Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (15)

This is the final entry in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14.

In the “separate battle” at Guilford Courthouse, British forces attacking Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee’s flank corps found their flank and rear imperiled by the “Rockbridge Rifles” of Edward Stevens’ brigade of Virginia militia [Part 14].

The British drew men away from their primary attack to counter the Virginians, but they found the riflemen difficult to dislodge. Rifleman Andrew Wiley later remembered, “the British forces… were swept off [a ridge] by the Virginia Riflemen, but formed again and again”. [1]

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The model battlefield as the battle winds down (click to enlarge). The Americans first line was behind the fields near the bottom of the image, the second line was in the woods in the center, and the third line was at the top (where miniature redcoats can be seen driving back the American Continentals). The green-coated British Legion cavalry are massed behind the infantry. The “separate battle” is occurring along the right edge of the image.

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Meanwhile, Lee attempted to break off the action and join the Continentals on the third line. In his words:

Lee dispensed with his cavalry, heretofore held in the rear to cover retreat in case of disaster, ordering it to close with the left of the continental line, and there to act until it should receive further orders. Upon [Regiment von] Bose... [his troops] now turned with increased animation and with confidence of success. [2]

Lee’s men drove the Guardsmen and Hessians back a little ways. At that point:

Every obstacle now removed, Lee pressed forward... and joined his horse close by Guilford court-house.

However, by the time Lee’s troops reached the courthouse area, the battle for the third line was over. Lee then followed the rest of the army on its retreat.

After Lee retreated, the Rockbridge Rifles were the only sizable group of Americans left on the battlefield (Lee, perhaps, had been unaware of their presence). The Rifles soon were imperiled. At about the same time that Lee left the fight, British Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton was dispatched to aid the Hessians and Guardsmen with part of his British Legion cavalry. Tarleton recalled that en route:

[they] found officers and men of both corps wounded, and in possession of the enemy: The prisoners were quickly rescued from the hands of their captors, and the dragoons… [continued on] without delay. As soon as the cavalry arrived, the guards and the Hessians were directed to fire a volley upon the largest party of the militia, and, under the cover of the smoke, Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton doubled round the right flank of the guards, and charged the Americans with considerable effect. The enemy gave way on all sides, and were routed with confusion and loss. [2]

Samuel Houston of the Rockbridge Rifles recalled running for his life from the charging horsemen: “we were obliged to run, and many were sore chased, and some cut down.” [3]

Houston and a number of other riflemen eventually found each other and made their way towards the American encampment.

Darkness and rainfall halted the movement of both armies. Houston’s party, which had several wounded men in it, spent a miserable night in the woods:

all being almost wearied out, we… encamped, where, through darkness and rain, and want of provisions we were in distress. Some parched a little corn. We stretched blankets to shelter some of us from the rain.

The British army encamped on the battlefield. Commissary General Charles Stedman recalled that:

The night… was remarkable for its darkness, accompanied with rain, which fell in torrents…. The cries of the wounded and dying who remained on the field of action during the night exceed all description. Such a complicated scene of horror and distress, it is hoped, for the sake of humanity, rarely occurs, even in a military life. [4]

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British Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis had been victorious at the battle of Guilford Courthouse as a victory, but only in a very narrow sense. He had driven the Americans from field, but more than 1 in 4 of his men were killed or wounded in the process. He also failed to achieve his primary objective – restoration of a favorable strategic situation in the southern theater through the destruction of the American army.

American Major-General Nathanael Greene’s army, however, had been greatly damaged. Many of his Continentals had been killed or wounded, and much of his militia was scattered. Some of the North Carolina militia simply went home after the battle; some left out of disgust with what they felt was poor leadership by their commanders.

Greene’s situation was in a sense the opposite of that of Cornwallis. He had been unsuccessful on the tactical level (his defense-in-depth had not stopped the British attack), but he was closer than before to achieving his strategic objectives. Cornwallis gave up his pursuit of Greene’s army and moved eastward where he could be supplied. That move gave Greene an open road into South Carolina, and he soon undertook the reconquest of that state.

