Quarantine Challenge: 28mm Louis XIV French Infantry Regiment - Late 17th Century

I am so pleased to have gotten this regiment done! They seem to have been on my work bench for weeks, waiting for me to get time to paint and finish them off.

As such, I realised how much I enjoy having time to paint miniatures and when that time gets squeezed, even when it is for very good reasons, it soon gets frustrating.

The full, 28 figure, regiment, in line of battle

Anyway I have done a number of similar french regiments in the past but during these lock down times I was scrambling to be able to pull together enough figures to enable me to field this unit.

This group of models represent Regiment Plessis-Prasin, which was formed in 1616 and was thus named in 1650, after August 1682 this the regiment was known as Regiment Poitou. As with most regiments of this period, and as with every country, they were named after their Colonel.

All the figures are from the North Star 1672 range, except for a single Dixon Miniature's pike man. At first I thought that its no good, I can't possibly have one figure taking a knee to receive cavalry whilst everyone else is standing at the ready.

Pike men on 2 x Half Bases, I'm guessing you can see the odd man out mentioned above!

Typically Dixon figures are a quite a lot shorter than the North Star figures,

this pose however, is the exception they are very comparable.

Then I remembered a story told to me by a couple of friends, Mike & Phil, who participated in English Civil War re-enactments, they'd dragged another mutual friend, John, along as a 'birthday treat'. During the height of the re-enactment, John and the guys were standing at the ready with their pikes, looking about and John spied a troop of enemy horse approaching them at a good pace.

He tried to tell the guys around him what was happening but as he was a 'newbie' they all ignored him, they were looking the other way, within moments the troop of horse were on them!

So my explanation for this one figure being at the ready to receive horse is that he has either misheard an order or he has seen what is coming and decided to protect himself.....

One wing of the regiment with musketeers, pike & command

And the other wing

So these figures were undercoated white and then given a grey base coat. Leggings, cuffs and linings were all blue so that made things relatively simple. I did add in a few guys with grey stockings to break-up the uniformity a little.

Hats were also grey - either light or dark grey and a few have black hats, again to reduce uniformity, all had blue hat ribbons.

Shaded using Army Painter Dark one Dip and then matt varnished with Windsor Newton's Acrylic Medium.

Command elements, each on a half stand,

enabling mix and match of command elements when fielding different regiments of the period,

flags can also be swapped in case I want to redeploy the regiment as another one

Officers, as was their want at the time, wore pretty much what the liked, so a variety of colours here with a few nods to the grey and blue uniforms of the rank and file. Drummers either wore reverse colours or wore the King's livery, I could not find reference to how this was done in the historical regiment so have gone for reverse colours.

The Kings livery was blue coat and red leggings, cuffs and linings so if my guess proves to be wrong - it can easily be changed

Frontal view of musketeer base, 4 figures on a 40x40mm base

Another frontal view, highlighting the business end of the muskets

Rear view of a musketeer base

I decided to do all the pole-arms with this regiment as painted, parade ground items, obviously on campaign as shafts get broken and repaired they would be a natural wood colour. Not so here...

Two more half bases of pikemen - all at the ready.

A quick plug for the SYW Templates Blog site, they provide free to use flags for the SYW period - luckily for my purposes the french used the same flags in this earlier period as well.

Free to use standards, click for link

Self Hibernation Campaign - Nail in the Herald Coffin

By W. Earnest Lee

The Steamship - 'Herald'

Following on from our exhaustive coverage of 'The Herald Affair' in recent editions our investigations have now thrown considerable doubt on the veracity for Confederate States claims that the vessel was ever attacked  and sunk.

Researchers from this paper have been investigating the movements of the steamship 'The herald', subject of the recent allegations by the Confederate press and have identified serious gaps in the legitimacy of the story reported to date.

It would seem to indicate that Messrs. Tenholm and Co were executing an insurance fraud on a grand scale, for the steamship 'The Herald' has never plied the Caribbean waters and is in fact currently employed in legal commerce in Australia.

