"British Fusilier caps" Topic

Does anyone in make chaps with these caps in 15mm?

I'm looking at around 1777 so don't no if the 23rd would still be wearing them at the time!

Probably not worn in 1777.

In 15mm, you could probably get away with scraping off the shoulder wings on a grenadier.

Cheers John, I'll probably do without then for 1777.

Whats your feelings on Grenadier caps in this period as well? In use or not?

Chris

In my youthful folly and ignorance, I have painted far too many grenadiers wearing bearskins.
Now that I am older and wiser and know that many did not wear them, but some did or might have… I still would, because they are cool and let you know right off who is a grenadier.

I still want SOMEONE reputable to make fusiliers wearing bearskin fusilier caps in 1775, for Boston. Probably did not wear them except on parade, but what the heck.

I know what you mean, they do look cool, and you know who they are!!

Cheers John

- It's a reasonable supposition that the 23rd wore these caps in Boston. It's unlikely that they wore them later.
- The grenadiers wore their bearskins in battle at Brandywine in 1777, there are two eyewitness sources for this.
- there is clear evidence that the 5th Foot wore fusilier-style bearskin caps on parade, 1st Jan 1778. This predated their conversion into a Fusilier regiment by many years, and annoyed Gen Howe who felt they were getting ideas above their station.

I have recently suggested to Alan Perry that in the light of the appearance of his AWI plastic infantry, he should sell hat packs (like Warlord games do in their Pike and Shotte range) to allow simple conversion of these figures for example to Guards headgear or Fusilier caps. He was receptive to the idea :-)
EC

The Polly Oliver range (15mm) had genuine Fusilier figures (which were listed as such and definitely had smaller caps than the Grenadier figures), but how you would get hold of any of this range nowadays I could not even begin to advise.

Dearborn famously mistook the Grenadier Battalion for the 23rdFoot during the Bunker Hill battle. As someone who was not local to the Boston area, this suggests that not only did the Grenadiers wear their caps in that battle also, but that the 23rd was in the habit of wearing theirs "abite tine" as well (see Eclaireur's post).

@Eclaireur. Tis your fault that I have now invested in this bloody war, with your damned rules and scenario books :)

Thanks for the advice everyone, I do find the uniforms of this period somewhat complex to say the least!

My suggestion for newbies in the AWI:
TMP link

Hey Lobster you aren't you glad you got into it !? It's a great period of history with such fascinating tactics, uniforms, and actions. You've always got the likes of Supercilious and the others here to ask if you want advice :-)

SM – yes indeed, Dearborn's 'sighting' was an interesting piece of evidence that the 23rd wore Fusilier caps at the time of Bunker Hill. There are two other that I know of, a sketch by Lt Williams showing a soldier of the 23rd standing guard in bearskin, and the fact that one of the officers who sold out of the regt while in Boston mentions in a letter that he has sold his fur cap (and he was not in the 23rd Grenadier Coy).
Another interesting clue from Bunker Hill is that Francis Rawdon from the 5th was described as having been wounded by a bullet that went through his fur cap. He wasn't doing duty with the 5th's grenadier company – so was the 5th even in 1775 sporting fusilier-type caps to which it was not entitled… ?
EC

Hay John, Our Trident 40mm Fusiliers are wearing Bearskins!!! hehe

Would there be that much difference on a wargaming scale figure?

In the bearskin, no; but of course you would need to remove the "wings", match case and short sword off 8/9 of your grenadier figures (the lights had their own distinctive headgear, of course).

Nice one John, thanks for that!