When Greene moved south, he expected Cornwallis would abandon North Carolina and try to defend British holdings in South Carolina. Instead, Cornwallis, after being resupplied, moved north into Virginia.

Cornwallis later explained that a retreat into South Carolina would have been difficult to undertake and would further weaken his army. Moreover, he suspected that the fight for control of the South Carolina backcountry would be over before his troops arrived. Cornwallis knew that Virginia was Greene’s main source of men and supplies. He reasoned that no action could better preserve British holdings in the south than taking Virginia out of the war. Furthermore, Virginia was vulnerable: its fine ports and rich plantations were defended by little more than militia.

Neither commander got exactly what he wanted from these moves. Greene had considerable trouble driving the British from the South Carolina backcountry; the campaign in this quarter dragged on for months. Cornwallis had an easy and successful campaign when he first arrived in Virginia, but he was unable to stop Greene’s activity in South Carolina. Furthermore, American resistance in Virginia grew stronger with time. By late summer, 1781, Cornwallis’ operations were largely confined to the coast, and in October his army was besieged and forced to surrender at Yorktown.

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Notes:

1. Pension application of Andrew Wiley.

2. Lee's and Tarleton's accounts of the battle (among others) can be found in this compendium.

3. Houston's account appears in William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia....

4. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (14)

This is Part 13 in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13.

While British and American regulars battled on the 3rd line at Guilford Courthouse (parts 9-13 in this series), a separate battle took place in the woods to the south. There, Regiment von Bose and the 1st Battalion of Guards advanced against the American light troops in Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee’s flank corps.

The British troops were at a disadvantage in the heavily wooded terrain. Commissary General Charles Stedman later wrote:

[The Guards] suffered greatly in ascending a woody height to attack the second line of the Americans, strongly posted upon the top of it, who, availing themselves of the advantages of their situation, retired, as soon as they had discharged their pieces, behind the brow of the hill, which protected them from the shot of the guards, and returned, as soon as they had loaded, and were again in readiness to fire. [1]

The Guards at last seized this hill and pressed on to attack another line of Americans. However:

the battalion was not in regular order when it received the fire of the third American line. The enemy’s fire… poured in not only on the front but flank of the battalion… [until] it was at last entirely broken. Fortunately, at this time, the Hessian regiment of Bose… was advancing in firm and compact order on the left of the guards, to attack the enemy.

The Hessians then wheeled to their right, engaged the Americans, and allowed the Guards to rally. Stedman added:

No sooner had the guards and Hessians defeated the enemy in front, than they found it necessary to return and attack another body of them [the Americans] that appeared in the rear; and in this manner were they obliged to traverse the same ground in various directions, before the enemy were completely put to the rout.

The troops to the rear were probably the Rockbridge Rifles of Brigadier-General Edward Stevens’ brigade of Virginia militia. These troops held a part of the woods in between the British troops in the separate battle and the rest of the British army; thus, they remained on the American second line long after the rest of the Virginia militia had retreated.

The Virginians at last got into action with the 1st Guards. According to Samuel Houston:

we fired on their flank, and that brought down many of them… We pursued them about forty poles [220 yards] to the top of a hill, where they stood, and we retreated from them back to where we formed. Here we repulsed them again; and they a second time made us retreat back to our first ground, where we were deceived by a reinforcement of Hessians, whom we took for our own [both Hessians and Continentals wore blue coats], and cried to them to see if they were our friends, and shouted Liberty! Liberty! and advanced up till they let off some guns; then we fired sharply on them, and made them retreat a little. [2]

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Regiment von Bose drives Virginia riflemen and North Carolina militiamen through the woods at the beginning of the separate battle (here and below, click to enlarge).

In the foreground, the 1st Battalion of Guards struggles against the Rockbridge Rifles. In the background, Regiment von Bose attacks the flank of Lee’s flank corps.

