On AWI Hessian command figures

After the past couple of weeks' posts, I thought it might be useful to circle back on Hessian command figures, and what one might want or need for an AWI collection.  There is no need, of course, to paint up separate figures for each of the personalities - I've done this simply because I enjoy exploring the lives of these characters and representing them on the tabletop.  The Caliver/"British Grenadier!" scenario books rarely require more than 2-3 Hessian command figures in any one scenario (see below); so that's all you really need.  It's perhaps rather obsessive to paint up 10 separate personality figures (12 if you count the Brunswickers as well).

But let's just remind ourselves how the Hessian corps was organised. The corps consisted of two divisions, the first commanded by Lieutenant-General von Heister and the second (which consisted largely of the garrison regiments) by Lieutenant-General von Knyphausen. (Both commanders were in their sixties, which they used to extract from the Landgrave extra pay and pensions for their families, should they not return from America.)  Once in America, von Heister had overall command of the Hessian corps until he was replaced by his subordinate, von Knyphausen, after the disaster at Trenton.  Knyphausen handed over command to Lieutenant-General von Lossberg in 1782.  The grenadier battalions were brigaded together under the command of Colonel von Donop until he was killed in October 1777, at which point the grenadier brigade was commanded by Colonel, then Major-General,  Kospoth. Major Generals von Mirbach and Stirn also served as brigade commanders, with other officers doing the same as necessary (e.g. Rall, effectively, at Trenton).  One of the things that irritated Hessians commanders was the British habit of promoting officers above them with back-dated commissions - so, e.g. von Lossberg and Kospoth (and two others) were promoted to major-general rank in February 1779, and this prompted Clinton to promote seven British brigadiers to equivalent rank, with their commissions back-dated prior to those of the Hessians.    

In terms of what the scenarios require, we have:

- Commanders-in-chief: 

• von Heister (White Plains);  
• von Knyphausen (Brandywine);  and 
• Rall (Trenton).

- Brigade Commanders: 

• Brethauer (Trenton); 
• von Donop (Long Island, Haarlem Heights, Brandywine, Bound Brook, Whitemarsh); 
• Kospoth (Monmouth); 
• von Linsing (Pell's Point); 
• von Lossberg (Newport, Springfield); 
• von Mirbach (Long Island); 
• Rall (White Plains); 
• von Riedesel (Saratoga battles); 
• Scheffer (Trenton); 
• Stirn (Long Island, Brandywine); 
• von Westerhagen (Newport); 
• von Wurmb (Springfield).

In other words, for Long Island you need 3 Hessian brigade commanders; for Trenton you need 2 brigade commanders and Rall as C-in-C; for Brandywine you need 2 brigade commanders; and for Newport you also need 2.  So having 3 Hessian command figures will sort you out for most scenarios, and if you can live with differences in uniform facing colours etc, then 3 is all you need.  Even if you can't live with such differences, it is possible to "double-up": for example, von Mirbach and von Lossberg were chiefs of the same regiment, and therefore probably wore the same uniform; von Westerhagen and von Riedesel both wore uniforms with yellow facings - the difference was in the weave in their sashes (red for Hesse-Kassel, yellow for Brunswick);  a figure without lapels will do you for Rall and Kospoth. So one figure with yellow lapels, one with red lapels, and a third with no lapels would serve pretty nicely. Personally, I think Carl von Donop is also worth doing, as he was a pivotal figure, appears in a number of scenarios and had a distinctive uniform; and a jaeger commander can then double up as Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwig Wurmb.

So those are my thoughts. Suitable figures are available from Perry, Foundry and Brigade Games, as noted in the individual posts.  Size-wise, Foundry are the chunkiest and Brigade Games the slimmest, whilst the Eureka Miniatures figures are probably the tallest - a comparison pic is below.  If I did this again would I do anything differently?  Yes - I'd paint von Heister in his light blue dragoon uniform (as per the Osprey MAA); and I'd perhaps use the Brigade Games mounted jaeger officer for von Donop.  I use the same blue paints that I use for the Continental Army - the Foundry "Deep Blue" 20 set, and it's maybe a bit "light" for the Hessians.  But I'm pleased with these personality figures. The Hessians were good solders, and they are worth a bit of your time.     

