"British Legion Flag?" Topic

I have seen a flag in the background of the Reynold's flag of Banastre Tarleton. Did the British legion have a flag? Anyone know of an image available? I would like to paint my 10mm British Legion infantry with a standard. Thanks!

The British Legion was one of those Provincial Regimenst which was "taken on the Establishment", as an official regiment. I believe it was the "5th American Regiment". Being "on the establishment", it was subject to the rules of British regiments.

I would then give the infantry contingent a King's Colour in the standard pattern, with a red shield in the center, and the legend "British Legion, 5th American Reg't". HOWEVER, the infantry contingent was Light Infantry, so probably did not carry Colours in the field. A Regimental Colour, if carried, would probably follow the pattern for a regiment with black facings: a black cross on a red background, with the Union in the upper left canton. But, like I said, IF carried.

The Dragoon contingent was more likely to carry a flag, in this case a guidon, probably of the standard pattern for a regiment with black facings. I have seen guidons for the 16th and 17th Light Dragoons, and would follow them as a guide.

Go to: link for a picture of an actual surviving Loyalist King's Colour, in this case of Butler's Rangers. This is to show that Loyalist regiments could indeed have Colours. Whether they carried this to Wyoming, or Cherry Valley is debatable. Notice the reenactors. Their Regimental Colour follows the rules for a regiment with red facings. Also notice the home-made look of the original Colour, and how the saltire arms do not line up.

Alas, warflag.com is shut down at this time, or I could refer you to a guidon.

BTW, the Butler's Colour is thought to have been taken during the War of 1812 by the American troops who were busy looting and burning York. It ended up in a closet at West Point, where it still is today.

Lecoqfou,

The short answer is that nobody knows if the British Legion carried flags, or if they did, what they looked like. John has given the official "rules" for such items and if you want to have flags, follow them. I've appended a longer(!) answer below.

With regard to the Reynolds portrait, the colour to which you refer is probably not a British Legion flag, but a Continental Army standard (possibly from a Virginia unit cut up at Waxhaws) as the canton nearest the finial appears to contain an eagle. The gun and other flags are the type of "trophy" decoration common to military portraits of the era - there is a similar painting of Washington showing a Hessian colour captured at Trenton. Such portraits usually included an obvious reference to a particular success in the soldier's (or sailor's) life, and Waxhaws was one for which Tarleton was famous. (For an interesting alternative view of Waxhaws, drawn entirely from Continental sources, see www.banastretarleton.org "Oatmeal for the Foxhounds".)

It's a while since I read Tarleton's memoirs (which need a large pinch of salt anyway) but I don't recall seeing any references to his men carrying flags and there are no stories of colours being smuggled out of Yorktown on the "Bonetta" which I would expected had there been any, as Tarleton would have regarded this as a major coup). I go with John that as light troops, the infantry would not have carried them anyway due to the nature of their exposed operation (Simcoe's journal of the exploits of the Queen's Rangers, which had a similar modus operandi, likewise makes no mention of colours).

I also agree with John that if either element of the Legion carried any flags, it was the cavalry and that they would probably have copied the British light cavalry style (especially as Tarleton was ex-16th LD). However, note that neither the 16th LD nor the 17th LD is thought to have ever carried their guidons in the field during the AWI (I can't give a source for this off hand, but I've also seen somewhere that they may even have left them in the UK, but that seems unlikely as regiments did not have depots until the 19th century and when they moved EVERYTHING went with them because there was nowhere else for it to go - sadly, the records of both regiments for the entire war were lost in shipwrecks because of this).

The British Legion became the 5th American Regiment on the American Establishment in March 1781, and transferred to the British Establishment (although keeping the same title) in December 1782. I have no idea if the first event led to them obtaining official colours (if it did, I doubt they would have been delivered - much less carried - prior to Yorktown); if not, then the second event most certainly would have, but whether they were made/delivered/carried, has never been recorded. The unit went into temporary suspension after Yorktown, when the survivors were transferred to the King's American Dragoons, but was re-raised in 1782 and had 773 men by the end of the war.

In theory, any Regimental Colour of the British Legion should have been black; however, be aware that green was universally popular amongst Loyalists - eg the King's American Regiment should have bad dark blue facings and Regimental Colour, but went for olive green. The King's and Regimental Colours of the Queen's Rangers still exist in a Canadian museum; the latter is green, which was the facing colour of its infantry element (the light dragoon element had black, and later blue, facings, but does not appear to have carried any flags). This would be a good template for any infantry colour you decided to give the British Legion. The Butler's Rangers flag John referred to looks somewhat crude and was probably "home made" as Butler's area of operations was very remote and supplying properly manufactured colours from England would have been difficult (and very expensive). BTW, the colour belts used by the re-enactors are an anachronism - there is no recorded use of them by Crown forces until the Napoleonic Wars.

SM

It's still in a closet, John?

Allen

Last I heard of it...