RIP Jim Hayden

It was with a great shock  that I leaned of the death of an old friend Jim Hayden.  I am not on Facebook, but Janine is which is where we learned of this.  It appears he died Friday 7 October.

  Jim and I worked together at Minute Man National Historical Park back in the 1990's. He ran the bookstore for Eastern National while I was a front line Ranger.  Both of us had been involved in reenactment groups and both of us had a life long love of the American Revolutionary war.

  During the time we worked together Jim made each day a treat.  He was a happy man who always saw the funny side of things.  No matter how bad a meeting went Jim would come out with a one liner that made us laugh and forget the bureaucratic madness.  He was always there to help me with crazy interpretive programs.  Heroes of the Battle Road candle light tour, Halloween story readings, living history weekends at Hartwell Tavern or school programs Jim could be counted on to roll up his sleeves and help out.  And to get others to volunteer!

    I introduced Jim to miniature war games.  While he never painted miniatures he made great terrain pieces.  Fields, roads, stone walls, fences and houses he made were little works of art.  Since we had both been in rev war reenactment units I made sure I painted both his regiment (1st New Hampshire) and my regiment (23rd RWF).  Jim would take delight in routing my regiment as I would his in return.  The moment of Jim's greatest triumph was when his cavalry, which he had carefully concealed charged and took out all my guns in one shot!  It was an embarrassment I never forgot nor one Jim failed to reminded me about;  always in a most humorous manner. We both laughted a lot about our games.

   Jim moved on to better jobs and we drifted apart. I looked forward to his and Karen's Christmas cards and occasionally their  marvelous Christmas party. When watching New England Patriots football games Janine and I would always look out for Karen and Jim who were members of the End Zone Militia.  This past January Janine and I were invited to his holiday party.  A great time was had.  When leaving Jim and I both said we have to get together more often.  I think sometimes you should not put things like that off.  I wishing I hadn't.

War games at Fort Devens

Saturday October 15
10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M.

Miniature Wargaming at Fort Devens museum
94 Jackson road
Devens, Ma 01434

Just discovered this from a local paper.  I lived on Fort Devens for about six years and now live around the corner.  Kinda of exciting to discover gamers are in the area and never knew about them.  I plan on dropping by to check it.  Perhaps volunteer to put on a game next year to support them.

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.

Left Division Order of Battle

When I put together my war game armies I usually pick a battle or campaign.  Once I have that I gather a historical order of battle and put together my armies based on.  I do not worry about actual historical  strengths of regiments and squadrons.  These fluctuated up and down from month to month.  On the table top I tend to use a standard organization of six stands of four figures each for my battalions, twelve figures for cavalry and three guns and six gunners for batteries.  In addition I like to add a regimental commander to my regiments.  In my Crimean armies I actually added the name of the colonel or major to his base.  To me,  this adds personality.  This table top organization looks very nice and I have the added bonus of evenly matched armies for most fictitious battles. It also avoids those types of annomaly of a militia battalion beating a elite Grenadier battalion solely because they have more figures.   If I am doing a historical recreation I will scale units up or down to match that day.

For my American War of 1812 army I will be using the historical organization at Lundy's Lane.  This gives a nice collection.  But since I cannot help tinkering with things I will eventually add a couple extra militia battalions in hunting shirts and top hats and perhaps an American Rifle regiment.  They look too good to leave out!  So, here is my organization I am working on

Major General Jacob Brown: Commander, Left Division, U.S. Army:

◦1st Brigade : Brigadier General Winfield Scott
9th Infantry  (Major Leavenworth)
11th Infantry (Major McNeil)
22nd Infantry  (Colonel Brady)
25th Infantry (Major Jessup)

◦2nd Brigade : Brigadier General Eleazer W. Ripley
1st Infantry  (Lt. Col. Nicholas)
21st Infantry ( Lt. Col. Miller)
23rd Infantry (Major McFarlane)

