"62nd Regt. 'The Springers'" Topic

According to C19th tradition, the 62nd Regiment (Later 62nd Wiltshire Regiment) aquired a nickname during the AWI, as a result of the action at Freeman's Farm during Burgoyne' unsuccessful Great Lakes/Hudson River campaign in 1777.

This campaign is a topic of which I only have very general aquaintance. Was there any particular aspect of the action at Freeman's Farm that might have explain such a nickname? Victorian histories make reference to the 62nd being employed as light infantry and their vigorous pursuit of the enemy- neither of which seem persuasive.

"Springer" as in "Springer Spaniel" I would guess -- so your "vigorous pursuit" would be exactly where the name originated, that is to say, they flushed the enemy out as if they were game.

Yes, precisely so, but I should like to find out if there is a historical basis for this in relation to the action at
Freeman's Farm?

The internet is your long lost friend.

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"The MS. Records further state that the regiment gained at Saratoga its familiar name of "Springers, " from having acted as a light infantry battalion…"

"The Old Springers, by one of themselves: A Historical Sketch of the 62nd Regiment" Published by Colburn's United Service Magazine and Military Journal" Page 317, 1870.

Not sure I buy that explanation. All of Burgoyne's units were considered as Light Infantry in the campaign, so not sure what would make them special as compared to the other regiments in that campaign.

62ndregiment.org/index.htm

Thanks, Rallynow. The 1870 article is now the earliest reference I have seen to the 'Springers' nickname. However, that only takes us eight years farther back from Richard Trimens' ‘The Regiments of the British Army' (1878), and it may be the origin of the later references to be found in a number of other military anthologies published in the later years of the C19th.

The reference to MS 'Orderly Room Records' is interesting but without further details it is hard to judge its value. It may refer to the 'Records of Service' made up by regiments in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars at the the request of the Duke of York, rather than being contemporary records of the Saratoga campaign- although that would still take the 'tradition' back a further fifty years. However, a considerable number of regimental 'traditions' in the British army can be dated to that process of compilaton in the 1820s-30s and many do not stand up too well to scrutiny.

I have to agree with historygamer that, on the face of it, the role of the 62nd as light troops does not seem to be exceptional in the Saratoga campaign. Perhaps the reference to the action at Trois Rivières, as opposed to Freeman's Farm, is significant. Did the 62nd distinguish themselves on that occasion?

One detail from the re-enactors website (those LI caps!) is interesting, however. In a a series of general inspection of reports made when the 62nd was in Ireland between 1771-75, culminating in that made at Cork in May 1775, repeated references to 'Hats too small' and 'Coats too short…so short I must call them jackets,' together with the complaint that 'they march in too open order as do most of the Regiments at a Review…,' suggests that early on the 62nd may have affected a light infantry style throughout the whole battalion.

This may have prompted the nickname 'Springers,' whether affected by the men of the 62nd themselves, or given by neighbouring regiments and adopted by the regiment in the spirit of good sport.

The Wiltshire regimental museum gives this more detailed version, which can be dated back to 'Soldier and sailor words and phrases (1925), and does at least offer a more specific origin:
'It is said that after the battle Major General Burgoyne rode along the decimated ranks of the 62nd, where only five officers and sixty men stood fit for duty, and said warmly 'Well done my brave Springers'.
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That reported compliment is diluted somewhat by the fact that Trimens in his 'Regiments of the British Army' (1878) also assigns the nickname of 'The Springers' to the 10th Regiment (later the Lincolnshires), dating also from the AWI. In 1777, the 10th were with Howe in Philadelphia. At the end of that campaign the regiment, sorely depleted, was drafted and took several years to get back to strength (There is no reference to the nickname in the regimental history to 1847).

"One detail from the re-enactors website (those LI caps!)"

The unit commander is the park Historian at Saratoga, so I am going to assume those Light caps are based on pretty good evidence.

42nd, was there a particular time period when these regimental "mottos" came into particular fashion? I'm not that familiar with them during the AWI time-period. They remind me of the county labels that came about very late in the war, but are often applied by authors inappropriately when addressing an earlier time-period.

Hi again Hg. A lot of the famous headgear emblems supposedly dating to the 7YW and AWI {5th 35th 46th +? 42nd} can't be traced much further back than circa 1790, when a certain free-for-all in terms of inprovisations on the theme of 1768 had set in, probably result of the long yearas overseas during the AWI. Circa 1800 a concerted attempt to rein in the colonels -on paper- seems to have been fairly successful. After the war there was a two-pronged campaign:

A) to gain control over remaining anomalies; mostly by sanctioning them so at least there was recorded authority {42nd, 28th, 5th 1822-24; and later: 46th, 23rd 1833-34}

B) to get a unified account from each regiment of its distinctions, trophies and notable service. This was resulted in the National Military Record which was launched by the Duke of York in 1822. Some regiments were better record-keepers than others.

Regarding the nicknames, I suspect there has been a considerable amount of Chinese whispers in play as anthologies have been published and then copied without being questioned. As far as I can tell many nicknames can only be dated to the mid- to late Victorian period at best. Obviously there are notable exceptions: The Buffs, The Green Howards, The Black Watch. to name a few which were semi official from an early date.

If a story is plausible I am inclined to be less sceptical. Ones that strain logic or credibility are less easy to accept.

Sometimes, the version passed down appears to have been cleaned up to protect Victorian sensibilities and regimental dignity; a classic case being the fleur-de-lys badge of the 63rd as the origin of their nickname 'The Bloodsuckers.' Vague references to malaria-bearing insects and soldiers' grave markers in the Americas ignore the fact that the 'insect' that the fleur-de-lys badge most resembles is a louse- (and that it would have been a fortunate British soldier on active service who was commemorated with a grave marker).

"One detail from the re-enactors website (those LI caps!)"

The unit commander is the park Historian at Saratoga, so I am going to assume those Light caps are based on pretty good evidence.

The LI 'hat-cap' selected by the re-enactors of the 62nd appears to have been based on those depicted by P.J. Loutherbourg as worn by the LI coy of {?} the 69th Regiment at the Warley Camp reviews in 1778. Given what we know of the amendments to regulation uniform ordered for Burgoyne's expedition, this is a puzzling decision. Perhaps these are meant to be pre-expedition LI headgear but I don't believe there is evidence this version of LI cap was worn in America. I stand to be corrected but I suspect it is a presumptive interpretation of written references to 'hat caps.' Don Troiani made the same choice in his depiction of the 3rd Buffs in the south. (Franklin can't get enough of them).

The hats themselves are handsome enough although it seems to me that, in comparison with the Loutherbourg images, IMHO they have got the proportions wrong.

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