 

From left to right: Brigade Games, Eureka, Foundry

Some Old Glory American command are next!     

Colonel Carl von Donop

Carl Aemilius Ulrich von Donop (1732-1777) was a member of a noble, military family.  He had seen action in the Seven Year's War and was a personal adjutant to the Landgrave of Hesse-Kessel, which no doubt helped when he lobbied the Landgrave for a decent command position with the American expeditionary force.  By this stage he was Chief of the jaeger corps.  Three of the Hessian grenadier battalions were brigaded together under von Donop's command.  In that capacity, he fought at Brooklyn, Haarlem Heights and White Plains, and was then effectively given command of the New Jersey garrison. 

Von Donop drew criticism for his failure to assist Colonel Rall when the Trenton garrison was attacked at Christmas 1776. Von Donop's brigade of approximately 2,400 men should have been stationed at Bordentown, some 9 miles from Trenton. However, Von Donop's command had been moved to Mount Holly in New Jersey after a small Continental force of around 600 had arrived there and set up some artillery. After a bit of skirmishing over the course of 22-23 December, the Americans slipped away. This move diverted von Donop's command away from the Trenton area, Mount Holly being 10 miles further away than Bordentown. It was alleged that von Donop was being comforted by a "beautiful young widow" and was in no hurry to return back to Bordentown.

He met his end in the Battle of Red Bank (or Fort Mercer) in October 1777. Fort Mercer was situated on the New Jersey side of the Delaware. Cornwallis wanted to eject the American garrison and von Donop, who seems to have wanted to redeem the performance of the Hessian corps after Trenton, volunteered to lead the attack. Despite support from five British ships anchored in the Delaware, the Hessian assaults were beaten back with heavy casualties. Von Donop was wounded in the thigh and died three days later. Despoite the Trenton/Mount Holly affair, von Donop seems to have been widely respected. Colonel William Harcourt, commander of the 16th Dragoons and an aide-de-camp to King George, wrote that von Donop was "very justly the pride of the Hessians, and undoubtedly an excellent officer."

In the Caliver/"British Grenadier"! scenarios, von Donop appears as a brigade commander at Long Island, Haarlem Heights, Brandywine, Bound Brook and Whitemarsh. So he's a useful chap to model. This figure is another mounted Russian officer from Eureka's Revolutionary Wars range. I painted this figure twice. Initially, I had assumed that he would be wearing the uniform of the Von Donop Regiment. But then when I started doing some proper research into Carl von Donop's life, I realised that the chief of the regiment was a completely different von Donop, Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Henrich August von Donop! So I had to paint over the blue with straw-yellow coat and change it to the green faced red coat of the jaeger corps. The uniform isn't quite right for an officer of jaegers. There probably should be a plume in the tricorne. In fact, Brigade Games do a mounted jaeger officer, which I haven't seen "in the flesh" but might be more suitable for von Donop. To be honest, the Brigade Games figure looks nothing like von Donop, given that a couple of portraits of him do exist (see here).

1 figure. Painted August 2024.

Colonel Heinrich Julius von Kospoth

Heinrich Julius von Kospoth (1724-1801) began the AWI as colonel of the Wutgenau Regiment (renamed Landgraf in 1777). In late 1777 he was given command of a brigade comprising three of the four combined grenadier regiments, replacing Colonel von Donop who had been killed at the battle of Red Bank/Fort Mercer. In February 1779 von Kospoth was promoted to Major-General, but appears to have remained as commander of the grenadier brigade. He served with General Clinton at the siege of Charleston in March to May 1780, and then took his brigade to New York where it remained for the rest of the war. Von Kospoth headed the court martial that the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel ordered into the Trenton affair.  His only daughter married the son of Lieutenant-General von Lossberg. 

In the Caliver/"British Grenadier!" scenario books, von Kospoth appears as a brigade commander at Monmouth, in command of the Hessian grenadier brigade. I painted him in the uniform of the Wutgenau Regiment for lack of any alternative. This is another Brigade Games figure.  The lapels on the coat weren't that pronounced, so this is a good figure for an officer whose uniform doesn't have lapels; which is quite a few of them!

