War of 1812: Virginia Light Dragoons & militia artillery

Amongst the infantry additions over the last month or so for the Chesapeake campaign, I slipped in two units of American militia artillery. Since the state militia artillery uniforms of various states were, for practical gaming purposes, virtually identical, these could represent artillery from a number of states around the Chesapeake area, including Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. They are rather anachronistic in that they sport the bicorne, set aside earlier by the regular army in favour of shakoes. In a recent order to Wargames Foundry, I slipped in a couple of three pound cannon.

 Once again, I’ve gone with the venerable Old Glory figures. 

As a welcome Xmas gift, Captain Dan whipped up some American militia cavalry for my 1812 collection. Because many (if not all) militia units in the Chesapeake area sported anachronistic uniforms (aka more reminiscent of the American War of Ingratitude), we had to source the figures from the extensive Perry Brothers AWI line. While not a complete match to the requirements for Virginia cavalry, these British AWI cavalry are close. I had relatively little uniform info for this unit besides a couple of plates found online but this wasn’t a real deterrent. One of the advantages of creating a unit like this is that button-counters are usually silent.

Norfolk Light Dragoons

(Perry Miniatures)