33rd Regiment of Foot

The 33rd Regiment of Foot was one of the most distinguished regiments serving in the British army during the American Revolutionary War. An admirer, Sergeant Roger Lamb, commented that "The 33rd... set a standard of soldier like duty." Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis served as the regiment's colonel, but in the field the regiment was led by Lieutenant-Colonel James Webster.

The 33rd first served on a British expedition to the Carolinas, and it was present at battle of Sullivan's Island (June 28, 1776). After the unsuccessful conclusion of that expedition, the regiment was sent to New York, where it was active at the battles of Long Island (August 27, 1776) and Fort Washington (November 16, 1776). In 1777, the regiment participated in the invasion of Pennsylvania and the subsequent retreat through New Jersey. The battalion companies saw relatively little combat during this interval. The grenadier company, however, saw hard fighting at Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and Monmouth (June 28, 1778), and the light infantry company lost many of its men in various engagements by the end of 1777.

Also in 1777, a portion of the regiment served in the northern theater in John Burgoyne's army. These men helped serve the artillery pieces, and, like most of Burgoyne's men, were captured at Saratoga.

After Monmouth, the regiment spent time in and around British posts in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island. In 1780, the regiment fought in the southern theater, including at the siege of (April-May, 1780) Charleston. After Charleston surrendered, the battalion companies of the regiment helped garrison South Carolina. These men saw hard hard fighting at the battle of Camden (August 16, 1780), where the regiment charged Continental infantry and American cannon spewing grape shot and canister. By the end of the day, the regiment lost 100 men, or 1/3 of its strength. The next major battle in which the 33rd served was Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781). On this occasion, the British army was faced with three successive lines of American infantry. The 33rd was the first regiment to fight its way through the first two American lines (militia from North Carolina and Virginia), and it then played a pivotal role in forcing the final line (Continentals) to retreat. However, losses once again totaled 1/3 of the regiment's strength. The remainder of the 33rd accompanied Cornwallis into Virginia, and it fought its last battle at Yorktown (October, 1781).

Below are two images of 15mm miniatures I've painted to represent the 33rd Foot. Colors for the flag pole will be added at a future date.

Also Online

Reenactors: 33rdfoot.org

Painted miniatures by other bloggers:

• 28mm miniatures by Giles
• 40mm miniatures by Truls

Brigade of Guards

Coming off the workbench at the moment are the battalion companies of the British Brigade of Guards. I have primarily used the Minfigs' American Marines pack to depict British this unit. The minis come with the cut-down round hats turned up on one side, like those worn by reenactors portraying this unit (cf. Brigade of Guards' picture gallery). The only problem is that these minis come with a backpack/blanket roll configuration that is not accurate to this unit.

A Completed Battalion (click to enlarge)

The Guards saw extensive service throughout the war, beginning with the invasion of New York. The Guards participated in the battle of Long Island (August 27, 1776), and served in a reserve capacity at the subsequent battles of White Plains (October 28) and Fort Washington (November 16). In the following months, the brigade saw service in New Jersey, most notably at Short Hills (June 26, 1777). The brigade also participated in the 1777 invasion of Pennsylvania and the 1778 retreat through New Jersey. During these campaigns, the brigade was instrumental in breaking the American line at the battles of Brandywine, (September 11, 1777), and Monmouth (June 28, 1778). The last major battle in which the brigade served in the northern theater was Springfield, New Jersey (June 7, 1780). The following year, the brigade was active in the southern theater, most notably at Guilford Courthouse (March 15, 1781) and Yorktown, where it was captured (October 19, 1781).

Touring the Revolution with Google Earth

I never ceased to be amazed at how many Revolution-related resources are on the Internet. As I don't live near the battlefields of the Revolution, I've enjoyed using Google Earth to "tour" sites not readily accessible to me. Below I describe a couple of basic features of this software, illustrated with screenshots (in all cases you can click to enlarge).

First, finding sites of historical interest is generally quite easy. Use the Search feature to find the place that you're looking for. Below I searched for "Fort Stanwix" and the program instantly transported me to the reconstructed Fort Stanwix in Rome, New York. I then zoomed in somewhat to obtain the view below.