Another view of the above.

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Notes:

1. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

2. Houston's account appears in William Henry Foote (1855). Sketches of Virginia....

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (8)

This is the eighth in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee had been placed at the head of a flank corps (or “corps of observation”) that consisted of his own legion of infantry and cavalry, some Virginian Continental light infantry, and a corps of riflemen from western North Carolina and Virginia. As briefly noted in Part 1, this corps skirmished with the British on the British march to Guilford Courthouse. Lee’s men then took position on the extreme left end of the first American line.

It so happened that the right end of the British line (Regiment von Bose) passed through this field, giving Lee what he thought was a magnificent opportunity to stymie the British attack. He later wrote:

[the men] raked by their fire the right of the British wing, entirely uncovered… The appearance in this quarter was so favorable that sanguine hopes were entertained by many of the officers, from the manifest advantage possessed, of breaking down the enemy’s right before he approached the fence; and the troops exhibited the appearance of great zeal and alacrity. [1]

However, he claimed that he could not capitalize on the opportunity, because of the rapid collapse of the North Carolina militia on the first line (see Part 4). The sudden retreat of the North Carolinians “threw the corps of Lee out of combination with the army, and also exposed it to destruction.”

Regiment von Bose, aided by the 1st battalion of Guards (brought up from reserve), began to pursue Lee’s men. However, according to Charles Stedman:

the first battalion of the guards, and the regiment of Bose, [were] greatly impeded in advancing by the excessive thickness of the woods, which rendered their bayonets of little use. The broken corps of the enemy were thereby encouraged to make frequent stands, and to throw in an irregular fire… [2]

The pursuit of Lee caused the 1st Guards and Hessians to become separated from the rest of the British army. Soon, they would find themselves in a desperate fight for survival in the deep woods.

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At the beginning of the battle, Regiment von Bose was placed on the right end of the British line, alongside the 71st Regiment of Foot (Fraser’s Highlanders).

However, after the American first line was defeated, the two regiments headed in slightly different directions, and a gap opened between them.

The further the two regiments advanced, the larger the gap became. In this image, the 71st is approaching Brigadier-General Edward Stevens’ brigade, while Regiment von Bose skirmishes with riflemen in Lee’s corps.

However, Regiment von Bose was not without support; the 1st Battalion of British Guards was soon ordered up to their assistance.

Lee’s Legion (foreground) and Campbell’s Virginia riflemen (background) skirmish with the British and Hessians in the woods.

Parties of riflemen contest the Hessians’ advance.

Virginia light infantry cause trouble for the 1st Guards.

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Notes:

In this post I describe the beginning of what is known as the "separate battle" at Guilford Courthouse. I've commented previously on different ways the source material for this part of the battle can be interpreted (see here).

1. Henry Lee. (1812). Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United States.

2. Charles Stedman. (1794). The History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of the American War, Vol. 2.

Guilford Courthouse in Miniature (3)

This is the third in a series of posts depicting the battle of Guilford Courthouse in miniature. Previous posts: Part 1, Part 2.

At Guilford Courthouse, the British army was met by artillery fire as it neared the Americans’ defensive lines. The British commander, Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis, responded by sending his own guns into action and by deploying his infantry for battle.

A gunner of the Royal Artillery fires a 3-pounder.

Soon, the British line swept forward. On the right of the line, Major-General Alexander Leslie led the 2nd battalion of the 71st Foot (Fraser’s highlanders) and the Hessian Regiment von Bose. The former ascended a long muddy field. The latter struggled across a creek and ravine parallel to its path. On the far side of the creek, the left wing advanced up a wooded ravine, while the right wing burst into a small field, whose far end was defended by riflemen and light infantry. The British soon ordered up the 1st battalion of Guards to prevent the Hessians from becoming outflanked.

The 71st Foot (in red) and Regiment von Bose (in blue) advance against a portion of the American first line.

In the ‘separate field,’ Regiment von Bose faces American riflemen and Lee’s Legion.

