"Guilford Courthouse Militia" Topic

Hi all!

Does anyone have any information regarding the various militia units at Guilford Courthouse, namely:

William's NC
Linton's NC
Moore's NC
Taylor's NC

Steven's VA
Lawson's VA

I've found a list of the different counties that the companies were from. Were any of them uniformed, do we know?

Thanks

Don't think they were.

That far south and that far inland, I'd about guarantee they weren't uniformed. Very much a northern and city thing at the time. Mind you, this wouldn't necessarily keep me (as a miniatures player) from putting a feather in everyone's hat or something. But a real uniform? No.

Never heard of uniformed militia in AWI, in any theater (except at company level when the company was formed from the well-to-do, pretty rare). I plan to paint my militia in different base colors: darker for northern militia, mid-range colors for central states militia, and lighter colors like white for southern militia. I won't, however, hesitate in using any militia when doing a battle where I need lots of it. But neither will any of my militia be in any uniform.

The militia at Guilford CH, more so the Virginians, included ex-continentals in their ranks who might have chosen to wear their old uniform coats. Some of the regimental commanders were also former regulars. The occasional uniformed figure among the ranks might not be inappropriate, but the majority would be in civilian clothes.

Thanks chaps! Kind of what I was expecting to hear But you never know with the AWI!

Gnu, I'll probably go along with that suggestion.

Don't overdo the militia in continental uniforms. In Long Obstinate and Bloody the authors point out that pension records show only 10 Virginia militiamen out of 133 had prior continental experience. For North Carolina it was 6 out of 182. The percentages of militia officers with continental experience was higher: 14% for NC and 20% for Virginia.

Also remember that Guilford Courthouse was fought in March. Even though it was part of the southern campaign I'd avoid having too many figures in light summer wear.

Bill makes a good point. My Carolinas militia tend to just have the commander in uniform; the Virginia militia units have the commander and a couple of other figures in uniform (out of 15 or so figures per unit).

There's pictures on my blog paintingshed.blogspot.com if you dig back a couple of years.

As to winter v summer clothing, unless you are collecting only for one battle there is a need to compromise with militia, or collect a LOT of figures 😀

Once all painted, I will have 12 units of 18 figures each for just militia, 4 for north, 4 for central, and 4 for south. My color comments above are very general. Even the 'white' south will have lots of other colors, just each group of 4 will lean one way versus the others.

And if you think that is a LOT of militia, well, of course it is. But I have 96 units of foot for one side and 80 for the other – not typos. And 12 and 8 mounted units per side, 24 and 20 artillery pieces with crews per side (and that might be a bit excessive), 97 total 'generals' too (some being options to vary things out). And some civilians, mounted and foot, unarmed as well as some civilian limber drivers with limbers, a dozen. I even have a corps of invalids and a small unit of pioneers and a few other minor odd bits.

Yeah, you might say I'm a bit into the AWI. As a game. I like the history, too. But while I let the latter guide the former, the former takes precedence over the latter. It's about fun.

No, it's a sensible starting point for a collection of militia.
I have around 250 militia figures in 28mm (painted) suitable for most of the battles in the south but including some in shirtsleeves who would have been very cold at GCH. Without compromise I'll need to collect and paint about 1,000 figures. I'm not saying I won't get there one day…

I congratulate you on being "a bit into the AWI"; you are not alone.

I look forward to seeing your collection once it is painted and assembled.

Ummmm….
I just paint militia.
For me they're just as good for Saratoga as for Concord as for Guilford Courthouse as for Camden.