I turn off most of the options in the Layers menu, but one that I keep on are the links to Panoramio pictures in the Geographic Web menu. These are user-submitted images that provide a ground-level view of the area. More often than not, the images are frankly beautiful as in the picture below of the Old North Bridge at Concord. On the right side of the image you can see the controls for zooming, panning, and rotating the image.

Unfortunately, many battlefields of the Revolution have not been well preserved. Two of the better exceptions among northern battles are Freeman's Farm/Bemis Heights and Monmouth. At present, there are only a handful of Panoramio pictures for these battlefields, but that is sure to change over time. A great user-submitted image of Monmouth appears below.

Some of the best places to see -- both in person and online -- are the sites of 18th-Century forts. Below is one of several images of handsome Fort Chambly in Canada, the site of an obscure, but historically important, action early in the war.

Yorktown, Virginia, is particularly worth visiting with Google Earth, as the extant fortifications are easily visible from the air, and the many visitors to the battlefield have generated some fantastic images, such as that of the recreated 1st Virginia Regiment, taken near the site of Redoubt #9.

One other feature worth exploring is the "Street View" option (in the Layers menu). By entering Street View, you can have a 360-degree view of a particular spot on a roadway. Barring the slight fuzziness of the images, this is almost as good as being there. Generally, only major roads have been imaged this way, which limits the usefulness of this feature, but for some battlefields this is useful. The screenshot below shows a Street View image taken on Flat Rock Road, revealing a portion of the Hanging Rock battlefield. Each camera icon is the location of another available view. Although not clear from this image, one can travel for miles along this road using Street View.

Yorktown is the rare locale where the normal aerial view, the links to Panoramio pictures, and the Street View option all can be used to study the battlefield. Below is an aerial view of the "Hornwork," a key position in the British defenses that was heavily pounded by the French and American artillery. The cars in the foreground provide a good sense of the enormity of this work.

Below is a Street Level view of the Hornwork, taken from the road visible in the image above.

17th Light Dragoons

[Minor edits 12/25/09]

The 17th Light Dragoons was one of two regiments of horse that the British dispatched to North America during the American Revolution. The 17th was sent to Boston and dismounted volunteers of the regiment served at Bunker Hill (1775). The following year, the regiment accompanied William Howe to New York and led the nighttime flanking march preceding the battle of Long Island (1776). At White Plains (1776), the regiment attacked the retreating Americans in what was probably the first cavalry charge of the war. The regiment was also at Fort Washington (1776), albeit in a minor capacity. The following year, the regiment participated in operations around New York, including the Danbury raid (1777), and the capture of Forts Clinton and Montgomery (1777). In the winter of 1777-1778, the regiment was with Howe at Philadelphia, and detachments saw action at White Marsh (1777), Crooked Billet (1778), and Barren Hill (1778). As the war shifted back to New York, the regiment was present at Monmouth (1778), New Jersey, and Pound Ridge (1778), New York. At the end of 1778, the 16th Light Dragoons was returned to England and the able horses and enlisted men were drafted into the 17th. In December, 1779, a part of the regiment accompanied Henry Clinton to South Carolina and participated in the siege of Charleston (1780), Monck's Corner (1780), Lenud's Ferry (1780), and Waxhaws (1780). Another part remained in New York and participated in Knyphausen's raid into New Jersey and saw action at New Bridge (1780). The detachment in the South returned to New York after the battle of Waxhaws; another detachment, however, was sent to South Carolina in January, 1781, where it subsequently suffered heavily at Cowpens (1781). Some members of the 17th were also present at Yorktown (1781), where Banastre Tarleton credited them with rescuing him during an engagement with Lauzun's hussars and lancers.

Cornet James Simmons of the American 3rd Light Dragoons remembered that at Cowpens the 17th “wore a uniform of red and buff, with Sheep Skin, on their caps.” The official facing color of the regiment was white. Don Troiani has completed a couple of paintings depicting the 17th at the time of Cowpens (here and here).

