I picked up these two very nice vignette from Perry Miniatures at Cold Wars too many years ago.  It went into my "to do" box and got forgotten about.  When organizing my figure boxes I came across them recently.  Items like these really dress up a table and add interest.

First off, a scene of some crown forces officers interrogating a captured Continental line officer. A very interesting group of figures and uniforms.  But something about the set looked, well,  like there was much more to the story.  And after a bit of asking around here is the story I found out.  This is from Giles Allison's blog, Tarleton's Quarter.

"It was noted that Alan's AWI range was nearing the magic "100 packs" mark. Shortly afterwards, I suggested on the TMP forum as a joke that a suitable way of celebrating this landmark would be for Alan to do a "National Army Museum characters" pack. It was then suggested (I'm not sure by whom, perhaps Eclaireur or Alan himself) that a suitable vignette might be a group of British/Hessian officers interrogating Alan, as an allegory of the pestering that Alan has to put with from those of us who are always demanding that he makes specific packs of obscure AWI troops.

  And so pack AW100 was born. Mug-shots and measurements (our heights, obviously...) were sent to Alan early in 2006, there was a bit of discussion about what uniforms the various, er, "personalities" should be wearing and then in July I received an email from Alan with a picture of the greens he had finished. The likenesses that he has captured in such a small scale are absolutely incredible. The Perries together with other Games Workshop designers have already demonstrated their superb skill as portrait artists through their "Lord of the Rings" figures, so I suppose we should not really have been surprised at how well these figures turned out. But many thanks to Alan for being so game and taking on this capricious idea!

In front of Alan are a gesticulating Eclaireur (in the uniform of a Guards officer; of impeccable breeding is EC), Dave Brown in the yellow facings of the 44th Foot (which became the East Essex Regiment in 1782) and myself reading the captured despatches, dressed as an officer in the Black Watch. Behind Alan are two Hessians in the orange facings of the von Lossberg regiment. The tall officer is AWI expert and guru Supercilius Maximus (as he is known on TMP) whilst the sentry is a chap I think is called Norbert. I also painted a set of masters for Alan's own collection which he's put up on his site. Painted November 2006. Tree stumps and fence from Redoubt Miniatures. Base size: 100mm x 100mm. "

https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2007/01/interrogation-vignette.html

(I would like to see a different version of this scene.  Perhaps some of the same characters but this time at either Trenton or Yorktown when the show is on the other foot!)

    The camp scene is a series of small set pieces.  Here is a woman cooking over a fire, while a soldier brings a barrel of water.  Two soldiers settle the problems of the world over a drink while another soldier gets his hair dressed.  The set is full of life and very charming.

  I decided to set it in an American camp.  The timing is 1776 around New York city.  The Continental Army is not yet field tested and their clothing has not acquired the campaign look from hard service.  One soldier is in a typical New England brown faced red coat.  Those Yankeesdo like abrown coat one british office said during the F&I war.  The one getting his hair dressed is in the uniform of the famed Delaware regiment.  The women's clothing is very well done and unlike too many miniatures correct for the time period.  No "farbs" here!  It is also of a better quality then you may find in camp.  Hence my setting it around New York before the fighting starts.

   The two continental line soldiers holding a animated conversation reminds me of two old friends from the Park Service.  To me they look like my old comrades in arms from the Park Service;   Eric Olsen from Morristown NHP and Joe Craig from Saratoga NHP.  

Annual Parade Part 2

 Part 2 of my annual parade, this time with the Crown Forces.  The British and Loyalist regiments march past.  My Hessians are presently sulking as they are being redone.

23rd and 55th Regiments

44th and 17th Regiments

17th Regiment

Light Infantry

Lord Cornwallis

Brigade of Guards

71st Highlanders

Grenadiers

Prince of Wales American Regiment

New York Volunteers

Volunteers of Ireland

Annual Holiday Parade

 

  July 4th holiday and time for my annual parade of my American Rev War figures.  I will be recycling some old pictures here are.  At present we are in the process of setting up a  retirement/vacation home down here in Florida.  So my figures are still up north.  Still deciding how much of the year to live here or up north as well as if we should just sell the house and be here full time.  For now pictures of figures will be more interesting then pictures of painting walls, tearing up carpets and putting down new floors. I will be heading back north to attend Historic on this year.  So stay tuned for those adventures.

Lauzun's Legion Lancers

Lauzun's Legion Hussars

Hamilton's and Foster' batteries

Lee's Legion Dragoons

26th Continental regiment

13th Continental Regiment

3rd Continental Regiment

1st and 3rd New York Regiments

Smallwood's Maryland Regiment

9th and 11th Continental regiments 1776
(1st and 2nd Rhode Island regiments 1777)