General de Brigade

Cornet · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:10 am Post subject: American Light Infantry headgear

I'm curious what type of headgear is portrayed in these photos -- INA5a and INA6a:

http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/gal_ina1.html

My light infantry, though not Essex, is equipped with similar hats/caps/helmets. They look like shakos, but that seems wildly unlikely.
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Ronan the Librarian · Major Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 833

They appear to have mis-sculpted the Continental light infantry cap and ended up with a slightly lower version of the British Waterloo shako. The crown should be rounded, as per the cap on the light dragoon below, and the false front less square.

More like this:-

http://www.frontrank.com/big_pictures.asp?prod=1415&pn=1

The drummer has a view of the crown.
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You can lead a horse to water, but a toy soldier can no longer be lead (due to Health & Safety Regulations).

Cornet · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:22 pm Post subject:

http://www.5thpa.org/gallery.html

Similar to these, above? This is what I thought light infantry helmets looked like (well, except for mister shiny, metal helmet back there) -- essentially leather baseball caps with a false front.

The headgear on the miniatures made me wonder if there wasn't some style that I'd missed, particularly after I'd found a second range (Essex) that portrayed this sketchy light infantry "shako." While seeking some explanation, I had even found this monstrosity on on Alexander Hamilton's head in Alonzo Chappel's 19th Century painting. Hamilton is depicted in this image as an artillery captain, but his chapeau still confused me. The front half looks about right for the light infantry style cap, but the aft of the cap looks peculiar with its rearward false plate and visor ... sort of like what would happen if a light infantry cap and a deerstalker had a baby. Yeah, yeah, don't depend on 19th Century material as authoritative -- I hear ya. Still, it confuses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Provincial_Company_of_Artillery
_________________
Then let us fill a bumper, and drink a health to those
Who carry caps and pouches, and wear the loup'ed clothes.

Ronan the Librarian · Major Joined: 21 Jul 2004 Posts: 833

Cornet,

The first pic is difficult to interpret, since the bulk of the group are clearly 2nd Dragoons - this may just be a depiction of the post-1779 legionary version of that unit.

The Hamilton painting is interesting - the logn gaiters clearly don't look right, but the style of cap is one known to have been worn by the light company of the 69th Foot during the AWI (sometimes referred to as a "butterfly" hat), so it is contemporary. I have seen wargames figures listed as "Continental Light Infantry" wearing this kind of cap. If Capt. Hamilton's gunners were attached to the light infantry, they could have adopted a similar headgear.
_________________
You can lead a horse to water, but a toy soldier can no longer be lead (due to Health & Safety Regulations).

Cornet · Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 10:18 pm Post subject:

Gassendi · Joined: 07 Jul 2008 Posts: 34

Alexander Hamilton was the commander of an artillery company, aide-de-camp to Washington, and led the assault against Redoubt Number 10 at Yorktown which was conducted by the Continental Corps of Light Infantry. He is pictured supposedly in the trenches at Yorktown in the picture, hence the field piece and the light infantry cap.

Sincerely,
G

Cornet · Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:25 pm Post subject: Re: Colonel Hamilton