My next post will be on Colonel Carl von Donop, and I'll then do a round-up of modelling Hessian commanders for AWI wargaming. This has been a real blast, to be honest. Getting into the personalities of the AWI was always one of the things I enjoyed most about the period.

1 figure, painted September 2024. 

Major Friedrich von Dechow

Major Friedrich von Dechow was the commander of the von Knyphausen Regiment at the battle of Trenton.  He had been wounded, twice, at the battle of Fort Washington in November 1776, but took command of the regiment because his superior, Colonel Borck, had an even worse wound and was convalescing in New York.  Von Dechow was wounded again in the battle of Trenton, dying of his wounds a couple of days later. When he was unable to carry on during the battle von Dechow handed over command of his regiment to Captain Bernard von Biesenrodt and told him to surrender in other to prevent any further casualties.  However, von Biesenrodt had other ideas and he and a handful of others attempted to flee from Trenton across Assunpink Creek.  Some 50 soldiers from von Knyphausen's Regiment managed to escape.  Before the battle, von Dechow had expressed concern about the Trenton garrison's exposed position.  He suggested to Colonel Rall that defence works be built outside the town, but Rall (as noted earlier) insisted any attack would be met by the bayonet and didn't want his ability to deploy compromised by earthworks.  Von Dechow also wrote (with the von Lossberg Regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Scheffer) to von Heister on 17th December 1776 to warn of the state of the garrison, which was reduced by sickness, was tired and also suffering from the cold.  None of this prevented the subsequent court martial enquiry from placing blame for the disaster on von Dechow (and, of course, Rall). It seems von Dechow was perceived as having been too slow to get his regiment into action and, despite being in a position to secure the bridge over the Assunpink Creek, which the garrison could have used for a retreat, failed to do so.  One senses a brave, competent officer who, like Rall, found himself judged (posthumously) by his performance in his final, difficult battle.      

The figure here is shown in the uniform of an officer of von Knyphausen's Regiment.  It is a lovely sculpt - it looks as if the figure was modelled on the painting of Knyphausen himself in the Osprey MAA on German troops.  This figure shows just how well Paul Hicks sculpts faces.  Unfortunately the horse seems to be a bit of a mis-cast, as its right ear and part of it's back right leg are missing, and the right side of the head was lacking in definition.  The next time I have some greenstuff out I'll try to add the missing ear. One nice touch of detail is that the figure is wearing the "Pour la vertu militaire" award just benath the gorget - hence the light blue ribbon near his neck.

1 figure.  Painted September 2024.

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Scheffer

Francis Scheffer was the acting commander of the Von Lossberg Regiment during the early years of the AWI, having taken over from the initial colonel who had died of dysentery in September 1776. So he led the regiment at the Battles of White Plains, Fort Washington and Trenton. The regiment distinguished itself at White Plains and Fort Washington. Scheffer was awarded the order "Pour la vertu militaire" for his conduct in these battles (although the award was suspended in the wake of Trenton, pending the outcome of the inquiry). The Hessian garrison at Trenton included a brigade of three regiments under the overall command of Colonel Johann Rall - the Rall Regiment, Knyphausen's Regiment and Von Lossberg's (being the regiment that became the "Alt" Von Lossberg in 1780).

The Von Lossberg Regiment suffered high casualties at Trenton - 4 killed, 55 wounded and 260 captured.  As a consequence, the regiment pretty much ceased to exist as a fighting unit.  At the court martial enquiry after the battle, Scheffer testified that "it rained cannon balls and grapeshot, and snow, rain and sleet came constantly into our faces.  In short, none of our muskets would fire any longer."  Scheffer had taken command once Colonel Rall was mortally wounded; however, although it was questioned why he hadn't been able to effect a withdrawal out of the town towards the Delaware River, he was not censured by the enquiry (which instead placed the blame on Rall and Major Dechow of Knyphausen's regiment, both of whom were dead).  Scheffer eventually received his "Pour la vertu militaire" in 1783 and retired as a major-general the following year.  I assume he was captured at Trenton, but haven't been able to confirm.  

