"British Legion Questions" Topic

What type of headgear did the BL infantry wear? I've seen the Troiani interpretation but was wondering what his information source was. I'm not sure that I agree with him on this topic.

Did the infantry and cavalry contingents carry colours into the field, or did they even have them in the first place?

Did the infantry have drummers? Any uniform distinctions for the musicians?

I used Perry or Foundry LI with pimp hats, and painted the coats green.
They have multiple uses done this way.

When I get around to it, I will give the cavalry a guidon. There is precedent for this. In the Nova Scotia (?) museum, there is a very well preserved guidon for the Loyalist King's American Dragoons.
Infantry? Not so much.

I would think that by the nature of the troops that any musicians would not have "special" uniforms. everyone would look pretty shabby, except the splendid cavalry of course.

They must carry torches to burn churches, as per Mel Gibson.

Well, yeah. That's a given.
All Legion command packs should have torch bearers.
The question is should they replace standard bearers or oboe players?

' as per Mel Gibson '

Then you should paint them up in red coats !

Can we stay away from Mel Gibson/Patriot please? I'd like to get more information on the actual British Legion, thank you.

I looked into this some time ago and came to the following conclusion, short green coats, black facings and standard tricornish headgear, suppose you could use slouch hats. Oh and you would have to rate them somewhere worse than the NAZI stormtroopers according to dear old Mel.

Here is how one re-enactor group interprets the Legion infantry (and a rather sorry looking lot at that):

Here is a link to an earlier TMP discussion of the topic in 2005:

TMP link

Here is another TMP thread from 2008:

TMP link

From another blog (using Foundry light infantry figures in caps):

link

John;
And it's the "pimp hat" discussion again, hainna?

Are you trying to annoy Weeping Beaver before your comeuppance, Doodle?

Just for that I'll DEMAND command of the Loyalists for the Wyoming Massacre and Craft Fair…

Eric

I have a feeling one of those re-enactors is Antony Scotti, author of "Brutal Virtue" which covers Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion's campaigns.

Super Max;
Is it any good?

Eric

"They must carry torches to burn churches, as per Mel Gibson."

They did burn churches, barns, houses, etc. Just not with people in them.

Eric,

I found it useful and a good read. Some interesting foot notes about uniforms etc, but he seems to steer away from the subject – all the pics of him are in B/W, yet he makes no effort to describe the uniform he is wearing or where he obtained the references for it. Quite possibly it is just the unit's conjecture, although there is definitely post-1781 evidence of green-faced black for both mounted and dis-mounted elements (although the latter were still in captivity at that point).

Super Max;
Thanks for that. I might try to pick it up anyway.

I pinged Todd Braisted the other day, regarding Provincials and related such and hope to run into him at Monmouth.

Eric

In the Nova Scotia (?) museum, there is a very well preserved guidon for the Loyalist King's American Dragoons.

Careful with this interpretation, John. When the loyalists moved to Canada, some of these units were reconstituted with at least some of the original members. Some of the units survived for years in Canada with the original name (Simcoe in Ontario is a good example – my mom was born in Simcoe Township named for, you guessed it!), but the trappings may be from this later period, rather than the Revolutionary period when they were in America.

Don't get me started on the relationship between Simcoe's Upper Canada unit and the Queen's Rangers of the AWI! Little to none! Most of that supposed relationship is solely in the minds of the Queen's York Rangers's historians and there's even less connection 'twixt them and Simcoe!

Did the infantry and cavalry contingents carry colours into the field, or did they even have them in the first place?

Did the infantry have drummers? Any uniform distinctions for the musicians?

I believe the infantry component carried a standard set of king's and regimental colors, but all my research indicates that the cavalry never received standards or guidons. Perhaps they were to few in number to warrant the issue of official flags.

So far as musicians go, standard uniforms with shoulder wings and possibly drummer's lace

All of the Loyalist units taken onto the regular establishments towards the end of the war would have been entitled to flags of the appropriate type. However, I'm pretty sure that none of the legionary corps would have carried theirs in the field, because of the nature of their work and the formations used.

I would also seriously doubt that the short-lived light infantry of the BL ever carried their colours anywhere, given how quickly they were formed – and lost. There's no mention of them losing any flags at Cowpens, after which the infantry component more-or-less went into suspended animation whilst they were in captivity.

The cavalry numbered up to 200 in six troops, and was in fact based on the mounted components of the two regular Light Dragoons regiments when they had first arrived in America. The training of the BL by various folk from the 16th and 17th would suggest that they did not carry them in the field.

<<…and was in fact based on the mounted components of the two regular Light Dragoons regiments…>>

By which I mean the organisation of the BL cavalry, not the actual personnel.

My ancestor Arthur Eason was a drummer in Captain James Edwards Company of the British Legion Infantry.

link

There is a record on the Loyalist Institute site of the Infantry being offered colours but Colonel Tarleton refused on their behalf. I thought musicians had the reverse coats to the facings but I have seen figures represented with just extra lace and epaulettes. In Uniforms of Loyalist Units in the Americas by Rudy Scott Nelson he mentions a 1780 clothing inventory where "British Legion have green jackets, white waistcoats and breeches with its drummers being in green suits". The rider is that inventories took a couple of years to impliment but after Cowpens in January 1781, it existed in name only. The British Legion Infantry is one where no one knows for sure, being a poorly documented relation of the cavalry, but the debate at one stage was over red or green tunics because of the Barron map and descriptions of the battle by Lawrence Babits in his 1998, Devil of a Whooping.

arthur,

That inventory is mentioned in Scotti's book, and IIRC, it relates to clothing in a warehouse intended to be sent to America for the 1781, or 1782 issue.

Thanks SM. It tantalisingly says what clothing was planned in the future (1781-82) but does not confirm absolutely what they wore in 1780. So near yet so far.

If you go for British Legion Infantry in red tunics with black facings a la Barrons Map, then the drummer is in black as shown here in Adam D's blog.

link

Also to further clarify that the Legion Infantry had no colours, this is the link to the Loyalist Institute thay gives the reason why.

link

link

Works for me…

Bob C.