French Line Infantry 1759

I have been unable to find out which French units were involved in the battle in fact what I did find is that most of the troops were French Colonial’s who were very tough and experience men. I did find in my research that most of the regular troops in Canada were Troupes de la Marine (French Naval Infantry) I did find a few listed units that served in Canada, I have added information below of one such unit. I think for our own forces we can bend history a bit and have some Line Infantry (off White Uniform) and Troupes de La Marine (Grey Uniform)

 

 

The 54th Line Infantry

It was formed in 1657 during the Ancien Régime as the régiment Mazarin-Catalans, being renamed the régiment Royal Catalan in 1661 then the régiment Royal Roussillon in 1667. Its first battalion fought in the French and Indian War from 1756 to 1761 in Canada under the command of général Louis-Joseph de Saint-Veran, Marquis de Montcalm, with M. de Sennezergue as its colonel. It fought at the Battle of Fort William Henry and at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham – at the latter it was broken and forced to flee by steady fire from the British 35th Foot, whose members are traditionally held to have picked up the 54th's plumes and placed them in their own headdress (the Roussillon Plume being formally incorporated into the badge of the 35th Foot in 1881). A second battalion of the Royal Roussillon served in Germany (1756–1762). In 1756, the 54th Infantry Regiment's uniform was white with blue facings, five gilded buttons for the linings and 3 buttons on each pocket.

Most regiments wore white coats made of unbleached woollen fabric with brightly coloured cuffs of the "distinctive colour". The exact colour of this unbleached woollen coat has given rise to several debates. Since it directly depended on the colour of the wool used, its colour probably varied form a very light grey to off white. Contemporary works such as Taccoli's book and Troupes du Roi, Infanterie française et étrangère, année 1757 depict very light grey (almost white) uniforms; while Raspe's publications in 1761 and 1762 depict white coats.

Each regiment was further distinguished by the colour and quantity of buttons, and the shape and position of pockets. These distinctions were specified by the ordonnances. As per the regulation of April 20 1736, the coat was now buttoned up down to the waist and coat lapels were introduced in a few regiments. When they reached the waist, they were called bavaroise. Turnbacks also gradually appeared. In fact, the basques of the coat could be turned back or left unfastened. With the regulation of 1757, collars of the same colour as the cuffs appeared in many regiments. Coloured lapels were also introduced. The cuffs became smaller and the turnbacks began to be decorated with a hearth shaped piece to reinforce the hook.

Swiss and Irish regiments wore garance red coats; Scot and German regiments turquin blue coats.

Depending on the regiment, the long sleeved waistcoat could be of unbleached woollen fabric or dyed in the "distinctive colour". The waistcoat had two rows of 11 yellow or white buttons and horizontal pockets with flaps but without buttons. The regulation of April 20 1736, stipulated that coloured waistcoat should be suppressed but this measure was rarely applied.

Breeches were usually made of unbleached woollen fabric. They were fastened by buttons at the waist and in front. They also had flaps fastened with 5 small buttons on the outer face of each knee. Gaiters were usually white, fastened with small buttons on the outer face and held in place by a narrow leather strap under the knee. Around 1761 and 1762, black gaiters seem to have been increasingly common.

Following image is taken from www.reeseartofwars.com

 

 

There are some very nice images of French SYW Line Infantry Uniforms on this web page http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=French_Line_Infantry_Uniform

They have been authorised to be used on the website but the artist retains full copyright so I will not reproduce them here, I recommend you follow the link and look at them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 44th Regiment of Foot

 