This figure is from a Foundry pack of Seven Years War Prussian "mounted Frei Korps officers".  The figure has lapels but no coat turnbacks, so it's not quite right for the AWI.  However, I had this figure in my leadpile and had always intended to use it for a German officer.  I decided on Sheffer because the figure looks like he's in the middle of a battle.  The eye-patch is neither here nor there - I have no idea whether Scheffer had one.  But, as described above, he sounded like a bit of a tough fighter, so I thought this figure was appropriate.  For the battle of Trenton, the base should of course be snowy; but I've just done the base as per my collection more generally.  

1 figure. Painted August 2024.

Colonel Johann Gottlieb Rall

Johann Gottlieb Rall (c.1726-1776) was born into a military family and appears to have been commissioned into the Hesse-Kassel army at the age of 14. He steadily rose through the ranks: lieutenant in 1745, captain in 1753, major in 1760 and then lieutenant colonel of the Stein garrison regiment in 1763. He became chief of the Mansbach Regiment in 1771 or 1772, at which point it was presumably renamed the Rall Regiment. By the time he arrived in America, Rall had extensive campaigning experience - in the War of the Austrian Succession, in the Fourth Russo-Turkish War fighting for Catherine the Great, and even in the 1745 Jacobite rebellion in the UK. Despite not speaking a word of English, General Howe appointed Rall as commander of the entire brigade that was garrisoned at Trenton (either because Howe was impressed with Rall's conduct in the field or, probably more likely since Rall was junior to other colonels in seniority, due to a lack of alternatives as a result of illness).

I won't go into the details of the battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776. Suffice to say that it is now generally accepted that Rall was neither drunk nor particularly ill-prepared at the time. It is certainly the case that Rall failed to build any defensive fortifications around his position, despite being ordered to do so by Colonel von Donop, his superior officer; but that seems to have been because Rall wanted to go out and meet the Continentals in the event of an attack and didn't want his manoeuvrability compromised by fortifications. However, it's also clear that Rall was sufficiently concerned about sporadic American attacks on his sentries and outposts that he ordered his men to sleep in their uniforms and wrote to both von Donop and General James Grant, the British commander in New Jersey, that he was concerned about being exposed. There is an interesting analysis of Rall's conduct during the battle, and the subsequent court martial enquiry here. Rall died leading his troops from the front in a desperate counter-attack. He was visited by Washington as he lay dying and asked that his captured men be properly looked after, which Washington confirmed would be the case.

By all accounts, Rall was a brave, much-respected soldier who inspired loyalty from the men under his command. Colonel William Faucitt, the officer who had negotiated the supply of soldiers with the Hessian authorities, decsribed Rall as "one of the best officers of his rank in the Landgrave's army". Apparently Rall's aggressive performances at the battles of White Plains and Fort Washington earned him the nickname "der Lowe", i.e. "the lion". His adjutant, Lieutenant Jakob Piel, wrote in his diary that Rall was "generous, magnanimous, hospitable and polite to everyone". Piel also said that Rall sometimes struggled to settle on a firm decision and was "born to be a soldier, but not a general". In his book "The Hessians", Rodney Atwood notes that it was really only on the day of his death that it became clear that Rall wasn't suited to holding an independent brigade-level command.

In the "British Grenadier!"/Caliver scenario books, Rall appears as a brigade commander at White Plains and the C-in-C at Trenton. This figure is from the Foundry Seven Years War range. It works well for Rall as the coat does not have lapels, so being similar to the uniform of the Rall Grenadier Regiment. In fact, the uniform is not much removed from the Don Troiani painting of the death of Rall at Trenton (see here). I also like the pose - he looks as if he's leading from the front, which is what Rall was doing when he got shot. This was the first of these new Hessian command figures that I painted, and it was only after I'd finished that I read somewhere that the saddlecloths were the colour of the regimental facings of the relevant officer. But as all my existing Hessian commanders have dark blue horse furniture, I just decided to stick with that rather than follow the facings (which would have given bright yellow and orange on two of the others).

1 figure.  Painted August 2024.

Colonel Maximilian von Westerhagen

Maximilian von Westerhagen was the Colonel of the von Ditfurth Regiment from 1778 onwards.  This regiment fought at White Plains and Newport.  Westerhagen appears in the scenario for the latter as a brigade commander (hence why I wanted a personality figure to represent him).  The regiment also participated in the siege of Charleston in 1780, where it remained until 1782.  I haven't yet painted this unit, as it only appears in one "British Grenadier" scenario: Newport.  I haven't been able to find out anything substantive about the regiment's colonel.  It seems that Westerhagen was awarded the Hesse-Kassel "pour la vertu militaire" in 1781, a military award modelled on Prussia's "pour le merite". But it looks like pretty much every senior officer in the Hessian Americas corps received this award at some stage between 1777 and 1783.  