This author has visited Lloyds of London registry and found the registration documents for the steamship 'Herald', an iron paddle steamer, which was fabricated some 10 years ago in Liverpool before being shipped and finally assembled  in 1855 by Richard Johnson in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia, where she was registered.

Registration Documents

The Herald is one of the first iron paddle wheel steamers to be built in Australia, where she originally operated within Sydney Harbour, being used by the fledgling North Shore route between Dawes Point and Blues Point by the newly formed North Shore Steam Company.

However, due to not enough traffic to make her financially viable, she has often performed tug duties.

Eventually the North Shore Steam Company was wound up and 'The Herald' was put up for sale but has continued picking up business wherever it was available, operating as a tug, ferry, excursion boat and cargo vessel.

It is believed that the unscrupulous Confederate agents that have published the fake news about the sinking of this vessel, found the vessel's details on notices for sale documentation, these documents may have reached Trenholm & Co, where the conspiracy was hatched...

Self Hibernation Campaign - Interview with ‘Father Neptune’

By Hardy Kenwright

Head of the Navy:

Mr Gideon Wells

I was pleased to meet up with the Navy Secretary, Mr. Gideon Wells or ‘Father Neptune’ as the President refers to him. Although he argued against the Union blockade of Southern ports, he duly carried out his part of the Anaconda Plan. Under his management, the US Navy has grown from 90 vessels in 1861, of which only 42 were serviceable, to the current fleet of over 600 vessels, including numerous Ironclads and many innovative designs.

What of the Steam Ship Herald Case:

I asked Mr. Wells of his opinion regards the ‘Herald’ case. “I see it as either a second-class piece of propaganda or a simple case of insurance fraud. If the former, it shows how desperate the Rebels are becoming in their attempts to court sympathy overseas. If the latter, it shows how desperate their British based suppliers are becoming as investment in their cause melts away.”

George A. Trenholm’s Impartiality:

Mr George Alfred Trenholm

George Alfred Trenholm is a South Carolina businessman, financier, politician, and slaveholding planter who owned several plantations and strongly supported the Confederate States of America. When the Civil War broke out, Trenholm immediately moved his company's head office from New York to the Bahamas and Bermuda. He was appointed to South Carolina's State Marine Battery Commission, where he oversaw construction of the Confederate ironclad Chicora. Trenholm personally financed construction of a twelve-vessel flotilla for Charleston’s defence.

Trenholm's wealth has increased as his 60 commercial ships ran the Union blockade.

The ships carry cotton, tobacco and turpentine to England, and take back coal, iron, salt, guns and ammunition. His company - now called Fraser, Trenholm and Company - became the Confederate government's overseas banker. The office in Liverpool arranged cotton sales and financed its own fleet. Our U.S. consul in Liverpool, Thomas Dudley, estimates Trenholm's fleet has imported $4.5 million of cotton into Great Britain.

Trenholm and his Liverpool-based partner Charles K. Prioleau, (son of a Charleston lawyer) worked with fellow American, James Dunwoody Bulloch, as Confederate foreign agents in Britain to manage their arrangements, especially shipping munitions home.

US Navy Restraint:

In 1861, Great Britain legally recognised the ‘belligerent status’ of the Confederate States of America (CSA), but has never recognised it as a nation and neither signed a treaty with it nor ever exchanged ambassadors. The ‘belligerent status’ means that the International laws or conventions for ‘War at Sea’ apply to the CSA rather than laws dealing with Piracy or illegal insurrection.

The US Navy as part of the rules of blockade, has to ‘overhaul a ship’, regardless of what flag is being flown, before it is permitted to board the vessel and inspect it, it’s manifest and papers, for proof of Blockade Running. ‘Overhauling’ does not involve shooting unless the ship concerned uses firepower itself, especially as the Blockade Runners are not so helpful as to ever sail under a CSA flag.