Sources:

Thomas Balch (1857). Papers Relating Chiefly to the Maryland Line During the Revolution. Balch's book has a transcription of Simons' letter to William Washington. His book can be downloaded from this site.

Richard Cannon (1841). Historical Record of the Seventeenth Regiment of Light Dragoons-- Lancers.

Philip R. N. Katcher (1973). Encyclopedia of British, Provincial, and German Army Units 1775-1783. Stackpole Books.

The recreated 17th Light Dragoons have a very informative website, which can be found here.

7th Regiment of Foot

The 7th Foot, or Royal Fusileers, were garrisoned in Quebec at the start of the war. The greater part of the regiment was captured in the at Fort Saint-Jean (1775) and Fort Chambly (1775) in the first American offensive. The remainder of the regiment (63 men), served with distinction during the defense of Quebec (1775). The regiment was reconstituted at New York in the winter of 1776-1777 following prisoner exchanges. The 7th was present for the attacks on Fort Clinton (1777) and Fort Montgomery (1777) and was stationed in Philadelphia for the winter of 1777-1778. Over the following 2 years, the regiment participated in the battle of Monmouth (1778) and William Tyron's Connecticut raid (1779). The following year, the 7th accompanied Henry Clinton's expedition to South Carolina, and participated in the siege of Charleston (1780). At the conclusion of the siege, the 7th was placed in garrison at Charleston, joining Charles Cornwallis' field army after the battle of Camden (1780). The 7th was later intended to be garrisoned at Ninety-Six, South Carolina, but was instead diverted to assist Banastre Tarleton's pursuit of Daniel Morgan. Subsequently, the regiment was captured at Cowpens (1781). It is believed that some men of the 7th continued to serve with Cornwallis after Cowpens; these men would have been captured at Yorktown (1781). The regiment was reformed in later years and was stationed in Charleston and Savannah before those towns were evacuated. According to Johann Ewald, it was one of the last four British regiments to depart New York in November, 1783 (the others were the 22nd, 23rd, and 40th regiments).

According to Tarleton, the regiment was made up of "chiefly recruits," at the time of Cowpens, which caused problems on the battlefield (early in the fight, he reported, it was necessary to put a stop to "a fire from some of the recruits of the 7th regiment"). Lieutenant Roderick Mackenzie of the 71st Foot, however, extolled the Fusileers for having "attained the summit of military discipline." Neither description is wholly reliable. Tarleton's narrative was written at a time after the war when his reputation was under attack; Mackenzie accused Tarleton of slighting the men under his command to mitigate his own culpability. Mackenzie, however, loathed Tarleton, and was not above stretching the truth if it would do his former commander injury.

In a dramatic painting, Don Troiani portrayed the moment at which Lieutenant-Colonel John Eager Howard’s Continentals captured the colors of the 7th Foot at the battle of Cowpens. This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only instance of a British regiment losing its colors on a battlefield during the Revolution (if only because flags were sometimes left behind).

The website of the recreated 7th Foot has a transcription of a letter from Brigadier-General Daniel Morgan to Samuel Huntington, president of the Continental Congress, that seems to confirm that the flags were taken during the battle itself. It states, in part, that he is sending to Huntington, "the standard of the 7th British Regt, which fell into my hands in the action of the 17th Jany – the other that was taken at the same time, I believe fell into the hands of some of the Militia." This suggests that one of the flags was taken by, or surrendered to, the Continentals, while the other was captured in some manner by the militia. At the time of the letter, Morgan didn't know what had become of the flag that the militia captured, because when the battle ended he was so caught up with other matters that "a proper inquiry could not be made after it."

Sources:

Philip R. N. Katcher (1973). Encyclopedia of British, Provincial, and German Army Units 1775-1783. Stackpole Books.

There are two recreated versions of the 7th Foot: here and here. Both have informative websites.

This website is a wonderful resource for all things related to Banastre Tarleton, and includes transcriptions of Tarleton's memoir and Mackenzie's Strictures.