This is another figure from the Eureka Miniatures Russian Revolutionary Wars range, one of two officers "with lapels".  The standard uniform for the Ditfurth Regiment was "sulphur yellow" cuff, collar and lapels, with white waistcoats and breeches and silver lace for officers.  Now I've painted the its colonel, I feel I should add the Ditfurth fusiliers to my collection... 

1 figure. Painted August 2024.

Lieutenant-General Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg

Friedrich Wilhelm von Lossberg (1720-1800) was one of the general officers in the Hessian corps.  Rodney Atwood, in his invaluable book "The Hessians", says that he came from "an old soldier family which had migrated from Thuringia in he seventeenth century to escape religious persecution". When he arrived in America in October 1776 he was a colonel in command of the First Brigade of the Second Hessian Division, which was under the command of Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen. He became a major general in 1779 (or 1780, depending on what book you read) and then a lieutenant general in 1780 (or 1781, ditto), before ultimately commanding all German forces left in North America in 1782 once von Knyphausen had left.  As he was nominated for general command before the Hessian contingent arrived in America, von Lossberg did not personally command any Hessian regiments during the AWI.  However, in 1780 he was appointed as chief of the von Mirbach Regiment, which was consequently renamed the Jung von Lossberg Regiment.  "Jung" means "young", as Friedrich's older brother, Lieutenant-General Anton Heinrich August von Lossberg, was already the chief of the existing von Lossberg Regiment, which in turn was renamed Alt von Lossberg (or "old").  One way of remembering the different between these two regiments is that von Mirbach/Jung Lossberg was a musketeer regiment, whereas (Alt) Lossberg was a fusilier regiment.

As the new commander-in-chief of the Hessian troops in May 1782, von Lossberg was responsible for the repatriation of these men. The German soldiers were offered land if they remained in North America (including an offer from the British government of land in Nova Scotia). Apparently about a quarter of the troops accepted. Von Lossberg appears to have been an effective and respected commander. Sir Guy Carleton paid tribute to the "exemplary behaviour of the Hessian troops under his orders."

Von Lossberg appears as a brigade commander in the Springfield and Newport scenarios. These battles took place in August 1778 and June 1780 respectively, which means von Lossberg held different ranks at each of them. This figure is from the Eureka Miniatures Revolutionary Wars range. It is one of a pair of Russian mounted officers - see here. The figures are advertised as having no lapels, but I didn't notice that to be honest and it was easy painting them on. I followed the uniform as provided in the newish Osprey on German Troops in the American Revolution. One of the colour plates has von Lossberg as a lieutenant-general in the uniform as chief of the Jung von Lossberg Regiment, which is what I've followed here. This figure is pretty close to having the correct uniform for Newport (all that's missing is the tricorne's white feathers, which denoted the chiefs of regiment and/or general officers), but raises the question as to what uniform von Lossberg might have worn at Springfield, which took place before he was promoted to major-general. The answer may be that he wore the uniform of a colonel in the Leib Regiment, as he seems to have held that post prior to being promoted to major-general (although at the time of the regiment's arrival in America, Frederick II, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, was its chief and Colonel Friedrich von Wurmb was its commanding officer in the field). Anyway, who cares? Here he is, ready to take the field wherever the Landgrave requires.

The is the first of a number of Hessian personality figures that I will be posting about over the next week or so.

1 figure. Painted August 2024.

Hessian Commissary

You can imagine the scene...

Commissary von Dumkopf: "Zis is very disappointing. You said you could supply ze Burgunder wine from Baden-Baden and now you say zis is not possible and I must do with some French rubbish instead?"

Mr Berry, purveyor of fine wines to the nobility and gentry: "Come on guv, don't you know there's a war on? You're lucky I managed to get anything past the Frenchies on blockade. Now my good friend Mr Gallo has managed to find me some excellent pinot noir from the south of France, the spiritual home of your Burgunder I believe. This is top notch stuff and as a gesture of goodwill I'll throw in a case of Louisiana Claret for no extra charge. Frankly, I'm robbing meself."

