Thursday 24 December 2015

2nd South Carolina

The past month's been manic, so sorry for the late arrival of this post.  This unit is the last in my trilogy of Perry plastic American regiments (see also the 3rd New Hampshire and the 10th Massachusetts).  I painted these South Carolina chaps a good few months ago, but I failed to sort out the flag and then forgot about them.  I've wanted to paint up some South Carolina regulars since I visited Charleston some years ago and saw the uniform in the local museum (see here).  However, I couldn't find any figures with the suitable caps until the Perry plastics came along.  I chose the 2nd regiment because it features as a 20-figure unit in the Savannah scenario, the figures for which I've been building up over the past couple of years or so.  Also, the handy uniform guide in the Perry box said that the 2nd regiment may have had some men in white hunting shirts, and I thought a mix of white shirts and blue regimental coats would look quite smart.

The 2nd South Carolina Regiment was raised in June 1775, one of five regiments authorised by the state's government (so these units did not form part of the Continental line).  The 2nd's war service was largely limited to actions in its own state, although detachments seem to have served in Florida.  The regiment was part of the force that successfully defended Fort Moultrie at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in June 1776.  Sullivan's Island was in the entrance to Charleston's harbour and its successful defence denied the British fleet its intended capture of Charleston.  The regiment saw action at the American/French attack on Savannah in 1779 and the following year again took part in the defence of Charleston against British attack.  This time the British were successful and the regiment passed into captivity in May 1780.

I have a bit of a backlog of completed unit again so there will be more loyalist stuff after Christmas.  In the meantime, a very happy Christmas to all readers.

20 figures.  Painted April-May 2015.  Flag by GMB.