Mr. Gideon Wells stated that, “The claims of Fraser, Trenholm and Company are farcical considering the US Navy now has a stranglehold on the Southern Ports. It would be ludicrous for the US Navy to break the rules of blockade over one vessel, especially when in a position of such strength.

Mr. Charles Adams, our representative to the British in London is in regular contact with Palmerston’s Liberal Government, the Earl of Derby’s Conservative Opposition, the Admiralty and the City of London.

If there was ever a danger of the British recognising the Rebels it subsided after Antietam and disappeared with the Emancipation Declaration.

If anything, the British and French Governments with an eye to British North America and Mexico and are going out of their way to be cooperative with us, influenced possible by the 600,000+ soldiers and 600+ naval vessels currently in US service.”

Self Hibernation Campaign - Interview with Charles Francis Adams

By Huw Carnaby Wright

Interview with Charles Francis Adams

Mr Adams

I was honoured to be granted an interview with Mr. Charles Francis Adams Sr at The American legation in Great Cumberland Place, London. Mr. Adams resigned from the House of Representatives in 1861, where he had chaired the Committee on Manufactures, in order to become U.S. minister to the Court of St James's, a post previously held by his father, President John Quincy Adams and grandfather President John Adams.

It has been opportune for the United States to have such a man, with the ear of the British Government, during these War years.

What of the Steam Ship Herald Case:

“Well”, smiled Mr. Adams, “One has to take the claims of sinking of the Herald by the USS Quaker City with a large pinch of sea salt.” He continued, “The claims have been made by the Liverpool office of Fraser, Trenholm & Company, which is based in Charleston and whose senior partner, George A. Trenholm, is widely tipped to became the next Secretary to the Confederate States Treasury!”

Traders and Raiders

“The Company’s British office in 10, Rumfold Place, Liverpool, has made an enormous contribution to the war effort of the South, acting as banker to the Confederate Government and financing the supply of armaments in return for cotton. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. also openly participates in blockade running, organising the building on the Tyne and Mersey of ships such as the commerce-destroyer, Alabama, assisted in the floating of Confederate loans, and generally encouraged support in Europe for the South.

Charles Kuhn Prioleau

The firm’s senior partner, Charles Kuhn Prioleau, is a naturalised Englishman, but who was been brought up in Charleston, South Carolina, where most of his family still live.

In a shamelessly two-faced approach to business, they claim to be legitimate merchants running the blockade to deliver materials to the CSA, whilst in parallel, they finance, fit out and crew Commerce Raiders for the CSA to prey upon Union ships. The Commerce Raiders have and do sink unarmed merchantmen flying the US flag as a matter of course.”

Scenario of Convenience:

“Consider this”, posed Mr. Adams, “A ship, owned by the CSA company Fraser, Trenholm & Company ship, flying under the British flag and packed with a valuable cargo, supposedly disappears without trace in the Caribbean. Conveniently, there are only two witnesses, both employees of Fraser, Trenholm & Company. The witnesses claim of piracy are backed up by the hearsay of the captain and crew abroad the ‘completely neutral’ confederate blockade runner CSS Florida. Incidentally, the CSS Florida was built by the British firm William C. Miller & Sons of Toxteth, Liverpool, purchased by the Confederacy from Fawcett, Preston & Co., also of Liverpool with finance raised by a firm called Fraser, Trenholm & Company.”

CSS Florida

Mr. Adams continued, “I understand that Lloyd’s of London are investigating the case having received a large claim for the lost ship and cargo. We have our own spies watching the activities of Fraser, Trenholm & Company, as do certain British Government departments. There is no wish on behalf of Great Britain to be dragged into a war with the United States by the double dealing of third parties with their own agenda”

Self Hibernation Campaign - Lloyd’s of London Investigate Fraud

By Huw Carnaby Wright

Lloyd’s of London Investigate Fraud

Discreet Investigations:

Reports are spreading in London about a possible conspiracy to commit Insurance Fraud in relation to the alleged sinking of Fraser, Tenholm & Company Steam ship the Herald. We understand that a senior assessor of ‘Lloyd’s of London’, Sir Leigh Brut, has been despatched to the Bahamas and Bermudu while meetings have taken place between officials and senior management at the Fraser, Tenholm & Co. office in Liverpool.

