"A Question About AWI British Leggings" Topic

To ask this question I'll need to quote from a AWI topic website:

"There were two common types of gaiters which we shall call long and short. The short gaiter . . . ended just above the ankle and the long gaiter ended just above the knee. Gaiters could be either white . . ., black (white circle below), or leather coloured. Gaiters were made from leather or cloth. There were also medium length gaiters that ended just above the calf."

The source:

link

My question is, how common were long and medium gaiters among British infantry units? I have some AWI British figures featuring these worn with a 1768 warrant uniform. I know there are many warrant figures that have them in the just-above-the-ankle splatterdashes.

Also what would be the more common color, off white or off black?

Cheers!

Gallo

Long gaiters are winter wear. Short gaiters or spatter dashers would be the most common for any unit depicted in breeches for the more temperate months.

Black would be the most common color, based on them using blackball to weatherproof (such as was possible) the gaiters. I've never seen short gaiters that were white, or even long ones, at least not for the AWI period.

That there were so many field mods in American makes it hard to generalize much beyond that--you had Indian style leggings on some of Burgoyne's troops (Fraser's Marksmen), and gaiter-trousers used in the main army after they changed to the round hat and cut down coats.

If you're doing a 68 Warrant type unit, use short gaiters, black.

My $0.02 USD.

Thanks, Virginia Tory, for your ideas. Truth is, what I have are some Minifigs 15mm AWI British infantry that I purchased unpainted on ebay. I have other 15mm AWI minifigs so I guess I had to add to the collection. I suppose I could sculpt "just-above-the-ankle splatterdashes" on them and add a little putty where the long gaiters (which these figures have) end, above the knee. Otherwise, I might just like to have them in long black gaiters and say they're ready for cold weather.

Minifigs--pretty sure they are wearing the short gaiters (the ones I still have are). Funny they have long gaiters, though. They'd be black also. I'd just paint 'em up that way. It's not like it's wrong.

The majority of my 15s are either in short gaiters/breeches or gaiter-trousers for the campaign look. Blue Moon now does a whole line of figures like that, including some for Burgoyne's campaign.

I know there are different generations of Minifigs. This is what the figures I have look like:

I do like the look of the Blue Moon miniatures for this period but many are a bit too tall to blend in nicely with Minifigs, Essex, Peter Pig and Stone Mountain, which make up most of my armies.

What VA Tory said. In regards to the Minifig guy, I'm not sure what those are supposed to be on his legs. Too long for spatter dashes (half gaiters), and not long enough for gaiters.

There also seems to be a "wrinkle" mid-thigh, but I have no idea what that represents either.

I'd pain them black, but not all the way up. I think you could get away with that just fine.

link

After the scenario post comes the AAR.

A couple of weeks ago I put up the "how to play" post and this week I've followed up with the "how it went" post.

It's a real shame that the Spanish Civil War isn't more widely covered and gamed in the UK, it really is a fascinating period of history to look into.

I've told the story through the medium of pictures for the hard of hearing.

I'm on the look out for scenario ideas too if anyone has any.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Yikes. Da bug strikes again.

Hello historygamer,

Didn't know there was a bug but Spanish Civil War stuff does seem a bit strange in AWI, lol.

I used the picture from the Minifigs page. The sculpted feature in the photo does look a bit like a wrinkle but I'm pretty sure it's the top of a gaiter, having looked closely at the actual figures. Reminds me of the kind of long gaiters from the FIW or Napoleonic Wars.

One note of encouragement, I did find several pictures showing AWI reenactors in the long gaiters, also an illustration by Troiani. As suggested, I will paint them black.

Cheers!

Gallo

I feel I should point out that the posting about a Spanisch Civil War scenario has nothing to do with me.

I had recommended, Minipigs,that you disregard the blog you posted a link to, as he doesn't seem to know what he's talking about.

Yeah, that may be the gaiter strap, not the knee band on the breeches.

Long gaiters are not incorrect, just not as common as other forms of trouzers/overalls/spatter dashes. The Marines were ordered to bring both types of gaiters with them when they deployed to Boston.

Here's the Troiani illustration. For all I know he might represent British marines if his facings are the right color.

Cheers!

Gallo

Hmmmm . . . Belt buckle suggests he's with the British 17th infantry.

"In 1726 the regiment moved to Menorca[12] and in 1751 a royal warrant assigned numbers to the regiments of the line, and the unit became the 17th Regiment of Foot . . .

The regiment embarked for Boston, landing there on New Year's Day 1776, for service during the American War of Independence.[18] It saw action at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776,[18] the Battle of White Plains in October 1776[19] and the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776.[19] The regiment also took part in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton in January 1777; its performance at the latter battle was commemorated in the addition of an unbroken laurel wreath to its insignia; it went on to fight at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777[20] and at the Battle of Germantown in October 1777.[20] Several companies were captured at the Battle of Stony Point in July 1779[21] by a daring night-time bayonet charge by "Mad" Anthony Wayne.[22] The regiment was in action again at the Battle of Guilford Court House in March 1781 and at the Siege of Yorktown in September 1781.[23]

A royal warrant dated 31 August 1782 bestowed county titles on all regiments of foot that did not already have a special designation "to cultivate a connection with the County which might at all times be useful towards recruiting". The regiment became the 17th (Leicestershire) Regiment of Foot.[23] The regiment moved to Nova Scotia in 1783 before returning to England in 1786."

Cheers!

Gallo

Don has a couple of paintings of Marines, though one with the bastion lope lace is a bit questionable.

The Marines were ordered to bring both types of gaiters with them when they deployed. After the evacuated Boston, the two battalions training at Halifax were reported to be wearing trousers (overalls) and round hats. One battalion remained as garrison at Halifax for a while, the other was dispersed back to the fleet. The Lights were deployed to a fort in Canada, and the two gren companies remained with the converged battalions of grens till spring of '78, when they were recalled back to the fleet.

No doubt during the war the Marines wore various gaiters, breeches, overalls, and the ungaitered trousers as shown in some of the earlier works done by Ensign Bray, and by some of the artwork on the death of Capt Cook.

"Here's the Troiani illustration. For all I know he might represent British marines if his facings are the right color."

Yeah, 17th Foot at Princeton. Those are winter gaiters.

Excellent! Thanks, Virginia Tory, historygamer!

They were by the AWI, but in F&I they were what they wore on campaign, till replaced in 1759 by leggings – wool leggings sewn to the shape of the leg.