On the left of the line, Lieutenant-Colonel James Webster led two much esteemed regiments: the 23rd Foot, the famous Royal Welch Fusiliers, and the 33rd Foot, a regiment nicknamed ‘the Pattern,’ for it was regarded as a model for the rest of the army. [1]

The Fusiliers kept pace with the Highlanders on open ground. Referring to these two regiments, Sergeant Roger Lamb of the Fusiliers later recalled:

“After the brigade formed across the open ground, the colonel [Webster] rode on to the front, and gave the word, “Charge.” Instantly the movement was made, in excellent order, in a smart run, with arms charged…”

Meanwhile, the 33rd struggled to cross difficult, wooded terrain. There, they were soon joined by a company of Jaegers and Guards light infantry. Cornwallis, it seems, wanted to ensure that he was not outflanked.

The 23rd Foot advances alongside the Highlanders, while the 33rd Foot crosses through the woods. The British brigade of Guards can be seen in reserve at far right.

Meanwhile, the Americans made adjustments of their own. Captain Singleton’s battery, which had greeted the British advance, limbered up and prepared to withdraw to the third line after the British infantry got in motion.

On the far right of the American line, some of the men in Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington’s flank corps attempted to assail the vulnerable British left. Colonel Charles Lynch was ordered to send “a Detachment of fifty of his best Riflemen to flank the Enemy” [2]

Into firing range. In the center fields, the 23rd and 71st regiments are 100 (scale) yards from the North Carolina militia. The first volleys are about to be fired.

Notes:

1. Lamb's account of the battle (among others) can be found in this compendium.

2. Pension application of Joel Leftwich.

The Americans at Guilford Courthouse

In this post I briefly describe the American army that fought at the battle of Guilford Courthouse and I show a 15mm-version of this army that I put together.

The American army at Guilford Courthouse consisted of a variety of units including infantry, artillery, and cavalry, Continentals and militia, old soldiers and new recruits. The order of battle, described below, is based primarily on two sources. The first is an obscure (but enormously valuable) troop return that was completed 2 days before the battle. The second is a recent history that provides a wealth of information on the individual units. [1]

American Order of Battle

Commander: Major-General Nathanael Greene

Virginia Continental Brigade (Brigadier-General Isaac Huger commanding).

• 1st Virginia Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel John Green)
• 2nd Virginia Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hawes)
• Separate light infantry companies [2]
• Total: 778 rank and file present and fit for duty [3]

Maryland Continental Brigade (Colonel Otho Williams commanding).

• 1st Maryland Regiment (Colonel John Gunby) [4]
• 2nd Maryland Regiment (Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin Ford) [4]
• 1st Delaware Regiment (2 Companies) [5]
• Total: 630 rank and file present and fit for duty [3]

Virginia Militia Brigade (Brigadier-General Edward Stevens commanding).

• Militia from Augusta, Halifax, Lunenburg, Pittsylvania, Prince Edward, and Rockbridge counties
• Total: 508 rank and file present and fit for duty

Virginia Militia Brigade (Brigadier-General Robert Lawson commanding).

• Militia from Amelia, Brunswick, Charlotte, Cumberland, Mecklenburg, and Powhatan counties
• Total: 615 rank and file present and fit for duty

North Carolina Militia Brigade (Brigadier-General John Butler commanding).

• Militia from Caswell, Chatham, Granville, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Orange, Randolph, Rockingham, and Rowan counties
• Total: 324 rank and file present and fit for duty

North Carolina Militia Brigade (Brigadier-General Thomas Eaton commanding).

• Militia from Edgecombe, Franklin, Halifax, Martin, Nash, Northampton, and Warren counties
• Total: 730 rank and file present and fit for duty

Rifle Regiments

• Units from western Virginia and North Carolina (one corps was led by Colonel William Campbell, another by Colonel Charles Lynch)
• Total: around 400 rank and file present and fit for duty

Light Dragoons and Partisan Corps

• William Washington’s Light Dragoons: 102 rank and file present and fit for duty
• Lee’s Legion: 82 infantry and 86 cavalry rank and file present and fit for duty
• Several small units of state or militia light dragoons [6]

Miscellaneous Units

• Continental Artillery (two 2-gun sections) [7]
• North Carolina Continentals [8]

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The American Army (click to enlarge).