Von Dumkopf: "Vell, I suppose it will have to do. I am in need of supplies for winter and, to be honest, Colonel Rall will drink anything. I am sure he will enjoy Herr Gallo's wines at the Trenton garrison's Christmas Eve dinner."

These are the Voltaire and Frederick the Great figures from Eureka's latest 18th century civilians release. The story, linked above, of how US giant E&J Gallo had been duped into selling cheap French merlot as pinot noir provided the inspiration as to how to incorporate these figures into my AWI collection. The Frederick figure is painted as a commissary from the Hesse-Cassel corps. I could not find any information on the uniform of Hessian commissaries, so followed the Prussian uniform in the SYW, on the basis that the Hessians often followed Prussian practices and styles - it seemed a decent default option. A certain amount of artistic licence was necessary on the Frederick figure - this is clearly a very senior commissary. "Mr Berry" is named after the well-known and long-established wine merchants Berry Bros.& Rudd of St James Street, London.  The company that became Berry Bros. was started in 1698.  At the time of the AWI it was owned and managed by William Pickering and John Clarke, and by 1810 the business was in the hands of Mr Clarke's grandson, George Berry.  It has remained family owned ever since.  The company has a long history of supplying wine to the British Royal Family, starting with its first consignment to George III in 1760.  So it's not inconceivable that a representative of company might have been selling wines to the Crown armies' quartermasters during the AWI.  When the Kiwi and I got engaged, we agreed to place our Wedding Gift List with Berries and spent a happy afternoon choosing all manner of vinous goodies.  Unfortunately, unknown to me, the Kiwi then decided to set up a rival list at the department store John Lewis and told all her friends and family to buy from that one.  But the generosity of my family and friends resulted in some lovely wedding presents from Berries, which will keep going for another decade or so.  The barrels and crates are resin items from Warlord Games.

2 figures. Painted March 2010.

Von Mirbach Musketeer Regiment

Major-General Werner von Mirbach's regiment was in the first wave of Hessian troops to arrive in America and its experience followed the template for regiments in Howe's northern theatre army: Long Island, White Plains, Brandywine, Germantown, Fort Mercer, Monmouth and then garrison duty in New York. This list, however, illustrates how presence on a battlefield does not necessarily reflect active engagement. In his seminal work "The Hessians", Rodney Atwood uses von Mirbach's regiment as an example of how most Hessian regiments did very little fighting - apparently the regiment only saw action for the 40 minutes of the attack on Fort Mercer (in which it lost its colonel and 95 other soldiers dead and wounded). In other battles the regiment was a spectator, and this experience was common among the Hessian regiments in America. There were exceptions of course, notably the jaeger and grenadier battalions, and the Von Bose musketeers in the southern campaigns.

But many Hessian regiments appear in scenario orbats and so they need to be modelled, even if on the tabletop the Hessians often appear late in the day and add little to the British side. In the various "British Grenadier!" scenarios Von Mirbach are present at Long Island, Brandywine and Germantown, all in units of 24 figures. I recall commanding Stirn's Hessian brigade in the Knyphausen sector of Brandywine at the large National Army Museum game a few years ago - the brigade didn't arrive until the second day of play and by the time I moved them across the river the Americans were already well into their withdrawal.

I've already painted the Perry Miniatures marching and charging Hessian musketeers, so the firing figures were next on the list. I confess that I found these tricky to paint. Some of the faces lacked a bit of definition and the poses make it tricky to reach some of the torso areas. I corrected a couple of things I didn't do properly when I painted the Von Mirbach grenadier company for Von Linsing's battalion - here, the officers' lace is silver and I added white piping around the cuff buttons. The hat pompoms are red, although I have seen others paint them dark blue.

24 figures. Painted January-February 2010. Flags by GMB.

Von Linsing's Grenadier Battalion

Von Linsing's grenadier battalion was one of three brigaded under Colonel Karl von Donop. The brigade was present at Long Island, White Plans, Brandywine, Germantown, Fort Mercer/Redbank, Monmouth and Charleston. When Von Donop was mortally wounded at the battle of Fort Mercer command of the brigade passed to Colonel Kospoth. The battalion recorded the highest number of casualties of all the Hessian units - 169 killed and wounded.

