Battle of Bunker's Hill dioramas

  

If you are here from The Minuatures Pages TMP please note Tango and TMP do not have my permission to use my work   I have asked both  Bill and Tango to please credit my blog.  If they did not want to do this then please not use my site.  Tango promised not to use my blog if that was my stand;  but then continued to link to posts here. I cannot protest this on TMP as Bill has banned me for asking this of him.  

  Being the 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. Although the city of Charlestown has been built over the battlefield a careful walk will still turn up portions of the fields today.

  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 contract and tenement houses.  Presently I have been told these dioramas have 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 breastork 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 as 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.

Lieutenant Robert F. Massie and Edgar Allen Poe

  

  Edgar Allan Poe, the famed poet and author, served briefly in the military as a teenager, under the alias “Edgar A. Perry,” and was stationed for five months at Fort Independence in Boston harbor.  Poe, who was born in Boston but grew up in Richmond, joined the military in 1827 at the age of 18, although he listed his age at the time as 22.  He lied about his age so he could avoid having to obtain his parent’s consent to join the military. Other sources indicate he concealed his real age, as well as his real name, to avoid the numerous gambling debts he had accrued.

  After enlisting, Poe was sent to Fort Independence in Boston harbor in the summer of 1827.  During his short stay at the fort, Poe saw a memorial to Lieutenant Robert F. Massie.  Asking about it Poe was told about a duel that occurred there in December of 1817 during which Lieutenant Massie was killed.

  The legend says that Massie was so popular among his fellow soldiers that they attacked his killer, Lieutenant Gustavus Drane, and sealed him up within a vault in the fort.  Rumor has it that this story later served as the inspiration for Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado.”

  It is a fact that a duel occurred there at the fort in 1817 and it resulted in Massie’s death. Massie was buried at the fort and his grave was marked by a marble tombstone, although his grave was later moved to Fort Devens.

  Yet the story of Drane being walled up inside the fort is pure fiction. In fact, Drane actually continued his military career after the duel and later rose to the rank of Captain. He passed away in 1846 and his death was recorded in the U.S. Army Register that year

  Although Drane was never walled up in the fort, several sources, such as “The Complete Illustrated Guidebook to Boston’s Public Parks and Gardens” indicate that during renovations at the fort in 1905, a skeleton was found chained to the wall of an abandoned casement inside the fort.  The skeleton was reportedly wearing scraps of an old military uniform.  As the fort was used as a state prison from 1785 until 1805, it is highly possible the skeleton could have belonged to a former prisoner, although it was never officially identified.

  Should you visit the military cemetery at Fort Defend today Lieutenant Robert F. Massie original monument and his more modern tombstone can still be seen.

Fox Pups

 

  We were very excited to see that a family of foxes set up under the shed next door.  We have seen one fox in the area regularly over the past two years.  But looks like he and the misses set up housekeeping.  There are three Pups or kits (babies) and recently we caught them running and playing outside.

Painting and Home Repairs

 

I have been out of action for the last couple of weeks.  We are having our driveway repaved and the inside of the house painted.  In addition I am redoing the outside deck and other needed home repairs.  I will be working on resetting up my war game area in the basement once done.

We are also getting rid of "stuff" and redecorating.  This is taking more time them we thought it would and is causing chaos.  Our dog, Fritz is especially upset at all that us going on.  To show us his displeasure the other day he sat out on the deck in the rain for an hour refusing to come back in.  Yorkies can be incredibly stubborn.

This means no time for setting up games or such.  Modern life gets in the way I am afraid.  

North Bridge Diarama Updated

 

  As I have mentioned earlier I love dioramas and they have instilled in me my love of model soldiers.  While the Lexington Green one will always be my sentimental favorite this one of the North Bridge fight is up there with it.  Because it was local whenever I was in Concord I would try and stop by to visit it.

   This great diorama is at the Concord Museum in Concord Massachusetts.  It was commissioned by the historian Allen French and built by  Guernsey and Pittman in Cambridge Massachusetts in the 1930's.  Allen French provided the historical research for the builders.  If you are not familiar with him,  his books, "Day of Lexington and Concord" and "General Gage's Informers" are the foundation of any study of the battles.  While working at Minute Man National Historical Park I took some time going through the Allen French papers.  Included was his  correspondence about the diorama and notes to the builders.  After all these years I was curious how it held up and what shape it was in.  I am very happy to say it still looks great!

   Guernsey and Pittman are famous for their quality of dioramas.  They had a office in Harvard square In Cambridge Massachusetts.  Both men had been professors at Harvard University.    I plan on doing a blog posting about the in the future in which I will showcase some of their work.  Here is a picture from the Concord Museum of the two men bring the finished diorama into the museum in 1930.

British Light companies in street fighting position.  

    

Nice detail of the fight.

The front rank of British soldiers are retiring to the rear to reload after firing.  Note the soldier leaning on his file mate and standing in his tip toes to get a better view!

Although the miniatures are very crude by today's standards they are still works of art. Each figure us individually made.

There are neat little details in the diorama that reward multiple viewings.  Note the planks pulled up on the bridge.  

Or the man knocking the cap off the head if his file mate.

  In the picture here Lt. William Sutherland calls for volunteers to join in him to flank the Americans.

Congratulations Nathaniel

 

Good news and a celebration for my family.  My son proposed to his girlfriend Adriana and she accepted.  This is very good for us all.  Congratulations Nathaniel! 

 Here we all are at the party;  Alexandra, Nathaniel, Adriana, Janine and myself.

More Early Troiani Battle Paintings

  Back in day (1972-76) I eagerly awaited the arrival in my local library of the latest edition of American Heritage.  This was a hard bound magazine with always interesting articles on American History.  I was esp impressed by a series on battles of the American Revolution that featured a battle painting of some incident during that action as well as a couple uniform figures.  These were done by a new young artist named Don Troiani.  Although familiar to most of us now, back then he was the new kid on the block.  His style of painting was much different then today,; less realistic but with great charm.  And the uniform details were amazing to someone just studying the period and learning about it. The battles he did were outstanding.  I think Fort Griswold and White Plains were my favorite.

Interestingly through my friends in a reenactment group (the 43rd Regiment/2nd Pennsylvania regiment:  Hello Tom and Mark Vogley!) I not only knew people who were models for his paintings but once quickly got to met him.    Since then I have always had a affection for his early work much more then his newer more realistic work.  So recently it was fun to find on the internet a bunch of his battle studies from these works.   I am posting them here for mine and others enjoyment.  Because they are displayed in the book the entire picture is divided by binding.  Then I will be adding details from them.

Lexington and Concord

Fort Griswold:

Guilford Courthouse:

White Plains:

Brandywine