The Washington Artillery

 

The Washington Artillery deploys a pair of 12-pound Napoleons.

54mm plastic figures from BMC and Americana.

I recently finished painting a crew of 10 figures to man two 12 pound Napoleon guns for my Confederate army in the Pickett's Charge game. The Washington Artillery was formed in New Orleans in 1838 and was considered an elite organization prior to the start of the Civil War. It formed five companies, of which the first four fought with the Army of Northern Virginia in the East, while the fifth company fought with the Army of the Tennessee in the West.

Washington Artillery History

The Washington Artillery was organized as an artillery battalion at Gettysburg, commanded by Major Benjamin Eschleman, comprised of companies 1, 2, 3 and 4. It was part of the corps artillery reserve in Longstreet's corps. The battalion had 8 Napoleons and 2 12-pound Howitzers at Gettysburg.

I organize my ACW artillery into batteries of two cannon models and crewed by 5 figures per cannon, thus 10 figures are in the battery. Each cannon will have its own limber, deployed without the horse teams.

The cannon models and limbers were purchased at Hobby Lobby. I am contemplating leaving the cannons and limbers unpainted, or I might paint only the barrels in a bronze color and leave the carriage unpainted.