In the of January, 1755, under the command of Major-General Braddock, the 44th, along with the 48th Regiment, sailed from Cork for Virginia. As part of the plan to engage the French in America, Braddock's force was to attack the Fort du Quesne, on the Ohio, Pennsylvania. The army had to cross the Allegany mountains. The journey was long and hard, as much of it was through unmapped, road-less country. The men frequently had to cut their own path over steep inclines, rocky ground and contend with rivers and torrents. They also had no support from the local province. After arriving at Fort Cumberland, Braddock was informed that the French were apparently to be reinforced. With this news, he decided to force march the army to meet the French. Despite protests from the likes of Colonel Sir Peter Halkett of the 44th, Braddock camped his force within ten miles of the fort, over forty miles from any reserve and support. Even though they were now perilously exposed to the risk of ambush, Braddock also ignored advise to use Indian scouts and to proceed cautiously. Braddock marched on blindly. On the 9th of July, Braddock's army was hit by fire from the front and flank. The advanced guard, comprising of the Grenadier company of the 44th led by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Thomas Gage, took the main brunt of the first volley. From one hundred Grenadiers, all but twenty-two men still stood. In the confusion caused by the thick smoke from the shooting and the total surprise of the attack, eleven more men fell, some to their own comrades guns. Three more Grenadiers later died of their wounds. Braddock's incompetence continued as he ordered a holding action, rather than a retreat. The Major-General was too shot, in the leg, and was carried from the battle field by Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Thomas Gage of the 44th. Braddock died four days later. Throughout this action, of Braddock's aides, Colonel Washington was the only one to remain unscathed despite having two horses shot from under him and four bullets pass through his coat. It fell to Colonel Washington to withdraw the remaining men from the action to safety, which he did so with calm professionalism. Braddock's army lost seven hundred men, including Colonel Sir Peter Halkett, Bart., The regiment also lost Captains Charles Tatton and Henry Bromley, Captain-Lieutenant Richard Gethin; and Lieutenants James Allen and Robert Townsend. The Colonel's own son, Lieutenant James Halkett, also of the the 44th, was killed.

In the August of 1758, now with Major-General James Abercromby for the Colonel, the 44th was to relieve Oswego, on Lake Ontario, which had been taken by the French. Before they arrived, the French destroyed the fort and reinforced the army at Ticonderoga. The 44th then joined the 27th, 42nd, 46th and 55th Regiments to assail the French at Fort Ticonderoga. Whilst on route, the British came across and detachment of French. For a few losses, the British killed three hundred French and took one hundred and forty-eight prisoners. Arriving in the area, the 44th, along with six companies of the Royal Americans, took possession of the Saw-Mill, which was about two miles from the fort. The French, however managed to destroy the mill and bridge across the river. The next day, Abercromby decided to proceed to take the fort with haste, due to rumours of impending large French reinforcements. Also, due to the nature of the terrain, it was very difficult to bring up artillery, so Abercromby decide not to wait for that either. After four hours of fighting and without removing the French, the British lost five hundred and fifty-one men, with another one thousand and fifty-six wounded. No figures are given for individual regiments, but the 44th lost Ensign William Frasier in the fight. Ticonderoga would not fall until the next year during a major assault on all French positions in Canada.

In 1759, as part of the operation to push the French from Canada, the 44th were assigned to the force against Fort Niagara. Under Brigadier-General John Prideaux of the 55th, a portion of the assemble army included the New York provincials and forces from several Indian nations was commanded by Sir William Johnson. The 44th was attached to this force. The action commenced mid-July of that year. On the 20th of July, Brigadier-General John Prideaux was killed in an accident. The command was taken up by Sir William Johnson. In the ensuing action, the 44th under the command of Major John Beckwith were posted to the trenches to esnure that should the French attempt to break out, they would be met. After fierce fighting, the French finally surrendered the fort on the 25th of July.

The 44th's last action was in the May of 1760. Under Lieutenant-General Amhert, a large force was assembled at Oswego. The 44th regiment formed part of the rear-guard for the attack on Fort Levi, which surrendered on the 25th of August. The army promptly moved on to surround Montreal. The French Governor-General, the Marquis de Vandreuil was compelled to surrender the garrison on the 8th of September, 1760. Canada was now completely under British rule.

From 1761, the regiment's companies were engaged in guard duties in various locations, which the regiment being reassembled in 1765 at Quebec. There, the regiment embarked for Ireland, where it was to remain for the next ten years.