Close Up

Here is the finished American army. One 15mm figure represents 20 actual combatants. The figures have been arranged into three lines, as they were during the historical battle, but this image is not meant to convey the details of their historical deployment (this will be covered in an upcoming post).

The first American line consisted of the two brigades of North Carolina militia [9, 10] and flank corps commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington (at left) and Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee (at right). The flank corps were comprised of light dragoons, light infantry, and riflemen.

The second line consisted of the two brigades of Virginia militia [10].

The third line consisted of the two brigades of Continentals. The Virginians are on the left, and the Marylanders are on the right [10, 11].

2nd Virginia Regiment

American Dragoons. These include some newly-painted Lee's Legion dragoons and a couple of older militia dragoons.

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Notes:

1. An electronic copy of the troop return is available in the George Washington Papers hosted by the Library of Congress. See here.

The recent history is: Lawrence E. Babits & Joshua B. Howard (2009). Long, obstinate, and bloody: The battle of Guilford Courthouse. UNC Press.

In general, I will be talking about the formations within the American army very loosely. The exact composition of these units falls outside the scope of the research that I’ve conducted, and the reader is advised to see Babits & Howard, ibid. for much more detail on this subject.

2. Two companies commanded by Captain Phillip Huffman and Captain Andrew Wallace.

3. Readers may note that my interpretation of the American order of battle differs slightly from that of Babits & Howard, ibid. For example, I count the Virginia and Delaware light infantry companies towards the troop totals for the Virginia and Maryland brigades, respectively, whereas Babits & Howard did not. To be clear, I agree with Babits' & Howard's interpretation of the role these light infantry companies played during the battle.

4. Lieutenant-Colonel John Eager Howard later summarized the situation of the Maryland line at this time. He wrote:

“The Maryland line consisted of 7 regiments about half full when we marched into [South] Carolina. After the actions of the 16th and 18th of August 1780 [i.e., Camden and Fishing Creek] what men we had left were formed into two regiments and the supernumerary officers sent home.--The Maryland troops with me at the Cowpens were picked out of the two regiments….

“There was a new regiment (Regiment Extraordinary) sent out from Maryland which had been raised by the state, and it was thought that the officers had been more favored than the officers of the old regiments. It joined us a few days before the action and there were such jealousies among the officers that Genl Greene sent all the new officers home, and made a new arrangement of the two regiments. This was at the time my light infantry [i.e., the troops at Cowpens] joined their regiments. The most of the new men were thrown into the second regiment which was very deficient of officers.”

5. The two companies were commanded by Captains Robert Kirkwood and Peter Jacquett. Kirkwood’s company, which greatly distinguished itself at Cowpens, was assigned to William Washington’s flank corps. Jacquett’s company is thought to have served with the 1st Maryland Regiment, but this hospital return, transcribed by Will Graves, seemingly shows that it was with the 2nd Maryland.

6. These units were attached to serve with either Lieutenant-Colonel William Washington, or Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee. Possibly their strength is partially accounted for in the listed troop totals for those units (I say partially, because some cavalrymen were added to those units after the March 13th return). In any case, the strength of these small units is difficult to assess. Some examples of pension applicants claiming service with these units: George Gresham (W2933), a Georgian horseman who fought under Lee, Philemon Holcombe (S4399), a Virginian horseman who fought under Washington, James Hilton (S30484), a North Carolinian horseman who fought under Lee.

7. The gun sections were commanded by Captain Anthony Singleton and Captain Ebenezer Finley. The artillery is notably absent on the March 13 troop return. Were these men treated as part of the infantry brigades? In my calculations I assumed they were not.