The assault on Fort Mercer in October 1777 (sometimes referred to as the battle of Red Bank) was a disaster for the Hessian corps. With their reputation badly damaged by Trenton, the Hessian commanders were keen to redeem themselves and show that their troops (and themselves) could make a positive contribution to the fighting. Von Donop in particular smarted from the Hessian surrender at Trenton as the troops stationed there formed part of his command. Fort Mercer was sited on the New Jersey side of the Delaware and it's destruction (together with other forts along the river) was essential to keep the Delaware open for the supply of the British army in Philadelphia. Von Donop volunteered to make the attack. The disaster that followed seems to have flowed from a mix of (1) bad intelligence, which mistakenly suggested that the fort was incomplete, (2) confusion as to the Hessians' orders, with von Donop thinking he had to assault the position at all costs and Howe assuming that the attack would cease if the defences were found to be too strong, and (3) canny fortification work by the Americans under the direction of French engineers. The assault came under heavy fire from both the defenders of the fort and ships moored in the Delaware and collapsed. Von Donop suffered a shattered hip and died 3 days later. Despite its failure, the battle illustrated the exceptional courage that the best Hessian troops could show, with both American and British soldiers remarking on the courage displayed in the attack, particularly by the officers.

I was surprised to see that I haven't painted any Hessians since September 2008, but I'm now trying to plug some of the gaps and the von Mirbach musketeers are close to being finished. Von Linsing's regiment comprised the grenadier companies from the 2nd and 3rd Guard Regiments, the Leib Regiment and von Mirbach Regiment. For my 18-figure recreation, I just painted 3 regiments' worth - the 2nd Grenadiers on the left, von Mirbach in the middle and Leib on the right. I'm not sure why I chose von Mirbach for the command stand, given that I'm painting the rest of the regiment now, and I should also point out a couple of mistakes: the officers should have silver lace on the facings and hat, not white and gold respectively and the drum rims should be white over red, not the other way around. Silly me. On the Von Donop.org site, the Guard Regiments' uniforms look as if they have tassles on the button-hole lace. I tried to give a suggestion of this by adding white lace on the buttons in between the coat facings and turnbacks, but I saw no need to paint anything more elaborate than that.


For the published "British Grenadier" scenarios you need 18 figures for Long Island and Monmouth and 20 figures for Brandywine. I decided to go with 18, on the basis that I can always pretend it has 20 figures if I find myself doing Brandywine again. I'm still some way away from being able to field a full Hessian grenadier brigade (as far as I'm aware, only the great Eclaireur himself is able to do that), but I'm inching closer...I've been a bit slow at posting the past few days. More Carlists on Sunday and more AWI next week.


18 figures. Painted December 2009.

Hessian artillery

These are the two Perry Hesse-Cassel 4-pounders and crews. Apparently Hesse-Cassel's entire artillery corps was sent to America, most of it recruited specifically for the war, and the corps amounted to three companies. According to Mollo, each company consisted of 5 officers, 14 NCOs, 3 drummers and 129 gunners. The artillery corps was engaged throughout the war.

I admit to finding these a bit tricky to paint. The colours of guns caused the first problems - "mid-blue" seemed to be the general consensus as to the wood colour, following the colour used by the Prussian army. I used Foundry's "Deep Blue 20B" as the base, with highlights of "Deep Blue 20C" and "Sky Blue 21A" and "21B". The colour is pretty much what I wanted, although I have no idea if it is correct; but it is certainly a darker blue than the colours I use for British artillery. I painted the breeches of the artillerymen with the standard Foundry "Buff" palette and then realised that the end result did not have that "straw" colour which is appropriate for many Hessian troops. But I found that applying a final highlight of Foundry "Yellow 2C" over the buff colours actually worked quite well - so there is an answer to Hessian "straw" that doesn't even require mixing! The red facings are sometimes described as being more "crimson" than "scarlet", but I used my standard red colours of GW "Red Gore", "Blood Red" and "Blazing Orange."

8 figures and 2 guns. Painted September 2008.