"Foundry AWI Light Infantry in chain helmets" Topic
13 Posts
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John the OFM | 06 Dec 2011 9:23 p.m. PST |
I asked this question a few years ago, and now that I am getting around to painting them, I can't find the topic! My *#@%$ computer has had a brain fart since I got it, and can't save to Favorites, either. Foundry sells two types of 1768 Warrant early war Light Infantry, distinguished by the helmets. The "horsehair" helmet is identified as the 5th Foot. The chain helmet is unidentified as to which regiment. When the topic came up many moons ago, I remember that the chain helmet was only worn by one or two regiments. I am doing Boston 1775, and would like to do "accurate" helmets for Lexington/Concord by regiment. Can anyone (I'm looking at YOU, Supercilious Maximus
) break down the LI companies by helmet type? |
cavcrazy | 06 Dec 2011 9:59 p.m. PST |
I believe the 10th regiment wore the helmet with the chains. |
Supercilius Maximus | 07 Dec 2011 12:55 a.m. PST |
OFM, OK, the bad news first. For Lexington/Concord, the two converged flank battalions almost certainly wore their hats and not their caps – (a) the Doolittle cartoons, drawn from eyewitness accounts, have all the soldiers in hats; (b) the light and grenadier caps were expensive and were unlikely to have been worn for what was essentially intended to be a working party; and (c), there is no record of any light (or grenadier) caps needing to be replaced due to loss (with or without the wearer attached), which there would have been as these were the property of the regiment not the individual soldier. That really wasn't what you wanted to hear was it? So, a more palatable (un)truth is set out below. Do you have the old Almark book on the British forces in the American Revolution by Alan Kemp? link This has line drawings of several distinctive types of cap worn by various regiments, based on those accumulated by CCP Lawson in his five-volume work on British uniforms. I think the recent Kiley/Smith encyclopedia may have a selection, too. The short answer for your figures is that you can give most of the regiments of the Boston garrison whatever style you want and nobody will really be able to question it. There was no official light infantry cap (the term "helmet" is normally used for cavalry headgear at this time, and usually implies metal). However, the "chain" style you refer to – whilst by no means universal – does appear to have been the most widely adopted. It is sometimes referred to as the "Keppel" after the major general of that name who was colonel of the 14th Foot and, I think, chaired the committee that looked into light company distinctions when these became a permanent part of the regimental structure in 1771. link I suspect that most of the recorded variations, as is so often the case, are exactly that – departures from the norm. The 5th's style, which is similar to the light dragoon headgear of the time, may have been used by the 9th as well, as a cap of similar design surfaced at auction a few years ago, although its authenticity was questioned at the time. For Lexington you are looking at the 4th, 5th, 10th, 23rd, 38th, 43rd, 47th, 1st Marines, 52nd, 59th. The CoMH used to have a plate showing the 4th's lights in plain hats, but this was a mis-interpreted inspection report, and they had a cap that may have been cut-down hats – rather like the Burgoyne hat-cap. The 5th and 10th we know; the Marines are thought to have worn a pill box type of cap with a false front (filing down a chain cap would work for this). The others are simply not known. |
6sided | 07 Dec 2011 3:36 a.m. PST |
Dump the foundry figures and use the Perry figures in roundabouts, then you don't have to worry and will probably be more "accurate". Whatever that means in the context of a war where nobody really knows what anybody wore most of the time. Jaz 6sided.net |
Supercilius Maximus | 07 Dec 2011 5:43 a.m. PST |
<<Dump the foundry figures and use the Perry figures in roundabouts, then you don't have to worry and will probably be more "accurate".>> No he won't because the roundabout jacket wasn't adopted by the light infantry until the 1777 campaign. <<Whatever that means in the context of a war where nobody really knows what anybody wore most of the time.>> As someone who has done a lot of work for the National Army Museum (London) on the British forces, and who has numerous contacts among historians in North America who have done the same (or more in many cases) on German, Loyalist and Continental uniforms, I can say that you would be surprised at how much we DO know about what units wore at specific times during the war. |
John the OFM | 07 Dec 2011 7:34 a.m. PST |
SM, if anyone would make fusiliers wearing bearskins, I would use them too. I already have the LI miniatures, enough to do 2 12-man TSATF companies of each type. I am just looking to match them up woth the proper facing colours. "Dump" the Foundry figures, indeed. Do you know how much I paid for them? Harrumph! |
Der Alte Fritz | 07 Dec 2011 8:00 a.m. PST |
The Perrys sculpted both ranges of figures, so why would one want to "dump the Foundry figures"? |
John the OFM | 07 Dec 2011 8:03 a.m. PST |
Indeed! They are darn good figures! |
Supercilius Maximus | 07 Dec 2011 9:05 a.m. PST |
<<I already have the LI miniatures, enough to do 2 12-man TSATF companies of each type. I am just looking to match them up woth the proper facing colours. >> 5th and 10th would be as good a combo as any; unless you like lots of buff stuff, in which case 5th and 52nd. <<SM, if anyone would make fusiliers wearing bearskins, I would use them too.>>
Good man! There is a watercolour showing a sentry from the 23rd on duty at the ropewalk in Boston wearing his bearskin; also, Dearborn mistook the grenadier battalion for the 23rd when the former (who presumably were wearing their caps) attacked his position at Bunker Hill, so the RWF did wear them at some point in the war and were known for them. Wrong size for you, I know, but Polly Oliver did separate Fusilier figures in ever-so-slightly smaller bearskins. |
John the OFM | 07 Dec 2011 9:24 a.m. PST |
If the Perrys did the 23rd in bearskins and 1768 Warrant, I would be tickled pink. |
Doc Ord | 07 Dec 2011 9:40 a.m. PST |
Maybe the Perrys will make fusilier cap heads for their plastic British set that is coming out. |
John the OFM | 07 Dec 2011 9:55 a.m. PST |
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Ironwolf | 08 Dec 2011 10:20 p.m. PST |
We just need to know when the Perry's will be releasing their AWI figs?? |
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