8. Babits and Howard, ibid., make a good case that some North Carolina Continentals served at the battle. They proposed that these men were assigned to protect and assist the American artillery.

9. Histories of the battle represent Eaton’s and Butler’s North Carolina brigades as equal in size, but the troop return shows that the former dwarfed the latter. I’m presuming that the imbalance was not as great during the actual battle (e.g., perhaps the men detached to guard the baggage were chiefly drawn from Eaton’s brigade).

10. The troop totals indicated in the pictures above do not exactly match the strength listed above. This is because 1) I added counted noncommissioned officers, musicians, and most commissioned officers when calculating how many figures I needed, 2) I took into consideration that some militia joined the battle after March 13, and 3) I took into consideration that Greene detached a large force of men (mostly, if not exclusively, North Carolina militiaman to judge from pension applications) to guard his baggage train before the battle. I don’t believe the number of men that joined after the date of this return or that were assigned to the baggage train is known; my additions and deductions are speculative.

11. The colors shown carried by the Virginia and Maryland regiments are ahistorical; I wrote about these in a previous post.

Almost There

For some weeks I've been making preparations for a new major project. Mainly these preparations have involved painting some new regiments of miniatures. I've been trying to complete five new regiments, and I'm now about 3/4 of the way through that task.

One of the units that is now complete is the 2nd Maryland Regiment. Half the figures are by Minifigs, the other half are by Jeff Valent miniatures. The figures are fairly compatible --for example, cartridge boxes and cocked hats are of about equivalent dimensions. However, the Minifigs are more robust, and these figures' muskets (especially the bayonets) are noticeably larger. I may yet trim back the Minifigs' bayonets to reduce the differences.

2nd Maryland Regiment

One of the other units I’m currently working on is Lee’s Legion. The figures were painted green based on a comment their commander (Henry Lee) made about their uniforms while they served in the northern theater. The figures are dismounted dragoons by Freikorps and Peter Pig Miniatures, but I will be using them to represent Lee’s infantry companies. They are such lovely metal figures that I had to find some use for them.

Lee's Legion Infantry (work in progress).

This unit is thought to have changed to light-colored coats with green facings late in the war, as evidenced by the following portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee.

Henry Lee

When I started painting the figures I was working under the assumption that the green uniforms were in use for most of the time the regiment was in service. Then I recently read the following description of Lee’s men in John Robert Shaw’s memoir. Shaw was a soldier in the British 33rd Regiment, and he was captured by some of Lee’s men in early March, 1781.

He wrote:

“Scarcely had we gone half way up the lane, when seven of Lee’s light horse made their appearance: my companion swore there was Tarleton’s light horse coming, and, says he, ‘we shall be taken up on suspicion of plundering, and get 500 lashes a piece.’ ‘No;’ said I, upon observing their brown coats, and white cockades, ‘no, friend, you are deceived; these must be the rebels.’ Having therefore discovered his mistake, he began to cry;--but for my part, I thought it very good fortune.—As they were advancing towards us, we concluded to go and meet them; which we accordingly did, and falling on our knees begged for quarter; which they granted us…” [1]

Based on this description, I think I will repaint the units' coats a whitish brown. [2] It's an annoyance to catch this only when the figures were so close to completion, but better now, I suppose, than after the figures are varnished.

Notes:

1. Source: The Life and Travels of John Robert Shaw (1807/1930).

Also on the subject of clothing, Shaw wrote that after he was captured, a rifle officer ordered Shaw and his companion to strip: “…the officer drew his sword and swore, if we did not comply, he would run us through. So they took our clothes, not leaving us even our leggings or shoes; and God knows, they wanted them badly; for such ragged mortals I never saw in my life before, to pass under the character of soldiers.”

2. The description, of course, applies to the mounted portion of Lee’s Legion. To the best of my knowledge, it’s uncertain whether Lee’s infantry also adopted this look, or wore blue coats, like other Continental infantry, or wore something else entirely.