Civil War regiments were meant to be 10 companies on paper. Some had more some had less. Each of these Companies were meant to have 100 enlisted men, noncommissioned officers, and Officers collectively. Of course, after sickness, casualties, and attrition these units were rarely at full strength. Each Battalion had a center company that was designated as their color company. That would be the company that the color guard would be attached to the left of, signifying the center of the regiment with a stand of flags. One flag for Reb regiments, and two (a state and a national flag) for federal regiments. These could be used to identify them on the battlefield by other field officers, and aid the men of the regiment in maintaining their place in line when smoke and carnage obscured the battlefield. Being a color sergeant, or even in the color guard was a notably dangerous position to be in, being that a lot of enemy fire would be directed toward their position in line. When forming the color guard, men were chosen from different companies within a battalion who were deemed capable for the job.
As stated above, the flags were meant to be carried by a sergeant, specifically a denoted color sergeant. That was his job in the battalion. Wheat's Battalion flag was carried by 1st Lt. Austin Eastman, of Co. C at Manassas, which was a very unorthodox situation. He remarkably survived their attacks up Matthews Hill, and later assumably helped the wounded Major, returning to his company and his proper spot behind the line. It is also very important for me to note that, this battalion never ever carried a Louisiana state flag, regardless of how they're almost always portrayed carrying one in inaccurate art or on the tabletop.
All that being said, I've been very slowly working on recreating three of the five original companies of Wheat's Special Battalion for my game "Vortex of Hell". I finally finished Co. A "The Walker Guard" recently and figured it was time to finally undertake the pretty daunting task of recreating their color guard. The battalion itself elected to carry Co. C's flag they had brough from New Orleans as the official flag just prior to Manassas. It was a silk first national battle flag; a very common early confederate regimental flag. This flag was carried into the battle of first Manassas and used to help get Major Wheat off the field after his initial wounding.
The Finished Walker Guard, Co. A led by Captain Robert Harris
As stated above, the flags were meant to be carried by a sergeant, specifically a denoted color sergeant. That was his job in the battalion. Wheat's Battalion flag was carried by 1st Lt. Austin Eastman, of Co. C at Manassas, which was a very unorthodox situation. He remarkably survived their attacks up Matthews Hill, and later assumably helped the wounded Major, returning to his company and his proper spot behind the line. It is also very important for me to note that, this battalion never ever carried a Louisiana state flag, regardless of how they're almost always portrayed carrying one in inaccurate art or on the tabletop.
The original Delta Ranger's Flag, carried by Lt. Eastman, stained with Wheat's Blood.
(Memorial Hall museum, New Orleans)
That was a lot to preface a post about little toys. So here we go! I wanted to depict each of the battalion companies within the guard itself. Originally I thought I shouldn't include a member of Co. B (The Tiger Rifles) since it would look jarring or out of place, but in the end reality won out and I painstakingly converted one. This was a way for me to represent each uniform that each company wore at Manassas in a collected color guard. "Color" being the notable word there haha
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Co. A, The Walker Guard and Co. E, The Old Dominion Guard
First, I started with Lieutenant Eastman, who is a pivotal mini for this project. I think this was the main reason it took me so long to get started on this color guard. I was looking for the perfect model, even thinking that a Perry model from another 19th century South American range could be converted into him. But spending almost 40 bucks on essential one model that I then cut up, wasn't worth it. I went with a random color bearer mini from by civil war box, and figured I could just go nuts. I chopped down his slouch hat and shaved away the top of his head, added a kepi, and sculpted a havelock onto his cap since Company C specifically was issued them. I then crudely sculpted skirts onto his jacket using Tamiya putty so it would work as an officer's frock coat. After it dried a bit, I carved it into a better looking shape.
Next up for specific conversions were two men representing members of Company C, the Delta Rangers. These base minis for most of the color guard are Perry miniatures representing early war volunteers in slouch hats and overshirts. They were a great starting point for most of the companies in the battalion. For these Co. C guys I clipped off their slouch hats, and just like the good ol' Lt, I added a cap and sculpted havelocks onto them.
Because the color guard would not follow some other arms positions the rest of the battalion would come to, I opted to keep them all at shoulder arms because that is generally how they'd be carrying their muskets while in formation. Because of this, I realized I had to figure that out for our dear old member of The Tiger Rifles. First I tracked down an arm carrying the musket the correct way. I landed on a French Napoleonic arm from my Napoleonic bits box. I shaved off the French cuff, and trimmed down the French Charleville to better look like an 1841 rifled. With that out of the way, I grabbed a perry zouave body and got to work. I shave off the tombeaux on the jackets front, then clip off the bayonet scabbard on his left side since they weren't issued them. Then I shaved off the side of the jambieres so I can paint them as socks down the road. I cut back the right side of the pantaloons to make sure the rifle can sit in its proper position. This model came together surprisingly well.
For fun, here's the primed full company of Delta Rangers that needs to be painted.
Ok, Here's what I was working with once converting these previous guys. Two members from Co. A (The Walker Guard), one from Co. B (White's Tiger Rifles), three from Co. C (The Delta Rangers), two from Co. D (Catahoula Guerrillas), and one from Co. E (Old Dominion Guard).
The base colors are down. The two guys in the grey uniforms on the left are from the Catahoula Guerrillas. I opted to have one without his jacket as many men dropped theirs during the battle of Manassas. Co. A and Co. E were wearing the exact same thing, Co. C was wearing the same uniform as A and E just with caps and havelocks instead of civilian hats. And finally, Co B which was the infamous zouave company.
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A little more work with washing and some more base coloring.
Here are some highlights. This step started to bring out the real unique looks of each company.
And here they are almost done.
Co. C, The Delta Rangers
Co. B, White's Tiger Rifles
Co. A, The Walker Guard and Co. E, The Old Dominion Guard
Co. D, The Catahoula Guerrillas
The gangs all here. Now I need to finish alllll the guys for Co. B and Co. C! I also need to do the flag itself still. Thanks for checking this out. Hopefully I'll update this again relatively soon.
-Tyler
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