Text and pictures taken from http://44th.webs.com/history.html 

Paintbrushes at the ready

I have collected a nice healthy list of volunteers for figure painting duties, I do believe I have emailed you all to acknowledge your interests. If any one has not had an email from me please send me a reminder, as I may have missed it during my short time away through illness.

Just to keep you all informed, I am finalising some figures with Andrew at AW miniatures who is sculpting some additional figures that are needed for some of the units. My intention is to visit him at the end of the month and collect all the lead that needs painting including the all new sculpts. I will be making a special trip to the Phalanx show this weekend to meet up with James and Andrew to ensure we are on track for this area of the project.

I appreciate many of you are itching to fire up your paints and brushes, but I ask you to bear with me as I want to send all the lead out in one batch so I can keep track of the project. I know James is keen as mustard to get some paint out :)

Regards
Andrew

The 46th Regiment of Foot

The 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, created in 1741 and amalgamated into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881.

In 1749 the Regiment was stationed in Ireland, where they remained for eight years. Whilst they were in Ireland, the Seven Years' War broke out, and the 46th were relocated to Nova Scotia. During their time in Canada, the 46th were involved in several battles, including:

• Assault on Fort Ticonderoga, July 8, 1758;
• Assault and Capture of Fort Niagara, July 25, 1759;
• Assault and Capture of Fort Lévis, August 25, 1760;
• Capture of Montreal,September 8, 1760;

In the American War of Independence the 46th Regiment of Foot fought at Capture of Long Island, August 28, 1776; Capture of New York, 1776; Capture and Reduction of Fort Washington, 1776; Battle of Brandywine Creek, September 11, 1777; Action of Paoli's Tavern, September 20, 1777; Capture of Philadelphia, 1777; Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777; Action of Monmouth Court-House, June 28, 1778; Assault and Capture of Bedford, September 5, 1778 Assault and Capture of Martha's Vineyard, September, 1778; Invasion and Capture of St. Lucia, December 30, 1778; Defence of La Vigie, December 18, 1778; and the Capture of St. Eustatius, 1781.

Diplomatist Research Services get involved

A fellow blogger contacted me with an idea of how he could support our efforts. Edwin King is a blogger and also sells old books he has 5 copy's of The Battle for Quebec he has kindly agreed that all money raise from the sale of these books will go to our fund, if you are interested follow the below link and have a look

 Can I take this chance to say a huge thank you to Edwin, he is very new to wargame,s and I think he will welcome any support and help as he dips his toe in the world we all love.


http://diplomatist2.wix.com/diplomatist-res#!char/cfvg

 

Something special this way comes!!!

Here is a little teaser for a project I have asked Andrew at AW Miniatures to work on. I am not going to give all the details only to say that it will be a special vignette, that you can purchase later in the year through this blog to help us raise funds.

So stay tuned folks as it promises to be a good year.

Work on the terrain (part 1)

We have started to design the tables for this venture. The initial thing to do when starting a project is to look at maps and images that you can get hold of. In this case its a little harder as there is not to many of them available for this battle.  However Mike found one and sent it through to me.

From this we then need to identify the area of the main battle and take this as the base to work from.

With the area selected, we need work out our table size.

We use a graphic package and overlay a grid to see how this relates on the ground using our desired table size which for the demo game will be 8ft x 6ft.

We then adapt the map to make it more war game friendly, in this case we cleaned the image of units and adjusted the forest area a little. This will allow a little more movement room around the table perimeter ( for flanking). Further adjustments will be made as we start construction of the table, the river on the table edge will end up being 6 to 8 inches wide. The main issue in construction will be the usability of the table after the event and when we raffle or sell them off.

We have settled on making 8 (3ft x 2ft) sections, This will give us 4 tables after the event each (4ft x 3ft) by bolting two sections together. This will make them easily transportable and easy for the winners to take them home. We still have some decisions to make regarding the overall finish of the woodlands possibly the most costly part of this build considering the number of trees we will need.

I will use the blog to document the build throughout the course of this project so stay tuned for more work in progress updates.