Friday, June 24, 2011

Lord Kenmore's Battalion and AWI artillery

Lord Kenmore's battalion was one of two Scots battalions that served with the British army at Killiecrankie.  According to my source, which I photocopied from one of David Sullivan's books, so it is untitled and the author is unknown, this unit may have been newly raised, chiefly from Ulster refugees, and may have provided their own clothing.  The author prescribes hodden gray coats and bonnets.  Perfect for the figures I have.  I put the command stand in British red, as shown in the Jacobite Risings Osprey Men-At Arms #118.  The unit performed poorly at Killiecrankie, suffering only one dead, which indicates they probably broke at the instance of the highland charge.
Pike stand.  I hoped to show the tartan on the pikemen, but like all of these, the pics are darker than I'd like.
Lord Kenmore's Regiments in gray coats.  The flag is a white saltire on blue field.  It carries a thistle badge with a red ribbon above the badge.
The unit in red is Lord Hasting's battalion.  It is the only true British regiment at Killiecrankie, the rest being Scots and Scots in Dutch service.  Not a lot is said about the unit's performance at that battle, but, that said, I really think Killiecrankie would likely make a bad game. 
Lord Hastings battalion at Killiecrankie.  Miniatures are by Hallmark. 
The artillery is from a couple of my projects.  Well, they actually overlap.  The larger gun stands represent American field and heavy guns for Regimental Fire and Fury (8 pdr and 12 pdr.)  We don't usually see these gallivanting about a southern battlefield, but one never knows when big guns will be useful.  The guns and gunners are all Front Rank.  I still love the figures.  Yes they are big and bulky and can't be combined with Perry or Old Glory figs, but I still like the detail and that they seem so substantial.  The guns are quite nice.
The gun on the left is a 12 pdr.  The gun on the right is an 8 pdr.  All guns and figures are by Front Rank.
The singly mounted figures and guns are from another project-Wayne's Legion in the Old Northwest and/or my hypothetical Mississippi campaign.  Wayne introduced a piece of ordnance called a King's howitzer, a 2 3/4 " howitzer that could easily be manhandled about and fired like a big shotgun. The guns, which came in two sizes, were very lightweight. The barrels were just 38 lbs. and 60 lbs respectively.  These pieces gave American soldiers the advantage of putting artillery in the firing line off the trail.  A nice advantage to have.  Unfortunately nobody makes such a field piece, and it was suggested I just use a 15mm Napoleonic howitzer, so British 5.5" howitzers made do.  There is a very nice article on the King's howitzers on the Legionville website.
Front Rank gunners with teeny, tiny Essex 5.5" howitzers.  Why is the picture so damn dark?

Photo of the lighter King's howitzer at the Legionville museum.  This site is devoted to preservation of Anthony Wayne's Fallen Timbers campaign (1794) You can see how tiny it is.  Just compare the gun to the height of the step.

2 comments:

DeanM said...

Professing to have scant knowledge of the Jacobite Rising - other than the time period; which is quite lengthy. I would think the tactics must've varied quite a bit throughout. The beginning was only about generation after the ECW. Interesting. Dean

Ted Henkle said...

Nice use of figures outside of the time period!