How To Build A Continental Regt. Part II

4th Pennsylvania Regiment Firing Line - click picture to enlarge.

The next regiment that we shall look at is wearing, largely, grey hunting shirts along with one stand of purple hunting shirts and one stand of khaki colored hunting shirts. This regiment incorporates all of the Fife & Drum Continental Firing Line in Hunting Shirts product codes. The 25 figure regiment includes the following figures:

Continental Firing Line in Hunting Shirts:
3 x A35  Officer in hunting shirt
1 x A36  Standard bearer, standing, in hunting shirt
1 x A37  Drummer, standing, in hunting shirt
2 x A38  Casualty, knocked backwards off his feet, in hunting shirt
4 x A39  Cocking his musket, in hunting shirt
5 x A40  Biting cartridge, in hunting shirt
5 x A41  Standing Firing, hunting shirt with a buttoned front
4 x A42  Standing Firing, hunting shirt with pullover front, no buttons

25 figures total

To order, click on the following link to the Fife & Drum website:

Fife & Drum Continentals

Fife & Drum also has a mounted officer wearing a hunting shirt that was designed for similar regiments.

Mounted Continental Officer in Hunting Shirt: Code AC-003 shown with A-35 Officer on Foot.

Closer view of the command stand and two companies.

The picture above provides a close up vier of the command stand which includes the officer standing and shading his eyes with his hand, a standard bearer in stoic standing position, the drummer all in the front rank. Then in the back rank I have placed two figures: A40 biting his cartridge and A39 cocking his musket. The latter two figures do not take up a lot of space and don't prod the figures in front of them with their muskets, so they are perfect figures for the second rank of the regiment.

Flags:

Initially my Continental regiments were flagged in a rather haphazzard manner, no doubt similar to what the actual regiments did in Washington's army. After awhile, I sort of stumbled onto the idea of using the same or similar flags in each of my brigades.  Thus in my 2nd Pennsylvania Brigade, commanded by Colonel Thomas Hartley, I used the "Brandywine Flag" (red field with red and white stripes in the canton) for all four of the regiments in my brigade. This way, I can quickly and easily identify the brigade during the battle.

The really serious re-enactors and students of the period will probably blanch at the idea of using any form or variant of the Stars and Stripes (or "Betsy Ross") flag during the American Revolution. I like to hang my hat on the thin thread of the idea that the Stars and Stripes were officially authorized by Congress in 1777, but I will readily admit that the flag design may not have been used in the field during the Brandywine campaign. Furthermore, nothing says "American army" more easily than spying the Stars and Stripes on a unit in a war-game. 

As a result, a number of regiments in my 1st Pennsylvania Brigade have the Stars and Stripes.