Suspicious Circumstances:

There is concern regards the seaworthiness of the Herald. It passed an inspection in January last year, however the Assessor’s concerned, Isle, Turner & Blindeye have since been bankrupted following their negligence costs over the Pacific Mail steamship Golden Gate, the Anglo-Saxon and RMS Bohemian cases. The Golden Gate was particularly suspect as Isle, Turner & Blindeye had no inspectors based in the United States.

Sir Lou Pole, head of the ‘Claims Assessment Department’ at Lloyd’s of London confirmed that, “Investigations are continuing in relation to the Fraser, Tenholm & Company Steam ship ‘Herald’, but in view of which he was unable to make further comment on an individual case”.

RMS Bohemian

High Risk Trading:

Insiders reported that Lloyd’s have been increasingly concerned by inconsistencies in the shipping manifests of a number of Fraser, Tenholm & Company Ships over the past few years. It is no secret that this company is almost exclusively involved in the potentially lucrative ‘blockade-running’ trade with the so called, Confederate States of America. As the United States Naval blockade of Confederate ports has tightened, the risks of this trade have increased dramatically, putting off many investors and causing those who remain to demand ever higher returns.

Plantation Owners Willing to Pay for Luxuries:

The very nature of the cargos being shipped from Liverpool to Charleston, chief amongst the destination Southern ports, leaves much scope for abuse. Aside from firearms and other military hardware, the ships carry low volume but high value luxury goods. This makes the temptation to ‘lose’ valuable cargoes in transit, claim compensation and then arrange for the same cargo to be delivered by another vessel very attractive to the unscrupulous.

Lloyd’s of London’s ‘Big Nose’:

My secretary, Phyliss Inkwell, recalled that my predecessor once wrote describing the Lloyd’s of London Underwriting Room: ‘Not a breeze can blow in any latitude, not a storm can burst, not a fog can rise, in any part of the world, without recording its history here.’ 

Sir Leigh Brut has a nose for sniffing out illegal activity so if anyone can resolve this mystery, he can.

Self Hibernation Campaign - British Blockade Ambivalence

By Huw Carnaby Wright

Traditionally, Great Britain has used the power of the Royal Navy to apply tight blockade on her enemy’s ports, with the aim of crippling their economies by denying them access to raw materials and access to markets for their goods. The United States has a history of championing the rights of the Neutral States in any such conflict and has often challenged the right exercised by Great Britain to stop and examine the cargoes of neutral shipping.

These conflicts of interest were a factor in the causes of the War of 1812-14.

Ironically, today it is the United States that is attempting to apply a tight blockade of the so-called Confederate States and Great Britain that finds itself as the leader and champion of the Neutrals.

One might expect that Great Britain would seek to get revenge for previous challenges during the Napoleonic and Crimean War and look for opportunities to make life uncomfortable for the United States over her blockade policy.

 

Great Britain takes the Long View:

With the help of Mr. Charles Francis Adams Sr, I was recently granted an interview with Edward Adolphus Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset and First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, at Brooks’s Club in St.James Street.

I asked His Grace why Great Britain had not created more fuss over the effects of the United States stopping and delaying ships to check for blockade runners.

“When you have been around as long as us”, he replied, “one learns to take a ‘long term view’. 

The United States may well be applying a blockade today, but in view of our world-wide interests and possessions, combined with the strength of the Royal Navy, it is very likely that Great Britain will see the need to do so again tomorrow. We note with great interest the actions taken by the United States. 

As usually the ‘loudest’ voice amongst neutral States whenever Great Britain seeks to impose a blockade in time of war, any precedents set by US Navy by their actions in this conflict will be difficult to challenge should we determine to utilise them ourselves in the future.”

Maybe this is why the French refer to Great Britain as "Perfidious Albion."