AWI Progress

Just over one week into painting my Continentals, I've finished most of Poor's brigade. I painted 48 figures this week, almost completing three regiments.

The Perry figures were easy to paint, although I did notice some discrepancies in sculpting style between the earlier figures and those released later. The later figures appear a little chunkier, and don't have quite as nice faces. Still, Perry figures have enough variety of uniform types to allow me to field a very motley looking collection of soldiers.

1st New Hampshire

Here are my painting notes for this unit:

'Clothed from capture of British brig "Nancy." Coats were brown with white lining and red facings. January 1777 Congress ordered all units to be clothed in hunting shirts if coats are not available. A deserter in May 1777 is described wearing "brown clothes." In July two deserters are described wearing "a suit of white clothing" and "a sailor's jacket and long trousers." Another deserter is described as wearing "a blanket coat and blanket overalls."

Lots of online images show the 1st NH in hunter green jackets with red facings, red/pink waistcoat, and green breeches. This seems a pretty unlikely uniform for the entire regiment to wear.

The 1st NH began the war in civilian clothing, being composed of minute and militia companies responding to the "Lexington Alarm." As the war progressed, the unit was issued several different uniforms, including two different sets of brown coats with red facings, brown coats with white facings and green coats with maroon facings (probably where the reenactors get the funky coats from).'

I elected to make this a pretty rag-tag unit. Half the figures are in the brown coats with red facings and white lining captured from the Nancy. The other half are in a collection of hunting shirts and civilian clothes.

2nd New Hampshire

From my notes:

'Sky blue coats faced with red and lined with white. Their waistcoats and breeches were of buckskin, and their stockings of white or gray wool and crossbelts of buff leather. The buttons were of pewter stamped.'

I chose to make this my most uniformly clothed unit. 14 of the 16 figures are in the coats described, with the remaining two in civilian shirts. I used some figures in overalls to break the monotony of buckskin breeches and grey stockings.

2nd New York

I miscounted my figures before priming and ended up two short for this unit. The remaining two soldiers will come with the next batch, and they'll be wearing hunting shirts.

My notes again:

'Raised from the 4th NY regiment of 1775, which had dark brown colored coats faced scarlet. They were completely clothed in uniforms in 1775, but many casualties of the Canadian expeditions would have been replaced by men lacking uniforms.

In addition, they wore white linen cravats or stocks, waistcoats and breeches of Russia drilling, woolen home-knit stockings, low shoes, a felt hat with low crown and wide brim cocked up, knapsacks and haversacks of painted canvas, and wooden canteens.

Later these New York troops were provided with buckskin waistcoats and breeches, or overalls of wool, and woolen mittens and caps. Many also wore the rifle frock for service.'

This is the most ill-clothed of my units, befitting the regiment's hard service in Arnold's Quebec campaign the preceding year. Only four men are in regulation dress. Nine are in hunting shirts, and the two I'll be adding will raise that total to ten.

Poor had a regiment of Connecticut militia and a section of artillery attached to his continentals. I'll be priming the gun and crew, along with the infantry and Poor himself, tomorrow.

I'm still waiting on my GMB order. Once I finish the remaining units, and once the flags get here, I'll get the bases flocked and take some shots of the entire finished brigade.