◦3rd Brigade : Brigadier General Peter B. Porter
5th Pennsylvania (Militia) Regt (Colonel Fenton)
New York Volunteers
Canadian Volunteers (Major Wilcox)

◦Artillery : Capt. Nathan Towson, U.S. Artillery Corps
Foot Artillery (Towson)  : (2-6pdr, 1-5.5inch howitzer)
Foot Artillery (Ritchie): (2-6pdr, 1-5.5inch howitzer)
Foot Artillery (Biddle) : (3-12pdr)

◦Cavalry : Capt. Samuel D. Harris
U.S. Light Dragoons
New York Volunteer Dragoons

Niagara 1814

Back in 1985 as part of our honeymoon Janine and I traveled around the Niagara Falls area.  Our visiting the battlefields of Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, Forts George and Niagara was the start of a life long fascination with not only the War of 1812 but especially with the Niagara campaign of 1814.

It was also the start of my interest in wargaming this campaign on the table top and collecting its armies.

For the miniature war gamer this is an ideal conflict to game.  The armies and leadership were equal.  No difference in weaponry and tactics.  And the armies were sized for the table;  a very economical endeavor.  Figures are provided for by a great number of companies.  All are wonderful and provide for almost everything you would need.  So, this long deserved project is finally under way. For those who are also interested in gaming this conflict here are some suggestions I have discovered.

 I picked the outstanding miniatures from Kuckleduster for my collection. They are little works of art with great animation.  Most importantly Forrest Harris (the owner) has provided a complete line of figures. There are few gaps in the line and these are rapidly being filled.  He is also a joy to buy from with outstanding customer service.  His web site provides excellent down loads and suggestions for the novice gamer on campaigns, figures and unusual regimental details.  There is a guide to which figures to buy to correctly portray a regiment for each year of the war. Please visit both his website and blog.  You will be glad you did and rewarded by the experience.

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A challenge for any gamer creating an army is getting the details correct. For the War of 1812 the details of uniforms are few and often contradictory. American uniform details changed almost yearly.  British uniforms also had major changes.  The Canadian militia system and uniforms are almost a study in themselves.  So good research materials are desperately needed.  Fortunately they are out there.  Mandatory for any uniform study are "A Most Warlike Appearance: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the United States in the War of 1812" and "The Scarlet Coat" both by the authoritative Rene Chartrand.  These are must have and should be in your library. Within each volume are most of tiny details of uniforms you will need.   They are expensive but also available through inter library loan.  Your local library is your friend and there to help you.

 For battles and campaigns you cannot go wrong with Donald E. Graves' books.  His books on Chippewa and Lundy's Lane are must reads and incredibly details studies of this battles.  His biography of Thomas Pearson made me want to paint up his light brigade and game with it!   Another author Richard Feltoe has provided details campaign histories of the various Canadian campaigns.  His battle studies are wonderful, and the plentiful maps and detailed orders of battle a treasure trove of information.  I highly recommend his regimental history "Redcoated Ploughboys: The Volunteer battalion of incorporated Militia of upper Canada 1813 - 1815."

Again made this a must have regiment on my table top and finally led me to understand the various Canadian militia type units.  Plus it's a fun read.

  For websites you can do no better then http://history-uniforms.over-blog.com  It is an outstanding reference and beautiful art work.  Great details for uniforms.  All you need at your finger tips. I would recommend the following warga me blogs that have inspired me and thought me a lot about the period, http://warof1812war-gaming.blogspot.com and
 http://warof1812wargaming.blogspot.com

 Lastly for regimental flags I suggest the ones by Flags of War.  Great details and wonderful colors. They provide correct flags for almost every British and American Regiment.

 They are works of art.  If you are looking for tassels and tops for your flag poles try the ones from Front Rank miniatures.   The only gap in flags is American militia and Volunteers colors.  The Flag Dude has done these but I have been unable to contact him recently.

So there you have it.  My list of helpful hints to get you started in this field.  In my next posts I will be sharing my table top army that came about from this study.  As mentioned before it is a work in progress.