43rd Regiment of Foot

SOURCE: Uniforms of the Armies in the
War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783.
Lt. Charles M. Lefferts. Limited Edition
of 500. New York York Historical Society.
New York, NY. 1926.[Clicky]

After what seems like ages, I've finally  hit the painting table again..

The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Regiment of Foot was raised as Thomas Fowke's Regiment of Foot in 1741 though it was actually numbered the 54th Foot until 1748, when it finally became the 43rd.

During the War of Independence (or American Revolution for my colonial readers ) they were one of the first regiments to set foot in America, arriving in Boston in 1774 before the beginning of the Revolution. They were joined by the 52nd Foot at Boston and the two regiments fought side by side at Lexington (albeit the Grenadier and Light Infantry companies of the 43rd only), and then at Bunker Hill.

The 43rd went on to serve throughout the war (one of a few tat did) and on April 30 1781, along with two other regiments, they were sent to Virginia to reinforce Cornwallis

They landed at Brandon on the James River on May 26, I'm not sure if they were involved in the skirmish at Spencer's Ordinary [clicky] in late June (Queens Rangers and Hessians only I think), but they fought at Green Spring  [clicky] at the beginning of July. On August 6th, the British army  (including the 43rd) landed at Yorktown and Cornwallis started fortifying it and Gloucester Point just across the York River.

The actual siege formally got started on September 28 and during it the 43rd was part of the British force’s left wing, in the 2nd Brigade (Lt. Col. Thomas Dundas of the 80th Foot), along with the 76th & 80th Foot - the regiment was commanded by Major George Hewitt. They were mainly deployed in Redoubts 9 and 10 so would have been present in the attack on the night of October 14 when the Franco-American forces attacked. At least one of the regiments officers, Captain Duncan Cameron, was commended in orders by Lord Cornwallis for "distinguishing himself at the American redoubt" (that would have been Redoubt 10  which was attacked by an American force, Redoubt 9 being attacked by the French)

During the siege the regiment sustained casualties of ten killed, 18 wounded and 12 missing. The strength of the regiment at the capitulation on October 19 was 94 rank-and-file, with an additional 168 men sick and wounded. Following the surrender, the Battalion Companies were interned until May, 1783, and were part of the final embarkation for England on November 22. They lost their colours (both Kings and Regimental) at Yorktown.

These figures (25mm Minifigs) are some of the last of those that Lofty C [clicky] left me, and were already partially painted, so it was more a matter of finishing the rest of the paint job and matching to existing scheme.. checking through my records these are the first I've added to the AWI project since November 2011...

John was a "parade ground uniform" painter (something these old school/classic sculpts almost force upon you) so these guys are painted pretty much as the illustration top left.. In reality I suspect the gaiters wouldn't have been full length (but they look good), and during this campaign they would have cut their coats down shorter because of the heat, probably would have had larger, circular, hats, and would have looked a lot more lived in than I have represented them.... but hey, this more than any of my projects is an "old school style" one, a homage, the look is derived from Mollo and Mcgregor [clicky] but more from the style of these old Minifigs sculpts...  No flags for this unit...  they lost them at Yorktown!