Hi everyone ,
MJ miniatures continue to release into their series of models , this time an addition to the figure range , the details were announced here:
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/new-release-of-mj-miniatures-for-oct-2016.80776/
and the box art here:
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/louisiana-tiger-box-art-mj-miniatures.81059/
It is of course:
Who were the Tigers , well led by someone who was a maverick but a natural soldier
In late May 1861, Wheat commanded five companies as their major, and on June 5, they were inducted into the Confederate service as the First Special Battalion. They marched to Virginia, where Wheat and his Louisiana Tigers fought in the first battle of the war – First Manassas, or Bull Run. They fought well, although Wheat himself was shot through the lung. Despite and the predictions of the field surgeons, Wheat recovered from his wound and rejoined his regiment in mid-September.
In December, two of his Tigers were found guilty by court martial of violating an article of war and – despite Wheat’s entreaties on their behalf – sentenced to be shot. As the firing squad, selected from among the Louisianians, fired on command, Wheat sat sobbing in his tent.
He died at Gaines Mill , his men burying him on the field of battle .
Many variations of weapons exist
The famous zouave uniform of Company B (Tiger Rifles), First Special Battalion (Wheat's) Louisiana Volunteers has long been a matter of debate due to the lack of a wartime photographic image that could answer a lot of the detail questions that have been raised over the years. Even if it was in black and white, we could at least tell the shape of the fez, if the jacket had tombeau (false pockets in a trefoil design), and design of the blue and white striped pantaloons and if the pantaloons were in true zouave fashion or modified and the exact look of the blue and white striped socks worn under the gaiters. If the photograph had been tinted with color, we could see if it was blue or brown (both have been given in period descriptions) and shade of blue of the stripes on the zouave pantaloons. All the descriptions are consistent that they wore a red wool shirt.
The Harper's Weekly and Fremaux watercolor are very consistent in the general look of the uniform. They both show the Tigers wearing very traditional looking zouave uniforms, with the exception of the striped pants which were made of blue and white striped Hamilton mattress ticking material. The traditional uniform pants for the original French zouaves was red and in white for tropical climates.
The Fremaux watercolor, which was done in September of 1861, has the color of the jacket a light brown. All the earlier descriptions of the jacket before the First Battle of Manassas have them in blue jackets. Later descriptions had them both in blue and light brown jackets. This has led to speculations that after Manassas, where they were fired upon by accident by the 4th South Carolina Infantry, that they might have dyed their jackets brown, or the jackets were bleached to a brownish color by exposure to the sun and elements
The discovery in 1978 of what is believed to be the graves of privates Dennis Corcoran and Michael O'Brien, who were executed in December 1861, resulted in some concrete evidence of some elements of the uniforms. A scientific investigation of the few scraps of textiles in the graves led to the conclusion that the jackets were originally blue with red trim, the shirt in one grave red and the other white, porcelain buttons on one of the shirts and a silk cravat was worn by O'Brien. There was no evidence of lower body garments. It could not, apparently, be conclusively determined from the material scraps if they had tombeaux on their jackets or exactly what type of fez they wore.
Many commercial artists are turning out excellent prints representing the Tiger Rifles and we have every reason to believe based on all of the historical research, that are probably pretty accurate representations of the uniform.
But until a wartime photograph of an enlisted man in the Tiger Rifles surfaces, this famous zouave uniform is to some writers a little speculative
MJ miniatures continue to release into their series of models , this time an addition to the figure range , the details were announced here:
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/new-release-of-mj-miniatures-for-oct-2016.80776/
and the box art here:
http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/louisiana-tiger-box-art-mj-miniatures.81059/
It is of course:
MJ did a series of on line painting sessions for this and other figures and busts which you can find on You Tube ...all amazing to watch as the painting progresses .Who were the Tigers , well led by someone who was a maverick but a natural soldier
Chatham Roberdeau Wheat
In late May 1861, Wheat commanded five companies as their major, and on June 5, they were inducted into the Confederate service as the First Special Battalion. They marched to Virginia, where Wheat and his Louisiana Tigers fought in the first battle of the war – First Manassas, or Bull Run. They fought well, although Wheat himself was shot through the lung. Despite and the predictions of the field surgeons, Wheat recovered from his wound and rejoined his regiment in mid-September.
In December, two of his Tigers were found guilty by court martial of violating an article of war and – despite Wheat’s entreaties on their behalf – sentenced to be shot. As the firing squad, selected from among the Louisianians, fired on command, Wheat sat sobbing in his tent.
He died at Gaines Mill , his men burying him on the field of battle .
Many variations of weapons exist
The famous zouave uniform of Company B (Tiger Rifles), First Special Battalion (Wheat's) Louisiana Volunteers has long been a matter of debate due to the lack of a wartime photographic image that could answer a lot of the detail questions that have been raised over the years. Even if it was in black and white, we could at least tell the shape of the fez, if the jacket had tombeau (false pockets in a trefoil design), and design of the blue and white striped pantaloons and if the pantaloons were in true zouave fashion or modified and the exact look of the blue and white striped socks worn under the gaiters. If the photograph had been tinted with color, we could see if it was blue or brown (both have been given in period descriptions) and shade of blue of the stripes on the zouave pantaloons. All the descriptions are consistent that they wore a red wool shirt.
The Harper's Weekly and Fremaux watercolor are very consistent in the general look of the uniform. They both show the Tigers wearing very traditional looking zouave uniforms, with the exception of the striped pants which were made of blue and white striped Hamilton mattress ticking material. The traditional uniform pants for the original French zouaves was red and in white for tropical climates.
The Fremaux watercolor, which was done in September of 1861, has the color of the jacket a light brown. All the earlier descriptions of the jacket before the First Battle of Manassas have them in blue jackets. Later descriptions had them both in blue and light brown jackets. This has led to speculations that after Manassas, where they were fired upon by accident by the 4th South Carolina Infantry, that they might have dyed their jackets brown, or the jackets were bleached to a brownish color by exposure to the sun and elements
The discovery in 1978 of what is believed to be the graves of privates Dennis Corcoran and Michael O'Brien, who were executed in December 1861, resulted in some concrete evidence of some elements of the uniforms. A scientific investigation of the few scraps of textiles in the graves led to the conclusion that the jackets were originally blue with red trim, the shirt in one grave red and the other white, porcelain buttons on one of the shirts and a silk cravat was worn by O'Brien. There was no evidence of lower body garments. It could not, apparently, be conclusively determined from the material scraps if they had tombeaux on their jackets or exactly what type of fez they wore.
A postwar sketch by Confederate veteran artist A.C. Redwood in Century Magazine in 1884 shows a drummer of the Tiger Rifles generally wearing the standard uniform of a zouave. This sketch generally follows the wartime sketch appearance of the uniform. Many commercial artists are turning out excellent prints representing the Tiger Rifles and we have every reason to believe based on all of the historical research, that are probably pretty accurate representations of the uniform.
But until a wartime photograph of an enlisted man in the Tiger Rifles surfaces, this famous zouave uniform is to some writers a little speculative
A Tiger Rifle drummer by A.C. Redwood
The Century Magazine, 1884.
Civil War Centennial brochure, map.
Books are available and of course much information on the internet , here are a few that are a good start to look at
Continued in next post
Nap
